Topic: Anna – Living a Life of Praise – Discover the Book by Dr John Barnett 23 December 2022
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Anna – Living a Life of Praise
As we open to Luke 2:36, and are introduced to the life of Anna, I’d ask you to underline two words in your mind. First, in v. 36 “she was of great age”—underline in your mind OLD. Second, in v. 37 “a widow of about 84 years”—underline in your mind ALONE.
In two words you could describe the woman we are going to meet today. Anna was OLD and ALONE. Yet from this account God gives to us, this old and alone woman was also vibrant, filled with joy, overflowing with God’s Word and in love with the Lord. She is just what any woman who knows the Lord would want to become…
Senior citizens, both men and women, have some challenges. Elderly people (anyone over 65) need to learn to live the grace-energized Psalm 92 life.
A Psalm 92, grace-energized saint like Anna sees:
…how useless self pity is
…how dangerous selfishness becomes
…how worthless greedy people end up
…how hopeless those who fight for independence can be
…how restless those characterized by discontentment will be; and finally,
…how empty human pleasures become so quickly.
However, by God’s grace, an older woman knows:
…how priceless real friends truly become
…gets to experience how endless Christ’s joys can be
…how numerous ministry opportunities are all around us
…how utterly satisfying Christ’s presence becomes the more we are alone
…and finally, how comforting prayer grows to be in our lives.
The presence of God brings life and hope to even those who by every other measure should be hopeless. Anna lived and walked in hope and saw God’s Hand all about her life. She was willing to be what God wanted her to be—even if it’s not much by others estimation! She was a “nobody” to everyone except to God.
Lesson number one: Grace-energized women like Anna
Can be old but not hopeless.
Lesson number two: Grace-energized women like Anna
Can know pain but not bitterness.
Lesson number three: Grace-energized women like Anna
Can know limits but not uselessness.
Lesson number four: Grace-energized women like Anna
Can know loneliness but not emptiness.
Anna was a woman with a life energized by grace, and dominated by the consequences of wonderful choices that she made.
I believe Anna is a model of what a godly, grace-energized woman ought to be. She heard, read, and believed God’s Word enough to want live it by God’s grace! That is all that God is looking for today. Women who believe Him enough to want to do His will as declared in the Bible. I hope that you are such a woman today!
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