Category: Daily Inspirational Devotional

This Christmas Eve, let’s put away all the excuses for not saying yes to Jesus, as Charles Spurgeon did here. A hardened heart can’t respond to God, but He’s promised us in Ezekiel 36:26, “I will give you a new heart and put a new Spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.” That’s right, God will provide a new heart & Spirit within us… working from the inside out, changing us into His image. And in this process we can put on our new self…a new habitation for the Holy Spirit to dwell in. Colossians 3:10 tells us, “You’ve taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.” Finally, Jesus purposely gave up His heavenly glory to live as one of us…the Rich One impoverishing Himself in order to enrich us. This is made clear in II Corinthians 8:9, “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, so that you through His poverty might become rich.” To the world, you may not have anything…but when you say yes to Christ & His gift of eternal life, you possess everything.

An angel of the Lord had appeared to the shepherds proclaiming the birth of the Savior, who is Christ the Lord. Suddenly there was a multitude of heavenly hosts praising God…filling the nighttime sky with a glorious spectacle. The shepherds immediately journeyed to Bethlehem, found the baby Jesus, and bore testimony to what they saw and heard out on the mountain side. Mary listened to it all, marveling & reflecting on what the angel had told her months before. Later, when Jesus was twelve, the family traveled to Jerusalem for the Passover and when it was time to go home, they unwittily left Him behind. When they finally found Jesus in the Temple courts with the Teachers His answer was, ” Why were you searching for Me? Didn’t you know I had to be in My Father’s house?” Again we see Mary treasuring all these things…laying them up in her heart & mind. Was it an affirmation of her faith for Mary to hear Jesus express His awareness of His filial relationship with God for the first time? Did she contemplate & cherish the details of Jesus’ ministry as she watched people healed & set free? And later, was it a careful keeping and holding on to precious memories as Mary watched the crowd crucify her firstborn son? Mary may not have fully understood…but her heart was full of her son.

Prince of Peace…this is what Isaiah called Him. In Micah 5:5 it tells us that Jesus Christ will be our peace…providing completely for our wellbeing and security. But what about when trials & tribulations come into our lives? Charles Spurgeon once wrote, “Trusting in Jesus Christ my Savior, there is still a blessed quietness in the deep caverns of my soul, though upon the surface, a rough tempest may be raging, and there may be little apparent calm.” We have an eternal refuge in Jesus and a peace that guards our hearts and minds in the midst of the storms of life. For as Isaiah 53:5 says, “His punishment that brought us peace was upon Him and by His wounds we are healed.” That’s right, His sufferings on the Cross removed and undid the penalty of sin & death…and gave us peace. Or as Jeremiah 33:6 reminds us, “I will heal My people and will let them enjoy abundant peace & security.” Jesus Christ is our peace…may you experience that blessed quietness today.

Our sins keep us from God. We are all guilty & implicated by our willful rebellion against Him. The result being, spiritual blindness or darkness in our lives. We try to fill this void but it doesn’t work, or as verses 9-10 tell us, “So justice is far from us, and righteousness does not reach us. We look for light, but all is darkness; for brightness, but we walk in deep shadows. Like the blind we grope along the wall, feeling our way like men without eyes. At midday we stumble as if it were twilight; among the strong, we are like the dead.” But we have a promised hope – this hope the certianity expressed by Isaiah in 9:2, “The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned.” This confidence of Isaiah’s written in the “prophetic perfect” (have seen) speaking of this future light as if it had already happened. Jesus Christ is the light, His light shining forth in the darkness (John 1:4), the sun of righteousness rising with healing in its wings. (Malachi 4:2). Jesus came into the world to dispel the darkness & bring us into a right relationship with His Heavenly Father. We don’t have to walk in darkness any longer…we have hope.

Do you have room for Christ? You may counter with, “I have room, but my heart is so lowly, so base, so dirty.” It tells us here that Mary bound the baby Jesus in bands of cloth in order to keep her newborn clean, dry, and to maintain body heat…and placed him up off the dirty floor and away from drafts in a feed trough…which was far from clean itself. You may say, “I have room for Him, but I feel like my heart has been a den for beasts & devils.” The stable where Jesus was born was far from a spotless environment to bring a tiny baby. It housed cattle, sheep, goats, and assorted fowl…each with its unique odor & manure. Finally, you may say, “I have room for Christ, but my heart isn’t worthy of allowing a King in.” The place where God chose for His Son to be born was as undeserving & wretched as anywhere on earth…but yet, God saw fit for Jesus to be born right there. So when I ask you if you have room for Jesus…remember the stable. It doesn’t matter your past. It doesn’t matter the mess you’ve made of your life up to now. It only matters if you’re serious about turning your life around for Him.

