Like Minded People

 

^{Luke 1:}

²⁶ Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city in Galilee called Nazareth, ²⁷ to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the descendants of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary. ²⁸ And coming in, he said to her, “Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you.” ²⁹ But she was very perplexed at this statement, and kept pondering what kind of salutation this was. ³⁰ The angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; for you have found favor with God. ³¹ And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name Him Jesus. ³² He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David; ³³ and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and His kingdom will have no end.” ³⁴ Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I am a virgin?” ³⁵ The angel answered and said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; and for that reason the holy Child shall be called the Son of God. ³⁶ And behold, even your relative Elizabeth has also conceived a son in her old age; and she who was called barren is now in her sixth month. ³⁷ For nothing will be impossible with God.”

³⁹ Now at this time Mary arose and went in a hurry to the hill country, to a city of Judah, ⁴⁰ and entered the house of Zacharias and greeted Elizabeth. ⁴¹ When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb; and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. ⁴² And she cried out with a loud voice and said, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb!

 

So I wanna talk about Mary for a minute.  As you all know Mary gets a crazy visit from an Angel with an even crazier message about not only having a baby BUT having THE baby that would save the world.  Honestly I can’t wrap my mind around all that. 

 

Mary had some explaining to do but I love that the Angle gives her the response to all the comments she would get from family and friends and yes at the beginning even Joseph.

When they say “what do you mean an angel spoke to you?” or “it’s not possible you are pregnant without having sex!” or “how can you say this is from God?” you can imagine the accusations. Even though Mary could agree with some of their comments she only had one explanation and it was given to her from God Himself.  NOTHING WILL BE IMPOSSIBLE WITH GOD!

 

Ok so Mary gets this mind boggling message and no one believes her or in her at the moment. God in His mercy also gives Mary another message that she may have forgotten for a time in light of her own word, a message about Elizabeth.  He lets her in on a little secret about Elizabeth and her conceiving a son as well. The Bible tells us that Mary arose and went in a hurry to find Elizabeth.  I’m sure saying she went in a hurry was an understatement! She probably hauled butt to Elizabeth as she would possibly be the only person that would consider her unbelievable announcement.

 

 

(Side note: We know Elizabeth is 6 months pregnant and Mary is maybe three, I don’t know for sure. However when Mary enters the room the baby in Elizabeth’s womb leaps when the baby in Mary’s womb comes near him. Hmmmmm obviously these are two live babies.)

Back to Mary and Elizabeth, I’m sure they were talking so fast about Angels and babies and miracles they literally fell into each other’s arms feeling both relief and comfort.

 

 

Mary needed a like-minded person, someone who loved and obeyed God and personally experienced Him move in a very unusual way. You just can’t totally understand if you haven’t experienced it.

 

I guess where I’m going with this is, that same need of being near someone who understands you, and supports you when you get a “crazy message” is still needed today. We still need likeminded people as we journey.

 

Philippians 2:2 then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind.

 

God can give unusual request.  He tells Joshua to march around a city 7 times then blow trumpets and he will win the war, Jesus spit in someone’s eye, a great warrior dipped in a regular river and was cured of leprosy, a donkey talked to his rider, the list goes on and on, read your bible.

 

Right off the top of my head I can name two friends that understand this feeling of "I just got a crazy message," my friend Charlotte and T-Bone. We have definitely had some “hurried visits” when we needed someone to be liked minded.  T-bone is the most outrageous person I have ever met! He truly lives by faith and to be honest the longer I know him the more he looks like an Old Testament prophet. I have heard myself say to him what some have said to me “I’m glad God didn’t ask me to do that.” He is the real deal but I can tell you it comes at a cost. I don't always understand the things God has him do but I don't question them. I just pray for him to have the strength and courage to fulfill his calling.

 

Gems I just don’t want to get too comfortable on this journey home. I don’t know where you are right now and honestly I’m doing a lot of praying on where I’m headed. I don’t have any grand insight but I do know that nothing is impossible for God. So I want to encourage you today to walk or hurry if you have to but don’t limit God in your life.  If you don’t feel challenged maybe you need to hang with some new people for a while. I’m not saying lose your old friends but definitely embrace new ones.

 

I pray 2017 will be a year that will have some unexplainable moments for you, a year you will hurry to find a like-minded person, heck their probably looking for you.  I pray it will be a year you will experience the truth that NOTHING WILL BE IMPOSSIBLE FOR GOD!

 

 

HAPPY NEW YEAR!