My Fullness of Joy

You will show me the path of life. In Your presence is fullness of joy. 

At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.

—Psalm 16:11 (NKJV)

 

 

Lord, your path is before me. I don’t always see what is ahead, but you’re always with me—guiding me. Your peace rises from within. It’s as natural as breathing. You washed away all of my sin, my pain, my fears, my sickness, and my inadequacies. You gave me all of you. Where I was once condemned and guilty, I became innocent in your righteousness. My old sinful nature is gone, and I am new! At the cross, you poured every spiritual blessing into me that I would ever need to carry me abundantly through this life into the next. 

 

Abundant life is in your presence! I have a fullness of joy no matter what happens. When I accepted you into my heart by faith, you opened up the resources of heaven to me. For many years, I didn’t understand what that meant. I had to allow you to renew my mind—to change the way I think. I don’t have to live in fear that I can never be good enough or that sickness will claim me or circumstances will defeat me. I don’t have to struggle seeking just one thing to make you love me. I am yours. You accept and love me as I am. You gently discipline me with your love. Your grace has set me free. 

 

Peace is your constant gift. I have contentment without an agenda. The enemy tries to lie, but you have given me the authority to silence him. I can speak to my mountains believing they will move. Thank you, Jesus, for your sacrifice which saved me from myself and imparted everything I need to stand strong in this life! Filled with joy, I am free in your grace.

 

I have no debt! I run into your arms without hesitation. You said “no more” to my sin­—to my pain–to my fear—to my sickness! You said these things are finished! You lavish me with your love! I have an overflowing abundant life in you. Your presence lives within me, Holy Spirit. You are my fullness of joy!

 

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love” (Ephesians 1:3-4. NKJV).

 

© 2021 Lynn Lacher

www.lynnlacher.com/2021/05/my-fullness-of-joy.html

 

 

Paul's Thorn in His Flesh

If I wanted to boast, I would be no fool in doing so, because I would be telling the truth. But I won't do it, because I don't want anyone to give me credit beyond what they can see in my life or hear in my message, even though I have received such wonderful revelations from God. So to keep me from becoming proud, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger from Satan to torment me and keep me from becoming proud. Three different times I begged the Lord to take it away. Each time he said, "My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness." So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me.

—2 Corinthians 12:6-9 (NLT)

 

Years previously to writing this Scripture, Paul found himself in the third heaven. He didn't know if he had this incredible experience in or out of his body. But what Paul did know is that he was caught up in paradise and heard things so astounding that there were no words to express it. No human would be allowed to share what He had experienced (2 Corinthians 2:1-4).

 

"That experience is worth boasting about," Paul wrote, "but I'm not going to do it. I will boast only about my weaknesses" (2 Corinthians 2:5, NLT). In 2 Corinthians 12:6-9, Paul said that he didn't want any credit for God's wonderful revelations. He also wrote that he had been given a thorn in the flesh, a messenger from Satan to torment him and keep him from pride. 

 

For most of my life, I've heard that the thorn in Paul's flesh was a sickness God sent Paul to keep him humble. But in meditating on this Scripture, I couldn't ignore the referral to Paul’s thorn as being “a messenger from Satan.” 

 

God is love. He is not the author of sickness. Sin came from man's fall in the Garden, and sickness came from that original sin. Sicknesses were curses listed in Deuteronomy 28 where a man could never live up to God's standard. But Jesus changed everything the Old Covenant declared as punishment when he became a curse for us and redeemed us from the curses of the Law (Galatians 3:13). Under the New Covenant grace of Jesus, sickness is no longer a curse. When sickness comes against us, it is not from God. Paul's thorn in his flesh wouldn’t have been a sickness sent to him from God. Paul, himself, referred to the thorn in the flesh as "a messenger from Satan" to torment him and keep him humble. 

 

"Concerning this thing," Paul wrote, "I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me! And He said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.' Therefore most gladly will I rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me" (2 Corinthians 12:8, NKJV). 

 

The Lord refused to take away the messenger of Satan and told Paul that His grace was sufficient to handle the enemy’s torment. God has given us the authority to stand against Satan. God doesn't refuse to heal illness. If God did refuse to heal illness, then the phrase "by His stripes, you were healed" (1 Peter 2:24) wouldn't be Truth in God's Word! And God's Word is Truth. Sickness was also never listed in Paul's list of trials he faced in 2 Corinthians 11:23-28. 

