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 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). In the New Living Translation, this reads, “For shoes, put on the peace that comes from the Good News so that you will be fully prepared.”

 

When you “shod” your feet, it means you wear shoes of a specific kind. The specific kind you wear is the Good News—the Gospel of peace that you have with God. When you are walking in peace with God, you are walking in peace with yourself and with others. If you don’t live in peace with God and others in your life, you can’t believe in the promises that come from your relationship with God. You are only prepared for the battles of life when you have prepared your mind and heart with the Gospel of the peace that is yours in Christ.

 

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 in your relationship with God. And when we get upset with others, we wonder why our prayers are hindered. You can’t have bitterness toward anyone (your spouse, children, church, 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. Grace is alive in you.

 

You fight the good fight of faith when you forgive as Christ has forgiven you. When you live in God’s peace, you are standing on His Truth that you are at peace in your relationship with Him, with yourself, and with others. You believe your worthiness is in Christ and that you are forgiven. And you forgive with the grace of Jesus that forgave 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 the issues of your life with the peace He has purchased for you with God. You can pray confidently and go into God’s presence knowing in your mind and believing in your heart that He will answer your requests (1 John 5:15). 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 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. Make it your own. Exercise God’s truth in your life. Give your requests to God with thankful confidence. His peace, which human reasoning cannot understand, will guard your heart and mind. The peace you have is Christ alive in you. 

 

When you allow God’s peace to own your mind and heart, the enemy can’t kill, steal, and destroy the abundant life Christ has bought you (John 10:10). 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 (Colossians 1:27). His peace, which overcame the world, has overcome your personal world of doubt and fear. You know and believe your prayer is answered.

 

Shod your life with the truth of His peace. Your life is powerful in Christ when you believe you are at peace with God. Stand in the right and the power and the truth of your position in Christ. You have His authority to stomp on and speak death to the lies and unrest of the enemy. 

 

You are fully prepared for the battle when you believe God’s truth and walk in it. His peace has overcome. It has won the war.

 

 

 

© 2022 Lynn Lacher

www.lynnlacher.com/2022/08/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)

 

Girding your life with the Truth of God’s Word is the first piece of armor you put on. The other pieces of your spiritual armor are connected to God’s Truth and receive their power from it. But God’s Word has no power in your life unless you believe it.

 

The second piece of armor is the breastplate of righteousness. You stand against the enemy on the Truth 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 know that your prayers will be heard and 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 righteousness that is yours in Christ, you pray as one who is forgiven, healed, and whole. You pray believing your prayer is heard and answered because you are no longer a sinner needing a Savior to give you a righteous relationship with God. Jesus has given you His complete and perfect work of Grace. He has presented you without fault to the Father. He has paid your debt in full, and you are reborn as a new creation by the Holy Spirit in His righteousness. You are now saved, healed, and sealed by His Grace (John 10:10, 1 Peter 2:24, 2 Corinthians 5:17, 21, Ephesians 1:4, Ephesians 1:13).

 

When you 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 Truth. The righteousness of God has defeated evil. And His righteousness that defeats evil lives within you. 

 

In a battle, the enemy reminds you of who you are in the flesh. He reminds 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 (Revelations 12:10, 2 Corinthians 10:5, Ephesians 6:14).

 

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 held against you. You are approved, loved, and accepted because of His 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). 

 

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. 

 

“I am the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. Enemy, your lies cannot destroy God’s Truth in me!”  (2 Corinthians 5:21, Isaiah 54:17).

 

You have His power to speak and cast down anything that doesn’t come from God’s Truth. Nothing will prevail against you when you gird yourself in God’s Truth, believing and declaring Jesus has made you righteous, healed, and whole (Proverbs 18:21, 2 Timothy 1:7, 2 Corinthians 10:5, Isaiah 54:17. 2 Corinthians 5:21).

 

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. Allow the Word to renew your mind with its Truth (Romans 12:2). Stay focused on who Christ has made you, and rebuke the lies of the enemy. Do you remember 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.

