BE IT UNTO ME ACCORDING TO YOUR WORD

"And Mary said, Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to Thy word."  (Luke 1:38).

"And blessed is she that believed: for there shall be a performance of those things which were told her from the Lord.  And Mary said, My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour."  (Luke 1:45-47).

Faith is an essential element of our walk with God.  Without it, it is not possible to please God (Hebrews 11:6).  Before any Christian work, before any ministry, before any sacrifice, there must be faith.  Jesus said, "This is the work of God, that ye believe in Him Whom He Hath sent."  (John 6:29).  So, our faith must be based on Jesus Christ, the Word of God made flesh, and what He speaks to us through the Holy Spirit as He leads us to fulfill that Word.  It is not a vague faith that stabs at some promise hoping that it is God's will; it is a revelation of God's will to our spirit through the Word of God.  Faith always comes by hearing first - but that's not all there is to it.  We can hear many things in a day's time from many different sources, some good, some bad; but it is what we hear from the Word that inspires us to real faith.  As we behold the glory of the Lord Jesus, we are inspired to believe that we can be like Him and we are changed - transformed - into that image by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Mary is a great example of faith.  For her to believe that she, a virgin, could conceive a child by the Holy Ghost and that that child would become the Son of God was outrageous in the natural.  Mary, however, trusted God and accepted His will for her, even if there were many, like her fiancé, Joseph, who may not have believed such a story and think the worst.  Her response to the angel Gabriel is wonderful.  "Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to Thy word."  She first acknowledged the Lord's authority over her life, referring to herself as His handmaid - a female bond slave or servant.  But then she fully accepted God's will for her.  "Be it unto me according to Thy word."

We sometimes struggle to believe the simplest things today.  Like Mary, we must understand that we are the servants in this relationship with God though.  We take our direction from Him, not the other way around.  Christians sometimes think that God will bless them regardless of the bad choices they make, and will answer their prayers no matter how selfish they are.

Also like Mary, we must trust that God's Word is truth, and that it is sure.  What He speaks to us, He will do; and He will not alter His purpose because it does not suit us.  The result of all of this is that we will be blessed in our lives and God will perform what He has promised us.  "And blessed is she that believed: for there shall be a performance of those things which were told her from the Lord."

The Lord has occasionally spoken to me in some amazing ways, but I have come to the conclusion that it is because I am spiritually dull and need much encouragement in my life.  I am constantly humbled by the lessons that He teaches me, and stand in awe at what is possible in Christ.  So, I share this story only to illustrate this message with something that I have been taught practically. 

Some years ago, I received word that a couple whom my wife and I knew were separating.  Being very close to this couple, we were extremely grieved by the news, and I determined to go and see if I could reason with them to stay together.  My wife and I went to the couple's home, but the husband had already moved to another town.  We talked with the wife and then asked for an address where we might find the husband.  She could only give us a phone number and the town where he had moved.  With this information, we decided we would drive to the town, find a phone booth (this was before cell phones), and call the man to get his address.  As we approached the town, I sensed the Spirit assuring me that He would direct us to this man without our having to call him.  I know this sounded crazy, but I chose to believe what I heard.  Neither of us were familiar at all with this town, but as we would approach an intersection, I just knew which way to turn.  We made first a left turn, and then a right, and drove up to a strip of apartments with numbers on the doors.  I looked at one door and said to my wife, "I believe that's it."  When we walked to the door and knocked, the man we were looking for answered, and we were able to go in and minister to him.  It may have been about God letting this man know that He loved him so much that He would lead someone to him to comfort him, but it was also for us to know that with God all things are possible. 

Faith is initially just a seed.  Like a grain of mustard it can be quite small.  The significant thing about a seed, though, is that it doesn't stay small, it grows!  The more we exercise our faith in the Lord Jesus, the more it grows until it is like a great tree in which others can find hope and shelter.

 

Faith works by love (Galatians 5:6b).  The more secure we become in someone's love, the more willing we are to trust them.  Christ has proven His love for us in that He gave His life for us to atone for the sins which we had committed.  He took our punishment upon Himself.  Why would we not then trust Him with our lives?  To begin with, our faith need only extend far enough to believe that God has sent His Son to be our Savior and redeem us from all that we have done to offend God's holiness.  As we mature, we learn to believe that Christ has also become our love, our joy, our goodness, our peace, and so much more.  In Christ we find strength to do what we could never do in our own strength or will.  No wonder Mary confessed, "My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour."  This will be our testimony also as we learn to love and trust our Savior.