"Then Mary said, 'Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word.' And the angel departed from her" (Luke 1:38 NKJV)If we were planning the birth of the King of Kings, I highly doubt we would choose a teenage girl in Nazareth, a lowly village. We would find a royal family, a wealthy family that would provide support for the Chosen Messiah. Yet God's plan was to bypass t...

"You will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart" (Jeremiah 29:13 NKJV)In Matthew 2:1-12, the wise men were searching for Jesus, but really God was initiating the relationship with them. John 6:44 says, "No one comes to Me unless the Father Who sent Me draws them." No one seeks after God first - before you were searching for Him, He was wooing you to Himself. You must resp...

"And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth" (John 1:14 NKJV)When John calls Jesus "the Word," he's describing expression - the expression of God. When we see Jesus, He is expressing Who God is. We use words to describe something invisible in our mind to put it into your mind. If I say "dog," you h...

"Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel, which is translated, 'God with us'" (Matthew 1:23 NKJV)Immanuel (or, Emmanuel) means "God with us," and this captures the heart of Christmas. Think about it - God could have remained distant from our struggles. He could have just shouted instructions from heaven or sent messengers with His commands. But...

"For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace" (Isaiah 9:6 NKJV)When the angels proclaimed "peace on earth," they weren't promising an end to all conflict. The peace Jesus brought is not the absence of trouble, but the presence of God in the midst ...