Enough is Enough

 

If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.

—Galatians 5:25 (NKJV)

 

 

Are you tired of feeling condemned—that you are not good enough? Each born-again Christian is made new by the Spirit of the living God. Living in the Spirit refers to the immediate new birth that takes place in our spirit when we believe by faith in Jesus (2 Corinthians 5:17). But that doesn’t mean that we automatically walk in the truth of the new person that we have become. Walking in the Spirit refers to how a believer needs to conduct his life. So if we are new in Christ and live in the Spirit, Paul says that we should also walk in the Spirit.

 

Living in the Spirit is the new person we are in Christ, and it is an unchanging position. Walking in the Spirit is the result of knowing who we are in Christ, and it is conditional upon our minds being renewed and also upon our openness to the leading of the Holy Spirit. To know the new person that Christ has made us we need to be renewed in our minds by His truth (Romans 12:2). Then we will know and experience what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God (Romans 12:3). 

 

Nothing that we do earns us acceptance by God. It is only by His mercy that we find ourselves holy and acceptable to Him (Romans 12:1). We have been reborn by His Grace and sealed by the Holy Spirit of promise (Ephesians 1:13). Because of God’s great love, there is no condemnation for us who are reborn in Christ.

 

“There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit” (Romans 8:1,5, NKJV).

 

When we allow the Holy Spirit to teach us the new person that we are in Christ, we learn the truths and promises of who we are in Him. When we start to believe, our perception changes from that of our flesh to that of His Spirit. And we walk according to the Spirit because we have set our minds on the things of the Spirit.  

 

“For we walk by faith, not by sight,” Paul said (2 Corinthians 5:7, NKJV).

 

Even when we can’t see with our physical eyes the truth of who we are in Christ, we walk by faith and not by sight. God has made us new (2 Corinthians 5:17). We don’t always feel new. God says we are His (Isaiah 43:1). We don’t always feel that assurance. God says we are blameless, holy, and acceptable to Him (Ephesians 1:4). Our flesh tells us differently. When we fail or sin, it condemns us and tells us that we have to earn His love. We can’t go by our feelings. Our flesh determines our feelings. The Spirit yields the truth of what can’t be seen. And the flesh will come against God’s truth every time.

 

“For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace,” Paul said (Romans 8:6, NKJV).

 

Walking in the Spirit (in the truth of who you are in Christ) is your choice. The things of the flesh—being ruled by our emotions instead of God’s truth—are death. The things of the Spirit—which come from a mind that has been renewed by the Spirit—are life and peace.

 

Enough is enough. Draw a line in the sand, and determine that your flesh will not determine your feelings. Be renewed by God’s truth in your mind, and put on the truth of who you are in Christ (Ephesians 4:23-24). Make that truth your own. Take possession of it. 

 

You walk in the Spirit by faith and not by sight. 

 

© 2022 Lynn Lacher

www.lynnlacher.com/2022/01/walk-in-the-spirit.html

His Wisdom

However, we speak wisdom among those who are mature, yet not the wisdom of this age, nor of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the ages for our glory, which none of the rulers of this age knew; for had they known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. But as it is written: “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.” But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God.

—1 Corinthians 2:7-10 (NKJV)

 

God’s wisdom is not a mystery that He hides “from” His children. His wisdom is hidden “for” His children. If we put our faith in Jesus and receive Him in our hearts, we receive the mind of Christ (1 Corinthians 2:16). We can receive the revelation of the things of God. But if we discard God’s wisdom that the Holy Spirit tries to impart to us, then it remains a mystery. 

 

Paul declared that Jesus Christ was both the power and wisdom of God (1 Corinthians 1:24). But God’s power and wisdom are only for those who are His children in Christ. His wisdom is hidden from those who don’t know Him. The Holy Spirit is the only one who grants access to the wisdom found in Christ (1 Corinthians 2:13). And God’s wisdom is only spiritually discerned (1 Corinthians 2:14).

