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Monday, November 30, 2020

The Woman with the Alabaster Box



The Woman with the Alabaster Box

By Trish Gunn

(Unveiling Jesus, pages 77-78)

 

 

The story of Jesus that touches my heart more than any other story is the account of the woman with the alabaster box of perfume that she poured out on the feet of Jesus. Of all the women in the Bible, I relate to her the most because of her unabashed gratefulness to Jesus and her heart of love towards Him in response to His unconditional love for her. 

 

Now one of the Pharisees was requesting Him to dine with him, and He entered the Pharisee’s house and reclined at the table. And there was a woman in the city who was a sinner; and when she learned that He was reclining at the table in the Pharisee’s house, she brought an alabaster vial of perfume, and standing behind Him at His feet, weeping, she began to wet His feet with her tears, and kept wiping them with the hair of her head, and kissing His feet and anointing them with the perfume. (Luke 7:36-38, NASB)

 

This woman was probably a prostitute. In the culture of that day, the alabaster box of perfume was very expensive, possibly worth enough to live on for a year. The box was made of a beautiful species of marble, distinguished for its white, almost transparent color. The perfume oil it contained was very rare and of great value. This woman broke it and poured it on the Lord and worshipped Him with it. As a prostitute, we can imagine that she earned the money for this expensive alabaster box of perfume by selling herself in shame. All the shame of lying on her back night after night was removed because of Jesus’s love for her. In response, she poured her love on Him.

 

Jesus asked the Pharisee a question: which would love a creditor more — a debtor who had been forgiven a debt of five hundred denarii, or one who had been forgiven a debt of fifty denarii. Simon gave the obvious answer: the one who owed more. Jesus responded to him that he had answered correctly and then spoke of the effect of His forgiveness on this woman:

 

 “...her sins, which are many, have been forgiven, for she loved much; but he who is forgiven little loves little.” Then He said to her, “Your sins have been forgiven.” (Luke 7:47-48, NASB)

 

When we realize how much we have been forgiven, it doesn’t make us want to sin more. When we know we are forgiven much, we will know that we are loved much, and we will sin less! 

 

He who knows he is forgiven much, loves much.

 

This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins. (1 John 4:10, NLT)

 

We love, because He first loved us. (1 John 4:19, NASB).

 

www.lynnlacher.com/2020/11/the-woman-with-alabaster-box.html

Friday, November 27, 2020

As You Think


 

As a man thinks in his heart, so is he.

—Proverbs 23:7

 

 

The way you think of yourself is who you believe you are. If you want to have a positive attitude, then you must think positive thoughts. God is not going to make you have good thoughts miraculously. You choose to think on “whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report” (Philippians 4:8a, NKJV). 

 

If you believe that positive thinking will happen quickly, then think again. “If there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things.” (Philippians 4:8b, NKJV). You must meditate long and hard to change your thought process permanently. This happens through the revelation power of the Word of God. The Word that God speaks is Spirit and life. And it is the Spirit who gives life to the Word (John 6:63).

 

Meditating on the Word and allowing the Holy Spirit to change the way you process Truth that affects feelings and emotions is the answer for changing your attitude. Over time, the renewing of your mind by the Word will change you (Romans 12:2). To be renewed, you allow the Truth of God’s Word to reveal to you what to believe instead of what the world or anyone else tells you to believe.

 

“Death and life are in the power of the tongue” (Proverbs 18:21, NKJV). You have the power to speak either death or life. “Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks” (Matthew 12:34, NKJV). And you will speak what you believe in your heart—either what is harmful or what is positive.

 

Do you want to believe the goodness of God’s love for you? Do you wish to believe by faith for His promise that you haven’t seen or experienced in the flesh?  Well, Truth first transforms your mind and becomes the abundance of your heart. And then, according to the way you think in your heart, you speak what you believe. You speak hope and life. Doubt cannot shake you. You believe no matter what the world says or anyone else says. You believe God is faithful to keep His promise and that you will see His goodness manifested in your life.