 

The enemy who plans to steal, kill, and destroy you comes to remind you of the old person you once were. If you believe the enemy, your heart will condemn you. But God is greater than your heart (1 John 3:20). The Holy Spirit constantly teaches us who you are in Jesus (1 Corinthians 2:13). Listen to His Truth with the mind Christ has given you (1 Corinthians 2:14-16). Submit yourself to God—submit yourself to God’s Truth—conform to that Truth, and the enemy will flee from the righteousness that stands strongly in you (James 4:7).

 

 

© 2022 Lynn Lacher

www.lynnlacher.com/2022/08/stand-strong-in-his-righteousness.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gird Your Life with His Truth

 

Sometimes our prayers are answered immediately, and sometimes they take longer. Answers that aren’t immediate are the ones the enemy attacks. When you are praying and believing for your promise, 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 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 on God’s Truth builds your faith to believe your battle is already won and your promise received.

 

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, and you have to know their purpose.

 

Ephesians 6:18 says that the purpose of God’s armor is to make your prayers effective. When you “put on” the armor of God, your strength is found in your unity with Him—spirit to spirit. Your relationship with Him grows stronger from worshiping Him in spirit and Truth (John 4:23, Jude 1:20). The intimate connection you have with the Holy Spirit in prayer empowers you to hold on believing for the promise God has given you. 

 

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 it, and they are 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 Truth of God’s Word.

 

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 you do know will over 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 you know and stand firm. The Word is your authority. No lie can penetrate its Truth. 

 

The Word is your salvation. Why is the Word the last place so many believers go to 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. It stands against any lie. 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 (2 Corinthians 5:21).

 

Know God’s Truth. Allow His Truth to change the way you think until you believe it in your heart (Romans 12:2, Romans 10:10). His Truth protects you from the lies and onslaught of the enemy who tries to steal, kill, and destroy (John 10:10). Gird your life with God’s Truth. The Word is His abundant life working in you to bring forth what the enemy declares impossible (Ephesians 3:20).

 

God’s Truth is the foundation of your faith. Without it, you have no life. With it, all things are possible for those who believe (Mark 9:23).

 

© 2022 Lynn Lacher

www.lynnlacher.com/2022/08/gird-your-life-with-his-truth.html

 

 

 

Victorious 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 truth of who you are in Christ. You fight the good fight of faith from a position of victory because Christ has already won.

 

“Awake to righteousness, and do not sin; for some do not have the knowledge of God. This is to your shame. Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you” (1 Corinthians 15:34, James 4:7, NKJV).

 

Wake up. Know and believe the Word. The enemy battles you from within with lies—with deception—and will even twist Scripture to deceive you. He will tempt you not to believe the truth of God’s Word. Don’t submit your thoughts to the lies of the enemy. Don’t give him power. Submit your thoughts to God. Resist the enemy. Rebuke him, and he will flee. Stand in the authority Christ has given you to escape the enemy’s subtle manipulation to kill, steal, and destroy you (James 4:7, John 10:10).

 

We submit to God because Christ has made us righteous. We are convicted by His righteousness—not by the disgrace of shame and guilt. When we understand how we fight sin from a position of righteousness, then we can understand how to fight the battle for our 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 righteousness Christ has given you, you receive spiritual wisdom in your knowledge of Him (Ephesians 1: 17). 

 

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 on to 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. Don’t give up. You appropriate by faith the truth of God’s Word. You believe and take His promise as your own. You speak life to what you are promised (Proverbs 18:21).

 

Believing doesn’t happen when you have received the answer to your prayer. You have to believe that when you pray you have already received your answer. When you speak to your mountain—when you pray believing without doubting—your promise will come to pass. The key is believing that when you pray nothing will keep you from receiving. 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—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 in your power. Don’t trust your understanding. The enemy will manipulate you with emotion. 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 that we are told twice to stand so that we can “withstand” 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 you.

 

During the next few devotionals, we will look at how to stand believing for what God has promised by putting on each piece of His armor. It is God’s righteousness that empowers us to willfully choose the armor. God doesn’t dress us for battle. We allow His power to dress us for victory. 