 

In 1 Corinthians 2:9 Paul quotes from Isaiah 64:4 and from a time when God was a mystery to His people and His ways could not be understood. But Jesus Christ changed all this for those who believe in Him. When read in context with the other verses and in the understanding of what Christ has done for us, that is not what this verse says. I Corinthians 2:9-10 says the thing that keeps us from knowing the things of God is not receiving the spiritual revelation of the Holy Spirit. When we only use human wisdom, we can’t understand the things of God. We are blind to them. But verse 10 clearly shows that God has granted us revelation knowledge through the instruction of the Holy Spirit. We have to believe what is ours in Christ and open our hearts to receive. 

 

“For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God” (1 Corinthians 2:11-12, NKJV).

 

In 1 Corinthians 2:11, Paul says that just like no one really knows the deep thoughts of anyone else no one really knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. We have received the Spirit of God, but we must be totally dependent on the Holy Spirit to give us God’s wisdom. In verse 12, Paul explains that if we have received the Holy Spirit, we have an open door to His wisdom. Observe in verse 12 that the Holy Spirit “freely” gives us His revelation. We don’t have to beg or strive to receive what Christ has freely given us. 

 

The Holy Spirit wants to give us the revelation of Christ more than we want to receive it (John 14:26, 15:26, and 16:13). But the revelation from the Holy Spirit just doesn’t fall on us. We have to be still and quiet and listen to what the Spirit reveals (Psalms 46:10). We have to receive what is ours in Christ. 

 

“These things we also speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. But he who is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is rightly judged by no one. For ‘who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct Him?’ But we have the mind of Christ” (1 Corinthians 2:13-16, NKJV).

 

The things of God are not foolishness. They are spiritually understood and are life and peace (Romans 8:6). You have received the mind of Christ. Be still and listen—not with your natural-thinking mind but with His spiritual one. 

 

“If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him” (James 1:5). Your natural eye may not have seen or your natural ear heard, but Christ within you knows and wants you to receive the wisdom that God generously gives.

 

The things of God are not hidden from you. They are hidden for you. You have received the Spirit who is from God, that you might know the things that have been freely given to you by God. Open your heart to receive.

 

© 2022 Lynn Lacher

www.lynnlacher.com/2022/01/his-wisdom_21.html

 

His Good Report

 

“Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful” (Hebrews 10:23, NKJV).  

 

What we speak is what we receive (Proverbs 18:21). What we experience in this natural world are facts, and what is real in the spiritual realm is God’s truth. When we speak of what we feel as truth—we confess what is felt by our senses. But when we speak the truth of the Word—no matter how we feel or what our circumstance—we confess the truth of the supernatural realm of God. We speak the authority of God’s unseen over what is seen. 

 

The world says to be afraid. God has not given you a spirit of fear (2 Timothy 1:7) The world says you are sick and have no chance of healing. God says that by His stripes you were healed (1 Peter 2:24). The world says your needs won’t be met. The Word says He supplies all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ (Philippians 4:19). If you really believed the Word, wouldn’t you confess His truth instead of what the world says or what the enemy says about you? Wouldn’t you believe the Savior who died for you over the one who attempts to steal, kill and destroy your life?  

 

Walking by faith and not by sight is believing in the unseen truth of God over what you see or feel. The Holy Spirit will guide you into all of God’s truth—into the unseen of God’s spiritual realm that fills you with every spiritual blessing (John 14:17, 16:13, Ephesians 1:3). Not knowing and spiritually understanding the Word keeps you from receiving what Christ has given you. The truth of your identity in Christ needs to be known and understood over what the world or what any other person says. You have the mind of Christ to understand His truth (1 Corinthians 2:16). And when you allow His truth to renew your mind, you believe (Romans 12:2). And when you believe by faith in God’s Word, you sow His Good News in your heart, and you reap its good benefits.

