Without Cost

Freely you have received; freely give.

—Matthew 10:8b (NIV)

Freely you are forgiven. Freely you receive. Freely you give it away. This is the marvelous result of the Grace of Jesus Christ working in your life. But perhaps you don't live this freedom. Maybe you don't live in His freedom because you don't understand what He has given you.

Forgiveness cost you nothing. But it cost Jesus His life. He paid the whole debt for your complete forgiveness. What does His work of Grace mean in your life? You don’t withhold from others what He freely gives you. No one owes you for your forgiveness. There is nothing they have to do or to act upon for you to forgive them. The perfect work of Grace teaches that by faith you have received His blameless life for your sinful one. The grace of Jesus that saved you is now freely offered without any cost—without fear of punishment—without fear of rejection—without debt. There is no one to blame.

Human love has conditions. It says, “I will forgive you if you forgive me.” The love of Jesus is unconditional. It says, “I forgive you without cost. There is nothing you have to do to win my love.” You may know Jesus, but if you don’t understand in the spirit of your mind that you are forgiven, then you don’t feel it. If you can’t forgive yourself for the sins that Jesus has forgiven, then how can you forgive someone else? 

If you believe you are unforgivable or unacceptable, then you, in turn, become the same way toward others. If you don't think Jesus forgives you, you pass along that debt to others. They owe you affection and love. They owe you attention. They owe you. When you have a revelation of what His Grace accomplishes for you on Calvary, you can forgive yourself as He has forgiven you­. You have no debt to pass along to others. However, if you don’t understand (just like the servant in the parable in Matthew 18), you don’t believe your debt has ended for all time. And in your misunderstanding pass along a debt that someone else can never pay. To be set free, you need a revelation—an understanding of His Grace in your life.

You have no debt. Jesus, who had no sin, became your sin so that you might become His very righteousness—so you might receive his blameless life. He came, not to condemn, but that the world, through His grace might be saved. There is no more need to blame anyone. Guilt, shame, and fear of punishment are over. You are free to live an abundant life filled with Grace. You, who are forgiven, now can forgive yourself and others without cost.

© 2019 Lynn Lacher

www.lynnlacher.com/2019/02/without-cost.html

As You think

As he thinks within himself, so he is.

—Proverbs 23:7a, NASB

         The way you think determines your feelings. You can have can a positive attitude that gives an optimistic view on life, or you can have a negative attitude that keeps you buried under a pile of emotional rubble. If you want a life flowing with joyful abundance―one that spills over with spontaneous faith—you decide every day to have a positive attitude. You choose to “take on an entirely new way of life—a God-fashioned life, a life renewed from the inside and working itself into your conduct as God accurately reproduces his character in you” (Ephesians 4:24, MSG).

         Being renewed from the inside out is essential to living a joyful and victorious life. "Brothers and sisters," Paul declared, "whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things" (Philippians 4:8, NIV). If you keep your mind focused on God's truth―on whatever is uplifting, and joyful, the way you think will change. To allow the Holy Spirit to develop your character, takes time, determination, and perseverance.

         Only you decide whether you listen to the encouragement of the Holy Spirit or the negativity of the enemy. “We take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ,” Paul wrote (2 Corinthians 10:5b, NIV). It is impossible to stop the fiery darts that the enemy aims at your thought life, but you can choose to take those thoughts captive. The Holy Spirit gives you His power to bring them under control, but you must exercise His power. When you daily focus your mind on Jesus, and not upon every possible scenario, He brings His peace into the most difficult of circumstances.

          Life happens. There is no way you can control it, but you can learn to control what happens in your mind as a result. When you learn to take your negative thoughts captive, you change the way that you think. Not only are you able to say, “I can do all this through him who gives me strength” (Philippians 4:13, NIV), but you believe without any doubt that you have His strength. Facing your circumstances with a mind that has been transformed by His power, you live with a positive and joyful attitude

         If you allow God's truth to reveal who you are in Him, you have His power to act upon that truth and not let your feelings determine your thought process. Your feelings fall into line with His Word, and you rethink who we are. Determine that Jesus is more significant than any mountain of negative thinking in your life.  “Truly I tell you,” Jesus imparted, “if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you’” (Matthew 17:20, NIV). 

         It is not impossible for the Holy Spirit to change the way you think. When you surrender control and allow Him to change your attitude from the inside out, you learn your identity in Christ. You think differently, so you feel differently. You believe. You trust. With faith, you can tell any mountain which has claimed your mind to move. His peace, which is above any human reasoning, will guard your thoughts. You will see your life filled with infinite possibilities. His joy will be your strength, and you will stand firm in the face of lies. You will rest in His Grace believing that the life He gave for you on Calvary has made you a new person—entirely recreated by His power.

