BIBLICAL PROPHECY IS POWERFUL AND RELIABLE

But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of you shall come forth to Me the One to be Ruler in Israel, whose goings forth are from of old, from everlasting.Micah 5:2

Recommended Reading: Matthew 2:1-6

WISE MEN FROM THE EAST

2 Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, 2 saying, “Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we have seen His star in the East and have come to worship Him.”

3 When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. 4 And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born.

5 So they said to him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for thus it is written by the prophet:

6 ‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,Are not the least among the rulers of Judah;For out of you shall come a RulerWho will shepherd My people Israel.’”

COMMENTS:  I know some of you reading this have taken Holy Land trips and came back telling life changing experiences.   My in-laws made such a trip and was life changing for them.   They made the trip before I knew them but did share some of those memories with us before they passed. 

So why have we decided not to make such a pilgrimage ourselves?   Our reasons may surprise you.   I do have to say that there is some level of regret we haven’t made that pilgrimage but do believe health and Covid and volatility of the world has made such pilgrimages much more difficult or even impossible. 

Well, Bethlehem is one of those ancient places that has remained small but instead of reflecting a functioning stable and manger, reflects the ancient church building built over the holy sight a few hundred years later after Christianity became accepted in the Roman Empire.   Tourist sights usually only retain their original look if they become a “museum” maintained for that purpose and not lived in.   Bethlehem is an exception but only because of deliberate efforts to do so but more so of the time of Christian Rome, not the  time of Christ’s birth.

Yet, praying and worshipping and sharing Holy Land experiences with other believers would be so much more meaningful than just visiting such places as a tourist, which is exactly what others have discovered.  So being at these places after Christ has returned, “remodeled the earth” including the “New Jerusalem” and set up His kingdom is going to dwarf experiences this side of the grave, so worshipping Him there is what we are looking forward to. 

For me, witnessing God’s creation:  The beauty of a sunrise or sunset, living things like flowers and grass and tree blanketed hills and mountains, the ocean shore, the beauty of freshly laid snow on ground and trees, people and animals, the stars and moon on a clear night reflect God’s presence and His active involvement in the world effectively and inspire me to prayer and worship and are available everywhere and anytime.

Our relationship with our Lord and Savior.  How frequently and effectively we fellowship with Him, is determined by us.  We are as close to Him as we are willing to be no matter   where we are or who we are.   We don’t need to make a pilgrimage to achieve that relationship nor accomplish a long list of duties to earn such a relationship, which reflects and heart and love and majesty of our Savior over the idols and human imagined gods of other religions and belief systems.

Well, we live in dangerous but amazing times.  We can visit all the Holy Land stops at the touch of a computer keyboard or mouse any time and from nearly anywhere, so may be helpful to do so with the bible stories in hand to connect scripture to the pictures and videos we can experience.  I’m going to try this during Advent too so maybe we can compare notes next month?

 Anyway, Bethlehem means “house of bread”.  Bethlehem was where the lambs used for sacrifice at Jerusalem were raised during bible times.  Bethlehem was also the place where grain was raised as recorded in Ruth.  The place where Ruth met Boaz but also the place of Jesus’ birth.

Below is not necessarily the best available but is one I discovered of Jerusalem and Bethlehem highlights, so copied link below:

So, let’s take needed time to spend with our Savior today, giving Him the birthday gift He most desires from us and receive the best gift from Him, the gift of His abiding presence. Be comforted this Christmas by the prophecy and fulfillment that surrounds the birth of Jesus. God’s promises for you are as certain as His promises were for the birth of Jesus.

