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.”

Many people do not receive their healing because they do not understand the continuum of time.

I can think of many instances of this in our meetings from around the world, one particular woman in Kazakhstan comes to mind. She was a worker at the Italian embassy and had a vision problem, needing glasses in order to read properly. She had been attending the healing meetings during the week and was hopeful that something would happen, but so far had not noticed any changes.

We would serve tea on the breaks, and this woman came up in the line behind my husband to get her cup of tea. I remember this very specifically, she picked up the tea bag and when she did, she began to shout, “I can see! I can see! I can see!”

She had prayed for the healing for her eyes and though it did not happen instantaneously, later in the week she picked up the teabag and could read the fine print on that teabag.

When did her healing begin? Her healing began on the day that healing was ministered to her—on the day that she believed she received!

Here are 7 things that will help you bring your dreams to pass:

1. Know you are not alone. How can you know your dream is in agreement with God? When it produces peace and brings out the best in you. Ask yourself these three questions: Is it good for God? Is it good for people? Is it good for me? If the answers are yes, then go for it!

2. Speak your dream to yourself. You are your best prophet. You know the future because you speak the future. If you don’t believe in yourself, then how can you expect others to believe in you? Use your words to bring up what is in your heart. Your words are signposts pointing to where you are going.

3. Find out what it will cost for your dream to come to pass. In Luke 14:28, Jesus told us to consider the cost before we build. Enthusiasm can carry you for a while, but accuracy in details is what carries you across the finish line of your dream. Study, preparation, and continued focus are necessary parts of the picture of your dream. Facts can change, and new ways of doing things may need to be discovered.

4. Find someone to agree with you. No load is too heavy when you have a friend to help you carry it. You don’t need a whole audience to cheer you on. One friend clapping is better than a gallon of water on a walk through the desert!

5. Don’t discuss your dream with those who could kill it. More dreams have died at the doorstep of a skeptical friend than in front of an army of enemies!

6. Discover the best role models who have succeeded in that field. Revelation can be caught quickly when the eye is imprinted. It is true that one picture is more valuable than a thousand words. Find someone doing what you want to do and look at them, and you will build your life on the shoulders of success.

7. Let time be your friend, not your enemy. Deal with time by not considering the past at all, and not thinking about the things you have no control over. Use your time to focus on what you want to have happen and what steps you can take today in that direction. God brings about our future and forgets our past!

After God the Holy Spirit used imagination to create the world, He gave us the gift of imagination to create our world.

When I graduated from Bible school there were no churches waiting for me to come and preach. There were no countries calling on me for the bits of wisdom I had learned. There were no church boards asking me to be a pastor. So I went out to the small city airport near my house, pulled up a chair with a good view of the airplanes as they came and went, and began to dream of flying on those planes as they headed into the sky.

At that point I was starting to build a vision for world travel. Now, after 30 years of traveling to over 60 nations, I can say that the dream at the beginning has become the reality of today.

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!

William Booth is not a name most people recognize.  He was a prominent Methodist evangelist living in mid-19^th century London, England.  One cold night as he returned home from a service, he noticed the poor and homeless sleeping under the London Bridge and was overcome with compassion for them.  He decided at that moment that he had to do something to help them, and The Salvation Army was born.

In 1865 He and his wife Catherine opened The Christian Revival Society in London, and “Food for the Million” soup kitchens, which fed large bowls of soup and bread to the poor.  They established lodging houses to shelter the homeless from the bitter winters.

Christmas was always the most demanding time of the year and everyone needed extra help and encouragement.  Because of this, General Booth would send a telegram each Christmas Eve to his weary soldiers all over the world, to encourage them in their work.

In what would be his last Christmas, he composed a paragraph of heartfelt words to inspire his troops, but then realized the cost of sending it would be too much. He edited the paragraph into three sentences, then one sentence, then three words—and realized even that would be too many.

Finally, he decided to send only one word…one word that would continue to inspire his army to win souls, feed the hungry and give shelter to the homeless.

That word was simply, “Others.”

This Christmas season remember that Christ came to dwell in your heart and in the hearts of people. Allow Him to dwell in you and live through you—and let this Christmas be an “others-minded” Christmas!

In the world of tennis, a game which I greatly enjoy, there is a basic rule that carries me through the emotional ups and downs of a match. More than once I have snatched victory from the hands of defeat by remembering this simple principle. It is the one thing I must do to win: keep my eye on the ball!

I am not fighting my opponent, the sun, the wind, the crowd, or myself. My opponent can distract me with movement, a verbal outburst, or delays, but he cannot change the ball.

In life you can experience changes in the economy, the people around you, the environment, and other circumstances. But one thing should not change: keep your eye on where you are going!

Talk about where you are going. Think about where you are going. Be passionate about where you are going. Believe in where you are going.

What about the temporary score? What if you are behind? That doesn’t change where you are going, so why think about it? Don’t let your mind go into the gutter of worry, fear, or anxiety about what might happen. In tennis, if you take your eye off the ball, you lose sight of the only thing you can control. If you allow yourself to be distracted, defeat is guaranteed.

Today, make a quality decision to keep your eyes on what you want. Celebrate it. Pray about it. Think on it only. Jesus said that whatever you desire, when you pray, believe you receive it and you shall have it!