The Manifold Grace of God

 

Grace is the unearned and undeserved favor of God that is offered to us in Jesus Christ. Peter says we are to be good stewards of the manifold grace of God (1 Peter 4:10). Being stewards of the “manifold grace of God means that there are facets to His grace that call for our response.

 

In Ephesians 3:2, Paul referred to his ministry to the Ephesians as a privilege of Christ's grace. In Romans 12:6-8, Paul spoke of the gifts of grace as something to be exercised in ministry to others. Grace is not only God’s unmerited favor but it is His power at work within us. Grace is the privilege God has given us, and it is our gift to share.

 

“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).  

 

The grace of God has appeared to all men but not all men receive it (Titus 2:11). Some believers spend their lives without experiencing the manifold grace of God. 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.

 

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 He wishes to impart. God resists the proud.

 

“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 in humility. If we don’t understand that humility receives 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, 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 rests in understanding who we are in Christ and that it is impossible to perform well enough to receive God’s love, acceptance, and favor. Humility believes that God has loved, accepted, and favored us in the precious gift of His life.

 

Grace asks for us to believe these truths by faith. But sometimes do we find ourselves trying to win God's love and acceptance? Do we think that if we do more for God He will love and accept us more? That’s pride and seeking proof that God loves us. It is impossible to prove to God we are good enough for Him to love us. It is frustrating trying to prove our own righteousness because we have none without Christ. Jesus gave us the righteousness of God in His gift of love. There is no greater love He could have given us. We respond to His gift of grace by believing who He says we are—not by trying to prove who He says we are.

 

Grace asks us to respond to the love of God. We know we don’t deserve His love. Our minds may tell us His love is too good to be true. But it is true because it is the love of the Gospel. Our hearts can receive it. 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 for providing all that is needed. 

 

Humility doesn’t focus on self and its achievement. Humility surrenders to Christ’s achievement on Calvary. His grace is a privilege—His gift to us that we never deserved. We receive it by faith with a humble heart. 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 grace in us will flow and empower us to minister to others. 

 

God tells us to be good stewards of His manifold grace. Humbly receive what He has won for you. Share His manifold grace as He humbly shared it with you.

 

© 2023 Lynn Lacher

www.lynnlacher.com/2023/09/the-manifold-grace-of-god.html

The Spiritual Mirror of God’s Word

But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does.

—James 1:22-25

 

When we hear the Word of God in our hearts and allow the enemy or the world to snatch it away, we lose the power of God’s Word to change us. And when we choose to not follow what the Holy Spirit calls us to do, we don’t deceive God or anyone else. We deceive ourselves. We rob ourselves of the abundantly spiritual life Christ wishes to give us. 

 

Our faith is dead without works. Each time we choose to not live the truths the Holy Spirit teaches, we harden our hearts to Him. If we hear the Word and don’t allow it to change us, we are like a man who looks in a mirror and then forgets who he is. Our minds are not renewed by God’s truth, and we cannot remember who we are in Christ’s grace. 

 

To see what your physical face looks like, you have to look into a physical mirror. You can’t see what you look like without a mirror. You see a reflection of what you look like in a mirror, but it is impossible to look directly at your face. When you need to change something in the image you see in the mirror, you make the adjustment. 

 

When you look into the Word of God, it is like looking into a spiritual mirror. You can’t see your spiritual self, but you can look into the mirror of God’s Word and see who you are spiritually in Christ. You cannot directly see your spiritual image just like you cannot directly see your physical image. You must look directly into the mirror of the Word of God to see who God says you are. Just as you must take by faith the physical image you see in the mirror, you also have to take by faith the spiritual image the Holy Spirit reveals in the Word.

 

A person who doesn’t do what he hears in God’s Word is like someone who looks in the mirror and doesn’t change anything. He doesn’t allow the truth of who he is in Christ to change him. He goes the way he chooses and forgets what he has seen. We need to know the truth of our spiritual image revealed in God’s Word and yield to it. We choose for it to mold us into the image of the new person we are in Christ.

 

When we know the spiritual image of our new identity in Christ and act upon its truth, we live by faith in who we are in Christ. What we do is born out of our faith in Him. We never make living a holy life about our work. Living a holy life is the fruit of the work of Jesus in us. We choose to live His righteousness within us when we have allowed “the perfect law of liberty” to become our identity.