 

“So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Romans 10:17, NKJV). 

 

Faith and the Word of God are interchangeable. You can’t have faith without hearing the Word, and the Word can’t be heard without it building your faith. Faith has no power without the Word. An alive faith comes by hearing the Word and not by just having heard the Word in the past. Faith pleases God (Hebrews 11:6). When you appropriate (take) by faith what Jesus has given His life for you to have, it pleases Him. And God rewards those who diligently seek Him with the revealed truth of His Word. You seek God, and you receive His Word (John 1:1, Matthew 7:8).

 

“Who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed (Isaiah 53:1, NKJV)?

 

When you take (appropriate) the report of the Lord—His Word—at its unfailing value—when you believe it by faith, you receive its unseen truth. God’s Word is settled in heaven. It is the final authority (Psalm 119:89).

 

The work of Jesus is finished. It is perfect. The Word is the final authority. It is perfect. When you believe and confess its truth, that truth arises from the abundance of what you believe in your heart (Matthew 12:34). And you receive what Jesus died for you to receive. 

 

Allow the Holy Spirit to teach you God’s Word (John 16:13). Be renewed by His truth again and again (Romans 12:2). Hear His truth in your heart. Believe His good report. Hold fast to it (Hebrews 10:23). Speak life to it (Proverbs 18:21). When you believe His good report, you have the power of His final Word that sets you free. (John 8:32).

 

 

© 2022 Lynn Lacher

www.lynnlacher.com/2022/01/his-good-report.html

 

 

His Faith in You

 

But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.

—Hebrews 11:6 (NKJV)

 

Our faith is so important to God that without faith it is impossible to please Him. We please God when we believe Him and rest in His Son’s finished work of Grace. 

 

Faith in the finished work of Jesus is the opposite of faith in our own ability to do something that pleases God. Our work tries to appease Him—not please Him. The finished work of Jesus is what satisfies and pleases God. And it is Christ’s work of Grace that favored and saved us with His unconditional love. We can’t save ourselves or win God’s favor. We can’t earn what has already been earned. We are favored by God because of the finished work of Grace. Jesus already took our sins, our sickness, and our pain so that they don’t have to define who we are.

 

Everything good God has for us is provided in the finished work of Jesus on the Cross. Faith doesn’t create anything new. It can’t create healing or deliverance or provision. Faith takes what God has already provided. When we make ourselves the authors and the finishers of our faith, we aren’t going to like the results. Anytime we make receiving from God about ourselves—when we think we have to do something to earn the favor of God—we become disappointed and disillusioned.

 

“Now as the lame man who was healed held on to Peter and John, all the people ran together to them in the porch which is called Solomon’s, greatly amazed. So when Peter saw it, he responded to the people: ‘Men of Israel, why do you marvel at this? Or why look so intently at us, as though by our own power or godliness we had made this man walk’” (Acts 3:11-12, NKJV)?

 

These two Spirit-filled men knew that this miracle was not anything they had done. They knew it was the supernatural power of God that flowed through them that had made a change in this man’s life. From lame to healed, this man was now whole. 

 

“Through faith in the name of Jesus,” Peter said, “this man was healed—and you know how crippled he was before. Faith in Jesus’ name has healed him before your very eyes” (Acts 3:16).

 

We never receive the promises of God through anyone else’s work or through our own work. We only receive by exercising the measure of faith Christ has given us (Galatians 2:16, Romans 12:3). 

 

Are you tired of having peace one moment and living in fear the next? You will never walk in the peace of God when circumstances or the opinions of others determine your life. These are unfinished and changing and always will be. But the finished work of Jesus on the Cross for you is complete. It is unchanging.

 

In your born-again spirit, you have been made new by the finished work of Christ (John 3:6 2, Corinthians 5:17)). When you choose to believe what Christ has given you—when you choose to walk by faith in that truth, you take possession of the new life that is yours. You believe in your mind what is yours, and the way you think changes to believe everything about you is new. 

