Adventure of a Missionary

As you look at the greeting to Mary in Luke 1, Gabriel said, “Thou highly favored one.”  If you examine that title from Genesis to Revelation, you will find that it is reserved only to those who had spent a lot of time with God.   It was used of Daniel when Gabriel met him and said, “Daniel, thou greatly beloved of God.”  That greeting had the same sense of being highly favored.  So just from that greeting, you could tell that Mary was a woman who loved God, loved to spend time with God, and loved to pray. That harmonizes epikaizo and the ability to tap into that.  The prayer level was extremely high. Daniel spent so much time with God that God gave him a special title, “Thou greatly beloved.”  To Mary, it was “Highly favored one.” That is the first thing. You notice that the natural world becomes afraid. On all three occasions fear came. In Luke 1, it says that Mary was troubled.  Mary began reasoning to herself. Then the angel had to say, “Fear not, ...