Laurie Hopkins

The cost/requirement for Mary is altogether different. The message required that she give up everything – her body, her reputation, possibly her life if she gets into the wrong hands as being pregnant before marriage is a stoning offence. It seems more straightforward and such a large cost to her.

However, over the years, I have come to recognize, that each person’s walk has its own costs and they are so very different and dependent on context that they cannot even be compared.

“And Zacharius said to the angel,”How shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is well advanced in years.” (LUke 1:18)

“Then mary said, ‘Behold, the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word'” And the angel departed from her.” (Luke 1:38)

Zacharius asked for a sign and was mute until the promised child was named. Mary questioned how it was possible (sought understanding) but responded with surrender.  

A Sign or a Surrender.  What message is God giving to you today?  What kind of faith will you respond with?  Will you ask God for a sign?  or will you (despite not knowing or understanding “how it will happen”) lift up your voice and say like Mary “Behold, the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to Your word.” Or will you, like Zacharius, ask for a sign which the Lord will graciously give you but will leave you mute for the duration of the promise coming to fulfillment?

When Mary surrenders, God gives her the sign she hasn’t asked for (Elizabeth who was barren is with child) and the reassurance she will need “with God nothing is impossible”.  

Advent is not only a season of faith but one of surrender.  Will you surrender in faith today to what God has for you in the Advent season of 2020?  There is one month left in this year.  Let’s lean in, commit to the shift and finish strong

Stand Still

Jehoshaphat found himself in a situation.  Moab and the people of Ammon and others came up together to battle against him. 

Do you find yourself in a situation today?  A battle you did not initiate, one that you may or may not have even seen coming.  Nevertheless, you find yourself in the midst.

How did Jehoshaphat respond?  “Jehoshaphat feared……..and set himself to seek the Lord, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah…….So Judah gathered together to ask help from the Lord.”

It is not your first reaction that makes all the difference; it is the moment that you turn to the Lord that matters.  You may have started out fearful, but now, you know to turn your face to the one that holds the outcome of the situation in His mighty hands.

God was faithful to the seeking!  He spoke through Jahaziel to Jehoshaphat and the people that were gathered.

God is faithful to speak into your situation today if you will seek Him and listen!

“You will not need to fight in this battle. Position yourselves, stand still and see the salvation of the LORD, who is with you, O Judah and Jerusalem!’ Do not fear or be dismayed; tomorrow go out against them, for the LORD is with you.” 2 Chronicles 20:17

Fight= lacham= to eat of

Position- yatsab= set myself, put in place, as angles presenting themselves before God

Stand still = amad – stand, remain, endure, take one’s stand, cease, tarry, abide

See- ra’al= consider, perceive, inspect

Fear= yare-= awe or reverence

Dismayed= chathath = to be shattered, dismayed or broken

Tomorrow= machor=in future time, in time to come

You will not need to eat of this battle. Set yourself in place before God, stand, remain, endure, take a stand, cease, tarry, abide, and consider/perceive the salvation of the Lord, who is with your O Judah and Jerusalem. Do not stand in awe or reverence of your enemy or be shattered or broken, tomorrow and in the future time, go out against them, for the Lord is with you.  2 Chronicles 20:17

You do not need to “eat of” this situation.  The Lord is ready to fight for you, if only you would position yourself in Him, abide and perceive (not see in the natural sense, but perceive in the spiritual realm even before it can be seen in the natural) the victory that is before you, not just tomorrow as in the day after today, but as in your future. 

What situation do you find yourself in today?  Seek the Lord and listen to His instruction.  Then stand still and watch as He battles for you in this season.