Luke 2:7, “And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.”

What an amazing account! God Almighty was born of a virgin and placed in a feeding trough in a stable. Who would ever expect the Creator of the universe to make His entrance into the world in such a humble fashion?

Likewise with us, the Lord could manifest Himself to us in such a way that we couldn’t miss Him, but that wouldn’t please Him. God desires faith and, “without faith it is impossible to please Him:”… Hebrews 11:6.

Today, let’s please our Heavenly Father and acknowledge His presence in faith just because of His promise… Matthew 28:20; Hebrews 13:5.

Luke 1:80, “And the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, and was in the deserts till the day of his shewing unto Israel.”

John the Baptist had the most important job assignment ever given to any mortal in the history of the world. He was to prepare the way for the coming of the long awaited Messiah… verse 76.

How did the Lord prepare John for such an important task? What university could teach him all he needed to know? Who offered a course in becoming the greatest prophet who ever lived?… Matthew 11:11 Of course, no one could prepare John for such an important position, so the Lord taught him personally. John was in the deserts until he was thirty years old. He was tutored directly by the Lord through the Holy Spirit.

The personal touch of the Lord became very obvious. Six months after John began his ministry, the whole nation of Israel was experiencing revival and anticipating the coming of the Christ. When Jesus came, the Jews wondered how he could know things he was never taught… John 7:15.

It’s a part of the new covenant… Hebrews 8:11. The Holy Spirit has been sent to be our teacher, but we have to show up at class and expect to receive… John 14:26. He’ll even show us things to come… John 16:13.

 Luke 1:45, “And blessed is she that believed: for there shall be a performance of those things which were told her from the Lord.”

There are many reasons why God’s blessings don’t always come to pass in a person’s life, but the most frequent cause is simply unbelief on our part. There are no limitations on God’s part. He is willing and able to do anything He has promised. The problem is with our believing.

The Lord has given every believer faith… Romans 12:3. It was given to us at salvation through hearing the Word of God… Ephesians 2:8; Romans 10:17. It is a fruit of the Holy Spirit… Galatians 5:22. However, we must choose to exercise it.

Our faith is linked to our knowledge… 2 Peter 1:1-4. What we think on is how we will be… Proverbs 23:7. The problem is not that we don’t have faith. The problem occurs when we don’t allow our faith to work because we don’t keep our minds stayed on God’s Word. Then our faith is choked out by the cares of this life… Mark 4:19.

Mary saw a performance of what she believed. We receive what we believe, not what we desire or even need. Today believe the word that the Lord has spoken about you.

 Luke 1:41, “And it came to pass, that, when Elisabeth heard the salutation of Mary, the babe leaped in her womb; and Elisabeth was filled with the Holy Ghost:”

Upon hearing the greeting of Mary, John the Baptist leaped for joy inside his mother’s womb… Luke 1:44. A six month old fetus experienced unbridled emotion, voluntarily leaped for joy and was actually filled with the Holy Spirit.

It is no coincidence that the man Jesus called the greatest of all Old Testament prophets, was the only man in the Bible to be filled with the Holy Ghost from his mother’s womb… Luke 7:28.

The anointing of God that breaks every yoke is simply the manifest presence and working of the Holy Spirit… Isaiah 10:27. The Holy Spirit is the part of the Godhead that empowers us for service.

God is not asking us to live for Him. He is asking us to let Him live through us… Galatians 2:20. The Christian life is not a changed life but an exchanged life. This can only be accomplished when the Holy Spirit is leading and empowering us.

If you ask, you will receive… Luke 11:9-13.

 Luke 24:21 “But we trusted that it had been he which should have redeemed Israel: and beside all this, to day is the third day since these things were done.”

When the right time came, God sent forth His Son from Heaven in His pre-existent state, into the world. He was born of a woman (virgin birth) and was made subject to the requirements of the law. Jesus was sent at a specific time. The entrance of Jesus into the physical realm was not a random thing occurring at a haphazard time. There were developments that had to take place before Christ could come to earth and redeem man. The Father sent His Son to the earth at the earliest possible time. Anytime prior to the time Jesus was born of the virgin Mary, would have been premature.

His purpose for coming into the world was twofold. First, He came to “redeem them that were under the law.” He did this by perfectly keeping the law, fulfilling it, and paying its curse… Matthew 5:17; Galatians 3:13. Thus, Christ delivered us from the entire system of the law. The Greek word for redeem means “to buy OUT OF the slave market.”

