“And coming in, he (Gabriel) said to her, ‘Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you. Do not be afraid, Mary; for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name Him Jesus.'” (Luke 1:28, 30-31)
Favor with God. I guess another way of saying it is it’s being on God’s “good side.” That’s what favor with God is. (Yes!) It’s being the “apple of His eye.” It’s having God’s affection, care, love, involvement in your life, etc. That’s what favor with God is. (Yes!) Mary had all that (according to the angel). And what I want you to know is you can have it all, too (if you don’t already). You can have favor with God, too!
This is how you get it. Not by keeping the Ten Commandments. (You couldn’t do that anyway.) Not by being nice versus naughty. (It only takes one naughty to nullify all the nice.) Instead, it’s by faith in Christ. It’s by believing that Jesus is the Son of God who died for your sins on the cross and rose from the dead on the third day. (Romans 10:9-10) It’s by believing! And then bearing fruit in keeping with repentance. That’s how you get God’s favor. That’s how you become “born again.” (John 3:3)
That’s really what happened to Mary, isn’t it? (Indeed, she is an illustration/”picture” of all of us.) Jesus was conceived/born within her. Right? Christ took up residence (Colossians 1:27b) and ultimately was manifest through Mary to the world. (Luke 2:7) It’s God’s plan for all who place their trust (faith) in Him. Not to literally bear the Christ Child (don’t get me wrong), but to have Him dwell (via the Holy Spirit) within, nonetheless, and manifest without. (Galatians 5:22-23)
Believe.
About Pastor Mike
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This is only part of it. Repentance was left out. You cannot have salvation by belief alone. It is thru repentance and belief.
Mark 1:15 Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near….
Rev. 3:3 Repent, of your sin, or I will come to you suddenly and fight against them………..
Mark 6:12 They went out and preached that people should repent…….
Acts 17:30 In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent….
Acts 3:19 Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out…..
That is only a handful but we cannot continue to leave this out. Men has changed the gospel to: “if you believe say this prayer”- – this is a false gospel.
I dont understand much but this I do. The way this is written is very helpful and clear. If you’ve asked God for Repentance, accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Saviour, and have Faith, doesn’t that mean everything is going to be alright? That there is no need to worry or fear?