 

Whatever is born of God overcomes. And the victory that has overcome the world is our faith (1 John 5:4). Do we want abundant life? We stand and fight the good fight of faith believing we have already won. 

 

 

© 2022 Lynn Lacher

www.lynnlacher.com/2022/08/victorious-faith

 

 

 

Your Understanding

 

 

The Holy Spirit teaches us the Word and gives us understanding as we grow spiritually in our ability to receive it (John 16:13). Sometimes a Scripture reveals a depth of unexpected understanding that you have never experienced. If its revealed truth falls on a heart the Holy Spirit has prepared to receive, that revelation takes root and produces much fruit. If a heart is not ready to receive, then the revelation of God’s truth has little power to make a difference. The problems of life will choke out the joy it initially brought (Matthew 13:3-8).

 

The enemy doesn’t like it when you receive spiritual truth because it defeats him. He will tempt you to question what God has shown you (John 10:10). God's truth never changes. He is always the same (Hebrews 13:8). When God reveals Himself to you wherever you are in your spiritual journey, it may be a different perspective from what someone else has received. Our levels of spiritual understanding aren’t the same. Just because your understanding of a Scripture is from a different perspective doesn’t negate its truth. God reveals His truth to you at your personal level of spiritual understanding so you will grow in your knowledge of Him.

 

“All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work” (2 Corinthians 3:16-17).

 

Pray about the revelation you have been shown. Allow other Scripture to affirm or deny its truth.  God wants you completely equipped for His good purpose. The Holy Spirit won’t plant anything in your heart that steers you away from your spiritual understanding of the righteousness that is yours in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:21).

 

The Holy Spirit’s revelation of Scripture makes no difference to the natural mind. The natural mind cannot receive God’s truth. It cannot discern God’s truth (Corinthians 2:14). The natural mind receives the Word based on what it feels instead of what it spiritually understands to be true. Understanding of God’s truth must be acquired spiritually. When we spiritually hear the Word, it builds our faith to believe its truth (Romans 10:17). Don’t test Scripture with your ability to rationalize. You have the mind of Christ (1 Corinthians 2:16). Test what you have been shown with the spiritual mind He has given you. 

 

If hearing the Word builds your faith to trust God, then you receive God’s truth and not your own understanding (Romans 10:17). When you trust God’s truth, you acknowledge His power in your life. He directs your life (Psalm 3:5-6).

 

Always be spiritually open to what God wants to reveal and show you (1 Corinthians 1:25). 

 

“However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come” (John 16:13).

 

© 2022 Lynn Lacher

www.lynnlacher.com/2022/08/your-understanding.html

 

 

 

Trust in God

 

Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in me.

—John 14:1 (NLT)

 

 

Fear dominates the minds of many believers. They know the Word says they can have peace, but peace is elusive. They try to find peace in their circumstances instead of trusting in God. Jesus gave us peace when he gave his life for us (John 14:27). Even though Jesus prayed for God’s will to be on earth as it was in heaven (Luke 11:2), He didn’t mean that our circumstances would always be perfect in this world. He meant that His peace within us could be perfect. His peace was never meant to be the peace we find when our circumstances are perfect. No, His peace is real within us when things around us make no sense.

 

The night before His crucifixion, the disciples were fearful about Jesus leaving them. He wanted them to know that they would be with Him again and not to be troubled or fearful. 

 

“Trust in God and trust in me,” He told them. Jesus was amazed when he was asked to show them the Father. “Have I been with you all this time and still you do not know me? I am in the Father and the Father is in me” (John 14:9-10).

Insecurity had filled the disciples with fear, and Jesus was telling them to trust in Him instead of what they would experience. If they really KNEW Him, they would trust Him. The Holy Spirit tells us the same thing. If we really KNOW Christ, we will trust Him. We don’t have to experience the insecurity of the world around us when we KNOW the security of God within us. 

