Category: Know God

Blessed is She Who Believed

On By Susan Cort JohnsonIn Growing in Christ, Jesus, Know GodLeave a comment

Luke 1:42,45 ESV:  42- And she exclaimed with a loud cry, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb!” 45- “And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord.”  

I am writing a Bible study on Blessings. Although we see this word throughout Scripture, it doesn’t seem like a topic with enough depth to support six-weeks of instruction. Yet as I began to dig deeper, I discovered how limited that assumption was. I have found there is a lot to explore.  

These two verses from Luke, describing a conversation between Elizabeth and Mary, are an example. The first use of blessed in these Scriptures is eulogeo in Koine Greek and means “to speak well of,” or “extol.” Elizabeth, when visited by her cousin Mary, exclaims that she would be “blessed” because people would speak highly of her. And to this day people do speak well of her, yet it wasn’t a stellar reputation that prompted the angel Gabriel to state, “You have found favor with God” when he brought Mary the news she would be the mother of Jesus.

The second use of blessed by Elizabeth is a result of Mary’s belief in God’s promise. She believed God would accomplish all He had promised. His word is truth. Blessed, in this instance, is makarios in Koine Greek, meaning fortunate or happy. It is the divine approval and joy that result from obedience.

Everlasting Joy

To walk with God is to walk according to His ways. And we are blessed when we do, not because God gives merit badges but because He gives unmerited favor, which is the definition of grace. Mary had a heart for God, but being given the honor of raising His Son was not a reward for good behavior suggesting the idea that if we are “good enough” we will be blessed.

“Makarios never rewards merit; it announces grace,” according to Biblehub.com.  Makarios is motivated by the “promise of divine approval and joy.”  Believers are blessed (makarios) by God’s grace.1

In God’s Word

Ephesians 2:8 tells us we are saved by grace through faith. Salvation is not our own doing. No one can earn such a blessing as a personal relationship with God. However, faith restores the relationship that was severed by sin.  The apostle Paul wrote in his epistle to the Romans “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved” (Romans 10:9-10).

Just as Mary was makarios because she believed God and put her faith into action, so are all who put their faith in the Son of God for salvation. During one of Jesus’ teachings, a woman in the crowd called out, “Blessed is the womb that bore you, and the breasts at which you nursed!” He answered, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it!” (Luke 11:27-28).

Walking It Out

God’s Word tells us we are saved by faith in Jesus Christ who went to the cross as the perfect sacrifice required for the forgiveness of sins. But the hope of heaven is not the only blessing we receive in Christ. We are righteous, right with God. We are also blameless because our sins are forgiven. In 1 John 1:9 we read: “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

Mary was devoted to God and His ways. She was willing to do whatever God asked of her. Often, we wait for a “calling” thinking that is our big opportunity to surrender and obey. But every day we have opportunity to put God’s Word into practice.  That’s how Mary was living when the angel Gabriel came with the news she was chosen to be Jesus’ mother.

God’s ways are perfect and when we follow them, we find ourselves in proximity with Him. I think of walking in the footsteps of Jesus, our Shepherd, holding onto His robe in close pursuit. A desire to obey is evidence of belief and God gives us the grace we need to walk with Him. The result is makarios, not because of our goodness but the goodness of God. He reveals the best way to walk…with Him, according to His Word, by His grace.

© 2025 Susan Cort Johnson *All Rights Reserved

Resources:

  1. Biblehub.com/Greek/3107.htm

Blessed Assurance

On By Susan Cort JohnsonIn Growing in Christ, Know GodLeave a comment

     My friend died of cancer almost three months ago. The disease rapidly advancing through her body in the later stages. After her death, her daughter said she was often surprised by her mother’s response to the status of the disease during conversations with the doctors. It seemed as if her mother was in a state of denial. But she concluded her mother did not want to be defined by cancer, therefore the severity did not change her positive outlook or mood.

     Knowing my friend’s intimate relationship with the living God, and having experienced cancer myself, I knew her reaction to all the dire predictions had nothing to do with the diagnosis. She had been swept up in an outpouring of God’s grace and was riding high above all the anguish, fear, suffering, and hopelessness cancer can bring.

     When we know God is with us, the words spoken by physicians have no impact. It’s not delusion; our eyes are wide open. But we know that whatever comes God will see us through. His grace is sufficient.

     To me, Isaiah 43:2 best explains the security we have when we walk with God. 

“When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;

and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you;

when you walk through fire you shall not be burned,

and the flame shall not consume you.” ESV

     We are not destroyed by our trials and tribulations because God does not abandon us.

     The conversations I had with my friend were often about God. How we were assured of His presence, how He helped us, things He told us, and what He taught us.

     She recounted how He enveloped her body one afternoon as she sat in the living room talking with a visitor. We agreed whenever we needed comfort or encouragement He came in special ways and made Himself known. One afternoon when I was confined to the house following a chemo infusion, I wandered from room to room listless. Finally, I crawled beneath the comforter on my bed and whispered, “Please tuck me beneath the shadow of your wings.” He responded immediately, stating, “You are already there.”

     Each time we shared, the other would grin and nod in agreement. I am not sure when we became secure in our relationship with God; knowing, without doubt, God’s got us. But my friend and I learned how to be held by God long before our cancer diagnosis. That is why we could not be shaken.

     The day after my diagnosis the oncologist assigned to the cancer ward stopped by to tell me about the status of the disease. “You have a 50% chance of survival,” he said. “No, I would say 60%.” Neither estimate phased me. Whether God healed me or not I knew I would be okay because I belong to Him. In Him my friend and I have a future and a hope.

     “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for wholeness and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me. When you seek me with all your heart,” Jeremiah 29:11-13 ESV

     Yes, my friend and I had sought God with all our heart and found Him. We had received Jesus as our Lord and Savior, and He had taken our sins and cast them as far as the east is from the west and given us His righteousness so we could once again commune with God, the very thing for which we were created. Our dead spirit was rejuvenated and we were no longer in exile.

     We did commune with God, too, in prayer and by studying the Bible on our own and in church. God speaks to us through His Word. Often, we shared books we had discovered as well as insight from Bible teachers. Another way God speaks to us.

     Once I could not understand how Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego could announce they would enter the fiery furnace regardless of the outcome (Daniel 3:16). But now I know they walked in the blessed assurance of God’s grace because I walk this path as well. And so did my friend. He is with us regardless of the circumstances or their outcomes. All He is becomes ours and He carries us through. And our bond is unbroken.