 

What you believe in your heart determines the course of your life (Proverbs 23:7). When you believe in your heart that Christ’s work on the Cross for you is finished, then you know that there is nothing you have to do to win God’s favor and love. You know you are favored and loved. You live in a new dimension of peace that removes everything you thought necessary to be His. You are free to receive His love. 

 

Faith that receives is faith that comes from hearing God’s Word (Romans 10:17). The mind of Christ within you takes hold of the Word, and His Word speaks truth to you (1 Corinthians 2:16). Your beliefs are changed by God’s truth (Romans 12:2). When you seek God with all your heart, you are rewarded (Hebrews 11:6). You know that He is who He says He is in your life.

 

You will trust and be at rest in God when you believe that He has already provided everything good in your life. And when you believe the new person you are in the finished work of Jesus, you don’t struggle to put your faith in Him. You are at rest—at peace—in His perfect love for you. You live who He says you are by faith. 

 

It is only through faith in the finished work of Christ—in the name that is above all names—that you receive what God has already provided. Christ, the hope of glory, lives in you.

 

© 2022 Lynn Lacher

www.lynnlacher.com/2022/01/his-faith-in-you.html

 

 

No Temptation

No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.

—1 Corinthians 10:13, NKJV).

 

Your temptation is not unique. Any temptation you face is just a variation of what the enemy uses to tempt others. It may appear to be different but its purpose is just the same as any other temptation experienced by someone else. If the enemy can convince you that no one has ever faced your issue—if he can convince you that no one understands, then he can isolate you and destroy your hope. The Corinthians Christians to whom Paul was writing thought they could eat meat offered to idols without any temptation on their part. Paul warned them that they needed to think again. There was no new temptation. The temptation that the Israelites faced wandering in the wilderness was still around. “Flee from idolatry,” Paul warned them (1 Corinthians 10:14). If these Corinthian believers toyed with sin, they would be tempted. The same is true for us.

 

Although we encounter temptation, we do not face it alone. God is faithful. He never leaves or forsakes us (Hebrews 13:5).  Jesus was tempted just like we are, and He still overcame every temptation (Hebrews 4:15). Not only did Christ make the payment for our sins, but He helps us to overcome temptation (Hebrews 2:17-18). Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians 10:13 give us God’s assurance that He will not allow us to be tempted beyond what we can handle. 

 

Most everyone has experienced times when they thought they couldn’t resist any longer. They were either wrong about what they could handle or were on the edge of a breakthrough. God promises that He will not allow us to be tempted above what we can bear. When you think you cannot resist any longer, stand for one more minute and then one more. God’s promise will bring you through. 

 

This verse has been interpreted by some to say that the Lord tempts us and that this is His promise to not place on us more than we can handle. That is not true. God does not bring temptation into our lives. God tempts no one.

 

“Let no one say when he is tempted, ‘I am tempted by God;' for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone” (James 1:13, NKJV). 

 

It is our own desire that lures us into temptation (James 1:14). Just as he did with Jesus, Satan also comes against us without any invitation on our part (Matthew 4:1-10 and Luke 4:1-13). 

 

We are all tempted. It is not a sin to be tempted. It is sin to yield to it. This verse does not give God the credit for temptation but instead says there are limits to what He will allow when we are under temptation. Even when we reach that limit, this verse does not promise that God will take away the problem. He makes a way of escape, but we have to take it. Anyone who yields to temptation either fails to see God’s way of escape or just decides to reject it. 

 

God is faithful. We also must be faithful to resist temptation. When we trust God to show us His way and then we choose to take it, we will experience the truth of this promise.