 

When you have a revelation of what you have in Christ—what you have because He paid with His life for you to have it—you have peace no matter what happens around you. You trust Him.

 

Trust is "the acceptance of the truth of a statement without evidence or investigation” (www.lexico.com). Accepting God’s Word as Truth without needing proof, changes your perception of life from one of insecurity to trust. You don’t need to see to believe. Trust is the “firm belief in the reliability, truth, or ability of someone or something” (www.lexico.com). When you firmly believe in God’s truth and His reliability, you trust Him. 

 

If you have fears that keep you from trusting God, then those fears are more important to you than the peace Jesus has given you. Trust begins as a decision. You choose to give up the fears where you have placed your trust. When you submit the things that worry you to God, you let go of them. And when you submit to God, you resist the enemy who tries to create fear. Giving God your worries and fears allows the peace of Christ to rise in your heart and mind (Philippians 4:6-7).

 

If you trusted God by faith for your salvation, why can’t you now trust Him for everything else? He will never leave you or forsake you. That is His Truth you can believe and trust.

 

Don’t worry about today or tomorrow. When you believe in the Truth of the new life Jesus has given you (2 Corinthians 5:17), you have the security of your relationship with the Father. Jesus has given you His Father as your very own. Jesus is in the Father, and the Father is in you (John 17:20-21). He has given you abundant life (John 10:10). That abundant life comes from knowing who you are in Christ and not allowing your circumstances to determine who you are. Trust comes from knowing who you are in God’s love—from believing without a doubt that Christ has overcome. There is no need to fear circumstances or anything in this world. 

Trust begins as a decision to accept what God promises in His Word as Truth for your life, and the Holy Spirit empowers you to believe it by faith. So don’t let your heart be troubled. Trust in God. Trust in Jesus. Trust the Holy Spirit within you. Fear has no power in your life when you know who you are in Christ. 

 

“God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind” (2 Timothy 1:7).

 

© 2022 Lynn Lacher

www.lynnlacher.com/2022/08/trust-in-God.html

Truth and Life

 

 

“It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing,” Jesus said. “The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life. I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”

—John 6:63, 14:6 (NKJV)

 

The flesh profits us nothing. We can’t earn our way to the Father. Jesus is the way to the Father. He earned the way to the Father with His life. No one comes to the Father unless they believe in Jesus. 

 

Why do we try to come to God on our own merit—on our own good works? They buy us nothing. Do we sometimes try to do more so we will receive in return? Do we believe if we do enough, God will finally answer our prayers? If we beg God enough, He will finally respond? If we give enough to God, God will give to us? Our works earn us nothing. When we try to purchase what Christ has already purchased for us with His life, our works have no life. They are born of ourselves instead of born of faith in the finished work of Christ. 

 

We come to the Father based on Christ’s finished work of Grace. We don’t come in fear. We come in faith. We don’t come in our lack. We come in His fullness. We come believing what Christ has purchased for us and who we are as a result. We come secure in our identity in Him. We come to the Father accepted by His Grace. We come as His chosen purchase (Ephesians 1:4-6). And as His chosen purchase, we come to Him as heirs to the Kingdom of God (Romans 8:17, Ephesians 3:6). What is His is also ours. We come knowing and believing what is ours in Christ—that God supplies all our needs according to what Christ has purchased for us (Philippians 4:19)

 

We received the finished work of Jesus within us when we believed in Him. We received His complete work of Grace. The Kingdom of God lives within us now (Luke 17:21). We live in His fullness when we believe what His Word reveals is ours. The Kingdom of God living within us is not about us being good enough. It is all about His perfect work. We have an abundant relationship with God now (John 10:10). Jesus, the Word, lives within us. And the Word is truth and life.

 

“Have you not known? Have you not heard? Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth” (Isaiah 40:21, NKJV)?

 

You have received a Kingdom that cannot be shaken (Hebrews 12:28). Seek to know what Christ has purchased for you—His Kingdom that lives in you. Allow the Holy Spirit to renew your mind with God’s Word of life and truth. Make His truth your own. (Romans 12:2). And believe in your heart that you are His new creation (Romans 10:10, 2 Corinthians 5:17). Trust in the finished work of Grace that is yours.

