1 00:00:02,720 --> 00:00:13,880 Speaker 1: Life Audio. Thank you for listening to your Daily Bible Verse, 2 00:00:14,680 --> 00:00:18,200 Speaker 1: the podcast that examines one verse each day to learn 3 00:00:18,200 --> 00:00:21,680 Speaker 1: more about God as will for our lives. I'm your host, 4 00:00:22,200 --> 00:00:26,079 Speaker 1: Kyle Norman. After a brief message for one of our sponsors, 5 00:00:26,720 --> 00:00:30,640 Speaker 1: we will continue with our advent series experiencing Christ this 6 00:00:30,840 --> 00:00:45,760 Speaker 1: Christmas with a discussion of today's verse. Today's verse can 7 00:00:45,800 --> 00:00:50,800 Speaker 1: be found in Luke, Chapter one, verse forty five. Blessed 8 00:00:50,840 --> 00:00:53,120 Speaker 1: is she who has believed that what the Lord has 9 00:00:53,120 --> 00:00:58,440 Speaker 1: said to her will be accomplished. We're about ten days 10 00:00:58,720 --> 00:01:02,600 Speaker 1: before the great celebration of Christ's birth. The tree is 11 00:01:02,720 --> 00:01:05,679 Speaker 1: up and the lights are hung. But if you're like me, 12 00:01:05,840 --> 00:01:09,559 Speaker 1: you probably still have some shopping to do, and now 13 00:01:09,600 --> 00:01:13,400 Speaker 1: you face the daunting task of managing checkout lines and 14 00:01:13,720 --> 00:01:17,040 Speaker 1: overcrowded stores. You will need to bob with your weave 15 00:01:17,200 --> 00:01:20,120 Speaker 1: your way through the myriads of people crammed into the 16 00:01:20,120 --> 00:01:23,880 Speaker 1: local malls. Or if you're more of an online shopper, 17 00:01:23,959 --> 00:01:28,520 Speaker 1: you now diligently track your packages, desperately praying that they 18 00:01:28,560 --> 00:01:32,800 Speaker 1: will arrive on time. In all of these ways, a 19 00:01:32,840 --> 00:01:37,440 Speaker 1: subtle shift of attention can easily take place, one where 20 00:01:37,440 --> 00:01:41,600 Speaker 1: we become tempted to focus more on the packages before 21 00:01:41,680 --> 00:01:45,480 Speaker 1: us rather than the promise revealed to us. We look 22 00:01:45,560 --> 00:01:50,240 Speaker 1: more to the gift rather than the giver. And so today, 23 00:01:51,240 --> 00:01:56,720 Speaker 1: ten days before Christmas, let's join Mary and take a 24 00:01:56,760 --> 00:02:00,320 Speaker 1: step away from it all and focus on the presence 25 00:02:00,360 --> 00:02:07,160 Speaker 1: of Christ. Mary journeys to visit her much older cousin, Elizabeth. Now, 26 00:02:07,240 --> 00:02:11,720 Speaker 1: scripture doesn't say why she went to Elizabeth. Some suggest 27 00:02:11,800 --> 00:02:16,160 Speaker 1: it to avoid unscrupulous eyes. After all, Mary is an 28 00:02:16,240 --> 00:02:20,520 Speaker 1: unwed teenage mother getting married to someone who distinctly was 29 00:02:20,680 --> 00:02:23,639 Speaker 1: not the baby's father, so there would have been all 30 00:02:23,680 --> 00:02:26,680 Speaker 1: sorts of assumptions as to what kind of girl Mary 31 00:02:26,760 --> 00:02:32,040 Speaker 1: really was. So some scholars suggest that she leaves for 32 00:02:32,160 --> 00:02:36,840 Speaker 1: a safe place, but others positive that Mary was looking 33 00:02:36,919 --> 00:02:42,040 Speaker 1: for a sense of confirmation. The angel Gabriel says, even Elizabeth, 34 00:02:42,040 --> 00:02:44,280 Speaker 1: who was said to be barren, is going to have 35 00:02:44,360 --> 00:02:49,320 Speaker 1: a child, and so the suggestion is that Elizabeth's pregnancy 36 00:02:49,840 --> 00:02:54,119 Speaker 1: confirms her own, and in fact we see this as 37 00:02:54,160 --> 00:02:58,280 Speaker 1: a child in Elizabeth's womb leaps in rejoicing at the 38 00:02:58,320 --> 00:03:03,040 Speaker 1: presence of the Christ child in mind. But whatever reason 39 00:03:03,080 --> 00:03:07,120 Speaker 1: it was that drove Mary to Elizabeth, the fact is 40 00:03:08,080 --> 00:03:11,880 Speaker 1: she heard a blessed word. Empowered by the Holy Spirit, 41 00:03:12,440 --> 00:03:17,480 Speaker 1: Elizabeth speaks in prophetic voice. Blessed is she who believed 42 00:03:17,720 --> 00:03:20,679 Speaker 1: that what the Lord has said to her will be accomplished. 43 00:03:22,080 --> 00:03:26,920 Speaker 1: The amplified Bible renders the verse this way. And spiritually 44 00:03:27,040 --> 00:03:32,640 Speaker 1: fortunate and favored is she who believed and confidently trusted 45 00:03:33,240 --> 00:03:35,560 Speaker 1: that there would be a fulfillment of the things that 46 00:03:35,600 --> 00:03:41,240 Speaker 1: were spoken by the Angel. Mary is spiritually fortunate. She 47 00:03:41,440 --> 00:03:46,040 Speaker 1: is favored, and not because she's perfect, but because she 48 00:03:46,240 --> 00:03:51,880 Speaker 1: lives in the hope of God's promises. This proclamation, so 49 00:03:52,280 --> 00:03:56,200 Speaker 1: wonderfully applied to Mary in this moment, is also applied 50 00:03:56,280 --> 00:04:00,560 Speaker 1: to us. Whenever we open ourselves to Christ. We have 51 00:04:01,000 --> 00:04:06,920 Speaker 1: confidence in God's promises for us. We have a confident 52 00:04:07,000 --> 00:04:10,400 Speaker 1: trust that the one who began a good work for us, 53 00:04:10,680 --> 00:04:14,320 Speaker 1: by sending Christ into our lives and empowering us in 54 00:04:14,360 --> 00:04:18,320 Speaker 1: the Holy Spirit, will complete all that has been promised. 