Embracing My Spiritual Birth Through the Nativity of Jesus

We are focusing on a new thought about Christmas, building on our traditional Christmas inspirational messages about Jesus, His birth, His coming into a manger as a baby, and the indwelling of the glory and the cloud of witnesses. This is a beautiful story if we don’t go any further than simply honoring His birth.

However, as we get older, what does it mean to us today? Yes, it means someday when we die, we're going to cross over and we're going to go to Heaven. We love that. We have such peace about that. But is there something more that Heaven wants to declare to us for today to inspire who we are today? 

See, when you go through journeys of life-threatening situations, as I've done over the last 13 years with cancer, you come to a place where when you look in the scriptures, you start asking yourself, "Why take medicines? Why do I go through treatments, surgeries, and trial studies to hang on till I get to go to the other side? Why do this if all the glory is on the other side, and I can't wait to get to Heaven?”

If you get diagnosed with something like cancer, and the treatments aren’t working for you, you start to feel like you've got one foot in Heaven's doorway, so why fight it? Why not just, "Whoo-hoo, this is great." 

On the other hand, why do we grieve so much when someone dies? Why are we not rejoicing? "Hey, they made it. They won the race." I've run long-distance races before, and towards the finish, when you're exhausted, there’s a big crowd that's in that last quarter of a mile or so, cheering you on, pumping you up, that you're almost there. 

We don't do that, though. We grieve if somebody's got some sickness or some disease, and we are searching out every kind of medical possibility to keep them over here. But why, if Heaven is the finish line? Why not just let the disease take over and treat them for pain management?

Well, the "why" is because they carry an anointing, and that anointing breaks the yoke of bondage in the earth, setting the captive free, even if they don’t know they hold that hidden treasure within them. Once we cross over to the other side, so does that portion of the Holy Spirit’s anointing that can only flow through you into the earth. The unseen realm doesn’t need that anointing, for the fullness is already present. 

When we live in a relationship with Jesus, saying, "I’ve got my ticket to Heaven because I believe Jesus is my personal Savior," we limit the anointing within us that breaks the bondage around us. We don't realize that the reason you have your ticket to Heaven when you die and cross over to the other side is to access Heaven and bring its treasures to this side. 

So, let’s focus on the Christmas story, which we love so much about Jesus as a baby. Then, four months later, we are dealing with Jesus on the cross. And then there's His resurrection and ascension, and someday He's coming back. But for many of us, it’s as if He's coming back as a baby again when we celebrate Christmas again.

The resurrection life of Christ, which we celebrate on Easter, is our own resurrection. It's where Christ in us, the hope of glory, can now be revealed. When we believe in Him, that belief releases the dormant life within us. However, we can't believe in it at all unless the Holy Spirit draws us, unless the Holy Spirit comes upon us. That is what we see in the Christmas story. 

Let’s investigate the story—it's recorded in Matthew and Luke—let's start with Luke. In Luke 1:26, you can see Gabriel, the angel, visiting Mary and telling her not to be afraid. In verse 31, Gabriel says, "And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name him Jesus." 

The word Jesus here does not mean Emmanuel, "God with us." It's referring to the headship of who the head of Christ is, which is Jesus. He is the mind of Christ ruling over the one body called Christ.

Luke 1:32-34, "He will be great, and he will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give him the throne of his Father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and his kingdom will have no end. And Mary said to the angel, "How can this be since I am a virgin?" 

Her spirit was not connected to the Holy Spirit. "And the angel answered and said to her, 'The Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. And for that reason, the holy Offspring shall be called the son of God.'" (vs 35).

That's what our faith is doing. When we question, "How can I be a Christ one? I thought I was just a human being," the Holy Spirit comes upon you, impregnates you, and says, "You are my beloved son or my beloved daughter in whom I am well pleased." That impregnation unites with your spirit, so the Holy Spirit and your spirit become one, in one body, and become one spirit with one Father. This is what Paul was talking about in Ephesians. This becomes our virgin birth. When we have that virgin birth, we will go through the challenges of whether we're going to abort that revelation.

See, if Mary had said one word trying to defend herself as a pregnant virgin, she would've dismissed the revelation and lost the pregnancy. Often, that's what we do. She didn't grasp the complexity or what this was all about. She didn't understand the cross, she didn't understand the journey, none of that. All she knew was what she was told right here. 

When we look at Matthew, it discusses the same story in 1:21, where Gabriel says, "And she will bear a son and you shall call his name 'Jesus,' for it is he who will save his people from their sins." It's interesting right here. This is one of those little nuggets that Matthew refers to as "you" talking to Joseph. In Luke 1:31, Gabriel is talking to Mary, and it's Mary who's going to name the child Jesus. 

If we go to Isaiah 7:14, "Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, a virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she will call his name Emmanuel." 