The great Theologian, Charles Spurgeon, once wrote, “God with us” – it’s eternity’s sonnet, heaven’s hallelujah, the shout of the glorified, the song of the redeemed, the chorus of angels, the everlasting oratorio of the great orchestra of the sky.” They called Him Immanuel, God’s promise to His people…His answer to their fears. As far back as Joshua 1:9 we hear God’s reassurance, “For the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.” Here in this verse in Matthew, the deity of Jesus Christ is revealed as Matthew cites Isaiah 8:8. And Jesus went on to become the ultimate & complete fulfillment of the “Immanuel” promise…commissioning His apostles and encouraging His Church…and at the end, reassuring them again with, “I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:20) Jesus, Immanuel…His life the highest and holiest…entering through the most humblest of doors…a ordinary birth in a stable. There was no fanfare, no showy display, no flourish of trumpets…the only sound being that of the livestock. Oh, but in heaven there was the greatest celebration ever to happen…for God had come down to earth to dwell with His people.

What the angel was telling Mary was that she was about to become part of a miraculous conception…an original creation never seen before, but foretold about in Isaiah 7:14 by God Himself…”The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son…” God addressed this even earlier when He pronounced judgment against Satan (the serpent) in Genesis 3:15, “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; He will crush your head and you will strike His heel.” This verse ending with the promise of salvation for God’s people, often referred to as “The First Gospel” or the First Promise of Redemption in Scripture. But many people don’t believe in the so called fairy tale of the virgin birth…and then usually, don’t believe in Jesus either as the Son of God. But believing in the virgin birth is pivotal for you to trust in the life, death, and resurrection of the child she bore…the Son of God, Jesus Christ is His Name.

The birth of Jesus was foretold in the Old Testament Book of Micah 5:2, “But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judea, from you shall come forth for Me One Who is to be Ruler in Israel Whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days.” The Wise men who came seeking Him were Gentile court advisors & ancient astrologists who spent their time interpreting astronomical phenomena and pouring over foreign literature. In their studies they came upon the prophecy of another Gentile named Balaam in Numbers 24:17 who said, “I see Him, but not now; I behold Him, but not near; a star shall come out of Jacob, and a scepter shall rise out of Israel; it shall crush the forehead of Moab and break down all the sons of Sheth.” The Wise men themselves and their travels were written about in Psalm 72:10-11, where it tells us, “The kings of Tarshish and of distant shores will bring tribute to Him; the kings of Sheba and Seba will present Him gifts. All kings will bow down to Him and all nations will serve Him.” The Wise men came searching for the King of kings and Lord of lords…the One Who would ultimately bring God’s universal dominion to earth…and Jesus was His name.

Throughout Biblical history a remnant always remained. From crisis to crisis…terrible ordeal to invasion by enemy troops, God providentially watched over the Israelites to preserve them from complete annihilation & to accomplish His ultimate plan and purpose for the world. Isaiah 11:11 tells us that “The Lord reached out His hand to reclaim the remnant left of His people, leading them from the four corners of the earth.” In order, as we’re told in Isaiah 9:7, that the coming Messiah would reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom establishing & upholding it forever. How? The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this…God’s passion and ardor for His people guaranteeing that He Himself would fulfill and carry out His promise.

God’s messenger Gabriel delivered these astonishing words to a bewildered young girl named Mary. But the whisperings this prophesy harken as far back as to II Samuel 7:16 when God establish His covenant with King David and promised him that his house, kingdom, & throne would be established forever. This covenantal promise was again repeated throughout the Old Testament in places like Psalm 89:4. “I will establish Your line forever and make Your throne firm through all generations.”… to the familiar passage in Isaiah 9:6-7…to Jeremiah 33:17 & Micah 4:1-8. Gabriel’s message to Mary had been firmly set in place by God before the beginning of time…that the Messianic reign of the Lord would set up a Kingdom that would never be destroyed, relinquished, or abdicated.