As we go through life professing Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, the enemy will wait for the opportunity to cause us to question what we believe. By having a calling on our lives, we will move forward doing as instructed by the Lord. This places us at odds with the enemy because he knows the Lord will use us to help others accept Him into their lives. He knows that he can’t overtake the will of the Lord. Therefore, he will create obstacles to attempt to distract us from what we are called to do. If this works, then he will try to attack what we believe. By raising questions about what we are called to do, the enemy wants us to start feeling inadequate. When this happens, we have to fight for what we believe and immediately remove the negative thoughts from our minds. Start praying, and believing the Lord will bring us through. Then tell yourself, I still believe. This is similar to what happened to Mary and Joseph.
Luke 2:1-7 unfolds the story of how Mary and Joseph had to travel from Nazareth to Bethlehem to be counted in the census. They were less than a month away from Mary having Jesus when they were ordered to go to Bethlehem. This took them about three weeks to travel because Mary was entering her ninth month of pregnancy. I know during this journey Mary was getting frustrated because traveling this distance was becoming uncomfortable as each day passed. Joseph was concerned because he didn’t want her to go into labor while they were traveling. No doubt, the thought was on their minds, why did God allow this to happen? The enemy was attacking from multiple directions to cause them to question God, hoping they would be rattled in what they believed. Once they arrived at Bethlehem, they felt the worse was over. All they had to do was get a room in the inn. However, there were no vacancies. I can imagine how they both felt, what will we do now? There was space made available in the stable for them to get some rest. Then Mary goes into labor. They are both thinking, God not now. These are not the conditions you want to give birth to a child. Mary is about to deliver the Savior of the world in a dark and smelly place. The enemy is thinking these obstacles will cause this couple to break, and weaken what they believe.
Once Mary delivered baby Jesus into the world, she wrapped Him in bands of cloth. Joseph was cleaning out the eating trough and then they laid Jesus in it. Once they stepped back and looked at Him in the manger, they said: we still believe. I want you to know that it doesn’t matter how bad a situation may look; when Jesus shows up, He will make everything alright. No matter what the enemy tries to do around you, don’t take your attention away from the One that has healed, delivered, and set you free. I want you to raise your hands and say, I still believe! Continue to walk in your blessings.