 

“The perfect law of liberty” James refers to is the New Covenant and the freedom from sin bought by the perfect sacrifice of Jesus. Jesus has paid the debt for our sins and has purchased our right standing and our freedom to come to God. He has purchased the righteousness of God for us so that we have the power to live a holy life. But when we don’t know who we are in Christ, we don’t understand the new life His grace has given us. When we don’t understand the difference His righteousness means in our lives, we can end up trying to prove our own righteousness instead of trusting in the righteousness that He died to give us. 

 

Our faith in Jesus is not “do this and you will get that.” Our faith in Jesus is receiving His humble obedience to His Father’s will. God doesn’t bless us based on anything we do. God has already blessed us with the life of His Son. 

 

It is only through the New Covenant grace of Jesus that you can know the new person you are in Him. The grace of Jesus sets you free from the old man you once were and empowers you to follow Him. When you have a spiritual understanding of His Word in your heart, your desire is to follow him. “Being a doer of the Word” flows from hearing and knowing His love—not from trying to earn the righteousness of God that Jesus gave His precious blood for you to receive. You are blessed by what you do when you look into the perfect love of Jesus and trust His work instead of your own.

 

Never set aside the grace of God. If righteousness had come through what we do, Jesus’ life would have been given for us in vain. But His life wasn’t given in vain. 

 

“But by the grace of God,” Paul said, “I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not in vain; but I labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me” (1 Corinthians 5:10).

 

Just as Paul said about himself in I Corinthians 15:9, we are nothing within ourselves. But when we allow God’s grace to empower us, our work becomes His work. It is born of His Spirit and His life. Our flesh—our works profit us nothing. 

 

Look into the spiritual mirror of the “perfect law of liberty.” Seek to know this new creation Jesus gave His life for you to become. Learn who you are in Christ, and let His truth change you. Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, who correctly understands His word of truth. Don’t just hear the Word with your mind. Believe the Word in your heart. 

 

You are blessed because Jesus’ work for you was blessed by God. Be a doer of God’s Word. God blesses what you do when you allow the perfect work of Jesus Christ to change your life. 

 

(James 1:22-25, Matthew 13:19, James 2:20, John 6:63, Hebrews 3:8, 2 Timothy 2:15, 3:15, 1 Corinthians 2:13-14, 2 Corinthians 5:17, 5:21, Galatians 2:21).

 

 

© 2023 Lynn Lacher

www.lynnlacher.com/2023/09/the-spiritual-mirror-of-gods-word.html

 

 

 

Hope in the Lord

 

 

Lord, my heart is not haughty,
Nor my eyes lofty.
Neither do I concern myself with great matters,
Nor with things too profound for me.

Surely, I have calmed and quieted my soul,
Like a weaned child with his mother;
Like a weaned child is my soul within me.

O Israel, hope in the Lord
From this time forth and forever.

—Psalm 131

 

Who alone knows my heart but the Holy Spirit? I have peace when I humble myself and trust Him. I don’t concern myself with things that I might not understand with my natural mind. I trust His Word in my heart. I trust Jesus. I trust the Holy Spirit to reveal His heart to me. 

 

His peace calms and quiets my soul. I am still and know He is my God. I rest in His peace. I am like a weaned child confidently trusting in my Jesus who began His good work in me. It is not my work. It is His work. I am His workmanship. Like a weaned child, is my soul within me. I place my hope in Jesus, the author and the finisher of my faith. I praise Him for renewing me in the spirit of my mind with His truth. I put on the new person He has created me to be in true righteousness and holiness. I desire His Word to conform me to His truth. I never wish to be as Philip—to be with Him so long and yet not to have known Him. I pray to see, hear, and know Jesus in my heart.

 

I wait for the Lord. My soul waits in peace. I place my hope in His Word from this time forth and forever. He will be exalted above me. He is my God.

 

(1 Corinthians 2:14, John 16:13, Psalm 46:10, Philippians 1:6, Ephesians 2:10, Hebrews 12:2, Ephesians 4:23-24, John 14:9, 2 Corinthians 4:6)

 

© 2023 Lynn Lacher

www.lynnlacher.com/2023/09/hope-in-lord.html

 

God’s Will is His Best

 

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,
And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.

—Proverbs 9:10 (NKJV)

 

 

The fear of man and what he thinks will keep us from receiving wisdom from God. The knowledge of God will give us understanding. 