 

The phrase "thorn in the side" is found in Numbers 33:55 and Judges 2:3, and it refers to enemies that were a torment to Israel. Paul’s usage of this phrase is significant in regard to his own thorn in the flesh being "a messenger from Satan" (his enemy) sent to torment him and keep him humble in his ministry.

 

God could have banished Satan from the world, but he didn’t. However, God gave us a defeated enemy at the Cross, and the authority to deal with him. Paul knew this. Paul knew that the strength God gave him in his weakness made him more than a conqueror over his tormentor. The grace of God is always more than enough. Paul was glad to boast in his weakness so that the power of Christ would be revealed in his life.

 

Sickness never brings glory to God. If it did, then Jesus wouldn't have freely healed those who came to him. Jesus never refused to heal. He healed without any conditions. God's healing of sickness brings glory to His name. And God desires to be glorified. 

 

Paul lived the healing glory of God. His tormentor, a messenger from Satan, repeatedly came up against the power of Christ in Paul. Paul's humility was one born of hard-fought battles against Satan—not of illness from God. Please don’t ever attribute pain or illness to God, who loved you enough to purchase your healing with the stripes He bore. In our weakness, Christ is strong within us. And we are also more than conquerors.

 

God is our Abba father—our healer—the New Covenant lover of our souls. 

 

©2020 Lynn Lacher

www.lynnlacher.com/2021/05/pauls-thorn-in-his-flesh.html

 

The Full Armor of God

 

During the last seven devotionals, we looked at how to stand believing for our promises by putting on each piece of God’s armor. The armor is necessary to win against the deceiver. Knowing what the armor is and activating it in your life, guards the abundant life you have in Christ.

It is God’s righteousness that empowers us to willfully choose the armor. God doesn’t dress us. We allow His power to dress us for victory. You want abundant life? You have to stand and fight the good fight of faith.

 

To fight the good fight of faith, you have to deliberately choose to put on the armor of God. The Word of God is your Truth to stand praying and believing for your promise. The righteousness that Christ has given you guards your heart against the enemy’s lies and gives you the authority to crush his tactics. When you allow the gospel of peace to claim your mind and heart, faith rises from within to shield you against the fiery darts of the wicked one. The helmet of salvation guards your mind against the lies of the enemy. The sword of the Spirit—the spoken Word of God—is your weapon to declare Truth and defeat the enemy who comes to steal, kill, and destroy the abundant life Jesus has for you.

 

Notice that the first piece of armor is the Truth of the Word and the last piece is the spoken Word of God. The Word is all Truth, and when it is spoken, it has the power to crush strongholds and bring forth life. All the other pieces of armor help you to stand strong and speak the Truth of God’s Word with His authority. And when you put on all the armor and speak the Word of God, you defeat the enemy.

 

You fight against the enemy—not people. He comes against your faith and brings the battle to your mind. You will face discouragement very quickly if you aren’t equipped to fight your battle. When you start to believe God’s Truth for something, that is when your battle begins. You don’t just stand against the enemy one time. You stand against him again and again and again. Standing builds your faith to receive your promise.

 

God’s Word of Truth overcomes everything. No weapon shall prevail against it. You shall condemn anything that comes against His Truth in your life. This is your heritage. You are the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus.

 

When you look at yourself through your own eyes, it is hard to see Christ’s righteousness. You only see the imperfection of your humanness. But when you keep looking into your heart with the Truth of the righteousness He has given you, things change. His breastplate of righteousness guards you. Stay focused on who Christ has made you, and rebuke the lies of the enemy. 

 

You fight the good fight of faith when you forgive as Christ has forgiven you. When you are living in God’s peace, you are standing on His Truth that you are at peace with Him and with yourself and with others. You believe your worthiness in Christ and that you are forgiven, and you forgive others as Christ has forgiven you.

 

For the shield of faith to be effective, you must be fully convinced that it will quench the fiery darts aimed at your mind and heart by the wicked one. Each one of us has a measure of faith. Your faith in Christ will make you an overcomer. Hang on to your faith. When you are in a battle, your faith is what is tested. The enemy is trying to make you give up on your faith and what you believe. He wants you to say “believing and praying for my promise doesn’t work for me.” But faith does work for you!

 

When you fight the good fight of faith, you put the Truth of your salvation on like a helmet to protect your thoughts. God’s Truth then continually renews your mind. When your mind is renewed by Truth instead of the enemy’s lies, the incorruptible seed of the Word, which is planted in your heart, grows and produces unshakeable faith that your promise is already yours.

