Mary had been offered the chance to be the most blessed woman on earth when the Angel Gabriel appeared to her and told her that she will be the mother of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

In fact the angel’s salutation confirmed Mary’s predestined call of God “Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women.” (Luke 1:28 KJV)

This was a miracle of God because Mary had not slept with Joseph as yet. The angel said she will conceive in this manner “the Holy Ghost shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God”(Luke 1:35 KJV).

Soon after Mary went to see her cousin Elisabeth who had also become pregnant in her old age, six months previously. The angel had also told Mary about this pregnancy of Elisabeth’s which was also a miracle because she was advanced in years although Elisabeth’s child was fathered by Zacharias (Luke 1:36,37 KJV) whilst Mary’s was by the Holy Spirit.

One of God’s principles is that
“In the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established” (2 Corinth. 13:1 KJV).

It is therefore not surprising that Mary’s blessed and elevated status by God was also confirmed a second time by Elisabeth
“And it come to pass, that, when Elisabeth heard the salutation of Mary, the babe leaped in her womb: and Elisabeth was filled with the Holy Ghost: and she spake out with a loud voice and said, Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb…” (Luke 1:41,42 KJV).

Elizabeth also expressed under the anointing of the Holy Spirit, that she deemed herself lowly in comparison to Mary and therefore privileged to have been visited by her “And whence is this to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me”.
This is because her spirit had received the Word of God imparted by the Holy Spirit within her that Mary’s child was her Lord, the Messiah of Israel.

Mary accepted her predestined call of God to be the mother of Jesus by saying “…behold the handmaid of the LORD; be it unto me according to thy word, And the angel departed from her” (Luke 1:38).

“My soul doth magnify the Lord, And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour. For he hath regarded the low estate of his handmaiden: for, behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed. For he is mighty hath done to me great things; and holy [is] his name”(Luke 1:46-49).

Elisabeth under the anointing of God said to Mary “blessed is she that believed: for there shall be a performance of those things which were told her from the Lord.”(Luke 1:45).

It is evident that the Holy Spirit was mightily at work in bringing to pass the prophetic will of the almighty God in the lives of these two women. Elisabeth was pregnant with John the Baptist prophecied in times of old (Is.40:3/Mal 3:1) to come before the Messiah so as to prepare the way for him and Mary was to become the Mother of the Messiah, our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ awaited by Israel and prophesied numerous of times in the Old Testament (Is. 7:14, Is. 9:6, Micah 5:2, Zech. 9:9).

Brethren this should encourage us to continue in daily fellowship in the Spirit and be full of the Holy Spirit.(1 Corinth 2/Eph 5:18). This is because by the anointing of the Holy Spirit within and upon us we know and accept readily the will and purposes of God as Mary and Elisabeth did.

When we are full of the Holy Spirit we are able to overcome every temptation of Satan as Jesus Christ when “full of the Holy Spirit” following his baptism he overcame Satan’s temptation while in the wilderness for 40 days and nights (Luke 4:1-2).

In addition, when we are full of the Holy Spirit, like Stephen (Acts 7:55-56)  we are able to connect with God or access Him and gain understanding of His will through revelation which may come in the form of visions or dreams.

In relation to the birth and ministry of Jesus, God indeed chose the royal line of David as a lineage through which Jesus would come as the King of the Jews and the world wide “King of Kings and Lord of Lords” by choosing Joseph from the line of David as Jesus’ earthly father.

God also wanted to affirm Jesus from the onset through his ancestral lineage as not only royalty but priestly as well. This will confirm or prophetically correlate with his supernatural calling as the High Priest who will make a once and for all atonement for the sins of the world through his sacrificial death (also being at the same time the once and for all sacrificial lamb). God decided to do this by choosing a young woman, Mary from the lineage of Aaron the priest. She was the cousin of Elizabeth who is said to have been of the “daughters of Aaron” (Luke 1:5) and I discern this means Mary was also from that lineage.

Despite the priestly lineage in times of old being accorded generationally only to men, lo and behold the LORD had taken two women Elizabeth (John the Baptist’s mother, John prepared the way for Jesus) and her cousin Mary (mother of Jesus) from among the “daughters of Aaron” (vs 5) or female descendants of Aaron (priestly lineage) to be a sign and a wonder in Israel and among the nations for generations to come. They were used as vessels of God’s supernatural miraculous plan for world redemption.

Therefore if you are a woman, or even a man with a wife, daughters and sisters, let this remind you and be an encouragement to you that promotion does indeed come from the LORD regardless of gender. For God does not allow established norms that dictate a man and woman’s place in society to prevent Him from bringing to pass his predestined plans and purposes. He can choose to overrule, sidestep or supernaturally intervene in matters which appear set in concrete by humanity such as what a man or a woman cannot or should not do, so as to bring to pass His divine will. He will do this in a way only He as God can do.

While the male Aaronic priestly natural office came to an end as did its significance, Mary’s supernatural office as a divinely chosen ‘priestess’ (a natural descendant of Aaron) in service to God for bringing forth Jesus Christ has been and will be remembered significantly and from generation to generation; she is the all time blessed and highly favoured of all women.

Mary sang a song of praise (Luke 1:46-55) to the Lord at Elisabeth’s house in which among other things she said she considered herself of “low estate” (vs 48 KJV) and yet chosen by God so that all generations will call her blessed.

What did Mary mean by “low estate” ? Perhaps she thought of her status as a woman in those times and also her families’ economic and social background and even as one betrothed to Joseph who although of the Royal line of David is not shown in scripture to have had any prestige or elevated status in society.

Has society made you feel stereotyped and therefore of “low estate” because of your race, social and economic status/background, nationality and gender? At times it is so subtle and can make one feel caged and having to conform to what one feels society has labelled one. One may also feel confined to doing somethings and prohibited from doing other things. It is time to break free from the lies of Satan in Jesus’ name!

Jesus came to set the captives free and when we abide in him there is no limitations as to how and for what purpose He can use you regardless of who you are as a person (race, gender, culture, nationality) or what job you do.

We can therefore gain encouragement from the fact that if we as Mary consider ourselves to be of “low estate” whether make or female, it will not stop God from using us for His divine purposes. On the contrary, it may be the very thing that would compel Him to choose us so that we manifest as His favoured ones, blessed before multitudes for generations to come as in the case of Mary.

We can all, who believe in Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour, do all things through Christ who strengthens us!
My prayer is that we would always make ourselves available to God by allowing Him to transform us daily preparing us to be as Mary and Elisabeth, priests in service unto God, birthing righteousness for the sake of world redemption from now through to 2016 and beyond.

We give thanks and praise to God that He chose us to be among the people of God who are from every race, culture, social and economic status/ background and nationality called out of darkness into His light as heirs with Christ, endowed with his kingly and priestly anointing;

“.. Ye [are] a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light..” (1 Peter 2:9 KJV).

You are blessed, determine to stay blessed.

Deborah Esther
©Deborah E. Nyamekye 23/12/2015

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