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Christmas Playlist Devotional 14

by David Joynt on December 11, 2021


Luke 1:42, 45 | 42 and exclaimed with a loud cry, "Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. 

45 And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her by the Lord."

Elizabeth goes on to offer Mary specifically spiritual encouragement. She blesses Mary as a woman and as a mother and blesses her unborn child and then she blesses Mary for her trust in God’s purpose and her willingness to take on the calling of parenting the Messiah.

Elizabeth is reinforcing Mary’s choices and her obedient willingness to serve God in this extraordinary way. Time has passed since the Annunciation, when Mary was told of God’s plan. Her encounter with the angel is a memory. Swollen feet and back pain are her daily reality, and fear and uncertainty could have taken over her soul. Elizabeth is the antidote.

Encourage someone today by blessing some aspect of their work for God or their character as a disciple.

Tags: disciple, blessing, encourage

About the Author
David Joynt

Dave Joynt began his service as a pastor at Valley Presbyterian Church in Paradise Valley, Arizona in September 2014. This meant a move away from the Northeast, where he has a long history, growing up in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania and then serving congregations in Delaware and New Jersey for a total of 23 years.

Dave was nurtured in a great church in Bethlehem where his parents, Anne and Carey, served as elders. He graduated in classics from Lehigh University where his Father taught, and then from Oxford, where he met his wife Julia. Ordained in 1988, he completed a Ph.D. from Princeton Theological Seminary in 1993.

He and Julia have a son, Tristan, and a daughter, Madeleine.

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