Changing Hopeless to Hope-Filled

And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God. And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name Jesus. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David: and he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end. Then said Mary unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing I know not a man? And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. And, behold, thy cousin Elisabeth, she hath also conceived a son in her old age: and this is the sixth month with her, who was called barren. For with God nothing shall be impossible. -Luke 1:30-37

Notice Mary’s response to Gabriel when he told her that she would bear the Son of God. She asked the angel, “How?” That’s an understandable question! How would Mary bear a child when she was still a virgin? Wasn’t that an impossibility?

“It will happen by the Holy Ghost,” Gabriel explained.

If we want to define an impossibility, we could say it is anything in life that makes us ask God, “How is this going to come to pass, Lord?” We are speaking of things that absolutely cannot be humanly brought forth. However, the Bible says that nothing is impossible with God!

This Christmas, I encourage you to remember: God knows the “how” of every hopeless situation!

It Came to Pass: The Redemption Plan Unfolds

Six months after Elisabeth had conceived, another dimension of God’s redemptive plan was triggered. Elisabeth’s cousin, Mary, was visited by the angel Gabriel who gave her a message from God that she would conceive and give birth to a son after the power of the Holy Spirit came upon her. Mary conceived of the seed of God’s Word and her pregnancy of the Savior began.

Then Gabriel informed Mary that her cousin, Elisabeth, had conceived a son in her old age and was in her sixth month of pregnancy. After hearing the news from the angel, Mary went to visit Elisabeth. We can pick up the story in Luke 1:41–45.

It Came to Pass: Your Words Matter

We’re in the middle of talking about a few of the lessons we can learn from the Christmas story and specifically Zacharias’ part in it. We’ll pick up with his story in Luke 1:13.

It Came to Pass: Making the Most Out of Your Season of Preparation

One of the most powerful accounts of Scripture is the revealing of the redemptive plan of God for mankind. This biblical account is what’s known today as the Christmas story.

If you read carefully through the story, you’ll notice a particular phrase stated time and again: “…it came to pass.”

The repeated use of that phrase is a reminder from the Lord that no matter how oppressive your circumstance is, no matter how many mistakes you make, no matter what goes wrong in your life, the promise of God will still come to pass.