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Learning from Mary. Joy!
14 Plays1 year ago
The third week advent is here! We talk about joy today, a deep lasting joy. We talk about how joy is a lasting emotion that comes from trusting God. Mary has this joy in her words in Luke 1:46-55- Mary Praises God. Here are some of the things we went through, that we learn from Mary Praises God.
- Mary Praises God first- we need to Praise Him first. We learn in James 5:13, to sing song of praises and if we are struggling pray!
- We learn in Luke 1:49 Holy is His name. We need to know God's amazingness and that there is no one like him.
- We learn He shows mercy to everyone who honors Him. We need to know His mercy and love!
- He has shown strength with His arm- we need to know His power.
- He has filled the hungry with good things- He provides for us! And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus- Philippians 4:19
- Luke 1:54- He has come to the aid of Israel. He sees us, and is faithful. What a gift and deep joy that He is our God!
The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; His mercies never comes to an end; they are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness- Lamenations 3:22-23
I hope this reminder of Mary's amazing words brings you joy- this season and all year!
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Transcript
Introduction and Advent Reflection
00:00:01
Filling You Up With Hope
Hi, it's Abby from Filling You Up With Hope, and I'm so thankful that you're here today. This is the third week of Advent, which is so weird, how close it is to Christmas, and it's just flying by. we Last week, we talked about peace,
00:00:26
Filling You Up With Hope
that the second week the candle represents peace and the deep peace, the shalom, um deep peace that we have from Jesus. And the third candle is all about joy.
Exploring Joy Through Mary's Story
00:00:42
Filling You Up With Hope
And we are going to talk about that today and we're going to get so much wisdom from God working through Mary and this beautiful section of Luke ah called, in my Bible, Mary praises God. And it's words that Mary says, and there's so much wisdom that we can take in to help us to connect to joy, connect to joy during this Christmas season and any time.
Understanding Different Sources of Joy
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Filling You Up With Hope
But it's hard this time of year for for many for many people, and joy
00:01:24
Filling You Up With Hope
is not something that comes easily to all of us. and And our definition of joy might be different from the Bible definition of joy. Joy to a lot of us, like when I think of what does joy mean, I think of when I was a kid at at Christmas, I was raised Jewish.
00:01:49
Filling You Up With Hope
And when I was seven, I had my first Christmas and Christmas was so joyful. Like I remember the the night before normally having a sleepover with one of my siblings, like sleeping in their room and that feeling of, oh my goodness, like intense, in my mind, joy. Like, oh, you know, tomorrow morning is going to be amazing. And,
00:02:17
Filling You Up With Hope
and just that feeling. And I think sometimes we try to get that feeling, right? we And something doesn't feel right when Christmas isn't a joyful time.
Defining Christian Joy
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Filling You Up With Hope
But maybe we need to think about deep joy and what, like, as Christian's joy means.
00:02:44
Filling You Up With Hope
and um And when I was looking into this, this is um like a more Christian definition of joy. It's a lasting emotion that comes from trusting God. And that's that's not, in my mind, um that's different from the earthly definition, right? The earthly definition, it's this wonderful feeling, but
00:03:18
Filling You Up With Hope
it goes away.
00:03:21
Filling You Up With Hope
And a lot of times we're chasing after it. And we get that joy from, from doing different things, right? From, like I said, being a kid at Christmas, from shopping, from um maybe it's different sports, depending on who you are, these moments of like adrenaline, that type of joy. And, but it's different.
00:03:49
Filling You Up With Hope
What we're talking about and the joy that I see in Mary is a joy because we have God deep down and we have it no matter what circumstances we go through. Even if this year, if even if at Christmas is a lonely time for you or a painful time for you,
00:04:17
Filling You Up With Hope
or you Or like a lot of people, you just don't like winter.
Challenges in Finding Joy
00:04:22
Filling You Up With Hope
There can be all sorts of reasons that this time of year is very hard, very painful. For my husband and I, we've had to travel have and live in different places for my husband's job. And there were many years where we weren't close to any family.
00:04:42
Filling You Up With Hope
And that was, that made this time of year hard and reminded me of the loneliness that I felt. And and you look for different things to to fill that void, right? But what like what we're talking about, no matter what this season is like for you,
00:05:10
Filling You Up With Hope
We need to connect to this to this deep joy. And it can be very challenging because sometimes it's been many, many years where we just, we don't feel joy. And especially this time of year, we don't feel joy. So how do we do it?
00:05:35
Filling You Up With Hope
And so we look back to this, the definition that I said, it's a la joy is a lasting emotion that comes from trusting God. And so when I was looking into this and thinking about who is joyful in the Bible, God put Mary in my heart. And Mary has that trust, right? Mary has that trust in God.