 

His Words are truth. They are life.

 

© 2022 Lynn Lacher

www.lynnlacher.com/2022/08/truth-and-life.html

 

 

  

 

Grace and Peace

Grace and Peace

 

 

By Silvanus, our faithful brother as I consider him, I have written to you briefly, exhorting and testifying that this is the true grace of God in which you stand.

—1 Peter 5:12 (NKJV)

 

Peter said that his letter emphasized the true Gospel of the Grace of God. The true Gospel of Grace does not demand our right standing with God. If it did, the work of redemption would place the work of holiness upon us. The Gospel of Grace is a gift given to those who believe by faith in the finished work of Jesus. It is nothing we do. It is all He did. Right standing with God only comes through faith in what Jesus did for us. We are encouraged in this verse that it is the true Grace of God in which we stand. 

 

“Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God, through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.” (Romans 5:1-2). 

 

Being justified—having a right-standing with God—is peace. We can only stand in the true Grace of God—in His peace—when we believe that Jesus gave us right-standing with God. We can only live His righteousness when we believe we have received His righteousness (2 Corinthians 5:21). When we truly know we have peace with God, then we have peace. We choose to stand strong in that peace. We let God fight because we know He will. We put on His armor that by right-standing is ours. And having done all, we stand (Ephesians 6:13).

 

Right-standing with God—peace with God—only comes through faith in what Christ did for us. True Grace teaches us to deny ungodliness and to live soberly and righteously (Titus 2:12). But true Grace also teaches us that it is only by His righteousness we live and have our being (Acts 17:28). When we know our righteous standing with God through the Grace of Christ, we live out of that truth. We rest in that peace.

 

Faith comes out of our identity in Christ. We have peace with God and are His. That is who we are. We are blameless and holy because of Jesus (Ephesians 1:4). Faith comes out of knowing we have peace with God. And having peace with God is the only way we can walk in faith. Otherwise, we are going to try to do something to get God to do something. When we believe the work is finished and has already been done, there is nothing for us to do but rest in God’s love for us. 

 

You have access by faith into God’s Grace. Know who you are in the finished work of Christ, and rejoice in the hope of the glory of God (Romans 5:2). Experience the peace of knowing your right relationship with God, your Father. Where you have peace, you have faith. Exercise your faith and rest in His peace. Having done all, you stand by faith in what God says is true. 

 

 

© 2022 Lynn Lacher

www.lynnlacher.com/2022/08/grace-and-peace.html

 

 

 

 

Put on Your New Nature

 

 

If, indeed you have heard Him and have been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus: that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness.

—Ephesians 4:21-24 (NKJV)

 

 

My friend in Christ, you are a new creation. You are reborn by the Holy Spirit. The old “you” is dead, and Christ has made you new in His righteousness (2 Corinthians 2:17, 21). But do you think that you have lost your right standing with God because you still deal with the struggles of your flesh? You haven’t. We can’t change the temptations that come against us. But when we believe who we are in Christ and choose to clothe ourselves in our new identity, we have His power to overcome.

 

As far as the east is from the west, God has removed sin from you (Psalm 103:12). When you believe your old sin nature has been crucified with Christ and that it is not you who lives but Christ who lives in you, you have His power to overcome (Galatians 2:20). To believe your old nature is dead, your mind must be renewed by the truth of your new nature revealed in God’s Word (Romans 12:3, Ephesians 4:23). And when you choose to walk in the truth of the righteousness that Christ has earned for you, you put on who you are in Christ (Ephesians 4:24). You become new in the motive and attitude of your heart. You have the power to defeat the daily temptations that come against your new nature.

 

Your new nature is your true identity in Christ. In Today’s English Version Ephesians 4:24 reads, “and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.” 

