34And Mary said to the angel, How can this be, since I have no [intimacy with any man as a] husband?
35Then the angel said to her, The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you [like a shining cloud]; and so the holy (pure, sinless) Thing (Offspring) which shall be born of you will be called the Son of God.
Luke’s Gospel chapter 1 verse 26 through verse 38 is the section of scripture where the angel Gabriel comes to Mary and announces to her that she’s to give birth to the Messiah. I was struck by something from this section of scripture. When the angel announced to Mary that she had found favor with God and would conceive in her womb the Messiah, the Son of the Most High, Jesus; her response was simply HOW. That’s a legitimate question that many of us ask all the time. We are often faced with situations and circumstances that seem to be impossible. We find ourselves in prayer saying,”God how is this going to work out?” As I thought about this, I came to the conclusion that HOW is the wrong question. When Mary asked the angel HOW; his response to her was not necessarily about how but was about WHO.
You see in the Christian life, we face many things that are over our heads; beyond our ability and impossible in the natural. Therefore, the normal question is HOW. But the answer isn’t HOW; the answer is WHO. The Christian life is a WHO TO not a HOW TO. Gabriel’s response to Mary was “the Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you.” In reality that is not HOW. The WHO, the Holy Spirit, will do the work and he knows how.
The Christian life is not a formula, it is a relationship with a person. Any time we face situations and circumstances that challenge our ability, the answer is not how. We live the Christian life by the ability of Jesus through the power of the Holy Spirit. And He is the answer. The Angel went on to say in that same section of scripture that nothing is impossible to God.
Remember today, that whatever it is you may be facing, the answer is a WHO not a WHAT or a HOW. The answer is Jesus himself who lives in you; and the person of the Holy Spirit is prepared to share with you His ability and His power, because nothing is impossible to Him.
Have a great day experiencing Jesus is the answer to all your HOW’S.
Live Out Thy Life Within Me
Live out Thy life within me, O Jesus, King of kings!
Be Thou Thyself the answer to all my questionings;
Live out Thy life within me, in all things have Thy way!
I, the transparent medium, Thy glory to display.
The temple has been yielded, and purified of sin,
Let Thy Shekinah glory now shine forth from with within,
And all the earth keep silence, the body henceforth be
Thy silent, gentle servant, moved only as by Thee.
Its members every moment held subject to Thy call,
Ready to have Thee use them, or not be used at all,
Held without restless longing, or strain, or stress, or fret,
Or chafings at Thy dealings, or thoughts of vain regret.
But restful, calm and pliant, from bend and bias free,
Awaiting Thy decision, when Thou hast need of me.
Live out Thy life within me, O Jesus, King of kings!
Be Thou the glorious answer to all my questionings.