         Jesus gave His righteous life to you and took your sin-filled one. His power-filled life replaced your powerless one. He is the fulcrum—the pivot point to the greatest exchange. Your debt is gone. He gives you the freedom to think as you wish. Believe who He says you are. Put on your new nature. Be renewed in the way you think from the inside out. Then who He knows you are will be who you know—the person that was worth His life.

© 2019 Lynn Lacher

www.lynnlacher.com/2019/02/as-you-think.html

He Builds You

By wisdom a house is built, and through understanding it is established; through knowledge its rooms are filled with rare and beautiful treasures

—Proverbs 24:3-4 (NIV)

         Without God's wisdom to build your life—without His spiritual understanding which grounds your life—without His knowledge which fills your life with His purpose, your life appears empty. But the reality is you are not empty. The moment you asked Jesus into your heart, He filled you with ALL OF HIMSELF—not just some! You received a finished work of grace—not a partial one. Jesus gave you His innocent life at Calvary. You have the inner resources you need for Him to build your life. He has not left you or forsaken you. Perhaps you are not aware of this rare and beautiful treasure of righteousness, because you continuously focus on your failures. No, you are not perfect. Only He is. But He lives in you, and unless you allow the Lord to change your perception of who He is and who you are, you shall forever strive to build your own house without the resources He continually imparts.

“Unless the Lord builds the house, the builders labor in vain,” the psalmist wrote. “Unless the Lord watches over the city, the guards stand watch in vain” (Psalm 127:1, NIV). Unless you allow Jesus to change your perception of yourself—your attitudes from a negative focus to the positive one—your self-focused efforts to his Holy-Spirit empowered ones—any work at improving yourself is a waste of time. You are just spinning your wheels going nowhere. Without His revealed truth to guide your life, you will fail. You cannot build your own life. Only He can. He claimed you as His own the day you said you were tired of the enemy’s deception and lies. You wanted Jesus, and that is who He gave you. Himself.

When you surrender all your self-efforts at running your life and allow the Holy Spirit to build, renew, remodel, and reconstruct you, your understanding of who you are in Jesus grows. You become renewed in the spirit of your mind. The Holy Spirit transforms your life—not your willpower. You have a deep abiding hunger to spiritually understand His truth instead of your perception of His truth. You continually desire Him to guide and construct the days of your life. You yearn for your mind to fill continuously with knowledge from His Word. You seek understanding of the Word, so your life is grounded. When you apply what you have learned through the Word—when you use His revelation in your life, then you act on what you know. You apply His wisdom. He builds your life, and you gain a heart of wisdom (Psalm 90:12).

He has imparted things to your spirit beyond your understanding. As you allow Him to construct the days of your life, you are shaped and molded by His grace and truth. You shall continually receive the rare and beautiful treasure of His Spirit empowering your life to heights in His purpose with a passion that is beyond anything you ever imagined.

© 2019 Lynn Lacher

www.lynnlacher.com/2019/02/he-builds-you.html

The Benefit of the Doubt

Be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God through Christ has forgiven you.

—Ephesians 4:32, NLT)

         Nothing has the power to create emotional turmoil as something that happens between friends who do not speak openly and honestly with each other about their feelings. Friendship is a gift, but it is a gift which requires work. If anything has any value, it is worth hard work. This work can be painful. It can be sacrificial, and sometimes brutally honest. The friendship that endures Satan's lies and life's pressures is a friendship that has been fired in the kiln of life and stands firm.  

         Friendship requires more than just one person working at it. Only one person trying to bridge a gap will never make a difference. Two need to share their feelings; two need to lay down their preconceptions; two need to be willing to listen. Friendship is only worth how much two people will work at it. If it lies dormant, that friendship will die. Open, honest, and even painful at times, that friendship can thrive. Real friends can share how they feel about an issue or something that has happened because they want to understand the reason.

         Do you feel betrayed by a friend? Do you know if someone has betrayed you, or do circumstances and gossip make it appear that they have? If you have heard that your friend has done or said something, there is a possibility that they might not have done or said it at all. Why would you immediately believe something or someone over the character of your friend? Never assume. Give your friend the benefit of the doubt. Always ask. Don't allow hurt to turn into bitterness because you never ask. Don't let a wall grow. In openness and sharing, without anger and harsh words, many times issues can be resolved. Remember always that "where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom" (2 Corinthians 3:17, NIV).