 

You cannot make yourself new. You cannot earn what Christ has already earned for you. It only frustrates you and robs you of His power to stand against sin. Christ has given you His righteousness. Be renewed in the way you think to know yourself as God knows you in “true righteousness and holiness.” Put on your new identity. It was created “after the likeness of God.” 

 

“Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world” (1 John 4:17). 

 

You are a new person in Christ’s perfect love. All your sin has been crucified with Christ. It is Christ who lives in you, and the life you live, you live by faith in the righteousness He has given you (Galatians 2:20). You believe that as Christ is, you also are in this world—that you are “created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.” 

 

Christ has earned for you His new life of righteousness. Allow the Word to teach you the new person you have been made in His redeeming love. Claim and believe its truth in your heart. Clothe yourself in your new identity. Deny the old sin nature that rises to claim you—that tries to convince you that it still owns you. Christ owns you. You are His.

 

“For you know that God paid a ransom to save you from the empty life you inherited from your ancestors. And it was not paid with mere gold or silver, which lose their value. It was the precious blood of Christ, the sinless, spotless Lamb of God” (1 Peter 1:18-19).

 

 

© 2022 Lynn Lacher

www.lynnlacher.com/2022/08/put-on-your-new-nature.html

 

 

Grace and Humility

 

Grace is the unearned and undeserved favor of God that is offered to us in Christ. But many believers spend their lives without experiencing the benefits of God’s grace. Grace asks for our response. When we don’t understand that God wishes us to respond to His grace by faith, we don’t experience His grace working in our lives.

 

In the Word, grace is shown to be more than just unmerited favor. In Ephesians 3:2, Paul referred to his ministry to the Ephesians as a privilege of the grace Christ had given him. In Romans 12:6-8, Paul spoke of the gifts of grace as something to be exercised in ministry to others. “As each one has received a gift,” Peter also said, “minister it to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God” (1 Peter 4:10, NKJV). 

 

Grace is not only God’s unmerited favor but it is His power at work within us. Grace is our privilege and our gift to share.

 

The grace of God has appeared to all men but not all men receive it (Titus 2:11). His grace was nothing we earned. We had to humble ourselves to receive the salvation Jesus provided. We must also keep humbling ourselves to receive “more grace” to receive the power He wishes to impart.

 

“But He gives more grace. Therefore He says: God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble” (James 4:6, NKJV).

 

The grace of God is received with humility. If we don’t understand that humility releases the power of God, then pride in ourselves will keep us from experiencing His grace. James 4:6 also says God gives more grace. If it is possible to have more grace, then it is also possible to have less grace. God makes available His grace, but we determine how much or less of it we will experience.

 

This world is performance-based. It rewards us for how well we perform. Pride keeps us competing to get ahead and be the best. God's Kingdom is the opposite. His grace is unearned and not based on us at all. The least is the greatest. Humility is knowing who you are in Christ—that you don’t have to keep performing well enough to win God’s love, acceptance, and favor. You know that His grace loves you, accepts you, and favors you.

 

Grace asks for us to believe these truths by faith. But are we trying to win God's love and acceptance? Do we think if we work harder and harder for Him—do more and more—give and more that He will approve and favor us more? That’s pride and seeking proof that God loves us. We don't have to prove to God that we are good enough for Him to love us. We don’t have to prove that He loves us. Christ proved that on the Cross. There is no greater love He could have given us. We respond to His love by believing who He says we are—not by trying to prove who He says we are.

 

Grace asks us to respond to a revelation of love that is almost too good to be true. But it is true because it is the love of the Gospel. We respond in faith—not of our own efforts—but in humble acceptance of His power within us, believing that where God calls us, He is responsible to provide all that is needed. 

 

Humility doesn’t focus on self and its achievement. Humility surrenders to Christ’s achievement on Calvary. It places the well-being of others ahead of its own. When we understand that humility doesn’t exalt itself and doesn’t have to earn what has already been earned in Christ, we receive more grace to empower our lives. His love in us will just flow. We will become good stewards of the manifold grace of God.

 

© 2022 Lynn Lacher

www.lynnlacher.com/2022/07/grace-and-humility.html