Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. But the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end."
Mary had "found favor with God," but that favor did not mean instant success, power, money or fame. It meant that she would have to suffer ridicule and gossip. It meant that the man she was engaged to marry would come very close to turning away from her. It meant that she would end up having her baby in a stable, with donkeys and cattle as witnesses. It meant that she would have to flee with her husband to the foreign land of Egypt for fear of their child being murdered. It meant that she would have to watch her oldest son suffer and die on a cross.
But through her pain, her son would be the only hope of the world. Through her pain would come the One who would provide salvation to all who will accept it. Through her pain, God would illustrate His infinite love for mankind. Through her pain, God could finish His plan.
God has a plan for your life, too. But the road that follows His plan is often rocky and rough. Most of us require a large amount of honing before we become a shining reflection of Jesus. We have many, many rough spots that God must “polish away” before we can reflect Jesus to the world in the way He wants us to. And before we can accomplish what He has for us to do, we have to be educated, we have to learn through His Word and through the school of hard knocks exactly how we are to handle the job He’s given us. But, just like Mary, through our pain, He is able to make His glory shine to the world around us.
If you are a born again believer, you have "found favor with God." And that doesn’t mean smooth sailing. That means that God will do whatever it takes to mold you into the person He wants you to be. So if your life is rough right now, be patient. Praise God that you have found favor with Him. And marvel at what He does with you in order to carry out His plan.
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith - and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God - not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. Ephesians 2:8-10 NIV
Luke, ever the stickler for detail, was the only Gospel writer to relate events in the life of Jesus to events of the world. Here, because he was writing to a predominately Greek audience who would be aware of and interested in world politics, he relates that "Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken in the entire Roman world." This census - or registration - of all inhabitants of the Roman world was used to aid both in military conscription and in tax collection. Since Palestine was under Roman rule, the inhabitants had to comply with the laws of Rome and, although Jews did not serve in the Roman army, they did have to pay Roman taxes. This news brought a great deal of hardship on Joseph and Mary. They were living in Nazareth , but had to travel to Bethlehem in Judea, the city of David because Joseph was of the house of David. This 70-mile journey would be difficult under the best of circumstances. Considering their means of travel was either on foot or on the back of a donkey, it took them several difficult days to reach their destination. Not only would this mean a loss of income, since Joseph could not work for over a week, but it meant a difficult and dangerous journey for Mary who was due to deliver her baby at any moment. And, as we all are aware, when they reached the town of Bethlehem , it was already overflowing with people who were there for the same purpose. They could find no lodging anywhere and had to sleep in a stable – most likely a cave - with the animals. It was there, in that dark and dirty cave, without the antiseptic conditions desirable for childbirth, without the aid of doctor or even a midwife, Mary bore her Son. And she "wrapped Him in cloths and placed Him in a manger” – a trough carved into the rock wall of the cave that was used for feeding livestock. Mary and Joseph faced incredible problems when God called them according to His purpose. Her pregnancy out of wedlock was tough enough in itself. But things didn’t get better. Instead, they were sent on this trying journey because Bethlehem was the place where God wanted His Son to be born. When God calls on one of us to do something for Him, He doesn’t always pave the road ahead of us. Sometimes it is extremely difficult, as it was for Mary and Joseph. If God calls you to do something for Him, be willing – just as Mary and Joseph were – no matter how disastrous the future appears to be. "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose." Romans 8:28 NIV
Nowadays, you really don’t know how far the technology is reaching everyday. Even the spiritual aspect is being reach by the techy world.
GodTube features Prayer Wall wherein you can post your prayer there so that other people can pray for you. Cool, isn’t it? But of course, just don’t pray to curse other people or wish them revenge coz that is bad. Make your prayer as simple as possible and put what your heart really desires like prayer for good health and guidance. 
Today, people are forgetting the importance of the prayer. It’s a very innovative way that GodTube implemented this kind of feature.
Click here to post your prayers.
CIII.
Alack, what poverty my Muse brings forth,
That having such a scope to show her pride,
The argument all bare is of more worth
Than when it hath my added praise beside!
O, blame me not, if I no more can write!
Look in your glass, and there appears a face
That over-goes my blunt invention quite,
Dulling my lines and doing me disgrace.
Were it not sinful then, striving to mend,
To mar the subject that before was well?
For to no other pass my verses tend
Than of your graces and your gifts to tell;
And more, much more, than in my verse can sit
Your own glass shows you when you look in it.
–Shakespeare Sonnet-a-Day
CII.
My love is strengthen’d, though more weak in seeming;
I love not less, though less the show appear:
That love is merchandized whose rich esteeming
The owner’s tongue doth publish every where.
Our love was new and then but in the spring
When I was wont to greet it with my lays,
As Philomel in summer’s front doth sing
And stops her pipe in growth of riper days:
Not that the summer is less pleasant now
Than when her mournful hymns did hush the night,
But that wild music burthens every bough
And sweets grown common lose their dear delight.
Therefore like her I sometime hold my tongue,
Because I would not dull you with my song.
–from: Shakespeare Sonnet-a-Day
This passage in Matthew recites Joseph’s family tree, tracing his lineage all the way back to Abraham. Through this recital of family ties, Matthew proves that Jesus was a descendant of Abraham, the father of all Jews, and also a legal descendant of David, which fulfilled Old Testament prophecy. By proving Jesus’ lineage, Matthew was proving Jesus’ authenticity as the Messiah to his readers who were predominantly Jews. For Matthew, Jesus was the Savior of the Jews. Luke, on the other hand, traces Mary’s family tree all the way back to Adam. He, too, shows Jesus’ lineage through Abraham and David. I’ve always felt that Luke’s tracing of Jesus’ lineage through Mary had something to do with Luke’s being a medical doctor. He was a stickler for detail. As a medical doctor, he would have been fully aware of how babies are made. So his tracing of Jesus lineage through Mary would be the only natural course for Luke to take since Mary is the only human parent Jesus had. The other interesting thing about Luke’s recital of Jesus’ lineage is that taking it all the way back to Adam illustrates that Jesus is the Savior of all people.
