Read: Luke 1:46 |
A young faithful Jewish girl living in the valley was engaged to be married and sitting at home doing her chores. Suddenly Gabriel, the archangel, appears and tells Mary that she would conceive and give birth to the Savior and would call Him Jesus. Though mentally conflicted with trying to explain a virgin birth to her fiancé and family, spiritually she accepted the blessing and heavenly appointment.
Months later when visiting Elizabeth, who is pregnant with John the Baptist, Mary’s joy overflows. Thus, we find in Luke 1:46 what is termed “Mary’s song” or “Magnificat” (for the first word in the Latin translation). Mary begins with: “My soul magnifies the Lord, And my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior” Mary magnified the name of God in song for what He had done and was going to do for the world through her.
To magnify God is to raise the visibility of God to the level that those around us can see Him in us or see His hand at work. In fact, magnifying God is one of the key job responsibilities in Heaven. Thus, why not get in the earthly practice before we join the heavenly choir.
We magnify Him by embodying His thoughts, expressing His words and exhibiting His ways in our actions. Magnifying Him amplifies His presence, declares His greatness and removes the blinders preventing others from glimpsing God’s goodness, mercy, kindness, patience and love. Jesus constantly magnified God by how He lived. He showed us that magnification takes some perspiration to properly embody, express and exhibit our love to those around us.
Magnification manna arrives as we embody Him in our thoughts
“Focus, focus, focus!” In order to “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 2:5 KJV), we need to embody God’s Word in our thoughts. While praising Him in our thoughts is passive, it is very potent because it feeds our soul the manna needed to ignite our praise. Essentially, we act on the things we ponder. If we focus and control our mind to think on the things God has saved us from; if we consider the unmerited favor He has granted us; if we praise Him for the prayers He has answered and shout over the undeserving mercy He has shown us – magnification happens.
Magnification manifests itself as we express it in our speech and words
“Whisper it, speak it, and shout it!” Jesus magnified God by expressing the truth of God with everyone He met. While we can express it by “showing” our personal walk with Christ, we also need to “tell” the story of the Good News. When we testify about what He has done, we release His power and magnify His goodness.
Magnification multiplies as we exhibit our actions
“Take 24/7 – Action!” Producing a movie requires multiple takes. The actors repeat their lines trying to achieve the director’s intent; each occurrence is one “Take”. Our Heavenly Director’s intent is for Believers to stay in character and live for Him 24 hours/7 days a week. In essence – “Take 24/7”. Accept the Christian casting call and act on our calling!
Without proactively magnifying him in our actions, we inadvertently magnify our needs, our weaknesses, and our duties. These culminate with us feeling discouraged, distracted and defeated. However, when we magnify Him properly scales fall from our eyes and we see Him as He truly is. As we begin to praise Him, we find that praise multiplies His presence because God inhabits the praise of His people (Psalms 22:3 KJV).
We magnify God not by making Him bigger than He truly is, but by making Him greater in our thoughts, in our words, and in our actions. We magnify Him and His Word by learning to praise Him early and often for what He has done, is doing, and will do. We magnify Him by telling others about His greatness so that they too, can have bigger thoughts about Him. Oh, magnify the Lord with me Saints!
Questions:
1.Discover –
a. Are you magnifying the Lord?
• To yourself
• To others
2.Develop –
a. If you were asked to stand and share with the Church why God is so magnificent in your life, what would you say?
b. Can you share your hypothetical answer with your prayer partner and ask them to do the same?
3.Demonstrate –
a. Since our Christian walk is not always smooth, do you only magnify God when things are going good?
b. Are you talking about your problems and your situation more than you are talking about God?
