At the sound of Mary’s greeting, Elizabeth’s child leaped within her, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. Elizabeth gave a glad cry and exclaimed to Mary, “God has blessed you above all women, and your child is blessed. Why am I so honored, that the mother of my Lord should visit me? When I heard your greeting, the baby in my womb jumped for joy. You are blessed because you believed that the Lord would do what he said.”

Luke 1:41-45

The first person to recognize the Savior incarnate was a baby in a womb, and the only fitting response was pure joy. Jesus embodied joy and carried it to every person and situation He encountered. His birth, life, and death shined a light on this dark and weary world that would never dim. Even as He ascended to heaven to sit at the right hand of the Father, He promised that the Holy Spirit would come, not just to be with us, but to fill us—to reside in us that we would be filled with His joy, because in His presence there is fullness of joy. Will you receive that joy today?

Prayer:

Lord, thank you for wrapping yourself in flesh to come to a world you created to save me. I pause and remember that you are Emmanuel, God WITH me. You are with me wherever I am and whatever I am walking through. In your presence there is fullness of joy, and right now I receive the joy that you have for me. Amen.