 

©2020 Lynn Lacher

www.lynnlacher.com/2020/11/as-you-think.html

 

Thursday, November 26, 2020

Peace



You will keep him in perfect peace,

Whose mind is stayed on You,

Because he trusts in You.

—Isaiah 26:3 (NKJV)

 

 

When I place every thought on you, Lord, I receive your gift of perfect peace. I trust you. I am safe in you. I have no fear in you. What I see or feel or experience in this physical world is not what is real in your Kingdom within me. What is real within me is you. And I trust you. I have confident hope and believe when I surrender my mind to you, you guard my thoughts. I think of only what is true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report. If there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—I meditate on these things. You bring rest to my mind and joy to my heart. I trust your goodness and healing mercy—not how I feel or what the world says is true. You are real. Pain fades. Doubt fades. Circumstances fade. I am healed and at peace in you. 

 

©2020 Lynn Lacher

www.lynnlacher.com/2020/11/peace.html

Wednesday, November 25, 2020

A Prayer for Each of Us



But now He has obtained a more excellent ministry, inasmuch as He is also Mediator of a better covenant, which was established on better promises.

—Hebrews 8:6 (NKJV)

 

 

Praise you, Jesus, that I am a new person in you (2 Corinthians 5:17)! I’m born again and have a better covenant with better promises because you became a curse for my sins (Galatians 3:13). Father, I can come into your presence without hesitation knowing you have filled me with your abundant life (Hebrews 4:16). The enemy tries to steal, kill, and destroy me, but he can’t touch me (John 10:10). You have equipped me with weapons to fight him (2 Corinthians 10:4). I thank you, Lord, that I can worship you in spirit and in truth (John 4:23). I praise you for your promises so I can walk in your peace. I praise you, Jesus, for interceding for me (John 17:20-25). Praise you, Father, that your grace is sufficient for me (2 Corinthians 12:9), and I’m more than a conqueror (Romans 8:37). Praise you, God, for healing me (1 Peter 2:24). Each sickness is an opportunity to bring glory to you. Sickness is violence against your kingdom, Lord, and I take what is mine—what you gave your precious life for me to have (Matthew 11:12). I refuse the enemy’s lies or his attempts to defeat my belief that I am healed in you. I’m not going to let the enemy steal my inheritance in you or try to steal the health that you wish above all things to prosper in me (3 John 2). 

 

By the grace of God, I say no to sin and no to sickness and no to bondage and no to any weapon that attempts to come against me. I submit to your eternal love for me—to your provision and grace!  I resist the enemy and sickness and fear and worry and lies. You have given me faith to overcome whatever comes against me (1 John 5:4). And your grace is absolutely all I need. I stand, believing in the authority you have given me (John 14:12-14). The power of life and death is in the tongue (Proverbs 18:21). I speak abundant life in Jesus and death to the lies of the enemy (John 10:10). You sent your Word and healed me, Lord (Psalm 107:20). You healed me of all my sins and all my sicknesses (Psalm 103:2-3). Your Word brings life to my bones and healing to my flesh (Proverbs 4:22). By your wounds, Jesus, I am forgiven. I am healed. I am whole. I am free (Isaiah 53:4-6; 1 Peter 2:24). Your Word accomplishes all you send it to do (Isaiah 55:11). It breathes and lives!  And your Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth (John 1:14)!

 

Praise you, Jesus, for mediating a better covenant with your life (Hebrews 8:6). Because of you, I have mercy. You no longer remember my sins or lawless deeds. Thank you for your New Covenant of grace. You have made the first covenant obsolete. Now what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away (Hebrews 8:12-13). I look only to you, the author and the finisher of my faith. I am confident that what you have begun in my life you will accomplish (Philippians 1:6). Whatever comes against me, your grace is my strength to overcome. No weapon that comes against me can prosper (Isaiah 54:17). Your power that raised Jesus from the dead lives inside of me (Ephesians 1:18-19). And yes, I am new! The old is totally gone, and I am free! Praise you, Lord, for a better covenant you have established on better promises! I can’t forgive or heal or earn anything. Only you can, and you have already won it all!  Hallelujah!

