{"id":16481,"date":"2013-12-25T00:30:19","date_gmt":"2013-12-25T06:30:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/?p=16481"},"modified":"2013-12-25T08:41:36","modified_gmt":"2013-12-25T14:41:36","slug":"joy-came","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/2013\/12\/25\/joy-came\/","title":{"rendered":"Joy Came"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"SeekingHimLogo\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Each week during the season of Advent, our blogs will focus on a central theme which is associated with the coming of Christ\u2014His Advent. \u00a0This final week\u2019s theme is\u00a0JOY<\/span>.\u00a0 Christians throughout the world celebrate Advent. \u00a0Some light candles or sing songs; some give gifts or \u00a0hang\u00a0wreaths. \u00a0All of these are simple joyous\u00a0ways of extending the celebration\u00a0of Jesus\u2019s coming beyond a mere 24 hours on\u00a0December 25.\u00a0Our prayer is that these devotionals\u00a0throughout\u00a0this season of Advent would help you to celebrate His first Coming and anticipate with\u00a0the peace\u00a0and joy of His second Coming.<\/h3>\n

In a garden, a dark-colored flower next to a white flower presents a contrast that is more striking when the two come together than if either is presented by itself.<\/em><\/span><\/strong>
\nNow, journey from a garden to the Bible…. Elizabeth and Zechariah were old when Gabriel told Zechariah his wife would have a son and they were to name him John. But Zechariah was struck with silence for a while because of his lack of faith that this could happen with certainty. \u00a0(See Luke 1:11-23<\/a>.) \u00a0Elizabeth became pregnant and her response was, \u201cThe Lord has done this for me\u2026\u201d (verse 25). \u00a0She gave God the glory.<\/p>\n

Months later, Gabriel appeared to Mary and told her, \u201cYou will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High\u2026\u201d (verses 31, 32). Mary asked how this was to happen since she was a virgin. (But she was not questioning whether or not it would happen.)<\/p>\n

The angel answered, \u201cThe Holy Spirit will come upon you,
\nand the power of the Most High will overshadow you.
\nSo the Holy One to be born will be called the Son of God.
\nEven Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child a child in her old age,
\nand she who was said to be barren is in her sixth month.
\nFor nothing is impossible with God.\u201d
\n\u201cI am the Lord\u2019s servant,\u201d Mary answered. \u201cMay it be as you have said.\u201d
\nVerses 35-38<\/p>\n

Zechariah\u2019s lack of complete faith is contrasted against Mary\u2019s complete surrender and faith. \u00a0Catch the heart lessons as we move toward the reason of ultimate joy.<\/p>\n

Mary quickly went to Elizabeth. \u201cWhen Elizabeth heard Mary\u2019s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit\u201d (verse 41). Elizabeth proclaimed, \u201cAs soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy<\/span>. Blessed is she who has believed that what the Lord has said to her will be accomplished!\u201d (verses 44, 45). \u00a0Joy<\/span> happens when the beauty of Scripture takes place as it has been foretold (Jesus is coming!) and when one witnesses the great faith in God of another. Both of these things happen in the wonderful encounter between Mary and Elizabeth. It\u2018s a joyous<\/span> time as the spotlight is turned toward Jesus\u2019 coming.
\nWhat the prophets\/Scripture had been foretelling for many years was finally about to happen: Jesus was coming soon<\/em>! \u00a0Mary breaks into praising God right after her encounter with Elizabeth. \u00a0And Zechariah praises God out loud when his silence is broken soon after John the Baptist\u2019s birth.<\/p>\n

Two different journeys led to paths of praise (joy<\/span>) when faith in God was the focus. Difficulties, hard times, miracles, and waiting can all produce joy<\/span> when people have faith in God. \u00a0Let\u2019s all be reminded of Gabriel\u2019s words: \u201cNothing is impossible with God\u201d (Luke 1:37).<\/p>\n

Then, the day finally arrived! Mary was there when some of the most joyous<\/span> verses in all of Scripture happened and when silence was broken with a baby\u2019s cry:<\/p>\n

While they were there, the time came for the baby to the born,
\nand she gave birth to her firstborn, a son.
\nShe wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger,
\nbecause there was no room for them in the inn.\u201d
\nLuke 2:6, 7<\/p>\n

Jesus brought boundless, complete joy<\/span> to a world that would never be the same again! The Light of the Word came to a dark world!<\/p>\n

\u2026the people living in darkness have seen a great light;
\non those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned.
\nMatthew 4:16<\/p>\n

* * * * *\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Dear Lord, let us have boundless joy over Your coming to earth to be the Savior of the world! \u00a0We give You great praise and glory through our faith! \u00a0Let us love and adore You this Christmas season and for all times! \u00a0In Jesus\u2019 precious Name we pray, Amen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Each week during the season of Advent, our blogs will focus on a central theme which is associated with the coming of Christ\u2014His Advent. \u00a0This final week\u2019s theme is\u00a0JOY.\u00a0 Christians throughout the world celebrate Advent. \u00a0Some light candles or sing songs; some give gifts or \u00a0hang\u00a0wreaths. \u00a0All of these are simple joyous\u00a0ways of extending the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":121,"featured_media":13840,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3020],"tags":[4651,4888,4887,3175,1287,425,4886,4884,4642,4885],"class_list":["post-16481","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-devotions","tag-advent","tag-advent-week-4","tag-boundless-joy","tag-cheris-gaston","tag-gch","tag-girlfriends-coffee-hour","tag-joy-came-to-the-world","tag-luke-111-45","tag-luke-26-7","tag-matthew-416","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/SeekingHimLogo.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p39pHp-4hP","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16481","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/121"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16481"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16481\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16485,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16481\/revisions\/16485"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13840"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16481"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16481"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16481"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}