Published by donsdevotions

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Don McDaniel - Who am I? Hello everyone and welcome to my devotional journal blog. In order to get acquainted and help you get to know me a bit better before considering following my blog, let me give you some background. I am a 74-year-old male and a retired engineer. I worked for a major supplier of underground mining equipment for nearly 40 years before retiring in 2012. Arlene and I have been happily married since April 1978 and have two grown – married children, one granddaughter and 2 step grandsons. I joined the local United Methodist church at age 12 after accepting Christ as my Savior at age 10 during revival services in that same church in 1961, so I have been a “Born Again” Christian all my teen years and adult life. Christ has helped and guided me all that time. He guided me in choosing my wife and life’s career. My life journey has included regrets and failures, but God has picked me up and protected and spared me from life threatening consequences and dangers more times than I can recall or count. But many I do recall and encourage and motivate me to trust and follow Christ with more passion than ever. Christmas 2011 our daughter gave Arlene and I each a devotional journal. Journals were books with devotion for each day and space to give personal impressions and thoughts related to each devotion. Her desire was to have a lasting legacy she could refer back to and share with her children and grandchildren especially after we are gone. I was touched by that gesture. My parents and Arlene’s were devout Christians, so we would have greatly treasured having that from them, so we felt a sense of urgency to honor her request. I finished my journal first and returned it to our daughter the following Christmas. I’m glad I did it then because Parkinson’s has caused my hand writing to deteriorate since then. The exercise was such a blessing for me. Discipline of keeping journal helped me gain a deeper walk with Christ and greater discipline in honoring my time of prayer and devotion with Him each day. So, I decided to continue the practice but since I could not find a paper journal I liked, I decided to create my own. I had already been receiving electronic devotions by email every day from several sources, my favorite being “Turning Point” from Dr. David Jeremiah. What I decided to do was to include devotional scripture but add my own thoughts and comments only so there would be no issue of copyright infringement. Creating and maintaining journal by computer also addressed my deteriorating handwriting ability. I started an electronic devotion journal January 1, 2013 and have been faithful to that practice every day since. I prayed about method and level of distribution. My initial intent was to only share it with my two children by email, but quickly discovered others in my family, my church, and friends from work (both retired and still working) who knew me and wanted to be included in distribution when they learned what I was doing. I now distribute by email my daily journal at the beginning of each month to over 150 friends and relatives. God has richly blessed and encouraged me. I am concerned with the state of our church and nation, and world for that matter, believing we are living in the end times the prophets of old and Christ have talked about in scripture, so time is short. I desire to be true to my Savior and a witness to help others come to a saving knowledge of Him and equipped to share His Good News too. If my journal can encourage and help others, I believe God wants me to share it. I struggled, for a time at first, because I know many others keep similar journals but only for their own edification and do not want to share them because they are private. However, Christ has stirred my heart to share it as a witness tool. Our son and daughter have a long-time friend who grew up with them who we also befriended nearly 25 years ago. He had a lot of family problems, so would gravitate to our family as a refuge and eventually thought of us as his adopted parents and he as our adopted son. We lost contact with him for some time when he grew up and left home. He traveled around the U.S. and eventually ended up in Ukraine where he resided for next 10 years. He had to return to the US to renew his visa and took opportunity to recommend I begin a blog of my devotions and helped me set it up. He is also an active blogger and has been an email subscriber to my journal for several months, so he has been suggesting I expand my distribution by starting a blog to get broader exposure. After reflection and prayer, I concluded God was in this, so he is helping me set up my blog site. This brief autobiography is my first entry. He returned to Ukraine, then resided there until circumstanced made him decide to move back to US with his young son. This biography was my first post February 29, 2016 . I have published 600 posts from 2016-2023 automatically sent to all my Facebook friends, published on WordPress to be accessible to anyone curious or seeking a deeper walk with God. I decided to take a sebatical to prepare for a new chapter. In 2014 I was diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease which affects patient ability to walk, drive, do physical work, and eventually talk. By mid 2023 it became evident our home for last 42 years (previously owned by my parents for previous 44 years and by my mother's grandparents for 39 years before that) would eventually not meet my needs so we decided to sell it and move into 1st floor of a duplex we also owned that was the town school from 1855-1913. Likewise, the property was requiring more maintenance that I was no longer able to keep up with. 2023 involved selling our home and moving into apartment next door and then in early 2025 an opportunity to move closer to our daughter and granddaughter in Kentucky which was completed in May 2025. For a number of months I have been seeking direction seeking God's direction and timing to return to blogging as my journey with Parkinson's continues to unfold with God's guiding hand in mine. I hope and pray my devotions will continue to be a blessing for you. God certainly has become closer and more real to me since started this blog in 2016. I have spent time with Him studying scripture and praying and listening and writing this journal. I will continue seeking God’s help and will welcome your input to make this site as meaningful as I can and true to God, who is motivating me to create and maintain it. I will also welcome input in order to make format more meaningful going forward. Don & Arlene McDaniel In His Service, Email: mcdanieldonald769@gmail.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Don1951 If you wish, you can access my blog at “https://donsdevotions.wordpress.com“. There you will find 600+ blog posts I have made plus a link to my devotional journal material archives from 2013 to present (https://donsdevotions.wordpress.com/2016/03/02/link-to-dons-devotional-journal-entries-2013/ ) You may also access my Facebook page and request to be my friend and automatically receive my daily journal publications daily. My Facebook page is: https://www.facebook.com/Dondevotionals/ Many thanks to a pastor and dear brother in Christ in Nepal who set up the above Facebook page to help and encourage and give opportunity for more to explore and use my devotional blog materials.

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