         Forgiveness means laying down feelings and listening. It means a willingness to face the hurt to understand. You might discover that what you thought happened never happened. You might find that the friend you thought had betrayed you defended you. You might see there was a reason for something that you never knew. Try to bridge the gap. You gain nothing if you don't try. After discussing things with your friend, if you still believe that a betrayal has happened, what are you going to do with it? Without forgiveness, you will forever be in bondage to your pain. We are to be kind and forgiving just as Jesus Christ forgave us. 

         The Grace of Jesus should always reign in our hearts. God created us with the need to be forgiven and to be forgiving. Forgiveness flows from Calvary. Without mercy, you will never survive. With it in your heart, Christ's love will flow continually, setting you free to experience a joyful and fulfilling life.

© 2019 Lynn Lacher

www.lynnlacher.com/2019/02/the-benefit-of-doubt.html

Freedom Never Looked So Good

Grace will reign through righteousness, resulting in eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

—Romans 5:20-21 (HCSB)

Lord, Jesus, I can't be good enough! I try to be good enough, but I just can't! I try to believe you forgive me, but I feel I've done something wrong, and I go crazy trying to figure out what it is! I try not to accept the lies of the enemy. I try not to fear. I try to control my thoughts. My mind has no peace. Lord, help me!

Help you?  Child, I help you every day! I’ve never retreated from you. You have believed lies of the enemy instead of what I have told you is true. It is your choice whether I help you or not. You seem to think it is my choice. I am always available.  

You don’t believe that you are a new creature in me. Jesus yearns for you to understand that you are free from the law’s standard of never being good enough. But He will never push you to believe in the freedom of His grace. He will never force you to believe because He gives you the precious gift of choice.  His love sets you free at Calvary, but you haven't realized it because you have refused to believe. You have chosen the lies of the world and the enemy over His truth. 

You want instant change.  Life doesn’t happen that way.  Every day choose to believe you are a new person in Jesus. You choose faith over fear every day of your life. Not for just one day, but every day. Why should what is difficult for others be made more comfortable for you? 

His Grace reigns through His righteousness, and He imputed His righteousness to you when He took your sin at Calvary. So Grace has the power to reign in you. When you daily choose to believe Him instead of lies, you begin to see the Word in a new light. The imperatives of the New Testament inspire joy. You look at Old Testament law through the eyes of His Grace. You love His truth because He loves you. You understand that His love is enough, and you can never be. And that is just fine. You were never meant to be Jesus.

You say that you want to believe, but you can’t? Well, if that is the case, then you have already made a choice, haven't you? You have made the decision not to believe.  And His gift of life is precious! Why would you not want to choose to believe? To have a revelation of His Grace, then decide to accept that He loves you beyond what you could ever do or ever be. No law can set you free. There is no one, but Jesus who can change your life.

The ball is in your court, and He waits for you to trust Him without the feelings—without some detailed understanding—without confirmation. Whom Jesus sets free, is free beyond words! I’d believe if I were you! Freedom never looked so good!

© 2019 Lynn Lacher

www.lynnlacher.com/2019/02/freedom-never-looked-so-good.html

Walk by Faith

The Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example, we don’t know what God wants us to pray for. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words. And the Father who knows all hearts knows what the Spirit is saying, for the Spirit pleads for us believers in harmony with God’s own will. And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.

—Romans 8:25-28 NLT

         When I am weak, you help me, Holy Spirit. You pray within my heart what I can’t even put in words. You pray my real need—not what my mind perceives that need might be. You, the only one who knows me this intimately and completely, prays exactly what is perfect to fulfill the purpose you have for me. My heart prays without my mind analyzing—without thoughts dictating my feelings. When you plead for me, I receive greater faith to believe your truth, and my shield of faith is strengthened to withstand the lies of the enemy.

         I have two minds—the mind of Christ and the mind of self—the spiritual mind and the human mind. Holy Spirit, you continually speak spiritual truth and encouragement, but so often, my human perception wipes out what you say. When I allow what I see and hear in this natural world to be greater than the spiritual truth you constantly send, then I walk in defeat. You constantly speak promise. A double-minded man is unstable in everything he does or thinks or attempts. One mind will always take precedent over another. I don’t want to be the one who has trouble hearing and seeing what you reveal. I choose your spiritual truth over anything else that this world tells me is true. I choose you.

         No words describe the joy of you praying within my heart, Holy Spirit. No words describe the peace of knowing you own my heart, and that everything I go through in life works for your good. When I choose you over what I feel—when I choose your spiritual mind over my human mind—I believe in what the natural world says is impossible. I walk by faith and not by sight.

