Week 2 Christmas Challenge, Liminal SpaceSample

You may have noticed that we’re still in our text—that’s three days running! But it isn’t redundant—just wait and see… 

Luke 1:13b-17 (CEB): “Your wife Elizabeth will give birth to your son and you must name him John. 14 He will be a joy and delight to you, and many people will rejoice at his birth, 15 for he will be great in the Lord’s eyes. He must not drink wine and liquor. He will be filled with the Holy Spirit even before his birth. 16 He will bring many Israelites back to the Lord their God. 17 He will go forth before the Lord, equipped with the spirit and power of Elijah. He will turn the hearts of fathers back to their children, and he will turn the disobedient to righteous patterns of thinking. He will make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”

In Day 1 we explored Elizabeth’s and Zechariah’s posture of surrender. In Day 2 we celebrated God’s characteristic of generosity. And in Day 3 we are focusing on John’s mission. 

From these verses it seems that John’s mission is to ‘make ready a people prepared for the Lord’. And, though each of us may also have specific missions given by an angel of the Lord, they are each at least compatible with, if not substantively overlapping this mission, to prepare people for Jesus. How are you faring in this noble endeavor? 

If there is any room for improvement, it might be worth analyzing the conditions of John’s life and service for the Lord to see if there are any tips to apply. What was to characterize John’s life?

• joy and delight (verse 14); 
• consecration (the Nazirite bit in verse 15); 
• holiness (filled with the Spirit in verse 15); 
• intimacy (‘before the Lord’, verse 17);
• spirit of Elijah (verse 17); 
• power of Elijah (remember that Elijah was a ‘super’power back in the Old Testament, verse 17); 
• persevering (we infer this because he plunged into some of the most difficult challenges, domestic relationships, and changing hearts and rebellious mindsets, verse 17).

There is a supernatural combination of John’s willpower and commitment (joy and delight, perseverance, consecration, and intimacy) and God’s endorsement (holiness, intimacy, spirit and power of Elijah). 

What’s stopping you (and me!) from imitating John’s willpower and commitment and believing for God to duplicate His anointing (or, if we can get ambitious, replicated Elisha’s ‘double-portion’ anointing!)?