A daily devotional moment by Chris Garcia
Luke 1:39–56 (NKJV): Now Mary arose in those days and went into the hill country with haste, to a city of Judah, and entered the house of Zacharias and greeted Elizabeth. And it happened when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, that the babe leaped in her womb; and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. Then she spoke out with a loud voice and said, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! But why is this granted to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For indeed, as soon as the voice of your greeting sounded in my ears, the babe leaped in my womb for joy. Blessed is she who believed, for there will be a fulfillment of those things which were told her from the Lord." And Mary said: “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior. For He has regarded the lowly state of His maidservant; For behold, henceforth all generations will call me blessed. For He who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is His name. And His mercy is on those who fear Him from generation to generation. He has shown strength with His arm; He has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts. He has put down the mighty from their thrones and exalted the lowly. He has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich He has sent away empty. He has helped His servant Israel, In remembrance of His mercy, As He spoke to our fathers, to Abraham, and to his seed forever.” And Mary remained with her for about three months and returned to her house.
Exodus 15:22–25 (NKJV): So Moses brought Israel from the Red Sea; then they went out into the Wilderness of Shur. And they went three days in the wilderness and found no water. Now when they came to Marah, they could not drink the waters of Marah, for they were bitter. Therefore the name of it was called Marah. And the people complained against Moses, saying, “What shall we drink?” So he cried out to the Lord, and the Lord showed him a tree. When he cast it into the waters, the waters were made sweet. There He made a statute and an ordinance for them, and there He tested them,
Right before Mary gives birth to Christ, She is filled with the Holy Spirit and began to sing praise. She began to sing a song unto the Lord. She became the fullfilament of Miriam. In Luke 1:39-55, "Now Mary arose in those days and went into the hill country with haste, to the city of Judah (which means praise)." Do you think God is trying to tell us something here? She goes with haste to the city of praise and enters the house of Zacharias and greeted Elizabeth (John the Baptist's mom), "And it happened that when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary that the babe leaped in her womb." Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. Then she spoke with a loud voice and she said. Filled with the Holy Spirit she said loudly "Blessed are you among women and blessed is the Fruit of your womb. Why is it granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For indeed as soon as the voice of your greeting sounded in my ears the babe leaped in my womb for joy. Blessed is she who believed there will be a fulfillment of those things which were told to her from the Lord." Mary responds, “My soul magnifies the Lord, my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior. For He has regarded the lowly state of His maidservant.” This concludes in verse 56 with, “And Mary remained with her for about three months, and then returned to her house.” How long were they journeying in the wilderness? There are many prophetic fulfillments all over the Bible. In the book of Exodus, we see Miriam praising the Lord. Then they go into the wilderness for 3 days where the bitter waters become sweet. We see Mary who praises the Lord. She is also named Miriam, which stands for "praise." "And she is filled and praises the Lord." She stays there for 3 days. Where? In the city of Judah, the city of praise. Don’t get discouraged when you enter into praise and are entered into the wilderness of shur as mentioned in Exodus 15:22-25.
Praise is your greatest weapon. We focus on the Lord, not on our circumstances. We focus on the Lord, not our issues. Bitterness comes in when you focus on the issues because your eyes are no longer fixed on the Lord. When you focus on your issues, you are basically saying "God I don’t trust you." Praise is a declaration of fatih of who He is in the face of your situation. So in reality the question is whose report are you going to believe? The lies and deceptions? Or that of your creator Who time and time again has been there for His children? If you want God's perspective, you need to get into God's presence. But in order to get into God's presence, you need to get into praise. Praise, presence, perspective, perception, and prayer. It is prayer, praise, presence, perception, propose, and plans. Everything starts with prayer, then praise and perception. Pray and praise changes your perspective and your perception. Some of your mindsets need to be thrown into hell where it comes from. You need to stop focusing on the distractions. Praise brings His presence which releases His perspective. The reason why we are stuck, is because of our perspective. We see the glass as half empty. When in reality it is half full. For example, a person that does not get into the presence of God through praise and prayer, looks at everything as empty. But the person that gets into prayer and praise, sees fulfillment, sees the filling. Sees what looks like to be lack to be full from their perspective. Those that walk in the spirit do not walk in the flesh. They do not walk with the dictates and the perspectives of the flesh. Jesus was not led by His perspective of the flesh. He had the perceptions of the Father. Where everyone saw death, He saw life. Where they saw sickness, He saw healings. Everybody else saw lack, He saw abundance. Be like Mary in Luke “Make haste to get into the city of praise.” She made haste to be at the feet of Jesus.
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