BENEFITS OF DIVINE INTIMACY (4)

“...The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you...” – Luke 1:35

Divine Impregnation by the Spirit of God is paramount among the BENEFITS of DIVINE INTIMACY: “And the angel answered and said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God” (Lk. 1:35). What a privilege it was for Mary to be called and empowered to bear the Christ-child into the world! It was an incredible calling on her life to be chosen for the ministry of bearing the Saviour of the world and to be blessed by God in that way.

Mary’s encounter with Angel Gabriel is a model for every Believer in Christ who longs to be impregnated by the Holy Spirit, with seeds of divine dreams, visions, solutions, and answers. However, her story was not as smooth as it reads. Mary had become pregnant during the period of betrothal and, under the law of Moses, she faced divorce at the very least and possibly being stoned for her perceived behaviour. She had become a disgrace to the family and an embarrassment to Joseph and he considered a quick and quiet annulment of the betrothal, but for divine intervention. Even in such dire straits, God called her favoured: “Rejoice, highly favored one, the Lord is with you...” (v.28).

Mary’s life seemed like a mess, but there was an emerging miracle in that mess: Jesus Christ, the Saviour of the World. Whilst she considered the external situations and could only see mess, God saw through all that, the birth of a Miracle. Miracles often emerge as a process, not fully-grown; they need to be nurtured and safeguarded in the womb of our being. For Mary, the miracle was in the mess; but for nine months she had to carry it in secret. Even when people saw the signs of the life growing in her, heaped scorn and abuse on her, and misunderstood her, she still kept it secret and loved the miracle and guarded it with her own being. Even when she gave birth to the miracle, she had to care for it, nurture it, and guard it. That’s how to treat the seeds of dreams, visions, and other divine deposits God impregnates us with.

In the place of Divine Intimacy, God will transcend and use the chaos and mess of our lives to give birth to His miracle. The supposed chaos and mess make up the womb for miracles! If we observe our lives from a purely human perspective, we may only see mess. But if, through Divine Intimacy we try to discern God’s Hand on us, we’ll see miracles emerging from the mess. Sometimes, we need to sift through rubble and debris of bad decisions, inapt actions and wrong choices, for miracles to emerge from the seeds of dreams, visions, and divine deposits.