 

www.lynnlacher.com/2020/11/a-prayer-for-each-of-us.html

Tuesday, November 24, 2020

Paul's Thorn



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

—2 Corinthians 12:6-9 (NLT)

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

©2020 Lynn Lacher

www.lynnlacher.com/2020/11/pauls-thorn.html

 

Monday, November 23, 2020

Faith Expressed Through Love


 

For when we place our faith in Christ Jesus, there is no benefit in being circumcised or being uncircumcised. What is important is faith expressing itself in love.

—Galatians 5:6 (NLT)

 

 

When you place your faith in Jesus, there is no benefit in anything you do. Trying to do something perfectly or striving to be the best, doesn't make you right with God. Having faith in Jesus is the only thing that does. When Peter first came to Antioch, Paul had to deal with him telling the Gentile believers that they must be circumcised according to Jewish law to be accepted by God. Paul was shocked at Peter’s hypocrisy and informed Peter that he knew better! A person is only made right with God by faith in Jesus Christ. 

 

“For when I tried to keep the law, it condemned me,” Paul wrote. “So I died to the law—I stopped trying to meet all its requirements—so that I might live for God. My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not treat the grace of God as meaningless. For if keeping the law could make us right with God, then there was no need for Christ to die” (Galatians 2:19-21, NLT).

 

The grace of Jesus was everything to Paul. If keeping the law could have made him right with God, then Christ's death would have had no meaning. Paul said that trying to keep the law only condemned him. Faith in Christ alone made Paul right with God. Thus, Paul stopped working to meet the law's requirements and learned who He was in Jesus. His identity in Christ gave Paul the motivation to live by faith, and the Holy Spirit gave him the power to live what he believed. 

 

Is the grace of Christ everything to you? Have you also died to the law so you can live by faith in God's Son, who gave His life for you? Do you live by faith instead of trying to attain God's acceptance by striving to “perform” ideally?  

 

You can’t win God’s love. Jesus gave it to you on Calvary. It is a finished and perfect work. Not your work. His work. The law doesn’t save you or heal you. It only shows you where you fail and how you sin. It reminds you of sickness that Jesus became the curse to end. The grace of Jesus alone saves and heals you.

 

Allow the Holy Spirit to change your perception of what the grace of Jesus has done for you. Learn who you are in Christ. You were once unaccepted, and now you are accepted. You were once sick and lost in sin, and now you are healed in His righteousness. Allow God’s grace to strengthen your heart, and quit striving to strengthen yourself. Have faith in Christ, and He will do the work in you. 

 

Keeping the law doesn’t express faith through love. It places the focus on how you act instead of trusting what Jesus has done. Jesus expressed life-changing unconditional love when He died for you. Faith in Christ is genuine and is expressed through His love when you know you are loved without obligation or expectation. You live His love freely. You know that you don’t have to perform to be loved by Jesus. God’s love is unearned.

 

Are you ready like Paul to die to the law? To stop trying to meet all its requirements and live instead for God? It is no longer you who live but Christ who lives in you. Live your life by trusting Jesus instead of striving to meet God's rules. You are crucified with Christ and He alone creates holiness of heart within you. Never treat the grace of God as meaningless. If keeping the law could have made you right with God, then there was no need for Christ to die for you.

 

But He did die for you. And He is your victory over sin and sickness! There is nothing for you to do but live by faith in the Son of God who died for you. Life in Jesus is not about keeping rules but allowing Him to live in you.

 

© 2020 Lynn Lacher

www.lynnlacher.com/2020/011/faith-expressed-through-love.html

 

Thursday, November 19, 2020

FAITH THAT OVERCOMES



Believing in the Truth of God’s Word, without doubt, makes the difference in whether you live a defeated or victorious life! Jesus told the centurion, who asked him to pray for his servant, “Go back home. Because you believed, it has happened” (Matthew 8:13, NLT). The centurion’s faith brought healing to his servant. Unbelief stands between you and the promises God reveals to you in His Word. To receive, you need to believe in the Word of God with no doubt in your heart. Where do you get this kind of faith to believe? You already possess a measure of faith, and that is where you begin. Looking at what causes unbelief also helps.