 

© 2022 Lynn Lacher

www.lynnlacher.com/2022/01/no-temptation.html

Choose His Grace

Galatians 3

 

When we read Galatians 3, we hear the Good News of the Grace of Jesus. We hear that we are now under Grace and not under the Law. We’re free. We don’t have to “perform” well enough for God to love and accept us. When we believed in Jesus Christ, we were made right with God. Christ fulfilled God’s standards that we could never meet. He paid the price we could never pay. The Galatians didn’t realize they were living under a mixture of Law and Grace. Paul wrote to show them that, although they believed in Christ, they were still in bondage to the Law. His words hit home with us, too. Do we also live under a mixture of Law and Grace?

 

Paul writes in Galatians 3 of the covenant God made with Abraham. It is irreversible. God gave the promise to “Abraham and his child.” The "Abraham and his child" to which the promise was given represents Abraham and his descendant, Christ. The covenant with Abraham is one of Grace. There was no Law that Abraham had to keep to receive it. The Law wasn’t given to Moses until 430 years later. If the Law had been in effect at the time Abraham lived, some of his sins would have broken it. The Law God gave to Moses also didn't cancel the covenant of Grace that God had given to Abraham. If it had been canceled, God would have broken his promise. 

 

Abraham's covenant of Grace is still in force—just as the Law is still active. Abraham’s covenant of Grace is received by faith through Jesus Christ, who perfectly fulfilled the requirements of the Law. Abraham's faith in God was credited to him as righteousness. His faith made him right with God. Jesus, as the perfect mediator to meet the Law’s requirements, has set us free. We are heirs to Abraham's promise, and faith in Jesus is credited to us as righteousness. Jesus has paid what the Law requires because we never can. We live in the freedom of His Grace and not in debt to our sins.

 

The Law exposes and gives power to sin (1 Corinthians 15:56). It doesn’t make us righteous. The only way we are made righteous is by faith in the Grace of Jesus. Those who depend on the Law to make and keep them right with God are cursed by the Law because it is impossible for them to keep the whole Law. They erroneously believe that their good performance will make them acceptable to God. 

 

Only faith in Jesus sets you free from the condemnation and judgment of the Law. To perfectly keep the Law (which is still active just as every other covenant made by God is still active), you can't fail one Law. If you fail one Law, you have failed all of over 600 Laws. Only Jesus could perfectly mediate for our inability to keep the Law. He was our perfect sacrifice. He became the curse for us because we can’t save ourselves. In Jesus, we are free from having “to do anything” to be saved. We believe by faith, and faith in Jesus makes us righteous to God.

 

“Did you receive the Holy Spirit by obeying the law of Moses?” Paul asked the Galatians. “Of course not! You received the Spirit because you believed the message you heard about Christ. How foolish can you be? After starting your new lives in the Spirit, why are you now trying to become perfect by your own human effort? Have you experienced so much for nothing? Surely it was not in vain, was it” (Galatians 3:2-4, NLT)?

 

What about us? Do we strive to be perfect when Jesus has made us righteous by faith? We can't make ourselves righteous by keeping the Law. That becomes self-righteousness. After accepting Jesus as our Savior, do we bear the weight of guilt and shame which Jesus bore for us on the cross? Have we experienced the Grace of Jesus for nothing? 

 

When we have a revelation of who we are in Christ, we are forever changed by the Holy Spirit. Living a righteous life doesn't come by self-effort. It comes from the gift of His Grace within us.

 

“The law was our guardian until Christ came.” Paul wrote. “It protected us until we could be made right with God through faith. And now that the way of faith has come, we no longer need the law as our guardian” (Galatians 3:24-25, NLT). 

 

If you believe the Good News of Jesus, you are accepted and approved by God. Jesus has made you worthy. Nothing you do makes you worthy. The Law is no longer your guardian. You live under Grace. You live by faith.

 

“You are all children of God through faith in Christ Jesus. And now that you belong to Christ, you are the true children of Abraham. You are his heirs, and God’s promise to Abraham belongs to you” (Galatians 3:26,29, NLT).

