Some months after Joseph and Mary were married, Augustus wanted to know how many of his subjects lived in each country. He gave the order that all persons must return to the town of their birth, to sign a register. Joseph and Mary traveled to Bethlehem, where Joseph had been born.

But when they arrived, the inns were full. They had to stay in a stable. Here Jesus was born.

That night an angel appeared to a group of shepherd’s watching their flocks in the fields. “I bring you joyful news. Christ the Lord has been born to save mankind. You will find him in a stable, lying in a manager. Go now to Bethlehem and honor him.”

Far away in the East, wise men had seen a new star in the heavens. They followed the star to Jerusalem and came before King Herod. “We seek the child who has been born King of the Jews,” they told Herod. “We have come to worship him.”

When the wise men found Jesus, they bowed before him and worshiped him. They had brought him precious gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.

(Min. Lois Brown-Grady is the founder of the PrayerFaithHealingMinistry.)