55 00:04:19,360 --> 00:04:23,560 Speaker 1: And trusting in that word, it creates blessings in our life. 56 00:04:23,839 --> 00:04:28,599 Speaker 1: The blessing of peace, the blessing of joy, hope, love, grace, 57 00:04:28,640 --> 00:04:32,000 Speaker 1: and forgiveness. All of these things come rushing into our 58 00:04:32,000 --> 00:04:36,120 Speaker 1: lives as they are poured out for us and so 59 00:04:36,240 --> 00:04:41,080 Speaker 1: Mary calls us to turn to Christ in confident hope, 60 00:04:41,920 --> 00:04:46,320 Speaker 1: just as she did. Of course, this doesn't mean that 61 00:04:46,839 --> 00:04:50,920 Speaker 1: Mary had the easiest of journeys. Mary's blessing of being 62 00:04:50,960 --> 00:04:54,600 Speaker 1: the mother of the Savior also came with some heartache, 63 00:04:54,960 --> 00:04:57,640 Speaker 1: as the sword of loss and grief would pierce her heart. 64 00:04:58,960 --> 00:05:02,360 Speaker 1: Yet despite the up and the downs, Mary lives with 65 00:05:02,480 --> 00:05:05,560 Speaker 1: this confident belief that God was true and that God 66 00:05:05,680 --> 00:05:09,600 Speaker 1: was true to her. And so in all things, pondering 67 00:05:09,680 --> 00:05:14,719 Speaker 1: God's promises in her heart, Mary constantly lived out a 68 00:05:14,839 --> 00:05:19,600 Speaker 1: prayer of hope. In his book on prayer titled with 69 00:05:19,680 --> 00:05:24,680 Speaker 1: Open Hands, author Henry Nowen draws a distinction between praying 70 00:05:24,720 --> 00:05:29,880 Speaker 1: with hope and praying with little faith. Little faith, he says, 71 00:05:30,400 --> 00:05:34,360 Speaker 1: is to approach God like Santa Claus, focusing only on 72 00:05:34,440 --> 00:05:37,400 Speaker 1: the wants of our lives. We focus on the light 73 00:05:37,600 --> 00:05:40,359 Speaker 1: that God can give us or what we want to 74 00:05:40,400 --> 00:05:44,400 Speaker 1: receive by God's hands. It's all about the gifts and 75 00:05:44,480 --> 00:05:49,800 Speaker 1: never about the giver. But to pray in hope is 76 00:05:49,880 --> 00:05:54,320 Speaker 1: to reach out to the giver. It is to open 77 00:05:54,360 --> 00:05:58,599 Speaker 1: ourselves to God, daring to believe that his promises are true, 78 00:05:59,080 --> 00:06:04,800 Speaker 1: regardless of whatever circumstances we might be in. What is 79 00:06:04,920 --> 00:06:08,960 Speaker 1: God's promise that you hear being whispered in your life today? 80 00:06:10,640 --> 00:06:15,400 Speaker 1: What is the fulfillment that you await in these last 81 00:06:15,400 --> 00:06:18,520 Speaker 1: ten days of the Advent season. May you pray and 82 00:06:18,640 --> 00:06:21,839 Speaker 1: hope there to believe that the Lord will fulfill what 83 00:06:21,920 --> 00:06:25,760 Speaker 1: is be't spoken. Instead of looking for a thing or 84 00:06:25,800 --> 00:06:30,279 Speaker 1: an event, like a long awaited parcel to open, may 85 00:06:30,320 --> 00:06:33,880 Speaker 1: you focus your attention on the giver of every good 86 00:06:34,000 --> 00:06:37,520 Speaker 1: and perfect gift, the giver who never abandons you or 87 00:06:37,600 --> 00:06:43,680 Speaker 1: leaves you forsaken. May you trust in His presence. Prayers 88 00:06:43,720 --> 00:06:47,479 Speaker 1: of little faith are dependent upon what we experience or 89 00:06:47,520 --> 00:06:50,880 Speaker 1: what we perceive in this moment. It rises and falls 90 00:06:51,200 --> 00:06:54,960 Speaker 1: depending on whether we get what we ask for. But 91 00:06:55,040 --> 00:07:00,760 Speaker 1: prayers of hope never disappoint because hope is rooted in 92 00:07:00,800 --> 00:07:03,960 Speaker 1: the enduring presence of God, and no matter what is 93 00:07:04,000 --> 00:07:07,720 Speaker 1: happening in our lives, the presence of Christ is nearer 94 00:07:08,000 --> 00:07:11,640 Speaker 1: than we can imagine. And so maybe, just for today, 95 00:07:12,720 --> 00:07:16,520 Speaker 1: put down your list of prayer asks and spiritual wants 96 00:07:17,760 --> 00:07:22,920 Speaker 1: and simply rejoice and embrace the one who comes to you. 97 00:07:24,000 --> 00:07:28,480 Speaker 1: May rejoice in his presence and delight in his promises.