Daily Reading // Luke 1:26-35
READY // SILENCIO
Take a moment to quiet your mind and prepare your heart for your time with the Lord.
READ // LECTIO
Read the passage above up to threw times aloud. Allow yourself to feel the words as they are read.
REFLECT // MEDITATIO
Now direct your focus on the words, phrases concepts or sentences that got your attention. What is God speaking to you today through His word?
Luke 1:30 (NKJV) Then the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.
Favor with God. What’s more important than that?
I wonder what she thought would be the result of having favor with God. What would I expect as a result of being the favored one of God?
Would I think as His favorite I wouldn’t have any more worries or cares? This didn’t seem to be true of Mary’s life from this point on.
Would I think that being favored of God meant everything would be easy and smooth-sailing for me? That life’s problems and inconveniences would be a thing of the past? Mary was highly favored of God, but this wasn’t true for her.
Maybe being highly favored of God meant that I’d be set up financially. I certainly wouldn’t think this one would ever have to struggle to make ends meet.
Or maybe I could just play the ‘highly favored of God’ card whenever I needed to get out of tough situations. Sort of like a ‘get out of jail free’ card in Monopoly. That could be handy. I would take that.
Having favor with God doesn’t mean any of those things. It means being available to God. Being used by God. Knowing that your life makes a difference for God. Others will be ministered to through your life and obedience.
The word used here for ‘favor’ is much more commonly translated ‘grace’.
RESPOND // ORATIO
Pray in response to what the Lord has spoken to you.
Father, Thank You for Your favor in my life. I feel it and I rest upon it every day. Amen.