©2019 Lynn Lacher

www.lynnlacher.com/2019/02/walk-by-faith.html

Calmed

For the Lord your God is living among you. He is a mighty savior. He will take delight in you with gladness. With his love, he will calm all your fears. He will rejoice over you with joyful songs.

—Zephaniah 3:17 (NLT)

How does He calm your fears? With His love—the same love He revealed when He gave His life for you. His love is powerful—conquering sin and the grave. It is full of mercy—pardoning you from what you deserve. It is also abounding in grace—blessing you with what you don’t deserve. Jesus is bountiful with both mercy and grace. 

God is with you. Oh, it is even greater than that! Jesus lives in you—strengthening you for your battle. He is your mighty Savior, who joyfully takes delight in you. The enemy will tell you differently. Hold to what the Lord has shown you. His Word is truth. He has revealed it to you. Keep it safe in your heart, and allow it to transform your mind—allow it to change the way you think, feel, hear, and see. Be continually renewed by the Holy Spirit in the spirit of your mind.

When you step forward into the battle, you are not alone. The thing you now face is nothing in His power. He rejoices over you with singing. He delights in your faith. Your fear is calmed. You walk in His spirit. Nothing that tries to defeat you will succeed. Step forward into the battle. He has already won the war.

© 2018 Lynn Lacher

www.lynnlacher.com/2018/12/calmed.html

Attitude of Christ

Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too. You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had.

—Philippians 2:3-5 (NLT)

         Though Jesus was sinless and could have placed His power to live above our need, He gave His life for you and me. Choosing to humble himself—thinking less of himself and more of us —He chose us. We, also, are to have the same mind—the same unselfish attitude. New life was a completed work which became real in our spirit when we asked Him into our hearts. But for it to be real in our attitudes and actions, it has to be fleshed out in our perception of who we are in Him. We have to allow the Holy Spirit to change that perception and the way we think.

  

         When we are born again, we receive Jesus’ finished work of Grace. We receive His righteousness and His mind. Within us resides the life-changing power of the Cross. But to perceive this life-change, we must yield to His process of spiritual growth. By continually surrendering our lives to His grace, we are transformed by His power until we understand what Grace accomplished. We are free and never realized it. We are loved but never like this. We live in peace instead of turmoil. Our needs change. Life is not about us. It is about His heart for broken lives. 

         As we choose to love without expectation, to share without recognition, to give without return, He reveals more of what He has unselfishly given us—His innocent life—His mercy—His love which has no limit. Unburdened by our needs, we are free to love unconditionally. We have no agenda or need to be recognized. Self becomes less so He, who lives in us, can be more.

         Is it hard for you to love with His love?  If you are new in Jesus, you have a fresh spirit filled with His promise. The old life is gone. But perhaps your new life is still about your old selfish one. Selfishness always brings turmoil and fear to your mind. When life is about you, there is no spiritual peace. 

         If you are desperate enough for spiritual peace, you are ready to change your attitude. Just let go and surrender to the Holy Spirit’s process of renewing your mind. Living the loving attitude of Christ becomes His work and nothing to which you can claim any right. By faith continually act upon what you determine is true, and His grace will make it your reality.

         Grace sets you free to love unconditionally—to forgive easily—to share freely. You are unburdened by what a selfish mind says you need. You are at peace. You have received all you need, and that is Jesus. And just as freely as you received Him, you unconditionally without thinking or analyzing, give His love so others might know Him, too.

  

©2019 Lynn Lacher

www.lynnlacher.com/2019/02/attitude-of-christ.html

Precious Cornerstone

Look! I am placing a foundation stone in Jerusalem, a firm and tested stone. It is a precious cornerstone that is safe to build on. Whoever believes need never be shaken.

—Isaiah 28:16b (NLT)

Jesus is my precious cornerstone—a prized and unshakeable foundation. There in Jerusalem, upon Mount Moriah where Abraham did not have to sacrifice his son, God sacrificed His for me. Upon Golgotha, Jesus accomplished His Father’s will. What He offered is timeless. It is priceless. It cost His life. And there, while the host of heaven waited breathlessly for the moment, Jesus finally died splitting the veil of the temple and opening the way into the very presence of God.

Upon this rock, He builds my faith. Valued above all else, He is the reason for all I believe—everything that I am. He was tested and broken at Calvary, and there He was victorious for me. He is the only sure foundation in which I trust—the only safe harbor in which I find refuge. The gift of His precious life seeks my response even though there is nothing He asks of me. His love gave without regard. Without hesitation, He died to rescue me. The love of Jesus is the only love that could take my sinful life and in return give me His righteous one. It is the only love ever forged in death and resurrected in new life. 

