Get Positioned for ChristmasSample

 Get Positioned: Mary Contemplated

Joseph cooperated. The shepherds celebrated. Mary contemplated. 

Luke 2:17-19 "When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child,  and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. But Mary TREASURED UP all these things and PONDERED THEM in her heart." [NIV] What did Mary do right? While the others were amazed, Mary paid attention. Luke 2:19 "but Mary kept all these things in her heart and thought about them often." [NLT]. 

Do you pay attention to God's Word? You hear the Word and it burns in your heart? What do you do with the Word? Do you ponder or are you just amazed? Did you take the Word and quietly wrestle pondering on it as Mary did? While everyone else wondered, Mary pondered. 

To get all that God has for you, you have to go beyond wondering to pondering on God's Word. Mary obviously was amazed but she moved beyond being amazed to pondering on God's Word. She thought: What does this mean? What does that mean? 

In John 2, when the wine finished at the wedding in Cana of Galilee and Mary told Jesus about it and then instructed the servants to do whatever Jesus told them to do. Why? It is because she had incubated the Word. Mary was a woman of the Word. Are you a woman of the Word or are you a woman of the world? Are you a man of the Word or are you a man of the world? What dictates your decisions? 

• If you want to be blessed like Mary, you have to contemplate continually on God's Word. What will happen if you contemplate on God's Word this season?  James 1:25 "But if you look carefully into the perfect law that sets you free, and if you do what it says and don't forget what you heard, then God will bless you for doing it". The blessings do not come from underling the Word; pondering should lead to doing and God will bless you. 
• When you ponder on God's Word this Christmas, God's blessings are assured. Joshua 1:8 "Study this Book of Instruction continually. Meditate on it day and night so you will be sure to obey everything written in it. Only then will you prosper and succeed in all you do." 
• When you ponder on God's Word, you will succeed in all that you do. This Christmas, in the Name of Jesus Christ, God's blessings will rest on you and you will succeed in all that you do. 

Let's turn Mary's response into a prayer today: Lord, help me to ponder on Your Word and do what it says, in Jesus' Name.