 

One kind of unbelief is a lack of knowledge. “My people," God said about Israel, "are destroyed for lack of knowledge” (Hosea 4:6, NKJV).  A lack of knowledge in God's Word can destroy your ability to experience God's healing power. When what you are taught becomes established in your heart, you believe it. If it is the Truth of God's Word, it speaks life and blessing. If it is wrong teaching, it speaks death and curse. Wrong teaching is a roadblock to believing the Word of God. To believe, you must know God's Truth. 

 

Double-mindedness is another problem. A double-minded man is unstable in all His ways (James 1:8).  His opinion changes based on how he feels.  If you are double-minded, you have not decided in your heart what you really believe. When you allow the Word of God to claim your heart, you experience transformation. Your mind is transformed by the Truth you receive. How you feel eventually lines up as a result. To not be double-minded, you must be convinced of God’s Word, and believe it without doubting.

 

Belief based on what you feel comes from your natural senses—what you see, hear, taste, touch, and smell. Living by your feelings is detrimental to believing the Word of God. When you try to believe God and your five senses tell you that it is not working, you have chosen defeat based on your feelings. When you experience something that has become a disappointment or a disillusionment, emotions try to rule in your heart. In experiencing this kind of unbelief, your five senses rise to dominate your mind. Renewing your mind with the Word is essential to overcome your senses—your feelings, and believe that the Word is true (Romans 12:2). 

 

Jesus wiped your slate clean at Calvary. He forgave and healed and delivered you and provided for all your needs. Everything in the natural world screams that none of this is true. But it is true! What you feel is not factual in God's Truth. "My child,” God speaks, “pay attention to what I say. Listen to MY words. Don’t lose sight of them. Let them penetrate deep into your heart, for they bring life to those who find them, and healing to their whole body” (Proverbs 4:20-22, NLT).

 

Unbelief holds us back. Study and meditate on the Word. Pay attention to what the Holy Spirit shows you. Let the Word penetrate deep into your heart. His Word brings life when you spiritually grasp its meaning. It brings healing to your whole body. Be transformed by the Truth of God's Word. Believe what the Holy Spirit reveals to you. Doubt flees, and you can take captive every thought or feeling from the enemy. 

 

“I believe. Lord, help my unbelief,” the father of the demon-possessed boy said to Jesus. Jesus met the father’s need and healed his child. To help us grow spiritually, Jesus meets us where we are in our measure of faith and encourages us to believe in His promises. And as we are transformed by the revealed Truth of God’s Word, feelings are crucified with Christ. We are able to walk by faith and not by sight. We believe because we know Jesus has given us victory over everything. “And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith” (1 John 5:4, NKJV). 

 

The Holy Spirit wants to show you His victory in every area of your life. Begin by choosing to believe His Word over any feeling of doubt. 

 

©2020 Lynn Lacher

www.lynnlacher.com/2020/11/faith-that-overcomes.html

 

Wednesday, November 18, 2020

THANKS BE TO GOD


 

The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

—I Corinthians 5:56-57 (NKJV)

 

 

Sin is the sting of death. And what is the strength of sin? It is the Law. Until the Law was known and revealed what sin was, there was no understanding of it. The Law disclosed our need for God. But do you know what? Once you realize that you need God, the Law cannot give you the relationship with God that you need. But thanks be to God, who gives victory over sin through Jesus, His Son! Only Jesus can give you a relationship with God.

 

After becoming convicted of sin, many people attempt to come to God by keeping the Law. Some who ask Jesus into their lives, realizing that there is no way for them to earn a relationship with God, later try to maintain a good relationship with God by struggling to meet the Law's standards. A relationship with Jesus is not about us and what we do. It is about Jesus and what He has done for us on the Cross. No one can meet the standards of the Law but Jesus. God did not give the Law so we can earn our way to heaven. God gave the Law to reveal how miserable and hopeless we are without Him—so we would stop trusting in our own ability and trust in Jesus.