 

The covenant of Grace that was given to Abraham is now also yours. You are heirs to God’s promise through faith in Christ! By faith, you are saved! Nothing of yourself!  Christ makes you free! Nothing you do gives you freedom. You are a new creation in Christ! Nothing you have—nothing you do—has the power to give you a new life where the old is completely gone. Only Christ gives new life! Allow the Holy Spirit to teach you in His Word the new person that He has made you! Believe in the promises you have received in Christ! 

 

Don’t be like the Galatians believers living under a mixture of Law and Grace. You decide under which covenant you live—whether you live under the Law or under Grace—whether you live by the flesh or by the Spirit. Choose the freedom of His Grace.

 

© 2022 Lynn Lacher

www.lynnlacher.com/2022/01/choose-his-grace.html

 

A Mother's Love

Today I'd like to share the story of a mother's love for her son. It is a story of faith and hope, tough love, healing, and restoration. Please click on the link, https://theblessingroad.com/my-son/, and read this amazing testimony to the Grace of Jesus Christ in David Plunkett’s life.

David Plunkett

And, Yes, Joy

 

Therefore with joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.

—Isaiah 12:3 (NKJV)

 

Joy comes from what we believe and not from what we experience. We draw from our salvation with joy.

 

Salvation is within us. In our born-again spirits, we are new creations in Christ. All things are new. Joy comes from the new person Christ has created us to be. When we lack joy in our lives, we lack knowledge and belief of this new person we are in Christ. But when we live believing by faith—when we walk by faith and not by sight, we draw from what is within us. We rejoice with praise. When we really believe God, we have joy. 

 

“Though now you do not see Him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory” (1 Peter 1:8, NKJV).

 

Peter had walked with Jesus every day for three years. He had heard Jesus speak and perform miracles. Peter had even beheld the transfiguration of Jesus (Matthew 17:1-9). But none of these experiences kept Peter from denying Christ (Matthew 26:69-75, Mark 14:66-72, Luke 22:55-62, and John 18:15-27).

 

Before Christ’s resurrection, the disciples had only known Christ in the flesh and not through the spirit (2 Corinthians 5:16). When Peter rejoices in 1 Peter 1:8 with “joy inexpressible and full of glory” he is walking by faith and not by sight (2 Corinthians 5:7). With joy, he is drawing from the wells of his salvation. Knowing Jesus by faith is greater than knowing Him by what we sense. When we have to feel or see to believe something, we are not walking by faith. 

 

“He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.” (John 7:38, NKJ).

 

The river of living water that flows out of our born-again spirits produces fruit in our lives. Galatians 5:22-23 says that “the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance.” These qualities are nothing that our flesh produces but should flow from within us—just like an artesian well. For these to flow in our lives, we have to conform our thinking to God’s Word (Proverbs 23:7; Isaiah 26:3; Romans 8:6, and 12:2). When we conform our thinking to His Word, we begin to believe in our hearts the new creation we are in Christ. 

 

Rivers of living water flow in your life when the new person you have become in your spirit is believed in your heart. Be renewed by the Word to believe (Romans 12:2). Walk by faith and not by sight, and draw from the well of your salvation. Out of the new creation you are in Christ flows rivers of living water. Love, peace, and, yes, joy! Believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory!

 

© 2022 Lynn Lacher

www.lynnlacher.com/2022/01/and-yes-joy.html

Are You Fully Convinced

 

He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully convinced that what He had promised He was also able to perform.

—Romans 4:20-21 (NKJV)

 

 

Abraham was fully convinced that God—who had promised him in his old age that Sarah would bear him a son—was able to provide that promise. Being fully convinced is believing without a doubt. Are you fully convinced? What promises are you hanging on to? What does God’s Word say about your circumstances?  

 

Facts are what you see and experience in this natural world. But facts that are real in this world aren’t the same as God’s Truth in His supernatural realm. God’s Truth surpasses the facts, and when His Truth is believed by faith, it has the power to change them. Abraham didn’t waver at God’s promise through unbelief. In his natural world, he couldn’t see the fulfillment of His promise. The fact was Sarah was way too old to have a child. But Abraham completely believed God, and he praised God for what he hadn’t yet received. Instead of the facts defeating him, his faith was strengthened.

