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!

One of my mission trips took me to the deepest part of Siberia, Russia. While the ice still held its bitter grip on the streets, we conducted a conference to which everyone was welcome.

In the middle of my message, I noticed a small, timid man quietly sit down in the back row. (I later learned his name was Boris, from the city of Neryungry.) I felt impressed to say, “If you are a street cleaner, be a great street cleaner for God!”

Tears welled up in his eyes. When I spoke to him after the meeting, he told me he was a street cleaner. He also confessed that he had been on his way that morning to kill himself with the gun he still had in his possession. But as he walked by the building where I was preaching, he overheard the strange sound of a foreigner. Filled with curiosity, he entered. I spoke directly to his heart. Then Jesus spoke to him and said, “Boris, I love you. Go into the ministry and write a book.”

Boris began to weep. He said, “Kevin, will you help me write a book?” I told him I must go on to the next city, but that I would pray for his new life and success.

Seven years later, as I held on to a railing on a train in Moscow’s underground transit system on which nine million people travel each day, I turned and looked into the eyes of a man whose gaze was riveted on me.

“Boris, is that you?” I asked.

He leapt to his feet, hugged me, and cried, “It is! It is!”

“What are you doing here so far away from your hometown?” I asked. He said he was finishing up his Bible school education and was on his way to pastor a church! Then he reminded me, “I am going to write that book!” Recently I met him, and he now heads up a significant ministry to the Jews.

There is nothing like the power of a transformed life! It is a life that has found value, purpose, and a friend in Jesus. God offers a new image to all humanity, while breathing His life into all who will call upon the name of the Savior, Jesus!

Today I feel impressed to pray together. Pray along with me, “Thank you Jesus, I see my body upon the cross. You paid the price, You were beaten and You were bruised for me. I thank You, Jesus, that the senses, the readings, the pain, the reality of what I have sensed and seen upon my own flesh was put upon you 2,000 years ago, and now I cast all of my care on You. I cast all of the sickness upon You.

I turn it all over to You, and I declare that I receive a new body, completely made whole, competently restored in the image that You created me to be, whole, healed and healthy. Thank you Jesus, I receive it now. Amen!”

Joshua Blayhi says he had an encounter similar to the biblical account of Saul on the road to Damascus, where a bright light appeared and Jesus spoke, telling Blayhi to stop killing or he would die. Saul of Tarsus, who became Apostle Paul, was a persecutor of Christians and orchestrated the stoning of the first recorded Christian martyr, Stephen.

How could this be? How could these men break free of the desire to murder over and over again? How could their hearts and imaginations be so totally changed? The Apostle Paul would later state in the scriptures that we have all sinned, falling short of God’s glory. Certainly, not all are killers—but all are sinners. In the accounts of these two men we find the death of a sinner…but we also see the resurrection of a saint!

Becoming truly free not only required God’s forgiveness, but both Saul and Joshua Blayhi had to forgive themselves. Self-forgiveness is often a bitter pill to swallow. Although God’s grace had forgiven both, each daily faced the effects of their sin.

Neither Paul nor Joshua demonstrates any fear in declaring the good news. One man lived 2,000 years ago, the other lives today, but the same truth delivered both men and gave them strength to face their sin and devote themselves to helping people—and, in Joshua’s case, to seek restitution!  Paul said to the church at Rome, “I am not ashamed of the gospel (good news), for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes!”

Today, Jesus offers you freedom from your past and hope for your future! You can be forgiven and you can forgive yourself!

How many evils committed could disqualify you from God’s mercy? How many murders would be unforgivable and banish you to eternal suffering? Joshua Blahyi, a former Liberian warlord, knows something about God’s grace. Raised to be a tribal priest, he began conducting weekly human sacrifices at age 11.  As an adult, he became one of the most feared warlords of Africa. After giving his life to Christ in 1996, and beginning his ministry in 1999, Blahyi renounced his violent past and confessed to murdering nearly 20,000 people during Liberia’s 14-year civil war.

Still feared by many, he was the subject of a PBS documentary. Curious about this radical conversion, the filmmakers followed Blahyi for 5 years as he sought forgiveness from those he had harmed.

Though the consequences were unknown, Blahyi agreed to admit his crimes before Liberia’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission. According to The Christian Post, he says, “I went to the TRC because I wanted to reconcile with my country and free my conscience.” Fortunately, the commission recommended amnesty.

How could a person change so dramatically? How could one’s conscience be cleansed from such horrific actions?

On December 7, 1988, an earthquake devastated the northwestern section of Armenia, killing an estimated 25,000 – 50,000 people. After the earthquake, a father rushed to his son’s school only to discover that the school had been flattened. The father remembered dropping off his son earlier that day, and as he did every day he told his son, “No matter what, I’ll always be here for you!”

When the father saw the school he feverishly began removing rubble from where he believed his son’s classroom had been. The other parents were wailing, “My son!” “My daughter!” Some even told the father to go home, that there was no chance any of the students were alive. But the father replied, “I made my son a promise that I’d be there for him anytime he needed me. I must continue to dig.”

Courageously, he proceeded alone. He simply had to know—is my boy alive or is he dead? With seemingly supernatural strength, this father continued to dig…for 8 hours…12 hours…24 hours…36 hours.

Then, in the 38th hour, he heaved away a heavy piece of rubble and heard voices. “Armand!” he screamed. “Dad! It’s me—Armand! I told the other kids not to worry. I told them that if you were alive, you’d save us! Dad, take them out first, I know you’ll be here for me!”

Moments later the father was helping his son Armand and 13 other frightened, hungry, thirsty boys and girls climb out of the debris. How could this happen? When the building collapsed, these children had been spared in a tent-like pocket. When the townspeople praised Armand’s dad, his explanation was, “I promised my son, ‘No matter what, I’ll be there for you!'”

The ancient scriptures say, “The LORD himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.”

Scripture: Deuteronomy 31:8 (NIV)