Where death once ruled, His new life now conquers! His new life now replaces the old in me! His grace sets me free! Nothing else is truth, but Jesus crucified and resurrected. His grace at the Cross changed everything. Nothing else is worthy of building my life upon—only Him. God placed Jesus, His foundation stone, in Jerusalem to give His life for me. And now I have precious faith that is forged and resurrected. I believe.

© 2019 Lynn Lacher

www.lynnlacher.com/2019/02/precious-cornerstone.html

Remain in Him

“I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:5, NIV).

Jesus opened the door to all the resources of God when you accepted Him into your heart. You received His power. But for His resources—that power—to be real to you, faith must be exercised. When you surrender self, you become a conduit of what He has given. You allow the Holy Spirit to have control. No matter how weak or how unaccomplished you feel, when you allow God to work through you, then what you do is powerful. You need to remember this during days when you slide back two steps after climbing one. No day is a failure when you have surrendered it to God. His use of your surrendered day may not be apparent all the time, but it is real. 

Jesus is the vine, and you are the branch. He remains in you. He can’t take away the finished work of grace He died to give you. However, you can desert Him. You can remove yourself from the life-giving flow of His grace. But if you remain in Him, He promises that you will bear fruit. The fruit is not yours to produce. It is His. You are only the branch which carries the life of the vine to the fruit. You can’t bear fruit without His life flowing through yours. If you desire His life to flow through you, surrender self and stay connected to His resources. If you remain in Him, wanting only His purpose in your life, the Holy Spirit will not fail to flow through your life into the lives of others—changing hearts and bearing fruit.

Sometimes you feel powerless. You can never trust your feelings, but you can believe God's truth. He never leaves you. Self, however, often gets in the way, and pulls you from His presence. Do you realize that when you hold on to the least vestige of yourself, you have told the Lord that you are the vine? That is pride. Think of Peter telling the Lord he wasn’t worthy to have his feet washed. What appeared as humility in Peter was pride. Peter was trying to hold onto the last vestige of himself by saying he wasn’t worthy, and the Lord was asking for His total surrender. Pride. Self. Unworthiness. All are excuses. In surrender, you are gracefully broken by the Holy Spirit to receive the life-giving flow of the vine.

If you hunger to be a vessel of His love and His power, surrender your will to His. When self is out of the way, the Holy Spirit flows―unhindered by human limitation. If you yield to Him every day, then you remain a vessel of all that He is. The power of the Cross—His grace—flows through you so that others receive what you alone can never give―His love, His peace, His joy.  

© 2019 Lynn Lacher

www.lynnlacher.com/2019/02/remain-in-him.html

Hang on for Grace

          “Superficiality,” writes Richard Foster in Celebration of Discipline, “is the curse of our age. The doctrine of instant satisfaction is a primary spiritual problem. The desperate need today,” Richard Foster concludes with his thought about superficiality, “is not for a greater number of people or intelligent people, or gifted people, but for a deep people.” 

          

          We live in a world that yearns for the instant fix—the microwavable result, and we expect the same quick answer to spiritual questions. To spiritually grow deeper, we need to quit struggling to change ourselves and go deeper into God’s Word to understand who we are in Jesus. As He reveals Himself to us, the Holy Spirit continually renews and transform our minds until we see ourselves as He made us at Calvary—faultless, virtuous, children of God. His gift of righteousness changes us. We can’t improve ourselves. No longer condemned by the judgment of the law, Jesus gives us everything we need so that change enabled by the Holy Spirit can take place.

          “By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence” (2 Peter 1:3, NLT). When Jesus imputed His righteousness to us, He took all our sin and gave us everything we need to live blameless lives. But for what we received at Calvary to renew our minds and change our lives, we choose to add character traits Jesus exemplified—diligence, moral excellence, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, and godliness, brotherly kindness, and love. When we surrender, the Holy Spirit empowers each choice we make and renews the way we think. We change by allowing His grace to change us.

          When we mature spiritually, we understand the freedom of Calvary. No more masks to hide behind—no more trying to be someone we aren’t—no more trying to find a way to avoid what we face, we know we are free to live His grace. Grace gives us freedom from bondage! It sets us free to discover our true identity in Him. His grace calls us to responsibly mature in His love—not through the condemnation of sin, but by the loving conviction of righteousness. True freedom in Jesus seeks His truth with all its heart. True freedom is only real because Jesus gave His life for our sin. Grace was not cheap! It cost Jesus His righteousness! We cheapen His grace when our self-efforts are more important than His gift of righteousness. We cheapen His grace when we don’t allow the Holy Spirit to renew our minds and change us. Jesus paid the ultimate price. How can we not long to know what His gift means for our lives? 

