MERRY FRIDAY! BY PARRIS BAILEY

“But behold, you will be mute and not able to speak until the day these things take place, because you did not believe my words which will be fulfilled in their own time.” Luke 1:19

It’s hard to imagine after the book of Malachi that 400 silent years passed before we would hear any movement from the acts of God. Alexander Whyte says, “It was the fullness of time at last. It is at last the great day on which the New Testament has been predestined to open!”. A priest named Zacharias with his barren wife Elizabeth steps out into history when that door opened. He is picked once in a lifetime to go into the Holy Place and light the incense. The light he lit that day has burned ever since in the face of Christ!

Funny people that we are! If the mighty warrior Gabriel had just come when they were younger, Zacharias wouldn’t have had any problem believing such news. Now he comes and its to late, way too late. This news, this fairy tale is impossible. Zacharias had long retracted this precious prayer of having children and embraced barrenness into their lives so deep that even the mighty warrior Gabriel couldn’t break it loose. Whereas all along our prayer has been heard and God awaits the fullness of time for it to come! Gabriel saw that he was troubled, the depression, the disgust, the discouragement over the years had blinded poor Zacharias. Oh that we would just pray on! Press on! Pray and faint not, for one day God’s time clock will chime!

The muteness of Zacharias and the growth of Elizabeth’s belly unite into a marvelous wonder of incubation. As they hid themselves for five months; they are ready this time when another chapter in history turned. Hiding five months when Mary is greeted with “Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb. And whence is this to me, that the mother my Lord should come to me?” Angelic visitation, muteness, babes leaping in womb, fullness of the Holy Spirit! This could cause anyone to become full term!!!!! Have you? Will you allow God to use you in the fullness of his plan? He does all in His time! Nine months had given Zacharias plenty of time to drink deep of the God of the impossible. The mute man whose voice was taken grabbed a slate and wrote HIS NAME IS JOHN or HIS NAME IS THE GRACE OF GOD! It came rip roaring out! His voice burst its banks into prophetic song. His name is John (grace of God) is our response to the world that only takes. His name is John (grace of God) is what we say when impossible becomes everyday. His name is John (grace of God) when our prayers grow lost and dreams forgotten. Be bold, be believing, be thankful! Name your generation, your family the “GRACE OF GOD”!