TODAY’S PROPHETIC THOUGHT
I have known you from the beginning of time. Before I formed you in your mother’s womb, I had a plan for you. I have a purpose and a destiny for you to be My beloved child for eternity. Though I have a plan, you have the free will to fulfill that plan or deny it. Humble yourself and I will lift you up.
MISTAKEN IDENTITY
The greatest story ever told starts off with something so miraculous that people all over the swingin’ globe still talk about to this day. It starts off with Gabriel the angel of the Lord showing up. He didn’t knock. This was not an expected visit. The brother just stepped in.
“Now in the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. And having come in, the angel said to her, ‘Rejoice, highly favored one, the Lord is with you; Blessed are you among women!’” – Luke 1:26-28
Sometimes God does that. Sometimes He decides to step into things at an entirely different level and that’s what we see here. The Bible says, “Mary didn’t think too much of herself”. She was likely excited about this time in her life because she was in the engagement process. She and Joseph are already betrothed. This means she’s 100 percent committed to him and everyone knows they’re going to get married.
It’s in this interim time that Gabriel shows up and says these amazing things to Mary about being “blessed and highly favored.” The Bible says that “she cast in her mind what manner of salutation this should be.” Literally, she’s thinking the brother has the wrong address and the wrong girl. She doesn’t feel blessed and highly favored. I’m sure she just feels ordinary.
Gabriel recognized that, so he called her out by name in the next verse, telling Mary she is the one he’s there for.
“Then the angel said to her, ‘Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call his name Jesus.’” – Luke 1:30-31
Isn’t that the way it always is? The Lord will show up and He’ll tell us something amazing and we always think He’s mistaken us for somebody else. He hasn’t. You and I mistake ourselves for somebody less. We don’t see ourselves as God sees us and that’s the mistake of the whole thing.
Just like Mary didn’t see herself as highly favored, you probably don’t see yourself as God’s friend, child or even His favorite. But hear me on this – you are. You are His very favorite. You have all His love and all His attention because it is limitless.
Hear the words He literally sings over you, “This is my beloved child in whom I Am well pleased.” He knows who you are even if you’ve mistaken your own identity as someone less.
FROM MY SERMON SERIES INDESCRIBABLE GIFT