When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit.
- Luke 1:41

One of the special elements of Luke Gospel account of Jesus’ life and ministry is the way Luke pays attention to the Holy Spirit. Luke will show how the Spirit fills Jesus, leads him into a time of testing, empowers him for ministry, and carries his kingdom movement forward after his death-resurrection-ascension.

But in today’s passage we see something special: Elizabeth is the first person Luke mentions who is filled with the Spirit.

Throughout the Bible the Spirit filled men for spectacular work: artisans to make the tabernacle and the temple, kings and judges to lead the people, prophets to speak God’s word to God’s people. The Hebrew community considered being filled with the Spirit to be a tremendous honor. And here’s Elizabeth.

She is one of the first women in the Bible to be filled with the Spirit. What’s her spectacular work? Announcing the coming of the Lord. She doesn’t build a single thing; she doesn’t lead a single person; she doesn’t preach a single sermon. But her work to announce the coming of the Lord matters enough to God, matters enough to God’s kingdom, matters enough to us all that God sent his very own Spirit to empower her.

Time and time again the Lord has empowered both women and men to speak up in the power of the Spirit and testify about Jesus. And he empowers us today.

As you approach Christmas you’ll have opportunities to announce that our Lord and God and King has come to earth to love and rescue and empower us. For some of us, it will require an extraordinary nudge from the Lord to get us to open our mouths and speak up. But the same God who sent the Spirit to fill Elizabeth sends his Spirit to us to fill us with courage and confidence to be his witnesses.

Pray that the Lord would fill you with his Spirit so that you have courage and confidence to talk about Jesus throughout this Christmas season. Ask God to give you opportunities to talk about Jesus in ways that encourage the people around you.