So, who is naming the child? Is it a ‘she’? Is it Joseph? Is it Mary? Why didn’t they name him Emmanuel?

The reason it's a ‘she’ is because it's the bride of Christ. It's not a human naming the child, but the indwelling of God – Emmanuel - whether you're a male or a female. When we know that the revelation comes from the Holy Spirit, and that Jesus isn't just your brother, He's not just your friend, but He's your husband - He's the lover of your soul. 

For women, we can do that easily, especially when we're searching for love, but men are challenged because of the homophobic spirit and gender situation in the world. So, for them, it becomes a real challenge of saying, "Wait a second, how can I be pregnant?" That doesn't even make sense. Until the Holy Spirit comes upon you and shows you the spiritual aspect of what this word is saying, and that every word here applies to every single person, not just in a gender situation of being a female.

If we go back to Luke again in chapter one, Mary has a song that's within her heart, and it says in verse 46. "And Mary said, 'My soul exalts the Lord and my spirit has rejoiced in God my savior, for he has had regard for the humble state of his bond-slave. For behold, from this time on, all generations will count me blessed.'"

We have taken this verse and made doctrines out of it, like Mother Mary, the mother of God, or raising a woman in history who men dominated. But when we stop and say, "What does this mean to me?" Well, Mary means "bitterness." Your bitterness, your self-ego, and your hatred, your adultery, your idolatry, all these things can be wrapped into this Mary identity.

But when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, all generations will count you blessed. The word ‘blessed’ is more than just "favored of God." It means "indwelt of God." All generations will know that the spirit of the Lord is within you and dwells with you. This is her song. It becomes the song of Mary. It became the song of Miriam, Moses' sister, after they crossed the Red Sea. And it becomes our song when you go to the end of the Bible to Revelation. 

In Revelation 21, it talks about a new Heaven and a new Earth, for the first Heaven and the first Earth passed away, and there is no longer any sea.

When someone says, “They can’t wait to go to Heaven, " well, are you going to the first Heaven, the second Heaven, or the third Heaven? See, it has different meanings, and we all think it means the same thing.

John said, "And I saw the holy city, which was a new Jerusalem." So, we're not talking about the Jerusalem that's on the earth right now. We are talking about a place for Jesus to rest His head with the body of Christ, as He is the head of Christ. The mind of Christ, but He wants a body to place His head on. T

His body is the bride of Christ, the church. This church, male and female, is made up of many members in one body. This church of His body, bone of His bone, and flesh of His flesh is coming down out of Heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband. We must get ourselves ready. "And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, 'Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and he shall dwell among...'" This word ‘among’ means ‘in.’ "God is in men, and he shall dwell in them, and they shall be his people and God himself shall be in them." (Revelation 19). The throne of God is our heart, where Heaven is. Coming down originally meant coming out of us by the renewing of our minds with the Christ mind of Jesus Christ.

All of this is where we're at now with this Christmas story. As you celebrate Christmas, you will see Jesus in a manger. Take note of the beastly natures of the animals surrounding Him: the cows, the chickens, the donkeys. In that Bethlehem scene, where the Star of David shines down, look up and see the angelic host singing glory to God of the highest. They're singing and rejoicing in you. They're singing and rejoicing that you have the awakening of the glory of God, Christ in you (Colossians 1:27). 

Maybe as a shepherd, maybe as a woman at the well, maybe as a good Samaritan, or maybe as just simply a child. But they are singing at you because the Holy Spirit is coming upon you because of the resurrection. The life you now live is as a totally new creation in Christ Jesus, not a sinful human, but as Christ Jesus in you. The two have become one in a marriage that was made in Heaven and is being manifested on this Earth (2 Corinthians 5:17).

Christ is walking among humanity, among the natural, because the word is being made flesh and the word is coming out of you. Christ is radiating out of your presence on the earth, along with the entire anointing of all Heaven's treasures.

When you go through trials and tribulations, count it all joy, as James told us in 1:2-3, “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.” During those times, patience was her perfect work. And that perfection allows the gemstones that are within you, the pressures that are being squeezed and pressed, to become the best wine. To become the best that God created you for such a time as now, that He couldn't do before. But now is your time.

Your purpose, position, and authority are reasons why you're not quick to leave this body and go to the other side. You've got an assignment. God doesn't see old age. He unveils the real you He created in the beginning before you were conceived in your mother’s womb. When the Holy Spirit comes upon you while you're in darkness and ignorance of God being your Heavenly Father, His love draws you to Him with a language upon you that says, “Let there Be Light.” You were born in a manager surrounded by the beastly nature of humanity. Christ in you is your born-again awakening (Colossians 1:27, John 3:16) that presents the question to you, “When were you first born?”

Merry Christmas!