TODAY’S DEVOTION (SUNDAY 25TH DECEMBER 2022)
“There it was—the true Light [was then] coming into the world [the genuine, perfect, steadfast Light] that illumines every person.
He came into the world, and though the world was made through Him, the world did not recognize Him [did not know Him].
He came to that which belonged to Him [to His own—His domain, creation, things, world], and they who were His own did not receive Him and did not welcome Him.
But to as many as did receive and welcome Him, He gave the authority (power, privilege, right) to become the children of God, that is, to those who believe in (adhere to, trust in, and rely on) His name—
Who owe their birth neither to bloods nor to the will of the flesh [that of physical impulse] nor to the will of man [that of a natural father], but to God. [They are born of God!]
And the Word (Christ) became flesh (human, incarnate) and tabernacled (fixed His tent of flesh, lived awhile) among us; and we [actually] saw His glory (His honor, His majesty), such glory as an only begotten son receives from his father, full of grace (favor, loving-kindness) and truth. John 1:9-14 AMPC
WELCOME TO THE 359th DAY OF OUR YEAR OF AMAZING GRACE!
I want to begin today’s devotional by thanking God for taking us from one Christmas to another. It has been out of His mercies that we are not consumed. His purpose for our lives has stood strong, and His mercies great.
Yes, it is Christmas, 2022. Merry Christmas to all of us who believe in the Christmas story and detest the ugly history. We believe, if Jesus tarries, it will soon be Christmas 2023. But before then, let me again wish all of us a merry, glorious, and spiritually rejuvenating Christmas, in Jesus precious name. Amen!
Yes, today is Christmas but understand that today is not the birthday of Jesus Christ. Today is just a date the early Roman Catholic Church fathers set to mark the day that Christ was born.
Sadly, it happened to be the same day the god of misrule was worshipped. Those early roman catholic fathers did what they did out good intention; the intention was to stop the pagans who had joined the church then from continuing with their paganism.
Though over the years, the Holy Spirit has used the Christmas story told during the season, to do great things in the lives of men and women, it was the wrong strategy because of the god of misrule it brought into the lives of some!
The only people who would have accurately told those early fathers when Jesus was born, was those who wrote the history of the Jews of the days of Christ. Because from what they wrote, we can see that Jesus was not born at this time of the year.
However, if that had become globally accepted, it would had destroyed what the early Roman Catholic Church fathers instituted. So, they made sure it was treated with disdain. But what should matter to every one of us is not the date He was born on earth (through the womb of Mary), but the day He will be born in the hearts of every lost soul out there.
Yes, the day He will not just be born in the heart of every human but formed in the character of every one so that we can have a better world and also a people who are ready for His second coming. The day we will move from a man centered and flesh-controlled life, to a Christ centered or Spirit controlled life.
THAT IS WHAT SHOULD MATTER TO US THIS CHRISTMAS DAY.
However, none of that will happen until the words spoken by Christ or what the Bible calls “the Testimony of Jesus Christ” dwell richly in us; in other words, have its residence or home in our hearts and minds in all its richness.
But that will never happen until we are exposed to the ministries of men and women that the Spirit of Jesus have called, taught, and graced with living truths to teach, admonish, and train others in all insight, intelligence and wisdom in Christ centered spiritual things.
The Bible says;
“Let the word [spoken by] Christ (the Messiah) have its home [in your hearts and minds] and dwell in you in [all its] richness, as you teach and admonish and train one another in all insight and intelligence and wisdom [in spiritual things, and as you sing] psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, making melody to God with [His] grace in your hearts.” Colossians 3:16 AMPC
There are Heavenly melodies that can only flow out of us through an exposure to Christ centered spiritual things. Such melodies are the very songs that should be sang in days like this, if we are to celebrate Christmas without giving place to the god of misrule to express itself in our worship.
Like I said, there is nothing wrong with using today to celebrate the birth of a loving God who stepped into time as man, so that He could die on the cross and set us free. There is nothing wrong with exposing ourselves to spiritual truths that are centered on His person, mission and purpose for coming in all insight, and intelligence until we can sing and make melodies in our hearts.