 

When you are in a battle, your emotions get out of control, and your understanding is compromised. You have to consciously put on the helmet of salvation. When you have the Truth of His righteousness convincing you, you experience His peace and His wisdom. Consciously review again and again in your mind who you are in Christ.

 

Your weapon against the deception of the enemy is the sword of the Spirit—the spoken Word of God. You battle successfully in warfare by agreeing with God’s Truth and speaking it instead of speaking any lie of the enemy.

 

You have the authority given to you by Christ to defeat all the wiles of the wicked one. But God doesn’t speak His Truth in you. You exercise and employ the sword of the Spirit. You put on the Word of God and speak it. It is living and breathing and powerful. Believe His Truth and don’t doubt the authority you have in Him. Refute all the lies of the enemy and the imagery he tries to plant in your mind.  Speak death to your mountain and life to your promise.

And when you pray? “Pray in the Spirit at all times and on every occasion. Stay alert and be persistent in your prayers for all believers everywhere” (Ephesians 6:18, NLT).

 

Fight the good fight of faith. Put on the full armor of God.

 

© 2021 Lynn Lacher

www.lynnlacher.com/2021/05/the-full-armor-of-God.html

 

The Sword of the Spirit

 

Put on salvation as your helmet, and take the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

—Ephesians 6:17 (NLT)

 

 

Your weapon against the deception of the enemy is the sword of the Spirit—the spoken Word of God. You battle in warfare by agreeing with God’s Truth and speaking it instead of speaking any lie of the enemy. What promise has God revealed to you? What image comes into your mind when you believe in your promise? If you want to receive your promise, you must guard that image with the helmet of salvation and speak death to the imagery and lies of the enemy with the sword of the Spirit—the spoken Word of God

 

“I tell you the truth, you can say to this mountain,” Jesus said, “‘May you be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ and it will happen. But you must really believe it will happen and have no doubt in your heart. I tell you, you can pray for anything, and if you believe that you’ve received it, it will be yours” (Mark 11:23-24, NLT).

 

The spoken Word of God is the powerful Truth that defeats the deceit of the enemy. You have to know the Truth and speak it. Speak to your problem—to your illness—to your mountain and not to God. Tell your mountain what God says and believe without doubt in your heart that the things you say will come to pass. You have to learn to speak to the mountains in your life to see them removed. Are you going to walk by what you see or what you believe? Are you going to speak God’s Truth or your own thoughts or what anyone else says? The spoken Truth of God’s Word is how you do battle in warfare.

 

“For the word of God is alive and powerful. It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword, cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow. It exposes our innermost thoughts and desires” (Hebrews 4:12, NLT). The Word cuts sharply and cleanly to the core of any issue in your life and exposes the lies of the enemy and verifies what is God’s Truth. When His Word is spoken, it has the power to kill any lie and bring life to God’s promise (Proverbs18:21).

 

Speak death to your mountain. Speak life to your mind and body. In the midst of a battle when you are fighting the good fight of faith to receive your promise, believe, and speak God’s Truth. If your battle is against illness, believe what the Word says about your health, “Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers” (3 John 1:2, NKJV). This is the Truth of your promise that God wants you well.

 

If you are fighting against illness, speak “by His stripes you were healed” (1 Peter 2:24). “God sent His Word and healed them” (Psalm 107:20). “The Word brings life to those who find them and healing to their whole body (Proverbs 4:22). “Let all that I am praise the Lord; may I never forget the good things he does for me. He forgives all my sins and heals all my diseases. He redeems me from death and crowns me with love and tender mercies” (Psalm 103:2-4). Speak the Truth of the Word to counter the lies of the enemy. Be full fully convinced that what God has promised He is also able to perform (Romans 4:21).

 

You have the authority given to you by Christ to defeat all the wiles of the wicked one. But God doesn’t speak His Truth in you. You wield the sword of the Spirit. You put on the Word of God and speak it. It is living and breathing and powerful. Believe His truth and don’t doubt the authority you have in Him. Refute all the lies of the enemy and the imagery he tries to plant in your mind.  Hold tight to the imagery of your promise. Speak death to your mountain and life to your promise. 

 

 

 

© 2021 Lynn Lacher

www.lynnlacher.com/2021/05/the-sword-of-the-spirit.html

 

 

 

The Helmet of Salvation

 

Put on salvation as your helmet.