 

The choices we make to follow the Lord or to yield to the will of man govern the amount of wisdom we will receive. Whenever we yield to our human need for acceptance and recognition, we forfeit God’s wisdom. Anything that feeds our selfishness or pride keeps us from the wisdom that comes from an intimate relationship with God. God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble (James 4:6).

 

If we want God’s wisdom in our lives, Proverbs 9:10 says the starting place is the fear of the Lord. This fear of the Lord is not being afraid of God. Instead, it is placing higher importance on God and His Word than on the judgments, requirements, and opinions of others. We cannot walk in the wisdom of God until our respect for the Lord is a higher priority than what other people think.

 

The fear of man brings a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord shall be safe.

—Proverbs 29:25 (NKJV)

 

Trusting God over the opinions of others brings life and peace (Romans 8:6). But yielding to the opinions of others for your life instead of yielding to God’s purpose ensnares you in emotional bondage and restricts God’s potential in your life. The fear of man will cost us God’s wisdom and eventually the respect of those we have tried to please. 

 

Look at Saul. He told Samuel, “I have sinned, for I have transgressed the commandment of the Lord and your words, because I have feared the people and obeyed their voice” (1 Samuel 15:24, NKJV). Saul humbly began as king and ended his reign in pride and destruction.

 

Eli’s sons brought dishonor to God with their sinful behavior. Though Eli was well aware of their behavior and asked them to quit, he took no action to stop them. Eli honored his sons and what they thought of him more than he honored God. Eli’s choice not to walk in the fearful respect of the Lord, ultimately cost him his children, his recognition as a man of God, and his own life.

 

David, however, responded to Nathan the prophet when confronted about his sin with Bathsheba. He knew God’s truth was best for his life. He repented immediately and said of God, “You desire truth in the inward parts, and in the hidden part you will make me to know wisdom” (Psalm 51:6, NKJV).  He realized that a forgiving and open heart to God would bring God’s wisdom.

 

Jesus is the greatest example of listening to God instead of men. He certainly ignored the religious leaders of his time and had no desire to appease them or seek their opinion. He also chose to honor His Father’s will over the occasional advice of the disciples He had called to follow Him. The emotional pressures of others did not move Jesus. His delight was in the fear of the Lord. He did not respond to what his eyes saw or his ears heard from others (Isaiah 11:3). Jesus walked completely in the wisdom of His Father.

 

Do we walk in the fear of the Lord or the fear of man? Do we esteem the Word, which is Jesus—full of grace and truth—as our highest priority (John 1:14)? Or do we think more of what others think wishing to win their approval? Yes, we all desire to be accepted by others—especially those we care about and think highly of. But when we desire God’s wisdom above all else, putting Him first is always the beginning of wisdom.

 

“Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom” Solomon wrote. “And in all your getting, get understanding” (Proverbs 4:7, NKJV)

 

“We do not cease to pray for you,” Paul said, “and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding” (Colossians 1:9, (NKJV).

 

Paul prayed for us to be filled with the knowledge of God’s will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding. Listen with your heart and seek God’s wisdom in the Word. Ask for discernment and apply the understanding you receive in your life. Respect the judgments of God above the judgments of anyone else. You will receive fearful respect of the Lord and the knowledge of God (Proverbs 2:1-5).

 

Wisdom from God can be found in the counsel of others (Proverbs 11:14, 15:22, 19:20). Always pray to discern if their counsel is the wisdom of the Lord or their opinions. A Word from the Lord from wise counsel quickens His will in our hearts. But trying to please the opinions of men will pull us out of God’s will and His plans for us. When we receive God’s wisdom and spiritual understanding, the opinions of others take second place to God’s opinion. We have a fearful respect for the Lord. We trust Him. 

 

“Counsel is mine,” says the Lord, “and sound wisdom; I am understanding, I have strength” (Proverbs 8:14).

 

There are many plans in a man’s heart. Nevertheless, it is the Lord’s counsel that will stand (Proverbs 19:21). The Lord appoints His will for His people. It is our place in Jesus. We have to seek His wisdom to know it. He will plant us so that we may dwell in our own place and be moved no more (1 Chronicles 17:9).  

God’s will for us is His best.

 

 

© 2023 Lynn Lacher

www.lynnlacher.com/2023/09/gods-will-is-his-best.html

 

 

 

 

In Your Grace

 

But whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.

