Jesus was always God's plan A.

Hugh Stephenson

Good morning, Katie, and good morning to all my JTJ siblings. Love this great observation from your devo. “In humility—as a young, unwed mother-to-be, surrounded by a society she knows won't believe what she's said—she chooses to trust the God who fulfills His promises, instead of fearing the worst.” I could insert many of my own fears and struggles in the first part of this quotation- and the last part would be the same. Choosing to trust. What that highlights to me is how much God wants me to know Him. And to trust Him so completely that surrender is the natural option. It’s easy if I have no other choices. But very hard if I talk myself into the lie that other options are better or easier. In John 15:5 God makes it very clear that it is only a secure attachment to Him that enables me to do anything. Apart from that, my life is guaranteed to be very hard. It might look good but the reality will be very different. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Q1. This is a HAHA question because the answer is “All of them”. For many years I was working to build a professional resume AND a church resume. The performance orientation of the culture was my DNA. I got lots of “attaboys”. It’s all just Satan’s white sugar; big high then a crash when it the rush evaporates. Ultimately embracing the full and complete atonement of Jesus was the only answer. In that, I was able to walk with Him in a way that allowed a deeper connection to the Holy Spirit. Prayer, study, and classes have trained and equipped me to be more fully engaged in the battle. Q2. Fear. Period. I want “peace, comfort, and security”. “New and unexpected” is not a phrase I want to embrace. Most of the time, the “new journey” is only embraced when I have no other option. That said, in recent months, the Spirit is opening my eyes and calming my heart as some new journeys come into view. Q3. 11 years in recovery and discipleship have brought me to embracing the truth that all 7,487 promises in His Word are true; (cue the “tap, tap, clap” Bible song we sing with the kids).

Hugh Stephenson

How important is humility? Would God ever give an excessively proud person a blessing? How about someone who was really deserving through a lifetime of selflessly serving others? Here is a really fascinating comment about the attitudes of the leaders of Israel. "It is necessary here to recall our general impression of Rabbinism: its conception of God, and of the highest good and ultimate object of all things, as concentrated in learned study, pursued in Academies; and then to think of the unmitigated contempt with which they were wont to speak of Galilee, and of the Galileans, whose very patois [dialect] was an offence; of the utter abhorrence with which they regarded the unlettered country-people, in order to realize, how such an household as that of Joseph and Mary would be regarded by the leaders of Israel." As I understand this, Mary in Nazareth, which was in Galilee, was a non person in a non town in a non place. About as low as imaginable in the hierarchy. In various pastoral equipping classes one of the key concepts taught to me is to assess whether or not a person feels “seen and heard”. Early in Amy’s and my marriage we would go to communication work shops and were taught the same lessons.

Hugh Stephenson

Genesis 16:7-13 Hagar is the unmarried but pregnant Egyptian slave girl of Sarai, Abram’s wife. I can’t think of a lower position to be in than that. She is cast out into the desert. 7 The angel of the Lord found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, the spring on the way to Shur. 8 And he said, “Hagar, servant of Sarai, where have you come from and where are you going?” She said, “I am fleeing from my mistress Sarai.” 9 The angel of the Lord said to her, “Return to your mistress and submit to her.” 10 The angel of the Lord also said to her, “I will surely multiply your offspring so that they cannot be numbered for multitude.” 11 And the angel of the Lord said to her, “Behold, you are pregnant  and shall bear a son. You shall call his name Ishmael,  because the Lord has listened to your affliction. 12 He shall be a wild donkey of a man,  his hand against everyone  and everyone's hand against him, and he shall dwell over against all his kinsmen.” 13 So she called the name of the Lord who spoke to her, “You are a God of seeing,”for she said, “Truly here I have seen him who looks after me.” The name of God that she uses is El Roi. It is translated into several different forms. The one I like the most is “The God who sees me.” It seems clear that God did not use merit in order to “see” Hagar or Mary. He simply chose to act to favor each of them with absolutely no merit on their part whatsoever. What I come to is an understating of God sovereignty that conveys a powerful statement of His “unmerited favor.” There are no reasons for Hagar or Mary to be favored except perhaps to answer my original questions- Excessive pride is not a winning factor. Neither is merit. But God seems to favor those with a surrendered and humble heart. Proverbs 3:34 —————————————————————————————————— 1 Samuel 2:1-11 is Hannah’s song. It’s a very interesting comparison in that she is also barren. I note this verse from the prior passage- “And in due time Hannah conceived and bore a son, and she called his name Samuel, for she said, “I have asked for him from the Lord.”

