LUKE’S CHRISTMAS GOSPEL OF JESUS: A 30-Day Christmas-Time Devotional.

A Surprising Visit.

Luke 1: 26-27 (MsgB) 

[26] In the sixth month, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, [27] to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary.

According to Luke, angelic visits are the very first miracles that happen in the Christmas story. First, Gabriel meets Zachariah, announcing the coming miracle of a baby birthed to people old enough to be grandparents.

Now, Mary gets a visit from God’s messenger.

Luke’s amazing story of our Lord’s birth begins to unfold at a very interesting intersection. Don’t you think?

While most of us might not be too surprised to find angels hanging around highly spiritual places like temples, synagogues, or cathedrals, God takes it one step further and surprises us by sending His head honcho, Gabriel, right into the middle of one very ordinary, lowly situation. Remember, at this point in the story, the names of Joseph and Mary are simply known only by a very few people living in the remote village of Nazareth.

Mary, while now known around the world as the mother of Jesus, is at this moment in time a very young maiden, born to rather poor and backward people, living a hidden life in a very obscure, out-of-the-way place in the world.

But suddenly, God’s spotlight shines. An angel arrives. And Mary’s life is about to be changed permanently.

Isn’t it just like God to release His biggest miracle (the birth of His Messiah) at the corner of the globe where “natural” and “supernatural” meet? I wonder if God is trying to say something here?

Quite possibly, He’s showing us that many of the God-experiences you and I will experience in our lives will most likely occur right in the middle of our ordinary, everyday humdrum lives!

Be careful! Maybe right in the midst of our average, ordinary day today, one of God’s messengers just might intersect with our lives, bringing some exciting “God-news” for us, as well!

Who knows? Now that God has set the precedent with a hidden maiden named Mary, who knows how He’ll act today?

My prayer: Lord, thank You for the reminder that Your supernatural activity is readily available to interrupt my common, everyday life. May the story of Mary serve to encourage me that You are always looking to interrupt our common, everyday life with the powerful in-breaking of Your Kingdom rule and reign. For Your name’s sake. Amen.

My questions to ponder: What obstacles of unbelief must I address in order to better position myself for a surprising visit from God’s power and presence? Is my heart hard and non-expectant toward these types of God-encounters or am I in a place of simple belief that God can interrupt me in any way He chooses today for His Kingdom purposes?

So what is God speaking to you today? Are you practicing the Kingdom presence of God?

We hope you’ll enjoy these 30 blogs that walk you through 30 days of Advent (Nov 26 – Dec 25). Here’s the homepage for the entire series.

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