Submitted (Daily Devotional)

Hello everyone, it’s such a delight to share from the lives of Godly women who have left behind wonderful examples of faith for us. And today we will look at the life of Mary, the mother of Jesus and how she trusted God and God did wonderful things in the life of Mary.

Let's look at a scripture Luke chapter and verse 38 where Mary says ‘Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word. And the angel departed from her.’ Now Mary was like the people of her times, the devoted people of her times who was waiting for the appearance of the Messiah. Just think about it, an ordinary girl waiting for the Messiah to be revealed. What would happen to one of us if the angel were to come to us and say that God has chosen you, you have found favor in the sight of God to be the mother of the Messiah? That's exactly what happened to Mary, she was a simple girl, she did have questions. So, she immediately asks the angel you know how can this be for I know not a man? She was not someone who was pretending but she was very honest and sincere in her question and the angel answered her and told her that this would happen because of the Holy Spirit. As soon as she knew that God was going to do it in His own way, her response is this in Luke chapter 1 and verse 38, she says ‘I’m the maid servant of the Lord (somebody who is surrendered, submitted to the Lord. I'm here to serve the Lord), Let it be to me according to your word.’ That is an example of a surrendered and a committed life.

How many of us would say that today if God calls us for His purposes? There are various things that need to be done in the kingdom and if God were to call us and say, this is what I want you to do, this is how I want you to serve the body of Christ, like Mary, we may have our questions, but can we come to a place where we say ‘Lord let it be to me according to your will’. And that's what Mary did. Mary is an example of yieldedness/ surrender, someone who gave into the purposes of God despite the questions that she had. She's also a person who believed that God can, she was ordinary, but she served an extraordinary God. And so, she knew that God could use anyone to release His purposes. And she said, okay God, I know that you can do it through my life, I can't do it, but you can do it. You are a great God. And so, she knew that God can, she also just surrendered herself for the cause of Christ, it wasn't easy, think about it, she was unmarried and to have somebody pregnant and being unmarried, there was a lot of reproach which she would have experienced before the birth of Jesus. Even after the birth of Jesus, we don't know the challenges that she went through, but she was willing. Taking on God's assignment and purpose may never be the easiest thing for us. We may have to go through difficulties to fulfill it, but like Mary sold out for the cause of Christ and that's important. And of course, what happened in her life was a miracle by the Holy Spirit. Even today, the Holy Spirit does miracles. So, let's be open to the working of the Spirit.

Let's pray together, Heavenly Father, we thank you that you are a great God, working through ordinary people. Lord your miracles are released through ordinary people and today, Lord, we yield ourselves the way Mary said, be it unto me according to your Word. Lord, whatever you say, we say yes to that, in Jesus’s name, we pray Amen.

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Daily devotions to strengthen your faith each day. Daily Devotional for Spirit filled living. Each daily devotion is about five minutes in duration. These daily devotionals are centered around a weekly theme. So there are seven daily devotions that focus on the theme and bring you insight, understanding and revelation from the Bible. Each week's theme is listed as a series. So you can listen to the current week's devotions or go to any previous theme/series that speaks to your present need (https://apcwo.org/resources/daily-devotions ). Also available free sermons (https://apcwo.org/sermons), and free Christian books (https://apcwo.org/books) to nourish and strengthen your faith.