Advent December 8, 2006

What joy the Christ of Christmas brings,And life and peace and all good things!Be full, our friends,Filled to the brim;Be full of joy,Be full of Him.

Could you use a fill-up in your joy compartment?
When Elizabeth, the mother of John the Baptist, "was filled with the Holy Spirit...she exclaimed with a loud cry: 'Blessed are you among women, and blessed is your offspring!'" (Luke 1:41,42).
When her husband Zechariah "was filled with the Holy Spirit," he prophesied, "Blessed is the Lord" (Luke 1:67,68).
Even their baby, John, was "filled with the Holy Spirit while still in his mother's womb" (Luke 1:15). And when he grew up, he went everywhere preaching as "a voice of one crying out in the wilderness" (Luke 3:4).
Be filled with the Holy Spirit!
Mary, after the most amazing of all fillings of the Holy Spirit, exclaimed, "My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord...Holy is His name" (Luke 1:46,49).
Pick up the Christmas tradition started by these early ones. They were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they opened their mouths in joyful praise.

Excerpted from:

How Great Our Joy: Family Memories and Meditations for Christmas, by Ray and Anne Ortlund

Used with the kind permission of our friends at Broadman and Holman