Luke 1:28 Greek Translation: “And the angel came unto her and said Hail, you are the direct result of God’s grace! You cannot do on your own what I am about to do for you! Thou art highly favored! Favored by the whole favor of God’s grace! The Lord is with you: blessed are you among women for I have spoken well of you and will follow with my actions for you.” Comment: All three of the Greek translated words in this passage Hail, Highly Favored and Blessed are all related to the Greek word for Grace! Grace is simply God doing for you what you cannot do for yourself! So Mary was not able to earn this blessing by works! She was not better than the rest of the women! In my own life after coming to Christ I could not do on my own what God has done for me! I could not have saved myself! Works is trying to save yourself! The blind Jews mocked Jesus on the Cross and said he saved others let him save himself! What they did not understand was by going to the Cross Jesus was saving them! By faith you are saved and not of yourselves! We must surrender all our will to God! Jesus before the Cross prayed not my will but thy will be done! Jesus had a will just like us! Our surrender of our will to God means a victory for us and others not achievable in our own will! I can do certain things based upon my own ability yet I cannot raise myself from the dead! I cannot save myself! I am not able to forgive my own sins! I am able to forgive others if I understand God has forgiven me! Mary by faith received what she could never achieve by her good works! Favor with God is what Christmas is all about! The Savior born for you and me! Born and died to save us from ourselves! To save us from sin! Raised from the dead to raise us from the dead! Born again! Born to live for him and others! If you receive Jesus just as he is he will change you to what he is! Love! Merry Christmas! James and Hamsa Sasse. GodWhoisGod.com