‘God Had Jesus and Mary in Mind Since the Beginning of Time’

Joy is born this Christmas season.

Read these three keys to your Christmas happiness this season — let’s plunge right in.

1.) Don’t worry! God’s got plans. He thinks years ahead of you.

God chose a young, beautiful girl to be the mother of His divine Son. The Bible says the angel tells Mary that though she is a virgin, she will be “overshadowed” by God’s Spirit in order to give birth. This was not a forceful “overtaking” but a gentle and powerful movement of the Spirit.

Amazingly, this is the same language used for the way the golden cherubim’s wings “overshadowed” the mercy seat of the Ark of the Covenant. In this, we see a type of Mary with Jesus in her womb found in the Old Testament about 1,000 years before Christ.

The Ark contained the tablets of the Ten Commandments, a jar of manna and Aaron’s rod. Let’s see how these point to Jesus: Jesus is the Word of God made flesh, the Bread of Life come down from heaven — and our great high priest. Mary is the vessel in which He was kept.

What joyous news. God had Jesus and Mary in mind even since the beginning of time, as they are also called the new “Adam” and the new “Eve” because through Mary’s yes to God and Jesus’ obedience — all things are made new.

Worried about your future in 2019? Don’t! God’s got this!

He is waaaay ahead of you. Thank Him that He is here right now — and that He will meet you there in the future as well.

2.) Jesus’ Father was God, who is Spirit. And so Jesus’ flesh must have looked like Mary’s. Jesus was fully God and fully man. He came to show us how to be both as well.

His lived humanity shows us how to be kind, gentle and forgiving — all the beauty and innocence of His mother Mary — and He also came to teach us to be divine, like His Father.

What joyous news. We, too, get to be a mix of human and divine.

Don’t think you’ve got what it takes? Think again. You plus God is always enough!

Need “more” God? Open wide the doors of your heart and let the Spirit of God come in power. Do it now. And thank Him that He lives inside of you.

3.) Because Jesus came in the flesh to redeem all of mankind, that makes us all one in the body of Christ. How do you feel about the other members of Christ’s body? Over the holidays, you may get a chance to be up close and personal with many you don’t see too often — and quite frankly, are very happy with this situation. Some of these people are what Rick Warren calls “EGRs” — “extra grace required” individuals.

What joyous news. We do not have to love the EGRs in our own strength but can ask for the grace (unearned favor) from God to come and love them through us.

Ask for this grace now — and then thank God for all He will do to enable you to love even the most unlovable this Christmas.

“The angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; for behold, I proclaim to you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For today in the city of David a savior has been born for you who is Messiah and Lord” (Luke 2:10-11).

Dear Lord,
Thank You for coming to earth to free me from anxiety about the future, giving me Yourself that always makes me enough, and sending me your Holy Spirit to enable me to love all the EGRs in my life!

Thank you that Joy is born on this earth! Let it be born in me.

I ask this in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Melissa Overmyer is founder of Something Greater Ministries in Washington, D.C., and has taught the Bible for over 30 years.