Our Indispensable Responsibility to Believe
(Luke 1:38, 45 NKJV) Then Mary said, “Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her. ... {45} “Blessed is she who believed, for there will be a fulfillment of those things which were told her from the Lord.”
“Blessed is she who believed.” Why is faith so important?
Why do we need to keep hearing about faith? Simple; faith comes by “hearing and hearing” God’s word—that is, the word he speaks to us. We constantly need fresh faith, so we can keep receiving all the promises in the above list:
(Romans 10:17 NKJV) “So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”
God’s word is food for our spirit man (See: Mat. 4:4, etc.). This implies that we need a nutritious and regular diet of the good word of God to feed our inner man—who operates by faith or fear. We need encouraging teaching and fresh revelation daily to stay strong in faith, and to stay on the cutting edge of receiving what God wants us to have.
So what can we learn about faith from the events surrounding the birth of Jesus?
(Luke 1:45 NKJV) “Blessed is she who believed, for there will be a fulfillment of those things which were told her from the Lord.”
First, we see that Mary “believed” what the angel said to her from God, and that her believing is what brought a “fulfillment of those things which were told to her from the Lord.” Potential for life-giving and destiny-defining faith came to Mary when she heard—via the angel—what God was saying to her.
Note: Mary didn’t just select a passage she liked and then think, “That would make a good promise for me”; she actually heard from God. (For example, you cannot take for yourself the promise that God will give the sign of a virgin birth through you—especially if you are a man.) God initiated the conversation with Mary, and he originated the promise; it was sent from God to her and especially for her. This is the [type of] word that God watches over to perform:
(Jeremiah 1:12 ESV) “… I am watching over my word to perform it.”
Because God said it to Mary with every intention of fulfilling it, he believed that he could make what he said happen. In other words, God’s own faith was invested in his spoken words; and that same faith was potentially transferred to Mary. However, he needed Mary’s cooperation for the fulfillment. What did he need from her? Whatever it was, it’s the same as what he needs from us.
God believes in his word, but that will not bring it to pass without our part. For example, God made a promise to his people about inheriting the Promised Land:
(Genesis 15:7 NKJV) Then He said to him, “I am the LORD, who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans, to give you this land to inherit it.”
(Leviticus 20:24 NKJV) “But I have said to you, ‘You shall inherit their land, and I will give it to you to possess, a land flowing with milk and honey.’ I am the LORD your God ….”
God made this promise to Abraham and the children of Israel forever. It was theirs to go in and inherit …
(Hebrews 4:2 NKJV) “… but the word which they heard did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in those who heard it.”