          Never forget what grace cost Jesus. The woman with the alabaster box understood.  Grace is not a quick fix we make. Grace is not an “it” that we act out. Grace is Jesus giving His life for us—changing us—freeing us. Commitment to grow in understanding of His grace honors His gift of righteousness. Choose to be changed believing that it is His responsibility to change you—not yours. His grace will be real as never before. 

© 2019 Lynn Lacher

www.lynnlacher.com/2019/02/hang-on-for-grace.html

Believe His New Life

           Do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing!

        —Isaiah 43:18b–19a (NIV)

As human beings, there is a tendency to dwell on the past. And because of this tendency, we often miss the beauty of a new thing God creates. Is there anything in your past that you allow to hold you back from experiencing God’s blessing in your life? Why is it so hard to get rid of old feelings that keep you from experiencing the joy of a new moment? When you asked Jesus Christ into your heart, you became new in Him. Old things were over. Who you were is not meant to define your new life now. If you allow the past to control your mind, you will never see what His gift of new life means for you. 

By His sacrifice and love for you, Jesus has exchanged His righteous life for your sinful one. The Son of God, who had no sin of His own, took all of yours. You are declared innocent by His gift of righteousness, but, perhaps, who you once were still torments you. To not dwell on the past and allow it to tarnish your life, you can’t just believe in Him; you must believe Him and His truth for your new life. To be free from the pain of old feelings that still control your life, choose to believe who He says you are and decide to trust that He will do what He says. You can do all things through the strength that He gives. If you choose to believe Him, He will provide you with the strength and power to not dwell on what has been and to focus on the new life He has freely given you.

Grace sets you free! Choose to believe that what He gives is greater than anything you allow to control your heart and mind. Surrender control to Him. In the release, you will find freedom from pain the past has caused. When you believe Him, awareness of what His amazing grace did for you at Calvary magnifies. You can perceive His loving truth instead of the pain of your past or circumstance. It is a promise that, no matter what you face, He brings life-giving streams of hope and commitment to your life

.

“Have you not heard or understood?” the Lord declares. “I am the everlasting God, the creator of all the earth. I never grow tired or weary. I give power to your life. Trust and believe me, and find new strength! You will soar high above the pain of circumstance and memories of your old life that I died to take from you! You will run and not grow weary. You will walk and not faint! I said through my prophet, Isaiah, that I was doing a new thing!  Well, that new thing took place at Calvary. The new thing is Jesus! And He changes your life! Do you not see it? Believe me!”

© Lynn Lacher 2019

www.lynnlacher.com/2019/02/believe-his-new-life.html

Abundance

I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. 

—John 10:10

God is generous! After all He gave you His most precious gift—His life. He wants you to prosper. “Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers,” (3 John 2, NKJV). When you received Him into your heart, you didn’t partly receive Him. You received all of Him. You were born again into His new life. He has given you everything you need in this life, but knowing it comes with spiritual growth in the understanding of what His grace accomplished.

Jesus gives abundant life to us now, and abundant life for eternity. This is the reason He came. To give His life so we might receive His righteousness! To give us life instead of death! To give us victory instead of defeat! To speak peace instead of turmoil! To bring rest in the midst of the storms of life! Jesus Christ came so that we may know overflowing life in Him. In His gift to us He is the vine that empowers. We are the branches that continually receive. When the life of the vine flows into us, we bring forth new growth! We flourish in His presence.

Whatever you might face today, He has already given victory. You have received His peace, joy, healing, and abundant life in your born-again spirit. He is everything you weren’t before you knew Him. Now He lives in you. Allow the Holy Spirit to renew your mind and your perception of His life-changing gift of grace. His life flowing through your veins is abundant life at its highest. So look to Him, the author of your faith. It is only in Jesus Christ that you can have lasting peace and joy—healing of mind and body. 

Selfishness died at Calvary when Jesus gave His life, but we often don’t understand the depth of the life-altering exchange that took place. Seeking to know what you have received draws your closer to Him. You experience oneness with Him. Jesus has given you what you never deserved, and that gift has changed your life. When the Holy Spirit reveals to you what His grace means for your life, you are never the same. Peace is constant. Joy is contagious. Love flows without hindrance. His life accomplishes the miraculous in your life.

This is abundant life! This is your purpose and your promise. This is the reason He came. For you.

© 2019 Lynn Lacher

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Reconciled Righteous

I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.