Sue Bohlin

Thank you, Katie! Growing up Catholic, I was taught a perspective on Mary that goes WAY beyond the scriptures. She was elevated to the position of goddess, to be blunt, complete with superpowers. Like being able to read my mind and hear my silent prayers to her. I was taught by the nuns to pray to her because "she was a girl and she can understand me in ways Jesus can't because He was a boy." Now I understand that these well-meaning ladies were not taught biblical theology, and they were just passing on what they had been taught. I'm not mad at them anymore. But now that I've read everything the Bible says about this very important woman and fellow Christ-follower, I have a much better perspective on who she is. Her prayer, the Magnificat, contains a powerful word that tips off God's perspective on His chosen vessel: she calls Him her Savior. Sinless people (as I was taught Mary was) do not need a savior, but Mary knew that she did. I will never forget a conversation with another young woman about Mary where I brought up this passage. She shrugged off the fact that Mary called God her Savior, seeing it as just a nice label for God and not necessarily an admittance of her need for one. It was eye-opening for me; I learned that people's cherished beliefs are not easily discarded, even when shown evidence they are not true. We can hold onto our beliefs not only with our heads but also our hearts, and it can take the supernatural work of the Holy Spirit to convince us to let go of false beliefs so we can grab onto something better--something TRUE. I learned how important it is to pray for God's intervention and grace to change one's mind, because we can be foolish and stubborn people . . . about ANYTHING. Which is why one of my prayers for myself is, "Lord, please show me where I am deceived--show me my blind spots, Because I can't see them without Your help. And please give me Your grace to let go of my false beliefs and embrace what is true."

Greg Jones

Great dive this morning on Mary’s song and making it applicable for today. Mary’s Magnificat (1:46-56) is the first of four songs in Luke 1-2. The song is modeled on Hannah’s prayer 1 Samuel 2:1-10. Mary’s “lowness” is the same Greek word used for Hannah’s “misery” (tapeinosis-“low estate”) Luke’s Gospel presentation of Jews and Judaism is complex. On one hand, especially in the first two chapters, Jesus birth and life is described within a vibrant Jewish environment of faithful Jews engaged in faithful Jewish practices. Zechariah the uncle is a serving priest in the Jerusalem temple. Joseph and Mary visit the temple to dedicate their son and celebrate Passover. The circumcisions of John and Jesus are both described. On the other hand the synagogue is depicted as a place of violence Luke 4:28-28. Israel’s continual failures are detailed while the fidelity of Gentiles and Samaritans is highlighted. Luke engages in scathing caricatures of Pharisees and Chief Priest, the harsh rhetoric resembles the biblical prophets and the Dead Sea Scrolls writings. (Jews being critical of Jews-on the record or in writing). The distinction with Luke is, that Jesus’ criticisms against his, fellow Jews, are now embedded in a text directed primarily to Gentiles. Luke doesn’t know, or presume readers to know Jewish customs. Jewish practices are sometimes defined (e.g. 22:1) and sometimes erroneously presented (e.g. 2:22)-there was no purification ritual required for fathers or newborns. Thus the consensus view is that the author is a Gentile writing to a primarily gentile audience. Some scholars suggest that the first two chapters are additions to the gospel created early in the second century and designed not to foreground the practice of Judaism but to counter the arguments of Marcion and Marcionism. Source:Jewish Annotated New Testament.

Michael Scaman

Mary refers to God helping the humble and resisting the proud quite a bit. Lifting the humble, God reaching down and lifting up the lowly sitting them with princes is in Psalm 113, the start of the passover psalms, and is an echo of God in Christ , the poor man persecuted by Judas in 109 and raised to God's right hand in 110. (until God deals with his enemies and in the second held God is also at the man's right hand dealing with the enemies with the man involved in the fight). It is God who does the lifting of us.

Amy Lowther

1. I have gone through the “I’ve got things under control and it will be fine” stages, trying to achieve personal goals and financial goals, but nothing worked like it did when I used God’s way. Christ paid a price through his life, death, and resurrection for each of us. From this, I learned the importance of good values and to act with courage to do good things in life. 2. When facing something new, I ask God for His help, and I work to do it His way. Typically I become nervous, but I know God will help me do what is right. 3. It is always best for me to let God have control, not my nerves. My community prays a lot. Katie- Thank you for sharing your ideas Katie. I am happy for you that family, community, and a stranger named Kenny helped you understand salvation. It’s precious and can relieve a lot of unwanted pressure. I am also happy you said, “But in these verses Mary doesn't rest in fear of what's to come, rather she recalls with reverence, joy, and praise who God is and what He has promised. In humility—as a young, unwed mother-to-be, surrounded by a society she knows won't believe what she's said—she chooses to trust the God who fulfills His promises, instead of fearing the worst.” May unwed parents do the same so they will have more chances of raising healthy babies and more chances of having healthy relationships.