—Ephesians 6:17a (NKJV)

 

 

Put on the helmet of salvation to be continuously renewed in your mind. Allow His Grace to guard your mind. Keep your mind focused on Him. When you are in a battle, your emotions get out of control, and your understanding is compromised. You have to consciously put on the helmet of salvation. When you have the Truth of His righteousness convincing you, you experience His peace and His wisdom.  Consciously review again and again in your mind who you are in Christ.

 

When you are in a battle to maintain what Jesus has bought for you—like your healing—it is a mind battle. You have to take every opportunity to take each thought captive and make them obedient to Christ (1 Corinthians 10:4, NKJV). Don’t believe that you have a weak faith because you are struggling or have problems. You will always have issues in life, but you can be of good cheer. When you trust Christ, you KNOW, He has overcome the world (John 16:33).

 

The enemy will put images in your mind of death or sickness or defeat.  Keep casting them down and bringing your thoughts to good images that you desire (2 Corinthians 10:5). You have to counter the assaults in your mind with the mind of Christ in you. To be carnally (emotionally) minded is death. To be spiritually minded is life and peace (Romans 8:6). You must fight against images and earthly reports and things that are put in your mind that are contrary to the Word. And bring your thoughts in obedience to God’s Truth. 

 

God saves, forgives, and heals. He never forsakes us. Don’t allow your thoughts and images in your mind to imagine things and think on things that are not of Him. He will guard your mind when you keep your thoughts on Him (Isaiah 26:3, Philippians 4: 6-7). Every time a battle comes, consciously put on your helmet of salvation. Allow the Word to paint imagery in your mind of God’s promises to you.

 

© 2021 Lynn Lacher

www.lynnlacher.com/2021/05/the-helmet-of-salvation.html

 

The Shield of Faith

To fight the good fight of faith, you have to deliberately choose to put on the armor of God. The Word of God is your Truth to stand praying and believing for your promise against the deception of the enemy. The righteousness that Christ has given you guards your heart against the enemy’s lies and gives you the authority to crush the enemy’s tricks and innuendoes. When you allow the gospel of peace to claim your mind and heart, faith rises from within you to shield your mind from the enemy’s attempts to kill, steal, and destroy the abundant life that is yours in Christ.

 

“Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one” (Ephesians 6:14-16, NKJV).

 

For the shield of faith to be effective, you must be fully convinced that it will quench the fiery darts aimed at your mind and heart by the wicked one. Each one of us has a measure of faith. Your faith in Christ will make you an overcomer. Hang on to your faith. When you are in a battle, your faith is what is tested. The enemy is trying to make you give up on your faith and what you believe. He wants you to say “believing and praying for my promise doesn’t work for me.” But faith does work for you!

 

Jesus told the centurion that his faith had healed his servant. He told the woman with an issue of blood that her faith had made her well. He told the two blind men that they would be healed according to their faith. When Jesus told the father of the demon-oppressed boy “all things are possible to him who believes,” the father cried out, “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!”

 

You have a measure of faith to believe and when you choose to believe with that measure of faith what the Word says is true, your belief in the promises of God matures and produces fruit. Your shield of faith is strengthened against the lies of the enemy. Do you realize you can have belief and unbelief at the same time? But when you choose to believe that all things are possible in Christ, your doubt—your unbelief is overshadowed. That measure of faith flourishes. 

 

“You shall not be afraid of the terror by night, nor of the arrow that flies by day, nor of the pestilence that walks in darkness, nor of the destruction that lays waste at noonday. A thousand may fall at your side, and ten thousand at your right hand; but it shall not come near you” (Psalm 91:5-7, NKJV).  The shield of faith protects you from all evil that comes against you. 

 

When you activate your faith by choosing to believe in God’s Truth over what anyone says—over what the world says—over what the enemy says, you use your authority in Christ and put on the shield of faith. And with that shield, you extinguish all the evil with which the wicked one targets you.

 

Faith is more than enough to receive your promise. You just have to keep fighting the good fight of faith. If you are confused, KNOW that God is not the author of confusion! Never give up trusting Him, and don’t doubt. Trust God with every breath you take! We are all tempted by doubt but don’t give in.  Just know that when you are in a battle, your faith is tested. Fight, and if you get weary, don’t stay that way. Always reengage your shield of faith.

