My husband tells an interesting story. Two weeks before his conversion to Christ, he was given a special silver ring by the athletic department. The ring turned black when he put it on his hand.  Several attempts to polish it, have a jeweler clean it, and even place a special coating on the ring could not keep it from tarnishing.

Right after Kevin invited Jesus into his heart, something amazing happened; he noticed the ring had returned to its natural color.

He often tells this story because it is a vivid picture of the internal change that took place in his heart, and the new life that came into his physical body.

When the life of Christ comes into you, something changes in your chemical make up! New life now inhabits your body; eternal life co-habits with mortal flesh. Christ replaces the stain of sin in your life. Peace now dwells in your heart (Colossians 3:15), and the Spirit of God dwelling in you gives life to your mortal body (Romans 8:11).

I remember the story of Zhanna, a young Muslim woman who suffered with terrible asthma. Her parents had taken her to every doctor in Kazakhstan and had even made the great expense of traveling across the vast tundra to Moscow to consult with specialists. Nothing helped this young woman. She suffered terribly, barely able to breathe, facing daily the life-threatening effects of severe asthmatic attacks.

Her parents, who were Muslim in their faith, were invited to one of our meetings. Someone had told them about a Festival of Music and Miracles being conducted in their city. Moved by what they heard in the meeting, the entire family decided to invite Jesus into their hearts.

Suddenly, an amazing thing happened. Zhanna began to take deep breaths! Something had lifted off her chest, and the weight that had bound her was gone! Peace had entered her body and she was breathing freely.

They had sought healing from all the experts in the best hospitals of that part of the world with no results. Yet, in just one simple prayer they asked Jesus into their hearts, and in that moment all signs of this debilitating sickness disappeared!

I was raised in church. For 22 years I attended the services and heard the words, but no transforming personal experience ever happened. Then one day under a maple tree on the Michigan State University campus, I spoke out of my heart and asked Jesus to come into my life.

Suddenly my spiritual eyes were opened! I felt the cleaning agent of the Holy Spirit, like a scrub brush, wash away my sin and remove my guilt. I saw my past as forgiven. Then I sensed heaven open up, and for the first time I knew I was going there. My hope was transformed into a knowing.

Everybody I knew growing up hoped they were going to heaven, but for the first time, I knew! It happened when my words and my heart hooked up with the truth that God wanted me to know.

Jesus said, “And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:32).

God’s Word is the true source of an image of a righteous man or woman. Slave owners in America in the early 1800s knew that people would not be slaves if they could read for themselves what God said about them, so they passed laws forbidding slaves to be taught to read and write.

Learning to read was the first step toward grasping President Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation. It was also the first step toward knowing God’s proclamation of a new position in Christ! James 1:23–24 (NLT 1996) says, “If you just listen and don’t obey, it is like looking at your face in a mirror but doing nothing to improve your appearance. You see yourself, walk away, and forget what you look like.”

I remember traveling on a train across Russia several years ago. Laying in my bed, tremendous symptoms of sickness began to attack my body. I knew this was not the place to get ill, and I had many hours to travel on this train. My berth felt either too hot or too cold, and I could barely move about in the room I shared with other passengers.

I remember opening my bible to Isaiah 53:1, “Who has believed our report?  And to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?” Suddenly it dawned on me, did I understand what Christ had done for me? Could I believe in the midst of this dark, cold, dreary Siberian landscape that two thousand years ago this Jesus was wounded for me?

As I laid there I considered the tremendous price paid for me, and realized that I had ignorantly overlooked Isaiah’s report. My bible slipped from my hand and I started to fall asleep. At that moment I remember the strength of God infusing my soul and I KNEW that I was healed. The next morning every ache, chill and pain had vanished from my body. Total healing had returned by no power of my own, but by simply believing the report!

The story is told of a man who purchased passage on a cruise liner for himself and his family, paying the full fare for their grand adventure across the ocean.

Each day he and his family huddled in their quiet little berth consuming the sparse provisions they had packed for their trip. One day a steward noticed their emaciated faces and asked them why they were not enjoying the banquet with the other passengers. The father told him that he had only purchased passage on the ship but not the meals.

The steward explained to the man that his ticket covered passage and meals for his entire family. After dining on mere morsels for days, the family joyfully sat down to enjoy what had belonged to them all along.

David tells us in Psalm 103:2-3, “Praise the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits—who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases.”

Millions of people around the globe today, perhaps even billions, celebrate this Christmas Christ who lives in the heart.

This Christmas season, in whatever situation you find yourself, remember—Christmas is not a brightly decorated, commercial season, but it is rather a moment of time when God determined to put on human flesh and dwell among us.

Remember, the God who is the Creator of the universe and all that we see is not some ethereal, cosmic, mystic being. No!  He is God with us, Emmanuel—the One who has come to live and dwell in our hearts!

We say to you: Merry Christmas! And may Christ dwell in your heart, and in your family!

Imagine giving a gift, something very precious which you have taken painstaking effort to prepare for the one you love so much. You’ve taken time, money and energy to plan the specific moment you will present your gift. AND THEN, the unthinkable happens—the gift is rejected. The answer is NO. The reality dawns on you. This person whom I love so much is not interested in me or my gift.

I wonder how God feels? He sent His precious Son to carry our burdens, to take away our sins, to be beaten for our diseases. The chastisement of our peace was upon Him. This amazing substitution is God’s gracious and loving gift for us. It cannot be earned. It is a free gift! Yet multitudes still reject His love!

Today, I encourage you to remember what Jesus has done for you! Receive this free gift! Simply dare to believe that He died for you and that He rose from the dead. You will never be the same!

Christmas to me is about peace at home, with family and in Christ! I remember that the glory of Christmas is the glory of a story with eternal value that never wanes.

I am mindful of the greatest gift of all—Jesus Christ! God, who loved us so much, gave His all for each one of us. Perhaps this Christmas you find yourself unemployed, with waning health or simply needing encouragement. Remember that God gave His all when He gave His Son. The scripture tells us that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself (2 Corinthians 5:19). The blood of the Father flowing in the veins of a new born child—Emmanuel—God with us!  God putting on humanity for each one of us, identifying with us!

This Christmas receive PEACE—receive HIM. This is the Gift of God for each one of us!

When you have an encounter with Jesus Christ and surrender your life to receive Him as your Savior and Lord, it is not just an emotional experience. It is not just a rational, intelligent moment of decision. It is not just a cleansing of your past and passport to your future.

The seed of God has been planted in you in the same miraculous way that the seed of God was planted in Mary to produce the Lord Jesus!  You have to say yes to His will the same way Mary did. She did not understand but said, “Be it done unto me according to your will.”

Peter describes this phenomenon by declaring: “Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever.”  1 Peter 1:23

You have a miracle in you! All His purpose and power is now able to grow and develop in you. This gives special meaning when we celebrate His birth at Christmas!