00:06:03
Filling You Up With Hope
She is told by an angel that, I know you're a virgin, but you're gonna you're going to become pregnant and it's gonna be an amazing baby. And he's gonna change things. and And Mary has trust. And Mary says, nothing is impossible for God. She says that,
00:06:34
Filling You Up With Hope
while the angel is telling her these things that are gonna happen, um she has that faith and that trust. And we need to take that in. Do we have the attitude of nothing is impossible for God? Even if this is a hard time of year, maybe it's been 30 years, you know, or maybe it's just been a couple of years, no matter what it is. and No matter how long, we need to know that God, that nothing is impossible for God and he is powerful enough to no matter what we're going through. No matter what we're going through, we can focus on him and he is where our joy comes from. Our joy comes from that he was born, Jesus was born,
00:07:33
Filling You Up With Hope
And he lived this life that we read the New Testament and we can learn infinite. We can learn, we need to learn infinitely from him. and And then he died for us and we have this new life with him.
00:07:57
Filling You Up With Hope
And that that is the deep, deep, deep joy that we just want to shout on the rooftops.
Learning from Mary's Praises
00:08:05
Filling You Up With Hope
It's like that beautiful song, go tell it on the mountain. um Because we want to do that because because of the joy. So I was thinking so i was thinking about this joy.
00:08:22
Filling You Up With Hope
and I just, there's so many things we can learn from Mary's words in Luke 46 through 55. So I'm just going to quickly read it and I encourage you to read it every day this week. Just taking it in because it's beautiful. And then there's a few things that we're, we're going to take in from it. We're going to take, I mean, wherever God is leading you, right? Take that into your soul.
00:08:53
Filling You Up With Hope
But these were a few things that God put on my heart. So first, here it is. And Mary said, my soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God, my savior. For he has been mindful of my humble status yeah state of his servant.
00:09:12
Filling You Up With Hope
From now on, all generations will call me blessed, for the mighty one has done great things for me. Holy is his name. His mercy extends to those who fear him. From generation to generation, he has performed mighty deeds with his arm. He has scattered those who are proud in their innermost thoughts. He has brought down rulers from their thrones, but has lifted up the humble. He has filled the hungry with good things.
00:09:42
Filling You Up With Hope
but has sent the rich away empty. He has helped his servant Israel, remembering to be merciful to Abraham and his descendants forever, just as he promised our ancestors." So this these are words that Mary said. She's visiting her relative Elizabeth, and Elizabeth is pregnant with John the Baptist, and they're together. And Mary just kind of says all of these.
00:10:11
Filling You Up With Hope
all of these words, all these beautiful words, while she has God in her, she's pregnant with God. And so the first thing, when we're looking at what she says, that that I take in, is my soul glorifies the Lord. The first thing is that she praises, she praises God. And that that That is something to do continually, even in the hard times, which it seems counterintuitive. Like why would we wanna thank anyone when we are hurting? But when we do that, when we praise God, it changes things. When it comes from a deep, real place.
00:11:07
Filling You Up With Hope
Not if we're fakely praising God, but when we take in that he, I'm alive because of him. Like his breath is in my lungs. it When we, when we take that in and we first praise him and we really, we really learn that from him with all of my heart, I glorify the Lord in the depths of who I am. I rejoice in God, my savior.
00:11:39
Filling You Up With Hope
Like, just reading that. And before we read it, praying, God, please may I take in these words. um So this is James 5.13. Has any among you in trouble? Let them pray. Is anyone happy happy? Let them sing songs of praise. So praising him, and if we're struggling,
00:12:07
Filling You Up With Hope
Was that like God is telling us through James that we need to pray. If we are really struggling and we're thinking, I can't, I can't do this. I can't praise him. I can't be joyful. Then we need to, we need to be praying like God connect me to joy, connect me to the joy of my salvation. Um, fill me with, fill me with that joy.
00:12:37
Filling You Up With Hope
help me praise you. Whatever it is that you're struggling with is needs to be a prayer.
00:12:46
Filling You Up With Hope
So, but then we go down and Luke 1 of 49, holy is his name. So do we, we're we're learning from Mary that we need to understand, which we can never fully understand.
00:13:04
Filling You Up With Hope
but we need to know God's amazingness. And do we understand like how set apart and how good he is? 1 Samuel 2, 2, there is none holy like the Lord, for that there is none beside you. There is no rock like our God.
00:13:30
Filling You Up With Hope
Like, do do we know of his goodness?
00:13:36
Filling You Up With Hope
And then going down, taking we need to take in his mercy and his love. This is Luke 1.50. He shows mercy to everyone from one generation to the next um who honors him as God.
00:13:58
Filling You Up With Hope
So do we really know, like his tenderness, His mercy, His love. Like me Mary is telling us of and this.
