Luke 1:39-42
 At that time Mary got ready and hurried to a town in the hill country of Judea, where she entered Zechariah’s home and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. In a loud voice she exclaimed: “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear! But why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. Blessed is she who has believed that what the Lord has said to her will be accomplished!”

Christians are urged to be filled with the Spirit as part of normal growth in the Lord, but the filling Elizabeth experienced was different, spontaneous, and entirely God-given. This filling captured her emotions with a God-centered joy and created an excited sense of God’s loving purpose in her life.

This filling makes you want to sing, pray, shout, and dance.

When God moves your heart this way, let it show.

Mary had not told Elizabeth anything of the events which had occurred in Nazareth. Elizabeth spoke words given to her by the Holy Spirit as she recognized Mary’s blessed condition. Mary had been chosen by God much as Elizabeth had.

As Mary had rushed off to visit her relative, she must have been wondering whether the events of the last few days were real. Elizabeth’s greeting would have strengthened her faith. Her pregnancy may have seemed impossible, but her older relative believed in the Lord’s faithfulness and rejoiced in Mary’s blessed condition.

The Spirit also showed Elizabeth the identity of Mary’s child, for she knew this child was blessed, God’s Son, the promised Messiah. Only the Holy Spirit could have revealed this to Elizabeth! Under inspiration of the Spirit, Elizabeth interpreted the movement in her womb as the child’s joy at hearing Mary’s greeting.

Even though she herself was pregnant with a long-awaited son, Elizabeth could have envied Mary, whose son would be even greater than her own. Instead she was filled with joy that the mother of her Lord would visit her. Elizabeth repeated that Mary was blessed because she believed what God had said to her would be accomplished.

Mary and Elizabeth were remarkable women, chosen and blessed by God!

On Elizabeth’s part there was no envy or jealousy!

On Mary’s part there was no hint of condescension or superiority!

They were both blessed by God and were able to rejoice together.