Daily Devotions
The 25 Days Of Christmas

Friday, December 12th

God Takes Away Our Fears And Gives Us His Favor

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“The angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the descendants of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary. And coming in, he said to her, ‘Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you.’”

Luke 1: 26-28

I love that as soon as the angel Gabriel was coming in, he said to Mary, “Greetings favored one! The Lord is with you.”
 
God wanted Mary to know right away that He was with her and that she was favored in His sight.
 
Oh that we all would know this immediately as well, that in Jesus Christ we too are favored ones and that our Lord is with us right now as “‘Immanuel,’ which translated means, ‘God with us’” (Matthew 1:23).
 
The next verse in Luke says of Mary, “but she was perplexed at this statement, and kept pondering what kind of salutation this was” (Luke 1: 19). Even though Gabriel had entered with good tidings of God’s favor and presence, Mary still was not sure about the nature of the greeting. So, once again, God graciously ministered to Mary through Gabriel’s saying, “Do not be afraid, Mary; for you have found favor with God” (Luke 1:30).
 
Oh yes, child of God, let your Lord take away all of your fears right now, so that you, too, may clearly hear and receive this same truth, that you have found favor with God. This is what God did for Mary. Gabriel saw that Mary was perplexed about His greeting, so He ministered to her with “Do not be afraid” and then he repeated once more that she was a favored one, saying “you have found favor with God.
 
Beloved, born again, child of God, you are favored of your Lord, and He is Immanuel, right now, to you and within you. If there is any thing at all perplexing to you about any of this, then let God reassure you by encouraging you to not be afraid. And then, with fears let go of, let your loving Lord restate once more that you have found favor with God.
 
God desires for us to see His favor and taste His presence within our innermost being this day, in His Son, our Savior, Immanuel. And even if we do have fears, God will restate His love and favor graciously, just as Gabriel did for Mary, until we, too, let go of our fears so we may instead embrace (and be embraced by) His favor and presence.
 
This blesses our Lord and this blesses our lives. So, bless Him today!

Hallelujah!