December 23rd, 2025 Devotional

💧 Living Water Vineyard Devotion

Tuesday — Three Days from Christmas 🎄

Joy That Leaps

Yesterday, we talked about Zechariah—

a faithful priest who had a visitation from an angel in the Holy Place.

The angel told him something impossible:

Your wife Elizabeth will conceive a son.

You will name him John.

And he will be a great joy.

Today, the story continues.

Because joy doesn’t stop with Zechariah.

Joy moves.

Joy grows.

Joy spreads.

⸻

🤍 Elizabeth: When the Miracle Becomes Personal

Luke tells us that Elizabeth actually becomes pregnant.

After years—decades—of disappointment.

After prayers that probably felt unanswered.

After hope had quietly faded.

And Scripture says she kept herself hidden for five months.

That detail matters.

Elizabeth wasn’t hiding in shame.

She was treasuring the miracle.

Sometimes when God finally answers,

we don’t announce it right away.

We sit with it.

We protect it.

We let joy settle deep in our bones.

Elizabeth knew this wasn’t just a baby.

It was proof that God still sees.

Still hears.

Still acts.

⸻

✨ Mary: When God Strengthens Faith with a Sign

Not long after that, the angel Gabriel appears again—

this time to Mary.

Mary is young.

She is betrothed to Joseph.

In that culture, betrothal meant she was already considered married.

It was legally binding.

The only thing that hadn’t happened yet

was that she had not been with a man.

So when Gabriel tells Mary she will conceive,

this isn’t just surprising—

it’s costly.

It puts her reputation at risk.

It could cost her Joseph.

It could cost her standing in her community.

And in His kindness, God gives Mary a sign.

Gabriel tells her:

“Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age.”

Why does God tell her that?

Because sometimes we need to hear a miracle story to believe a miracle story.

Mary needed to know:

If God can do this for Elizabeth…

He can do this for me.

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🛤️ The Journey Toward Joy

Scripture tells us Mary hurried to visit Elizabeth.

This was not a short trip.

From Nazareth to the hill country near Jerusalem

was roughly 80–100 miles.

Several days of travel.

Rough terrain.

As a young woman.

Most likely, Mary wasn’t just going for a visit.

She was going to be with someone who would understand.

Someone who carried a miracle too.

Someone who could help her process what God was doing.

Sometimes the safest place to grow in faith

is near someone who already believes.

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🕊️ Joy Responds to Presence

When Mary arrives and greets Elizabeth, something incredible happens.

Before Mary explains anything.

Before she tells her story.

John leaps in Elizabeth’s womb.

And Elizabeth is filled with the Holy Spirit.

Joy responds to presence, not explanation.

Just Jesus being near

awakens something inside John.

Elizabeth looks at Mary and says:

“Blessed are you among women,

and blessed is the child you will bear.”

Then she adds something tender and humbling:

“Why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?”

Elizabeth recognizes the miracle in Mary

even before Mary fully understands it herself.

That’s what joy does.

It calls out what God is doing—early.

⸻

🔥 We’re Still Seeing This Happen

This past Sunday, we saw a beautiful picture of this very thing.

A woman stood up and shared her testimony.

She spoke honestly about how she had struggled with marijuana for much of her life.

And what mattered most was this—she deeply loves Jesus.

She prayed.

She fasted.

She asked others to pray for her.

But she shared vulnerably that marijuana had quietly become her source of comfort, peace, and joy.

Not because she wanted it to be.

In fact, she said she hated it.

She knew it wasn’t where her peace was supposed to come from—

but it was where she kept going.

What’s powerful is how her journey toward freedom began.

Earlier this spring, during a service, there was a word that God wanted to set people free.

A man stood up that day and shared how he had struggled with marijuana addiction for 40 years.

He talked about how the Lord had been speaking to him clearly:

“If you want to go deeper with Me, you’re going to have to let this go.”

By his own testimony, he didn’t think it was wrong.

He didn’t think it was a big issue.

But he knew the Lord was asking him to surrender it—

and he hadn’t.

That morning, instead of praying for someone else,

the Holy Spirit told him,

“No—you need prayer.”

He obeyed.

He confessed.

He allowed people to pray for him.

And in a moment—after 40 years—he was completely delivered.

Gone.

He came back the next week and shared it publicly.

And that testimony landed somewhere deep.

This woman heard it—and like Mary hearing about Elizabeth—

she began to ponder.

If God could do that for him… could He do that for me?

That testimony didn’t instantly end her struggle,

but it started her journey.

Months later, out of obedience, she chose to be baptized in October.

And when she came out of the water, she said something remarkable:

The desire was gone.

Not reduced.

Not managed.

Gone.

Even the smell had no attraction anymore.

One miracle led to another miracle.

And now, because of her courage to share,

we’re hearing that many others have begun their own journey

toward sobriety and freedom.

That’s how joy multiplies.

⸻

🎶 When Jesus Gets Near, Things Change

I’ve heard this so many times.

People who don’t even know Jesus

walk into church and start to cry.

They don’t understand the songs.

They don’t know the words.

But something is happening.

The Bible says God inhabits the praises of His people.

I remember going to church before I knew Jesus—

hearing worship—

and feeling something I couldn’t explain.

Joy doesn’t always arrive with understanding.

Sometimes it arrives with tears.

As we get closer to Jesus,

something in us starts to shift.

Just like John in the womb.

Just like Elizabeth.

Just like Mary.

⸻

🌟 This Is the Joy of Christmas

Joy isn’t just an emotion.

It’s a response to presence.

Jesus is near.

And when He’s near—

chains break.

Hope awakens.

And joy begins to rise.

⸻

🎶 Worship Response

🎵 Come Thou Fount

🎵 Great Are You Lord

🎵 O Come, O Come Emmanuel

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📝 Reflective Questions

1. Who has shared a miracle story that strengthened your faith when you needed it most?

2. Is there something the Lord has been gently inviting you to surrender so you can go deeper with Him?

3. As Christmas approaches, how can you draw closer to Jesus and make room for His presence to change you?

🎄 Three days from Christmas… and joy is already leaping.