God created us for Himself but we sold ourselves into slavery to the devil. God bought us back through the precious blood of Jesus Christ. No amount of effort, human works, or man’s own righteousness could bring the divine favor that we needed. It was the actual life of God… Leviticus 17:11, that purchased our redemption.

 Matthew 27:52 “And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose,”

This is an amazing event that only Matthew records. This earthquake apparently rolled the stones away from many of the graves in the vicinity of Jerusalem, and some of the saints buried there arose from the dead. Even at the death of Jesus, such power was released that death lost its grip on its captives.

It is uncertain whether these resurrected saints died again or were caught up to God. If they were resurrected at Christ’s death, then they would have had to die again, just as Lazarus or Jairus’ daughter or the widow’s son at Nain or anyone else that Jesus raised from the dead during His ministry. This is because Jesus was, “the firstfruits of them that slept” (Acts 26:23; 1 Corinthians 15:20). Jesus was not the first person physically raised from the dead, but He was the first person begotten from the dead to never die again.

The resurrection of Jesus puts Christianity in a class all by itself. Many people have come and gone professing some revelation from God or new way of approaching God. But only Jesus has conquered death. This makes Him unique and elevates Him above the level of any other man who has ever walked on the earth. The resurrection of Jesus is the ultimate proof of the accuracy of His doctrine.

 Luke 23:34 “Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do. And they parted his raiment, and cast lots.”

Forgiveness of sins is one of the great themes of the Bible. There is so much that scripture says about it that it would take volumes of books to adequately deal with the subject. It will suffice to say that the blood of Jesus is what provided us with forgiveness of sins. That sacrifice was so great that it outweighed all our sins. It covered all the sins of the world-past, present, and future.

It is through the riches of God’s grace that we have received forgiveness for our sins. There is nothing we can do to obtain forgiveness except humble ourselves and receive forgiveness as a gift through faith in Christ.

 Luke 23:18 “And they cried out all at once, saying, Away with this man, and release unto us Barabbas:”

What happened to Barabbas is a picture of what happens when a person is born again. Barabbas was guilty; Jesus was innocent. Yet Jesus suffered the death that Barabbas should have experienced, and Barabbas went free.

Likewise, we were all guilty…Romans 3:23, and condemned to death… Romans 6:23, yet Jesus suffered our punishment so that we may go free… 2 Corinthians 5:21. Just as Barabbas didn’t ask for this substitution, so “God commended his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8

Our death to sin and resurrection to life with Christ, is already a reality in our spirits but will only become a physical reality when we know and believe it. In the same way that Jesus died unto sin once, and death no longer has dominion over Him, the person who recognizes their death with Christ unto sin, will not allow sin to rule over him anymore. Any Christian who is struggling with sin has not recognized that they are dead unto sin.

 John 21:21 “Peter seeing him saith to Jesus, Lord, and what shall this man do?”

Jesus had just told Peter to follow Him. However, Peter wanted to know what the Lord had planned for John. Instead of Jesus answering Peter’s question, the Lord told him that what He had in store for John was none of his business.

Satan diverts many people by getting them preoccupied with what others are doing for the Lord. Comparing ourselves with others, whether we come out better or worse, is unwise… 2 Corinthians 10:12. We need to be so single-minded following the Lord, that we don’t look to the right or to the left to see what others are doing. It doesn’t matter if we are doing as much to serve the Lord as someone else. The question is, are we doing all that the Lord wants us to do?

Singleness of purpose and vision is a necessity to victorious Christian living. James said that if we try to master many things we will fail… James 3:1. We have to set priorities and focus on them.

The scriptures teach that memory can be a powerful force for good in our lives. It is always good to remind ourselves that we were once apart from God’s saving grace. It is an antidote against pride and self-righteousness. A person who remembers what he used to be will have a clearer understanding of who he is now. We have to cultivate our memories by meditating on the great things God has done for us and spoken to us.

 John 20:21 “Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you.”

The dictionary states that to reconcile means to re-establish friendship between; to settle or resolve, as a dispute. The key to reconciliation is to effectively deal with the enmity, ill will, hatred, or hostility that caused the dispute, etc.

Imputing people’s sins unto them was not the way God used Jesus to reconcile the world unto Himself. We should not focus on the problem of sin, but on the answer of God’s grace… Romans 5:20.

When you read a newspaper, you read about things that have already happened. They are not reporting prophecy. They are reporting the news. So our real job as ministers of reconciliation is to announce the good NEWS, which is an accomplished fact – that sin has already been dealt with through the person of Christ. We should say, “Now we beseech you, be ye reconciled to God. Change your mind and believe the gospel so that you may partake of what has already been done on your behalf.”