 

God wants us to have a relationship with Him—not to have a religion with Him. The Law gives religion. Religion teaches that we will not hear from God or go to heaven unless we keep up the standards that only Jesus could meet. Grace gives you a relationship. A relationship with Jesus says that God loves us in our imperfection. He doesn't see our imperfections. God sees Jesus when He looks at us. He sees us as He sees His Son. God's love for us surpasses the conditions of religion. Jesus loved us with His life. He is the one who gives us victory over sin—not ourselves!

 

God gave the Law to reveal the knowledge of our sin. And that sin condemned us, destroying any ability for us to save ourselves. The Law revealed our need for a Savior—without blemish—who could flawlessly meet God's standards and show us that there is no way to earn a relationship with God. Only Jesus could earn it for us, and He did on the Cross.

 

So if you are struggling tirelessly, trying to be good enough in God's eyes, it is time to stop. Let the Holy Spirit reveal to you that because of God’s beloved Son, you are accepted and loved. God now lives within you, and you have His power to live the righteousness He gave you—not of your own doing but because of who He is. Sin will take you further than you want to go, but you cannot defeat it on your own. Jesus is the only one who can create in your life holiness of heart. You do not struggle to earn what Jesus has already purchased for you. You live by faith in the Son of God, who gave His life for you. 

 

Thanks be to God, who gives us victory through the gift of His life. It is not of anything we have done. The gift of His life for ours sets us free to receive and give love based on only what He has done. And we are free to love as He has loved us.

 

©2020 Lynn Lacher

www.lynnlacher.com/2020/11/thanks-be-to-god.html

Monday, November 16, 2020

According to Your Faith


 


His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue.

2 Peter 1:3 (NKJV)

 

 

When we understand the nature of God, we know what our relationship with God is and how His grace works in our lives. Many of us don’t understand the depth of His love at Calvary that gave us new life. We still have areas of our lives that are in bondage. We haven’t allowed God to move profoundly bringing about absolute forgiveness, inner and physical healing. We haven’t believed in His Word and received from its Truth. God says in this verse that His divine power has given us ALL things that pertain to life and godliness—not just some things but ALL things. That includes any benefit that Christ has purchased for us, such as forgiveness and healing, and deliverance. We receive these things through the knowledge we have of God. If we have wrong beliefs and incorrect knowledge about God, we won’t receive the benefits of our salvation that our precious Savior gave His life for us to have. 

 

“For as he thinks in his heart, so is he” (Proverbs 23:7a, NKJV). The way you think in your heart is what you believe. If you don’t know God’s goodness, you will believe incorrectly about your relationship with God.  You will believe for wrong things from God—like retribution from God and that He withholds something to punish you. If you don’t believe in the promises of God, then you won’t receive the promises of God. 

 

Jesus confirmed this truth that you receive according to your faith. 

 

“When He had come into the house, the blind men came to Him. And Jesus said to them, ‘Do you believe that I am able to do this? They said to Him, ‘Yes, Lord.’ Then He touched their eyes, saying, ‘According to your faith let it be to you’” (Matthew 9:28-29, NKJV).  The blind men believed, and they received healing—according to their faith.

 

When you have the wrong understanding of God—who He is in your life and how He works, you miss out on the things God has for you that pertain to your life and godliness. The enemy uses your misunderstanding of God’s nature to convince you that He does bad things to teach you something good. Because the enemy has come to kill, steal, and destroy you, he tries to prevent you from believing what Jesus purchased for you on the Cross. The enemy knows if you believe—you receive—and he is defeated.

 

Once you know God intimately and have a real understanding of His goodness toward you, disbelieving God is hard. Faith isn’t something you have to work up. You believe by faith because you know God’s real nature. He is your loving Abba Father, who takes care of His children. He saves and heals them from all their iniquities and diseases. He provides for all their needs according to His riches in glory. He delivers them from the lies of the enemy. If you really know God and have an intimate relationship with Him, the enemy has trouble deceiving you.