—John 4:14 (NKJV)

 

Why should I thirst when He has given His life for me?  He is my living water—an overflowing well of abundant life. He is living water springing up within me into everlasting life!  I drink of the life He has given me, and I thirst no more for the old that once claimed my heart. My thirst has been satisfied in His Grace. His Grace is sufficient for all I lack. I am satiated with Him. I am no longer full of me. I am filled with His unreserved love that holds nothing I have done or nothing I might do against me. I have no need or room for anything but Him. I desire no sin. He alone is my desire. I have no hindrance. I know no condemnation in His love. I am known. I am loved. He, who had no sin, became my sin so I might be reborn as the new creation He died for me to be. 

 

I have His righteousness. I have none of my own. I have His heart. Mine lacks in every way. But miracle of all miracles, as He is in this world, so He has made me. I have His life. His Grace, which my mind says is too good to be true, has ransomed me. My heart declares it true. He saw promise in me I could never see in myself, and He died to bring His promise to life in me.

 

*******

 

Holy Spirit, lead me to know the unending depths of your Grace—your healing forgiveness—your love that took my judgment. Teach me the promises you see brimming in me! Guide me! Fill me unceasingly! Spring up! Spill out of me! Use me in every moment! I desire only your eyes to see, your ears to hear, and your heart to understand. 

 

Behold, you have done a new thing in me. You have made a road in the wilderness and rivers in the desert to give drink to me. From the womb, you have called me. I drink of your life—your living water. I am yours—your child, your chosen, this new person you have formed to declare your praise.

 

Oh, dear Jesus, I pray all your children would know what is theirs in your Grace!   

 

© 2023 Lynn Lacher

www.lynnlacher.com/2023/09/in-your-grace.html

 

 

 

 

Life to Those Who Find Them

 

 

Jesus set us free from the curse of the Law by taking the punishment for our sins (Galatians 3:13). He not only removed our sins as far as the east is from the west (Psalm 103:12). He also removed the curse of sin—our sickness (1 Peter 2:24).

 

Sin shall not be your master. You are no longer under the Law. Jesus has fulfilled the Law by becoming a sacrifice for your sins. Sickness shall not be your Master. Jesus has taken the scourging for your sickness so you may be healed (Isaiah 53:5). Jesus is your Master. You are under the New Covenant Grace of Jesus—redeemed by the precious blood of Jesus (Romans 6:14).

 

The enemy is the one who comes against you with sin and sickness to steal, kill, and destroy your faith. Jesus came to give you His abundant life (John 10:10). The enemy is the author of everything that speaks death. God is the author of everything that speaks life to you. If you have the Son, you have His life (1 John 5:12).

 

Never forget the benefits of God's truth. He forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases (Psalm 103:2-3).

 

You receive healing the same way you receive forgiveness—by faith in Jesus’ perfect and finished work of righteousness (Hebrews 10:38). Jesus received what you can never receive for yourself.

 

“My son, give attention to my words; incline your ear to my sayings. Do not let them depart from your eyes; keep them in the midst of your heart; for they are life to those who find them, and health to all their flesh” (Proverbs 4:20-22).

 

His Words are life. Find them. Keep them in the midst of your heart. No matter what comes against you, never let them go. Hold on to them. They are life and healing to you.

 

 

© 2023 Lynn Lacher

https://www.lynnlacher.com/2023/09/life-to-those-who-find-them.html 

 

 

 

In the Quietness

 

Be still, and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth!

—Psalm 46:10

 

 

God’s power is obvious if we have the hearts to perceive it. This verse instructs us how to obtain a heart to perceive God’s work in our lives. We have to be still and listen to Him. 

The greatness of God requires us to be still. To know God’s greatness and to perceive His work we must be still. The busyness of life can keep us from that knowledge. Being still is not just withdrawing from our busy lives. It is meditating and reflecting on God’s goodness. We must calm ourselves. We must calm our minds. We must calm our fears. We must be still and know He is God. He will keep us in perfect peace when we keep our thoughts on Him (Isaiah 26:3). A hectic life keeps us from really knowing God and His peace. 

Have you ever just quit everything and perceived the beauty of God’s creation around you? You will notice things that you will not normally see. You may see the fir trees bending in the wind—hear water falling over rocks and a turkey calling—take in the quietness of a deer grazing and a bird taking flight—feel the mist beading on your skin and watch your breath rising in the air. God calls you to be still and know He is God. He wants you to perceive and know Him. 