One of the more interesting things about the genealogy listed in Matthew is the mention of four women – something Jews rarely did. The bloodline, according to Hebrew tradition, passed through the father. In fact, it was so important that a man’s bloodline be continued unbroken that, if a man died, his brother was to marry his widow and all children conceived through this second marriage would be the children of the first husband! But in Jesus’ genealogy, four women are mentioned. Even more interesting is the character of the women. Tamar, in verse 3, was an adulteress (Genesis 38:6-30 NIV). Ruth, in verse 5, was a Moabitess (Gentile), not a Jew (Book of Ruth NIV). Rahab, in verse 5, was a harlot (Joshua 2 NIV). And Bathsheba, in verse 6, was the wife of Uriah and had been wrongfully taken by David – after David got her husband out of the picture by putting him on the front lines of the war and making sure he died in battle! (2 Samuel 11-12 NIV)
Another thing about Jesus’ lineage (let’s use the one in Matthew for simplicity) is the kinds of people He has in His bloodline. The most glaring fact is that Jesus was not a full-blooded Jew, getting some Gentile blood from both Ruth and Rahab. The secondary fact is that there were a lot of quite imperfect people, some of which we’ve already mentioned. Then, of course, there were the spiritual giants, like Abraham, Isaac, Ruth and David. And there were a lot of ordinary people, like Hezron, Ram, Nahshon, and Akim (who ever heard anything about these folks?). There were a few with rather rotten reputations, like Rahab the harlot and Tamar whose story is too long to recount here (If you’re curious, it’s told in Genesis 38 NIV… much more interesting than any daytime Soap!). Manasseh, who was king of Judah for 55 years, was such a rotten egg he caused Judah to be exiled and to lose everything. Abijah wasn’t too great either. In fact, scripture says he committed all the sins his father did and did not "do right" in the eyes of the Lord.
And then we come to Mary…. the woman God chose to be the mother of His only begotten Son. If I had been in charge of picking the Son of God, I’d have chosen a Queen, wouldn’t you? He’d have been born in the greatest city, to the most important family, with all the power and riches and advantages that life could bring. But God doesn’t think like you and I do. Instead, He chose Mary… a young, “middle class” woman who lived in Nazareth , one of the most disliked cities in all of Israel . And to make matters even worse, Mary was not married. According to Jewish law, if she became pregnant out of wedlock, she could be taken to the edge of town and stoned to death!
You would think, wouldn’t you, that God would have set up Jesus’ lineage to come through only the best of the best. After all, Jesus is the only begotten Son of God. He is God Incarnate. Wouldn’t it seem logical that His bloodline would be the purest possible? However, has God ever operated according to human logic? Why did God use such a variety of people – and so many who were less than admirable – in His plan for the birth of His Son? Because God chooses to reveal His power through the unlikely, the illogical, the impossible. Through the weakest of people, His strength is shown. Through the most impossible of circumstances, His power is revealed.
Jesus’ lineage illustrates that God can and will use anyone to accomplish His purpose, no matter how imperfect that person is. He does the same today. No matter who you are, no matter what you’ve done in your life, no matter how imperfect you are – God can and will use you to accomplish His great eternal purpose. Pray with an obedient heart for Him to show you how He can best use you to glorify His name.
It’s the Christmas season, as if you hadn’t already noticed! This is supposed to be one of the most joyous times of the year. Sadly, it’s one of the most traumatic times of the year for many people… a lot of them single adults. If you are a single adult, whether this is your first or your fiftieth Christmas without a spouse, you have a choice of how you are going to feel about the holidays. You can choose to be miserable, or you can choose to be joyous. It’s up to you.
Let’s take a look at two single adults who chose to follow God, to live in the joy that lifestyle grants us…. Mary and Joseph. Yes, they were both single when Jesus was born. They were betrothed, which in their time was much more binding than an engagement is now, but they were technically single. Joseph was obviously a devout Jew, since he actively participated in all of the religious rites and sacraments of his time. He was also obviously a man of great faith. He had to have tremendous faith in order to believe the angel that spoke to him in his sleep telling him the true nature of Mary’s pregnancy. As a man of great faith, he was willing to follow God’s will, no matter what the consequences.
Mary was a woman of great faith. She had to be in order to submit to becoming pregnant out of wedlock – something that, at best, would have ruined her reputation for life, and for which, at worst, she could have been stoned to death! Like Joseph, Mary was willing to follow God’s will no matter what the consequences. Both of these people were devout. Both were people of great faith. Both were single adults.
Think about how special this is. God chose two single adults to be the vessels through whom He would give the world the greatest gift He had to give… His Son!
This Christmas, if you’re single, and if you begin to feel lost and lonely, think about how special Mary and Joseph were, and how God chose them… two single adults… through whom to bless the world! Then think about what you can do to give some of that same blessing – the blessing of Jesus – to others this Christmas, and always. When you turn your focus outward and upward, the Christmas season becomes what it is supposed to be.
I would like you to be free from concern. An unmarried man is concerned about the Lord’s affairs - how he can please the Lord. But a married man is concerned about the affairs of this world - how he can please his wife - and his interests are divided. An unmarried woman or virgin is concerned about the Lord’s affairs: Her aim is to be devoted to the Lord in both body and spirit. But a married woman is concerned about the affairs of this world - how she can please her husband. I am saying this for your own good, not to restrict you, but that you may live in a right way in undivided devotion to the Lord. 1 Corinthians 7:32-35 NIV