 

When you fight the good fight of faith, you put the Truth of your salvation on like a helmet to protect your thoughts. God’s Truth then continually renews your mind. When your mind is renewed by Truth instead of the enemy’s lies, the incorruptible seed of the Word, which is planted in your heart, grows and produces unshakeable faith that your promise is already yours.

© 2021 Lynn Lacher

www.lynnlacher.com/2021/04/the-shield-of-faith.html

The Gospel of Peace

 

You know that prayer—the one that you prayed believing and then time and the enemy came against you?  It is still powerful and answered in Jesus’ name.

 

“Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace” (Ephesians 6:14-15, NKJV). Verse 15 in the New Living Translation reads, “For shoes, put on the peace that comes from the Good News so that you will be fully prepared.”

 

“Shodding” your feet means you wear shoes of a specific kind. The specific kind you wear is the Good News—the Gospel of peace. When you are walking in peace with God, you are walking in peace with yourself and with others. If you want to get to the place where you stand believing for what you prayed, then you are going to have to live in peace with God and others in your life. 

 

Are you at peace with God, or do you sometimes believe He is mad at you? Some believers think when times are hard that God is mad at them. This is a lie of the enemy. God loved you enough to send His Son to die for you. Jesus came to save you so that you can have a right relationship with His Father. Don’t get upset with God, and fight against him instead of fighting the good fight of faith. When you pray things like “why, God, is this taking so long” or “why is this happening,” you are not at peace fighting the good fight of faith. When we get upset with others, we wonder why our prayers are hindered. You can’t have bitterness toward anyone (your husband, your wife, your children, your church, your family, or friends) and expect God to answer your prayers (1 Peter 3:7). You need to be at peace with God and with others for your prayers not to be hindered. When you walk in peace, you are putting on the Good News. The Gospel of Grace is alive in you.

 

You fight the good fight of faith when you forgive as Christ has forgiven you. When you are living in God’s peace, you are standing on His Truth that you are at peace with Him and with yourself and with others. You believe your worthiness in Christ and that you are forgiven, and you forgive others as Christ has forgiven you. 

 

“Therefore, since we have been made right in God’s sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us. Because of our faith, Christ has brought us into this place of undeserved privilege where we now stand, and we confidently and joyfully look forward to sharing God’s glory. We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance” (Romans 5:1-3, NLT).

 

You have peace with God! Jesus has overcome your personal problems with the peace He has purchased for you with God! You can pray confidently and go into God’s presence KNOWING and BELIEVING He will answer your requests. You can walk joyfully and confidently in His peace knowing that you have His Grace to forgive as He has forgiven you. When issues in life don’t defeat you but, instead, help you persevere in faith, you walk in the peace of God. When you share God’s forgiveness, you bring His peace to not only your striving heart but also to others. 

 

“Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:6-7, NKJV).

 

Believe the Gospel of peace that is yours, and put it on in your life. Give your requests to God with thankful confidence. His peace, which human reasoning cannot grasp, will guard your heart and mind. The peace that lives within your spirit is Christ within you. When you allow His peace to claim your mind and heart, the enemy can’t kill, steal, and destroy the abundant life Christ has bought for you. Faith rises from within you to shield your mind from the lies and deceptions of the enemy. You stand believing the Truth of God’s promises. You are fully convinced that Christ, the hope of glory, lives within you. His peace, which overcame the world, has overcome your personal world of any doubt or fear. You KNOW and BELIEVE your prayer is answered.

 

© 2021 Lynn Lacher

www.lynnlacher.com/2021/04/the-gospel-of-peace.html

 

 

Stand Strong in His Righteousness

 

Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness.

—Ephesians 6:14 (NKJV)

 

Yesterday, we talked about how girding your waist with the Truth of God’s Word is the first piece of armor you put on and how all other pieces of the armor are connected to it. You stand against the enemy on the Truth of God’s Word that you are righteous in Christ. It is not just enough to know that you are righteous because of the finished work of Christ. You have to deliberately choose to believe you have His righteousness. Believing you are His righteousness protects your heart from the enemy’s deception. When you put on the breastplate of righteousness believing nothing hinders your prayers, you can know that your prayers will be answered even if you aren’t perfect in your flesh.  