There is nothing wrong with using this day in our church services to look into prophecies that foretold of His birth and draw spiritual truths from them. There is nothing wrong with the Emmanuel story, which spoke to us about the immaculate conception that brought about the God with us mystery.
The Bible says;
“Therefore the Lord Himself shall give you a sign: Behold, the young woman who is unmarried and a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Emmanuel [God with us].” Isaiah 7:14 AMPC
GOD WITH US MEANS “GOD TAKING ON HUMAN FLESH AND WALKING AMONG US, MEN.”
That was the prophecy Isaiah saw that day. He saw God becoming flesh in the womb of a virgin, and born on earth like any other natural man. He saw Him walking like a man with men, growing among them, and eating with them. He saw the vision and called it “Im-man-u-el” (God with us)!
The prophet of God saw the vision but John the Beloved, one of the disciples of the LORD who experienced the fulfillment of the vision, would later write under the propelling force of the Holy Spirit, as we can see in our devotional text, saying;
“There it was—the true Light [was then] coming into the world [the genuine, perfect, steadfast Light] that illumines every person.
He came into the world, and though the world was made through Him, the world did not recognize Him [did not know Him].
He came to that which belonged to Him [to His own—His domain, creation, things, world], and they who were His own did not receive Him and did not welcome Him.
But to as many as did receive and welcome Him, He gave the authority (power, privilege, right) to become the children of God, that is, to those who believe in (adhere to, trust in, and rely on) His name—
Who owe their birth neither to bloods nor to the will of the flesh [that of physical impulse] nor to the will of man [that of a natural father], but to God. [They are born of God!]
And the Word (Christ) became flesh (human, incarnate) and tabernacled (fixed His tent of flesh, lived awhile) among us; and we [actually] saw His glory (His honor, His majesty), such glory as an only begotten son receives from his father, full of grace (favor, loving-kindness) and truth.” John 1:9-14 AMPC
These WORDS of John in contemporary rendering threw more light into what Isaiah saw. They did because they were written from the realm of the fulfilment of the vision.
THEY MADE THE PROPHETIC PURPOSE OF THE BIRTH OF CHRIST VERY CLEAR.
From them we can learn that when Jesus was born through Mary, He was God with us. God used Isaiah to reveal that, hundreds of years before the event, so that people could listen to the voice of the prophet for those hundreds of years and be acquainted with it before the prophecy will be fulfilled.
The very people I am referring to were people of the then nation of Israel, God’s first-born nation on earth. In God’s perfect plan, He wanted them to walk in the perfect Knowledge of Christ coming, hence using the prophets to foretell the event of His immaculate conception, so that they get divorced from Moses and recognize Jesus, the messiah, at the time of His arrival.
The plan was for them to experience all the shadows Moses led them to practice in their worship and also experience its fulfillment in Christ, and then progress further by unveiling everything to the rest of the world, so that the world through that can be saved. That is why the first people to preach the gospel were Jews (the 120 in the upper room), and the last that will preach it will also be Jews (the 144 Jewish missionaries that will be ministering after the rapture of the Church).
But this plan of God never worked in a large scale.
God never intended that a few Jews respond to the salvation call at the arrival of Christ. He intended that an entire nation respond to it. We see that in our devotional text. It says;
“He came into the world, and though the world was made through Him, the world did not recognize Him [did not know Him].
He came to that which belonged to Him [to His own—His domain, creation, things, world], and they who were His own did not receive Him and did not welcome Him.” John 1:10-11 AMPC
As we can see in these scriptures, the very people God expected that they recognize Him and then unveil Him to the world, could not recognize Him when He came as a little baby born by a virgin, despite Isaiah’s prophecy. The could not recognize God with us. Hence missing out in God’s plan for their lives.
JESUS WOULD LATER WEEP OVER JERUSALEM BECAUSE OF THIS SAYING;
“Now as He drew near, He saw the city and wept over it, saying, “If you had known, even you, especially in this your day, the things that make for your peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes.
