A Promise Within

A few weeks ago I was listening to a live stream of a sermon in which Oneka McClellan talked about how Mary and Elizabeth in the Bible encouraged one another during a difficult season. Something else dropped in my mind about their situations. They both received promises that they had to embrace and carry although it was difficult or even somewhat inconvenient. 

Mary was a virgin girl engaged to Joseph. An angel appeared to her and told her that she was to chosen to carry God's son. He would be incubated in her and she would give birth to him. It wasn't a convenient time. She was engaged, what will her fiance think? What will her neighbors say when they see her body starting to change? It was a lot to take in but she accepted the angel's message. God took care of her fiance behind the scene and he had his own visitation.

Elizabeth, on the other hand, was elderly. She didn't have the option of accepting or refusing the promise but she had joy in the midst of her pregnancy. Pregnancy is tough on a young woman's body, and it gets harder with age. Even though she did not pick her situation, Mary found her joyful when she visited her (Luke 1: 45). She blesses her saying " Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfill his promises to her."  Could you imagine what Elizabeth's neighbors would say when they noticed her womb growing? They would probably stare at her making her self conscious, even her husband did not believe she could have a baby at her age. Elizabeth chose to walk through what surrounded her focused on the promise and not the circumstances. She didn't seem to have the same attitude her husband did.

You also have a promise within.

If you are a son or daughter of God there is a promise within you. There is a unique gift God has placed within you that can only be expressed by the help of his Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit lives within, and He is the counselor Jesus left behind to bring forth that promise. Roman 8:19 states that " the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God."
( NKJV). Someone around you or in your circle needs you to walk in that promise. Your gift is not meant to be kept under wraps. It is meant for others around you. It is meant for the body of Christ. Sometimes it is meant for those outside the body of Christ. The manifestation as a son of God cannot come purely by our power. Sometimes what God asks of us seems too big for us so we push it aside or ignore it but it is that suggestion that keeps coming to you when you pray. It keeps coming back week after week and month after month. You feel like this is something nice you would love to do but you end up pushing it aside.

Rely on the Holy Spirit for his help

Jesus introduces the Holy Spirit to his disciples before he is crucified. He says " He is the Holy Spirit who leads you into all truth. The world cannot receive him, because it isn't looking for him and doesn't recognize him. But you know him because he lives with you now and will later be in you (John 14:17 NLT version). It is no secret that circumstances around us can distract us from living out what God has called us to be and to do. We need to make a choice to focus on the promise and to see it through to the end. The Holy Spirit is not a dictator, he does not force us, he gently prods and encourages. We have to choose to seek out His promise for our lives and walk in it.