Elizabeth had been healed of her barrenness for several months before Mary came to visit her. God had been removing the emotional hurts from her heart during that time. Up till then the Holy Spirit was basically with one person at a time and most of them were men only a couple of women. Here you have Mary, Elizabeth and the baby inside of Elizabeth that are filled with the Spirit. In order for Elizabeth to be able to minister to Mary, she herself had to be a whole person no longer carrying the pain and hurt of her emotions from the years prior being barren. Now Elizabeth can use what she received from God to help Mary prepare what she will have to go through in the months and years to come.
When we hold on to our emotional hurts we keep the Spirit from working in our lives and through us to minister to others. Wether we give the hurts over to God one by one or all at once, then and only then can He heal us of those wounds. Once we are healed then we can reach out to those around us that are hurting and share what God has taught us.
Once Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit she became bold. No longer did she worry about what others thought of her, she stood up for herself. When she had her baby the rest of the family and friends were trying to help pick out a name. Boldly, she said that his name will be John. This shocked the family because there was no one in the family named John. Elizabeth was going against tradition and with such boldness.
Just like years later on the day of Pentecost, having been filled with the Holy Spirit, Peter stood up and gave his first sermon about Jesus with no notes just boldness in proclaiming the truth. Peter, weeks before had denied that he even knew Jesus and now he was pointing out it was their sins that put Jesus on the cross and thousands were saved that day. Without the power of the Holy Spirit living within us we in and of ourselves lack the boldness to face others because of our emotional hurts. However, once God heals us from those hurts the Spirit is then allowed to work in and through us as He sees fit.
When God removes the hurts from us He will replace them with something that will strengthen us for His glory. Spend some time alone with God and ask Him what you need to turn over to Him for healing?
When we hold on to our emotional hurts we keep the Spirit from working in our lives and through us to minister to others. Wether we give the hurts over to God one by one or all at once, then and only then can He heal us of those wounds. Once we are healed then we can reach out to those around us that are hurting and share what God has taught us.
Once Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit she became bold. No longer did she worry about what others thought of her, she stood up for herself. When she had her baby the rest of the family and friends were trying to help pick out a name. Boldly, she said that his name will be John. This shocked the family because there was no one in the family named John. Elizabeth was going against tradition and with such boldness.
Just like years later on the day of Pentecost, having been filled with the Holy Spirit, Peter stood up and gave his first sermon about Jesus with no notes just boldness in proclaiming the truth. Peter, weeks before had denied that he even knew Jesus and now he was pointing out it was their sins that put Jesus on the cross and thousands were saved that day. Without the power of the Holy Spirit living within us we in and of ourselves lack the boldness to face others because of our emotional hurts. However, once God heals us from those hurts the Spirit is then allowed to work in and through us as He sees fit.
When God removes the hurts from us He will replace them with something that will strengthen us for His glory. Spend some time alone with God and ask Him what you need to turn over to Him for healing?