BELIEVE

I see this word "Believe" in the stores on the beautiful Christmas decorations. What does it mean? Believe in God? Believe in Santa? We should believe, but we must believe in God. Read the account of the angelic visitation Mary experienced in Luke 1. Mary, the mother of Jesus asked the question, "How can this be?", when told that she would have a son. Because she was a virgin she asked the angel Gabriel to explain. Gabriel graciously proceeded to try and explain that the Holy Spirit would come upon her, overshadow her, she would have a child, and to name Him Jesus. He went on to say that the "holy Thing which will be born will be the Son of God". Sounds like a fiction movie! This was real however. Well, imagine what this kind of super-natural salutation might have been like. Although the angel greeted her with kind and favorable words, he had to encourage her to not be afraid. The Bible says that she was disturbed and confused. She managed to calm herself enough to ask him the question, "How can this be?" Did the angel give an understandable explanation? Not really. She accepted his response and believed that God's will would be done... somehow. In the face of insurmountable odds, when God presents to us His promises and His will for our life, we must believe that He will accomplish it, somehow. We must be like Mary in that she believed God's word for her life. She was trusted and obeyed. We must follow her example to trust and obey regardless of the circumstances we see. God has a good plan. May we BELIEVE GOD this season and see the fulfillment of His amazing plans He has for us! As the angels proclaimed to the shepherds in the fields, "Fear not...Glory to God in the Highest, peace on earth, and good will toward men!"