—1 Corinthians 2:2 (NLT)

There is only one truth—that God loved the world so much He sent His son, Jesus, to save it and not condemn it so the world through His unconditional love might be saved. Paul said in 1 Corinthians 2:1 about himself that “I did not come with eloquence or human wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God.” Paul knew one thing to be crucial. He came to tell the Corinthians of Jesus Christ and the great exchange that took place at the cross. Jesus Christ, innocent of anger, hatred, greed, selfishness, jealousy, wickedness, blameless of all sin—without hesitation took all the sin of the world into himself at the cross. He died not only to pay for the sin of the world’s past, but sin for all time—past, present, and future. His love on the cross reconciled man to God. 

For this reconciliation to be real for us, we ask Jesus into our hearts. And when we do, His grace on Calvary changes everything! Where once our sin stood in the way of approaching God, now nothing is in our way. We are free to run to God. We don't have to live in fear of failure or fear of separation. Nothing can separate us from His love. When Jesus took our sins at the cross, He gave us His righteousness. That is the only reason we can approach God. God now sees us as righteous through the finished work of His son on Calvary. 

When no sin separates us from God because of Jesus, we have peace with God and peace in our lives. “Knowing we are righteous is the key to hearing the voice of the Holy Spirit,” Tricia Gunn writes in Unveiling Jesus. “This is a good litmus test to use when thoughts come. Reject any thoughts that do not come with His peace. Even when the Lord corrects us, it is always with a sense of love and freedom, never with shame and guilt and fear.”  

The Lord doesn't beat us over the head when we fail. He sees us through the finished work of the cross—through the eyes of grace. His righteousness convicts us with hope. Knowing Jesus, crucified, convicts us. It convinces us in our conscience, and that hurts. We repent realizing He loves us in spite of everything. When we resolve to believe the incredible life-changing gift Jesus imparted to us at Calvary, we allow grace to change what condemnation never can.

© 2019 Lynn Lacher

www.lynnlacher.com/2019/02/reconciled-righteous.html

Believe Me

I will never again remember their sins and lawless deeds. And when sins have been forgiven, there is no need to offer any more sacrifices.

—Hebrews 10:16-18 (NLT)

Why do you continually beat yourself up now that I’ve forgiven you? You believe you haven’t sacrificed yourself enough. There must be something you can do to make yourself feel forgiven—one more encouraging verse to read or one more friend to tell you that I don’t punish you. I want to share my heart with you, but you have shut me out. You believe what the enemy tells you—that you are not worthy to be in my presence—that you must pay for sin for which I already paid.

Child, I cannot convince you that the miracle of the cross will set you free. You have to believe it. I am the only perfect sacrifice for sin, and the innocence I gave up for your sake, now fills you. You are blameless in my eyes. You have no debt. You have no cross to bear. I bore that cross for you, and I paid your debt in full. 

Allow me to help you. I renew your thoughts and your mind. Not you. You do one thing. You choose to believe. If you had enough faith to accept me into your heart, you have enough faith to believe that I am the perfect sacrifice to set you free in your mind. The battle is in your mind—not your heart. I want you to understand what I have given you—my righteousness for your sin. There is no need to sacrifice yourself over and over for something I don't even remember.

Stop wavering, and choose to believe. Speak life instead of death. Be renewed in your mind by my Spirit. Praise me for the cross. You can believe in the miracle of my Grace, but until you let go of this insatiable need to pay a debt you do not owe, you will forever run a race that you will never win.

I know you are exhausted. I am here. You are loved. What more could I do for you? My work on Calvary was perfect. Sin was defeated forever—past, present, future. Believe me, my child. Lay this down and rest.

© 2019 Lynn Lacher

www.lynnlacher.com/2019/02/believe-me.html

Know or Believe

But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.

—Isaiah 53:5 (NLT)

Is it more important for you to know than to believe? To know you understand with your mind. To believe you have faith to accept what is beyond your natural mind to comprehend. Does it make sense that one man’s sacrifice on the cross could change your life? To the mind needing evidence, no. To a person who believes without proof, yes. It makes absolute sense.

Isaiah prophesied of Jesus Christ who one day would change lives. Miracles happen as a result of Jesus’s sacrifice at Calvary. He took the punishment for our sins so we could have peace—not just peace from fear of death, but peace from fears and circumstances. But so many who have experienced the amazing gift of redemption by faith, have trouble believing by faith that His promise of peace of mind is true. 

