Christmas Devotionals (12 of 25) by Jason Major

Read Matthew 1:1-25

“Son, it has been awhile.  Come to My heart.  Leave your daily concerns and come away with My Holy Spirit and come and visit Christmas Mountain.  Walk again through the gates of Christmas Mountain.  Come, come to My house, where we will spend time together.  I will be with you; I will bless you.”

“We will be together. We will rest. Come, into My house.  Have a cup of warm, hot chocolate. Find rest and comfort for your wounded soul.”

“Start with Matthew 1 again. Let Me take a study Bible off the shelf.  I want you to read it with fresh eyes and new understanding.  Scripture is like daily bread- freshly made and given to you daily.  Read Matthew 1 in New King James and let Me share My heart with you.”

“See Me taking a New King James Bible and reading Matthew to you.  We will meditate in other translations as you continue to write out the biblical meditations.  That is your goal with the other meditations.”

“As I finish reading Matthew 1 to you, I smile, and I close the Bible and put it back on the shelf where it belongs.  I know you are still thirsty, so I give you a drink of cold water, with ice in it. It is so refreshing.”

“Son, here is what I am sharing with you today.  When you re-read this Scripture, what you see is story.”

“The story of Matthew 1 is a summary of the stories of the Old Testament. Joseph in his dream is told and reminded of the story and prophecy concerning the Messiah, the Baby Jesus. The genealogy is a summary of several stories- King David has a longer story in the books of 1 & 2 Samuel for example. Ruth has her own book and story as well.  Abraham has his own stories.  There is life in those stories.”

“Yes, I remember that you are all excited about all the superhero movies that are coming out, they are fun. However, the history of those heroes are fiction. They are fantasy, they are to be enjoyed just as stories.”

“The Bible is a living story. It is why I came as a Man, a person on the Earth.  John, the beloved wrote in his gospel that the Word became flesh and the story of God became a human being.”

“The stories in the Bible reveal My heart and character.  I could have easily had let Jesus write His own autobiography when He was here on Earth. He didn’t, because it was through a variety of authors that you see different understandings of who My nature is. All the answers are both in and not in the Bible.”

(He smiles and laughs at me to explain)

“What I mean, is that all the answers are in the Bible.  The Bible is the Word of God.  At the same time, all the answers are not in the Bible.”

“I know that seems like a paradox.  It is not so confusing. All the answers are found in Me; yes, but not all scientific fact is found in the Bible, for example. Not all the stories of history are in the Bible.  Not all the knowledge of the universe is found in the Bible. Think of the Bible itself as a summary, an introduction, if you will, of the living Word, who is Jesus.”

“Now, why do I share this with you now? It is because it is not enough to know the Bible by Word or letter.  The Bible is a document that must be inside your heart, written on your heart.  That is what I want for you. The Word is what transforms the way that you think about the world around you.”

“Joseph learned that it wasn’t enough to have an intelligent understanding of Scripture- he had to to encounter it.  It was the angel who gave him understanding of the book of Isaiah.”

“Welcome to the Biblical Cinematic Universe.  The Scripture will continue to bring more healing and life to you when you read even the genealogy of what came before- how could any of these biblical characters totally know or understand the totality of the life, death and resurrection of Christ would look like?”

“Let healing come to you through the Words of the Bible.”

Journal Entry: How do You want me to encounter the Word of God through the Nativity Story?