God is first in our lives. He is always working, but we can become so busy we miss what He is doing. Being still makes us more aware of His truth revealing His promises in our lives. God is always being exalted throughout the world—He is always working—He is always providing—He is always revealing Himself, but we can miss Him if we are too busy with the affairs of this life. 

Stop. Don’t hurry to work and to do. Don’t rush to prove yourself to God. Be still and quiet. Allow God to prove and reveal Himself to you. Calm your thoughts and know He is God. In the quietness, He exalts Himself. In the quietness, you worship and exalt Him.  

 

© 2023 Lynn Lacher

www.lynnlacher.com/2023/09/in-the-quietness.html

 

Receiving God’s Love

 

 

When your problems in life and the enemy’s lies convince you that God doesn’t love you, you will attempt to earn back God’s acceptance and love. But God has never left you or stopped loving you (Hebrews 13:5). There is nothing you must do to earn God’s love. He has loved you from the beginning of time and will until the end of time. He accepted you as His own child when you believed in Jesus (John 1:12). He will never leave you as an orphan (John 14:18). The righteousness of God that Christ has given you is yours, and you can only live a holy life in His power. Righteousness is His gift. You didn't earn it then, and you can't earn it now. You have to believe it is yours and receive it as your own. 

 

Quit struggling to win God’s love. It is tiring trying to win something that is already yours. Believing who you are in Christ is the only way to be convinced of His love for you. It is the only way to receive His love.

 

Paul knew how to rejoice when he ran into problems because He knew who He was in Christ. 

 

“We can rejoice, too,” Paul wrote, “when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love” (Romans 5:3-5, NLT).

 

When we believe that God is the solution to our problems, we praise Him. Those problems develop strength of character instead of defeating us. We have hope and great confidence in God. We believe that He first loved us (I John 4:19). And that His work of salvation in us doesn’t lack a thing. It is complete, thorough, and finished. Faith shows the reality of what we hope for; it is the evidence of things we cannot see (Hebrews 11:1). The hope God has given us never leads to disappointment. When we believe God’s promises are ours, we choose to live by faith and not by sight (2 Corinthian 5:7). And when we believe His promises, no enemy—no lie—nothing has any power to rob us of what is ours in Christ.

 

When you believe you are the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus (2 Corinthians 5:21)—when you believe that the work of Jesus is finished (John 17:4), you stand strong in God’s power through each problem in life knowing He has already taken care of it. You see God’s finished outcome. And you walk by faith and not by sight (2 Corinthians 5:7). 

 

There is no fear in His perfect love for you because fear involves torment. God does not torment you. He is love. His perfect love in you casts out your fear because His love performs a finished work in you. You are newly reborn in His perfect love. As Jesus is in this world, so are you. (1 John 4:17-18). You have no power to accomplish this work. You know Jesus alone has done this work. There is nothing you do. It is His work of grace in you. 

 

We don’t receive from God through anything we do. We don’t perform to receive. We receive from God through faith in what Jesus has done for us. It is His work—not ours. Jesus has given us right standing with God. He has earned God’s righteousness for us through His finished work. Jesus has earned the blessings of God to supply all our needs (Philippians 4:19). 

 

It is only through faith in Jesus that a person has God’s righteousness (Romans 1:17). When we exercise our faith to believe in God's promise of righteousness, He is pleased (Hebrews 11:6). And we experience His finished work of grace in us according to what we believe (Mathew 9:29). 

 

 

© 2023 Lynn Lacher

www.lynnlacher.com/2023/08/receiving-gods-love.html

 

 

 

 

God's Grace Abounds More

 

 

Blessed and happy and to be envied is the person of whose sin the Lord will take no account nor reckon it against him.

—Romans 4:8 (AMPC)

 

 

Blessed is the man who will not be charged with the debt of sin (Romans 4:8). The flesh will continually try to claim us all the days of our lives. But Jesus died for all our sins. He paid the debt that was against us long before we were even born. He died for the sins we have committed in the past, the sins we will commit now, and the sins we will commit in the future (Hebrews 10:10-14). 

 

If I think that I can live a sinless life, then I have made the grace of Christ of no worth (Galatians 2:21). It is only Christ living in me who gives me the desire and the power to live a holy life. I choose to surrender to the righteousness He has credited to me. I choose grace over sin because His grace abounds so much more (Romans 5:20-21).

