Shout and Encourage One Another with VOLUME
Now at this time Mary arose and went in a hurry to the hill country, to a city of Judah, and entered the house of Zacharias and greeted Elizabeth.
When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb; and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. And she cried out with a loud voice and said, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! And how has it happened to me, that the mother of my Lord would come to me? For behold, when the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby leaped in my womb for joy. And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what had been spoken to her by the Lord.”
Have you ever told someone “I can’t thank you enough!”
I lived in a culture once that had a phrase directly translated as “Thank you 1,000” which isn’t far from “I love you 3,000.”
That is what this word blessed means. It literally means to say a whole bunch of good words about and upon a person.
So let’s re-read it like that:
Oh Mary! Great Great Great! Oh! Gosh ! Mary! I’m so happy! God has done such a great thing! AAAAAH! I love it! Mary! Your baby! You are just so beloved by God and your baby that you are going to have! Oh My Goodness Mary! That baby! I can’t say enough! Oh Look at my shouting! Of course I’m shouting! Mary! You! Your baby!
Maybe you have experienced such a thing when a future Mother-In-Law spots that engagement ring or a young couple slides an ultrasound into a birthday card.
When we read the Bible, we have to always remember that it is an account of real things that happened. Elizabeth really did lose her mind for a little bit when Mary showed up. It was great.
At the same time, something spiritual was going on. Elizabeth knew (somehow) from Zechariah that their baby would be the herald of the Messiah. She also knew (somehow) when Mary showed up that Mary’s baby was that Messiah. Like going to an out of town conference and running into one of your bros from church, or being stuck in the return line after Christmas behind your 8th grade homeroom teacher, the realization that they were together in this was the icing on the cake.
They were both walking out God’s impossible-made-possible together.
Let’s cheer on our friends’ faith. Let’s tell them how awesome, oh my gosh, you guys, you are so awesome…let’s tell people how awesome they are! Let’s watch what the Holy Spirit births in all of us together, and cheer and shout it loud when we realize He’s doing the impossible in us together.
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