For days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment around you, surround you and close you in on every side, and level you, and your children within you, to the ground; and they will not leave in you one stone upon another, because you did not know the time of your visitation.” Luke 19:41-44 NKJV
The Birth of Jesus was a day of visitation for the entire world. But the Jews were to recognize it first then unveil it to the world. But they did not. Only few of them did. That was why Jesus wept.
He wept because they did not recognize the fulfilment of “the GOD with us prophecy” spoken by Isaiah and read in their synagogues all those years. They did not recognize the day of its manifestation among them, hence not accepting it! Them not accepting it resulted in their falling out of God’s redemption plan for their lives.
There is a lesson we can learn there, and that lesson is very simple. God will not force Himself into anyone. If we do not recognize and accept the fulfilment of the “God with us” prophecy, which is the Christmas story, God will not force it on us. We will only find ourselves not falling into His redemption plan for our lives.
It is when we recognize that Christ came for us, and accept it that He can become our LORD and personal Savior in this life, and the life to come. Yes, the life to come, because there is a life to come.
THAT IS WHAT CHRISTMAS CAME TO PREPARE US FOR. YOU SEE THAT IN THE CHRISTMAS STORY.
He was born by Mary so that He can be born in our hearts. It is His birth in our hearts that prepares us for the life to come by giving us the authority, power, privilege, or right to become children of GOD. The rest of our devotional text says;
“But to as many as did receive and welcome Him, He gave the authority (power, privilege, right) to become the children of God, that is, to those who believe in (adhere to, trust in, and rely on) His name—
Who owe their birth neither to bloods nor to the will of the flesh [that of physical impulse] nor to the will of man [that of a natural father], but to God. [They are born of God!]
And the Word (Christ) became flesh (human, incarnate) and tabernacled (fixed His tent of flesh, lived awhile) among us; and we [actually] saw His glory (His honor, His majesty), such glory as an only begotten son receives from his father, full of grace (favor, loving-kindness) and truth.” John 1:12-14 AMPC
Ultimately, the human race is heading towards two destinations after this life; the first is eternal damnation in the lake of fire, and the second is eternal rest with Christ in the new Heaven and the new Earth where righteousness dwells. How you treat the “God with us” story is what will determine where you will end when your time on earth will be over.
That is what will determine how God will treat you in the day of Judgement.
Friend, God designed that when He would be born in our hearts, the process should result in God in us. Which brings us back to the subject of our 31-day journey of faith with the Cry of the Holy Spirit – the presence of God. We have been looking at the indwelling presence of recent.
God with us is manifest presence, but God in us is indwelling presence. One is Emmanuel, but the other is Christ in us dwelling in our hearts and filling our lives with all of Heaven.
It is not actually God with us that will take us to Heaven. It could facilitate our going to Heaven, but it cannot qualify any for Heaven. It is God in us that will qualify us for Heaven, and take us there when we die. That is why we must cherish the indwelling presence of God.
We should cherish it so much so as when we die, we would not die without it. Do not forget, if you die without the indwelling presence of God (Christ) in you, hell will be your home. And God does not want that to happen that is why He has anointed this 31-day journey of faith to help us.
It is my prayer that we will begin to cherish to have the indwelling presence of God in our hearts more than even life in our lungs, or monies in our pockets.
It is all about hunger for it. It is all about prioritizing it above anything else. Because if we do not consider having the indwelling presence of God more than anything else in this world, we would defeat God’s plans for our lives and get destroyed in hell. But God forbids!
LET THIS SCRIPTURE BE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR US TODAY!
“Now acquaint yourself with Him, and be at peace; Thereby good will come to you. Receive, please, instruction from His mouth, and lay up His words in your heart.
If you return to the Almighty, you will be built up; You will remove iniquity far from your tents. Then you will lay your gold in the dust, and the gold of Ophir among the stones of the brooks.
Yes, the Almighty will be your gold and your precious silver; For then you will have your delight in the Almighty, And lift up your face to God.
You will make your prayer to Him, He will hear you, and you will pay your vows. You will also declare a thing, and it will be established for you; So light will shine on your ways.” Job 22:21-28 AMPC