 

I was dead, but now I live. I was in sin and broken, but now I am forgiven and whole. I have no reason to live in shame. I have no reason to fear. I have no reason to worry. He is my living hope (1 Peter 1:3). I am safe. I am victorious in His love for me. It is who I am. Christ within me—His Word within me—is life and peace. He is my hope of glory (Colossians 1:27).

 

All the old in life that condemned me is forever gone. Jesus has presented me without fault or blemish or debt to the Father. That is not just a feeling. That is the truth. My flesh—the feelings of the old person that I once was, will not control me. It is Christ who lives in me. I choose to live by faith in the Son of God who died for me (Galatians 2:20). I will walk by the faith He has given me and not by what I feel in this life (2 Corinthians 5:7).

 

Thank you, dear Lord, that no sin is held against me. You take no account of it. I don’t have a license to sin. In your righteousness, I am free from sin. I’m no longer a slave to sin but a slave to your righteousness (Romans 6:18). Your grace is greater than all my sin.

 

 

© 2023 Lynn Lacher

www.lynnlacher.com/2023/08/gods-grace-abounds-more.html

 

He First Loved Us

 

God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. We love because He first loved us.

—Romans 5:8, 1 John 4:19 (NKJV)

 

 

We are God’s passion. Jesus gave His life for us. There is nothing more He could have given. His passionate love delivered us from sin, and sickness, and conveyed to us the gift of God’s righteousness. He held nothing back from us. His fervent grace was costly. It cost Him everything. Even though His grace cost us nothing, when we accept His salvation, it commands us to love as He first loved us. But we cannot love as He first loved us until we allow the Holy Spirit to convince us of His love for us. Trusting His unconditional love for us without any doubt, pours His love into us for others.

 

Have I allowed His grace to change my perspective from the old person I once was? Have I allowed my failures, problems, and even memory of sins that were crucified with Christ to hold me back? When I believe in my heart that His passionate grace crucified the old person I was—and I am now reborn as a new person, I am consumed with His love. The old me is gone. I am free to love as He first loved me. There is nothing I want to deny Him. His passionate love flows without hindrance. 

 

In 1 Kings 19:21, Elisha, having been chosen by Elijah, walks away from all he has been. He destroys what is left in his life that might draw him back from his call. He accepts the cloak and purpose of His Master without hesitation. Jesus calls me to let go of the bondage of the past that has defined me. He calls me to let go of what has kept me from understanding the new person He has made me and to believe by faith in the miracle of His new life in me. 

 

With my surrender, I am ready to receive the revelation of who He is in my life. The Word teaches me my new identity. My mind is renewed by its Truth (Romans 12:2). I am chosen, redeemed, forgiven, healed, blameless, favored, accepted, and sealed by the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 1:3-13). I am the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus (2 Corinthians 5:21). I choose to believe all that He reveals. I put on my new identity (Ephesians 4:23-24) and take ownership of its truth. His passionate grace fuels my heart. 

 

On the Cross, Jesus declared that I was His ultimate passion. When I believe who He is in me, I declare He is mine. I walk away from all I have believed myself to be. I accept the truths of the new person Jesus says I am.

 

Do you know and believe what His passion has given you? Abandon who you have believed yourself to be. Be renewed by the Word until you believe it in your heart. Just as Elisha accepted Elijah’s cloak, accept Christ’s identity as your own. Hold nothing back. Don’t believe what the enemy or anyone else says. Only believe what Christ says. Believe who He says you are.

 

Surrendering is only costly when you do not believe in the cost of what Christ has given you. When you believe the full value of His love for you—that His finished work on the Cross paid the full debt of your sin, you know you are new and complete in His grace. You hold nothing back. With your surrender comes the greatest fulfillment—the belief that you and the Father are one in spirit (1 Corinthians 6:17). What is His, is also yours. It is a joy that is unspeakable and full of glory!

 

While you were yet a sinner, Christ gave His life for you. You are now new in His love because He held nothing back. You hold nothing back when you spiritually grasp the depth of His passion for you. Your whole perspective changes. You believe His love for you. The truth of your new identity is the foundation of your life. You believe God loved you before you ever loved Him. You are free from your iniquities of shame and guilt because He took your punishment. You receive His unconditional love without hesitation. And His love in you flows unreservedly.  It cannot be contained. 

 

God sees you through the perfect sacrifice of His beloved Son. You are His Beloved. You love as He first loved you.

 

 

© 2022 Lynn Lacher