Are you one of those who struggles with fear of what is beyond your control—fear of feelings—fear of life? Yes, He died so you might conquer death, but He also died so you might defeat the fear of life. He died for you to have abundant peace and joy no matter what life throws at you. Pierced for you—crushed for you—Jesus is your wounded healer. He understands the battle in your mind, and He died to end it. 

Now is it more critical for you to know than to believe? To have understanding than to have faith? Knowing will never explain everything. Accepting by faith will give you peace. It doesn’t matter if you don’t understand. Choose faith to trust Jesus over any fear or raging thought. If you had enough confidence to accept Jesus into your heart, then you have enough faith to believe for peace in this life.

He is your peace. Not you. Your wounded healer asks you to let all the fear and worrying go. Lay everything down on His altar. His incredible peace, which passes the understanding your analytical mind craves, will guard your heart and mind in Jesus. Jesus Christ, your wounded healer, died so you might be free.

© 2019 Lynn Lacher

www.lynnlacher.com/2019/02/know-or-believe.html

Grace Changes Me

We love each other because he loved us first.

1 John 4:19 (NLT)

         The love of Jesus has changed my life. It takes a lifetime to understand what His grace—His undeserved favor means for me. That is my journey—to continually grow in the revelation of His grace so that I am constantly renewed by the Holy Spirit in my mind—in the way I think and regard others. I now yearn to love beyond what I ever considered possible. Grace is no longer just a word to write in a devotion. Grace is alive and breathing. It is life. I love others because He first loved me.

         The grace of Jesus is His love given without judgment on the cross—His unconditional and sacrificial love which sets me free from sin. Grace speaks the positive healing power of the Holy Spirit into each heart without regard to who that person is or what he or she has done. His grace speaks the love of Jesus into hearts filled with negativism and doubt because of life’s pain. It flows freely and without reservation. Paul wrote, “God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us” (Romans 5:5 NIV). When the Holy Spirit pours His unconditional love into my heart, then living His grace is not a work I have to do, but an overflow of the miraculous change He has wrought in my life.

         Paul writes of love as the most important Christian virtue. “And now these three remain: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love” (1 Corinthians 13:13 NIV). When we love unconditionally with the love of Jesus—no matter who someone might be or in spite of what they have done—we offer His grace and forgiveness, so that someone else might also come to experience the healing love of Jesus. Grace offers love without regard to what a person feels about me, says about me, thinks about me, or does to me.

         When the love that is born of grace unmasks my life, I am free to love. With no barriers or walls, this love answers any question or accusation with honesty, kindness, and forgiveness. The love of Jesus always sees the best in others. It rejoices in the truth and hurts when another is wounded. His grace in me has the power to help another person experience the resurrection love that heals all facets of life. Jesus laid down His life for me. His passion for me inspires me to lay down my life for others. His grace yields the highest love and the most profound forgiveness. His grace changes everything in me.

© Lynn Lacher 2019

www.lynnlacher.com/2019/02/grace-changes-me.html

You Have Jesus

Because of the Lord's great love, we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness! 

—Lamentations 3:22b-24 (NIV)

I’m excited. Scripture takes on a deeper meaning as I study the Grace of Jesus. New Testament verses bring a greater revelation of what He accomplished for us on Calvary. As I look at the impossibility of man to meet Old Testament law by human means, I’m increasingly amazed at the incredible gift Jesus has given us. Once we had no hope, but now we do. Before the Cross nothing we did was good enough; now Jesus has made all things new. Where once approaching a holy God would bring destruction, now, because of His great love on Calvary, we aren’t consumed. Because Jesus exchanged His righteousness for our sin, we are free to approach God without judgment. 

Many believers live in fear of an Old Testament God of retribution. They believe He wants to punish them for every mistake they make. They can never live perfectly so they continually strive to reach impossible goals and feel condemned when they can’t. Jesus took the punishment that we deserved and opened the arms of His Father to us. He is our “Abba" father. We have a relationship of the most profound personal intimacy. However, so many believers don’t grasp this. The love of Jesus—His Grace—is the greatest gift in the history of humanity. God loved us so much that He sent His Son to be what we could never be—a perfect sacrifice for our sins. Jesus wasn’t sent to condemn us, but to save us.

Then what does it mean for you to have an intimate relationship with God? When you understand what He has given you at Calvary, you yearn to know more and more. Nothing separates you from His love. You unashamedly run into His presence. You tell Him the worst about you and rejoice over the best. You are always in awe that His compassions never fail. Every morning they are new! His faithfulness never ceases to astonish you. Because of the Lord’s great love, you have Jesus.

© 2019 Lynn Lacher

www.lynnlacher.com/2019/02/you-have-jesus.html