00:14:15
Filling You Up With Hope
And again, it's counter what we are going through. Because if we're hurting, it's hard to connect to God's mercy. But let's take in. This is Hebrews 4.16. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace and help in our time of need. So He will help us in that time of need. But we need trust. We need faith no matter what we are going through.
Relying on God's Strength
00:14:48
Filling You Up With Hope
But we need to take that step of turning to God, turning our hearts to Him, focusing on Him, no matter what we're going through, even if it's something really hard. And He will have mercy.
00:15:03
Filling You Up With Hope
He loves you, and we we really need to know that, and we need to know His power. Mary says, he has shown strength with his arm. That's Luke 1, 51. When we're feeling like really down and and ah and upset, we need to know that God is more powerful than our upsetness. God is no more powerful than our depression, than our anxiety.
00:15:32
Filling You Up With Hope
and So taking this in, but the salvation of righteousness is from the Lord. He is our strength in time of trouble. um so So in those times, like Mary is telling us, like God is working through him. David is telling us in the book of, in Psalm, right? In the Psalm that, and those,
00:16:02
Filling You Up With Hope
challenging times, we can't just sit in it. that That's the worst thing to do, right? Our minds can be our worst enemy. It happens so often. And in those times, we we need to be turning to him and knowing that he is strong enough to help us through.
00:16:29
Filling You Up With Hope
and that he's strong in enough enough for us to surrender whatever we're going through to him, because we have that joy, no matter what, which is really hard. And I've been through really hard times. I know many of us have, right? um But even in those really hard times, I know he was with me.
00:16:56
Filling You Up With Hope
and and and I know that I have eternity with him. Because that's how powerful, he's so powerful that he was raised from the dead. Like that's how, that's his, that's the power. So we we need to know his strengths. Like Mary knew he has shown great strength with his arm. Mary knew his power of the mighty one.
00:17:25
Filling You Up With Hope
um and
00:17:30
Filling You Up With Hope
He's so powerful and merciful that he provides for us. like it It doesn't feel like that sometimes, right, when we're having a really hard time, but he is taking care of you. He has gotten you through every day.
00:17:48
Filling You Up With Hope
um So heat this is Luke 1.53. This is part of Luke 1.53. He has filled Um, hungry with good things. So it's just, it's that knowledge that he is a great provider and he, um, and that gives us joy.
00:18:14
Filling You Up With Hope
philip Philippians 4.19, and my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus. So we need to put our riches, our treasure is God. And when we deeply, deeply, deeply know that, right, we know that he is going to take care of us, that he And I pray that you take the sin that He provides for you and He takes care of you. Mary, God's mother earthly mother, knew that. She knew he that He has supplied the hungry with good things.
00:19:06
Filling You Up With Hope
so And then, keeping going down these amazing verses. Luke 1, 54. He has come to the aid of Israel. So he's seen, he's Elroy, the guy who sees, he sees the pain ah of Israel. he saw He saw it when they were enslaved by Egypt and he
00:19:40
Filling You Up With Hope
set them free. We need to know that He is faithful. Like Mary's telling us that He's faithful, that He's there for us. This is Laminations 3, 22 through 23. So beautiful. The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases. His mercies never come to an end. They are new every morning. Great is your faithfulness.
00:20:09
Filling You Up With Hope
So, you know, I'm and having this hard time, but I know God is faithful. I know all the things that he has done and we can open our Bibles and we can see, and we can see in our own lives and other people's lives, the things that he has done, that he does every every day. he He wakes us up, right? and And we can say, but what about,
00:20:39
Filling You Up With Hope
you know, the pain that this person is going through. What about this person who lost their life? But when our faith is deep, we know that that God is good and that he takes care of those people even um no matter what, right? We know that be still and know that I am God.
00:21:09
Filling You Up With Hope
We know that he is God, he is faithful in all of these things, so we can trust him, even even if amongst pain, like we can trust him. so And he is these things, just reminding ourselves of that. And this amazing creator made you.
00:21:36
Filling You Up With Hope
And when we put our faith in Him and our trust in Him, that's, Mary is showing us right with God, working through her, that that's the deep joy, is is trusting that there is more than the situations that we go through.
Conclusion and Prayer for Joy
00:21:57
Filling You Up With Hope
There is so much more, there's and that more ah is God. And I just,
00:22:06
Filling You Up With Hope
pray this week that that we do have that deep joy that is the, it's the one joy that doesn't go away. Cause the other joys, like we were talking about at the beginning, they're fleeting, they're fleeting joys. So I just pray that you have deep joy this week and that you, you read the beautiful words of Mary praises God and, um,
00:22:35
Filling You Up With Hope
I just, I pray for you and I'm thankful for you and I will talk to you next week. Bye.