 

The enemy reminds you constantly of the old person you once were, and Jesus wants you to remember the righteousness He has given you. When you pray from the mindset of the new person Christ has made you, you pray as one who is forgiven, healed and whole. You pray, believing without a doubt your prayer is answered because you are no longer a sinner needing Grace. You are now saved and redeemed and healed and made new in Grace. When you choose to believe you are righteous in Christ, you know that within yourself you are nothing but that in God you have His power to stand strong. You KNOW that He is in you, and you are in Him. You BELIEVE in your heart that the Word is true! God has poured every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realm into your life.

 

In a battle, the enemy reminds you of who you are in the flesh with lies and accusations. He will remind you of your sins and your failures. You have to remind the enemy that those lies and accusations are no longer true. Jesus has made you righteous. You learn to cast those lies and accusations down, and having done that, you stand.

 

God doesn’t answer your prayers because of anything you have ever done or will do. He answers your prayers only because you are standing in the righteousness of His precious Son. He is not going to answer your prayers according to your holiness or your works but according to the Grace of Jesus. Because of Jesus, there is nothing against you. You are approved, loved, and accepted because of Grace. 

 

“The mouth of the righteous is a fountain of life” (Proverbs 10:11, NASB). “Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruit” (Proverbs 18:21, NASB). 

 

Declaring that you are righteous in Christ is putting on righteousness. You have the power to speak death and life. Your mouth can speak death to the lies of the enemy and also be a fountain that speaks life! If you don’t cast down the destructive thoughts the enemy tries to plant in your mind, you won’t stand strong. You will become weak, and fear will run rampant. But when you declare and speak who you are as a child of God, you speak with His authority. You have the power to speak and cast down anything that does not come from His Truth. Nothing will prevail against you when you gird yourself in Truth, declaring and believing that Jesus has made you righteous, healed, and whole.

 

When you look at yourself through your own eyes, it is hard to see Christ’s righteousness. You only see the imperfection of your humanness. But when you keep looking into your heart with the Truth of the righteousness He has given you, things change. Stay focused on who Christ has made you, and rebuke the lies of the enemy. You know that prayer—the one that you prayed believing and then time and the enemy came against you?  It is still powerful and answered in Jesus.

 

Stand strong in His righteousness.

 

© 2021 Lynn Lacher

www.lynnlacher.com/2021/04/stand-strong-in-his-righteouesness.html

Truth Overcomes

Yesterday, we talked about standing and fighting the good fight of faith. Sometimes our prayers are answered immediately, and sometimes they just take longer. Answers that aren’t immediate are the ones that the enemy attacks. When you are praying and putting on the whole armor of God to stand against the subterfuge of the enemy, the Holy Spirit may enlighten you as to what might shorten the time to receive your promise. 

 

But remember “we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth” (Ephesians 6:12-14a, NKJV).

 

You fight against the enemy—not people. He comes against your faith and brings the battle to your mind. You will face discouragement very quickly if you aren’t equipped to fight your battle. When you start to believe God’s Truth for something, that is when your battle begins. You don’t just stand against the enemy one time. You stand against him again and again and again. Standing builds your faith to receive your promise.

 

When you are in a battle, you need to give attention to the armor of God. You can’t just assume that you will automatically have His armor working in you.  You must be proactive and deliberately allow each piece to be used in your life. To do this, you have to understand the six pieces of armor in Ephesians 6:14-17. 

 

Ephesians 6:18 says that the purpose of God’s armor is to make your prayers effective! Do you know that putting on the armor of God is worship? And He empowers you to hold on believing for your promise.

 

Paul uses the armor worn by a Roman soldier as an example of God’s armor. The girdle or the belt was the first piece of armor that a Roman soldier put on around his waist.  Everything in his armor connected to the belt. The first piece of God’s armor is His Truth. All the other pieces of His armor are connected to and empowered by God’s Truth. Make sure you are walking in the Truth of the Word and not focused on your feelings and the emotions they evoke. Don’t focus on your circumstances or what you are told or what you feel. Stand on the Word alone. 

 

The enemy will tempt you to look at the facts and the circumstances of your life instead of trusting the unseen of what God says is true. Fight the good fight of faith with the Word and not with your emotions. “He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water” (John 7:38, KJV). Out of your belly flows life. God’s Truth girds and protects your life. 

 

The enemy will also try to tell you that you will never understand God’s Truth. Don’t let what you don’t know to keep you from believing what you do know! Fighting the good fight of faith and believing in the Truth that you do know will, in time, help you understand what you don’t know. 