 

Faith is the evidence of things not seen (Hebrews 11:1). It takes no faith to believe facts. You can see them. It only takes faith to believe God’s Truth that you can’t see. That is why we are told to walk by faith and not by what we see (2 Corinthians 5:7). Faith comes by hearing the Word (Romans 10:17). The Word is Truth (John 17:17). The Truth that you hear and know in your heart will set you free (John 8:32). God’s Truth doesn’t benefit your life if you don’t believe it.

 

If we are going to see the supernatural power of God, we have to connect what we believe and how we think to God’s Word. Then we can see God actually making a difference in our lives and in someone else’s life. It is easy to identify with what you experience—especially when you deal with symptoms of illness or problems in circumstances. To walk by faith and not by sight, you have to intentionally choose to have faith in God’s Truth over what you see.

 

Do you believe only what you see? Do you doubt God?  Being double-minded will keep you from receiving (James 1:6-8). Face the facts in your life, but don’t allow them to consume you. Believe what God promises in His Word. The facts of your physical life—circumstance or sickness or need—can change when you believe His Truth.

 

Two blind men followed Jesus asking him to have mercy on them. 

 

“When he had gone indoors, the blind men came to him, and he asked them, ‘Do you believe that I am able to do this?’ ‘Yes, Lord,’ they replied. Then he touched their eyes and said, ‘According to your faith, let it be done to you,’ and their sight was restored” (Matthew 9:28-30, NIV).

 

Faith doesn’t create anything. It only provides what Jesus has already created for you with the gift of His life. Believing by faith in God’s Truth is the power that alters your reality. Praise God for His promise. Be fully convinced that God’s Truth is greater than any fact before your eyes. Instead of the facts defeating you, allow faith to strengthen you. According to your faith, you receive.

 

© 2022 Lynn Lacher

www.lynnlacher.com/2022/01/are-you-fully-convinced.html

 

Believe God

But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.

—Hebrews 11:6 (NKJV)

 

Your faith is what pleases God. He rewards those who diligently seek Him with all their heart. And persistent seeking of His truth rewards you. The truth of His Word takes root and comes alive within you. You believe without seeing because you believe His promises. 

 

The Word is powerful within you when you act upon it and choose to live its truth—even when what you experience is not seen, heard, or felt. When you take what God has given in His Word and make it your own, your attitude about your life changes. You see beyond what you experience.

 

Just wishing that God’s truth is yours does not make it your own. Wavering in believing what God promises fills you with fear and doubt. Fear robs you of a sound mind and makes you question if God loves you enough to meet your need. God meets your need. It is met in His truth and in His way. You take possession of His truth and make it your own truth. And then it becomes powerful in your life.

 

When you believe God, you see with faith what has not been seen or experienced. Believing His truth pleases God, and He rewards you according to what you believe (Matthew (9:29). If you believe His Word and envision His promise, you receive its benefit. If you don’t believe, then you miss the abundant life Jesus died to give you.

 

To be carnal or naturally minded is death to your faith. To be spiritually minded is life and peace (Romans 8:6). Draw a line in the sand, and choose to believe. Faith comes by hearing the Word of God—not with your mind but with your heart (Romans 10:17). Walk by faith and not by what you see (2 Corinthians 5:7). If you doubt, you will never receive what God promises (James 1:6-8). But when you believe, nothing is impossible with God (Mark 9:23). Reach out believing—without doubting—and seek Him with all your heart. You believe before you receive.

 

Do you believe that God loves you and rewards those who seek Him? As you think in your heart, that is what you believe (Proverbs 23:7).

 

 

© 2022 Lynn Lacher

www.lynnlacher.com/2022/01/believe-god.html