 

You WILL know God’s Truth, and His Truth will set you free to fight the good fight of faith! Gird yourself with His Truth and stand firm. The Word is your authority. No lie can penetrate its spoken Truth. 

 

The Word is your salvation. Why is the Word the last place so many believers go

in the heat of battle? Know the Word. Believe the Word. And receive its life-giving promises. 

 

“No weapon formed against you shall prosper, and every tongue which rises against you in judgment you shall condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness is from Me,” says the Lord.

—Isaiah 54:17 (NKJV).

 

God’s Truth overcomes everything. No weapon shall prevail against it. You shall condemn anything that comes against His Truth in your life. This is your heritage. You are the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus.

 

 

© 2021 Lynn Lacher

www.lynnlacher.com/2021/04/truth-overcomes.html

 

The Good Fight of Faith

 

The Good Fight of Faith

 

Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, to which you were also called and have confessed the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.

—1 Timothy 6:12 (NKJV)

 

You fight the good fight of faith with the knowledge of the Word of God and by believing and declaring the revelation of who you are in Christ.

 

“Awake to righteousness, and do not sin; for some do not have the knowledge of God. This is to your shame” (1 Corinthians 15:34, NKJV).

 

The enemy battles you from within with lies—with deception—and even twists Scripture to deceive you. “Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you” (James 4:7, NKJV). Don’t submit your thoughts to the lies of the enemy. Don’t give him power. Submit your thoughts to God. Resist the enemy. He will flee, and you will escape his manipulation to kill, steal, and destroy. 

 

We submit to God—even in our sin and in our failures—because Christ has made us righteous. We are convicted by righteousness—not by the unworthiness of shame and guilt. When you understand how you fight sin from a position of righteousness, then you can understand how to fight the battle for your promise from a position of victory in Christ.

 

Many believers don’t have a knowledge of God in regards to the righteousness Jesus purchased for them. When you know the power of the righteousness Christ has given you, you are filled with spiritual wisdom in your knowledge of Him. Awake to the righteousness He has given you!  Allow the Word to teach you! Jesus has won the total victory over hell and sin and sickness and death! It is a finished work! You fight the good fight of faith from a position of victory! You never fight from defeat! Lay hold of all the promises that are yours in your assurance of the new life Christ has given you. Have you confessed and declared your hope to others? Well, keep confessing the Truth of God’s promises. And hold fast the confession of your hope without wavering, for God who promised is faithful (Hebrews 10:23). 

 

^“For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says. Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them” (Mark 11:23-24, NKJV).

 

How do you fight the good fight of faith and hang onto your promise when you are battle-weary? You have to stand and trust God. You can’t stand and trust God if you don’t know His Word. It may be a while before you experience the manifestation of your promise. Most often, time passes before the mountain you told to be gone is removed. You appropriate by faith the Truth of God’s Word. You believe and take His promise as your own.

 

Believing doesn’t happen when you have received the answer to your prayer. You must believe that when you pray for something that you have already received your answer. When you speak to your mountain—when you pray believing without a doubt—your promise will come to pass.  The key is believing that when you pray for something that nothing will keep you from receiving what you have asked for. When you believe this Truth, you are able to stand—declaring what you believe in God’s realm is true for you. You will receive the manifestation of your promise—if you will not give up.

 

“Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand” (Ephesians 6:10-11, NKJV).

 

These verses tell you how to stand. Be strong in the Lord and in His power—not your power. Don’t look to yourself. Don’t be the author of your faith. You will only confuse the faith that you have. Look unto Jesus, the author, and finisher of your faith (Hebrews 12:2). Put on the whole armor of God so you can stand against the enemy who lies, deceives, accuses, and creates issues. 

 

Notice in these verses in Ephesians 6:10-11 we are told twice to stand so that we can “withstand” in the heat of battle. Things are not always going to go easy when you are standing. You have to learn to withstand the attacks of the enemy because he wants to tear you down—to make you believe your promise is not true and convince you that God does not care. God’s armor is what empowers you to stand against the enemy’s deception and wickedness and attempts to kill, steal, and destroy your promise.

 

During the next few devotionals, we will look at how to stand believing for our promises by putting on each piece of God’s armor. It is God’s righteousness that empowers us to willfully choose the armor. God doesn’t dress us. We allow His power to dress us for victory. You want abundant life? You have to stand and fight the good fight of faith.

 

© 2021 Lynn Lacher

www.lynnlacher.com/2021/04/the-good-fight-of-faith.html