 

To know God all you have to do is look at Jesus and how much He loved you with His life. Learning Jesus’ fulfillment of New Covenant grace in His Word, convinces you. When you grasp God’s love for you, His love defines your life. You believe in God’s goodness and rest on His promises. You know He loves you. And you receive from God according to what you believe. 

 

“His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust” (2 Peter 1:3-4, NKJV).

 

Know who Jesus is in you. He has given you great and precious promises so that you might be a partaker in God’s divine nature. He is your Savior. Jesus has saved you from the corruption of the world. When you have a revelation of the love that God has for you, you realize you have escaped the world’s corruption. The righteousness Christ died to give you claims your life. You live a life filled with what Jesus has done for you. You know you are not your own, and that you have been bought with the greatest price. 

 

And according to your faith you receive.

 

©2020 Lynn Lacher

www.lynnlacher.com/2020/11/according-to-your-faith.html

 

Friday, November 13, 2020

JOY UNENDING AND FULL OF GLORY


 

You will show me the path of life;

In Your presence is fullness of joy;

At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.

—Psalm 16:11 (NKJV)

 

 

Jesus, you have plans for my life—plans that never harm but give hope! With all the evil in this world, I rest in the joy and peace of your unfailing love. You reveal my path as you wish, and I trust in your grace that heals and guards my life. I trust your goodness. I trust your heart. You are my loving Father—my Healer—my Protector—and my Deliverer. And I declare it.

 

Fear, you have been crucified with Christ! Doubt, you have no place in my mind! It is not I who live but Christ who lives in me! And I live my life by faith in the Son of God, who gave His life for me. Each moment, Jesus, is your breath filling me with hope. Each day is your promise that greater is your power within me than any evil which tries to come against me.  

 

Lord, your right hand is a place of honor.  And there is where you invite me to rest in you. I discover your bountiful presence and your blessings forever. You pour into my life from your riches in glory. And you pour and pour. And I receive and receive. I am whole. I lack nothing. I have everything. What you have given me is a wonderful inheritance!

 

You indwell me. I am no longer my own. Your power lives within me. I am free to walk by faith and not by sight. I am free to trust the authority you died to give me. I am free to love as I have been loved. No longer do I run from your fullness of joy! I receive what you gave your life for me to receive! Bless me with your joy unending and full of glory! 

 

©2020 Lynn Lacher

www.lynnlacher.com/2020/11/joy-unending-and-full-of-glory.html

 

Thursday, November 12, 2020

God Is For Us



God is not the author of evil. He doesn’t make His children sick or hurt them to drive them closer to Him. It is our choice whether we have an intimate relationship with God or wait for something like sickness or loss to make us turn to Him. But don’t blame bad things that come against you as being sent by God to wake you up. You can worship Him when all is well in your life and be close to Him. You don’t need anything bad to happen to get you there. The enemy is the one who tells you that God is going to do something terrible to you to bring about something good. Does that make any sense? If you wait for something terrible in your life to drive you to God, you miss the power of His presence. You could have enjoyed it all along.

 

Yes, God can take whatever the enemy sends to steal, kill, and destroy and turn it around for His purpose. “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose” (Romans 8:28, NKJV).  “Watch me!” God declares. “Watch me take the very thing the enemy tries to do and redeem it with the power of my Word.” When you touch God’s Truth with your faith, you become more than a conqueror! No matter what society, the enemy, or anyone throws at you, your God is good. He can breathe on any attempt to harm you with His precious mercy and power and bring forth good.

 

“For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified” (Romans 8:29-30, NKJV).

 

God knew you before the creation of the world. He formed and created a plan for your life. God had already planned the gift of His Son and had a desire for you to know Him. He predestined you to know Him and to conform to His image. “I want you to know that when I look at you,” God says, “I see my Son. And you look like Him.”  God wants you to understand that you have the identity of His Son living inside of you. 

 

You are new in Christ. God doesn’t see your old life—your sin and failures—your sickness or struggle. God sees you whole and healed. And He longs for you to see yourself the way He sees you. God declares that you are predestined to know His Son and to be like Him. He’s calling you called. He’s calling you justified. He’s calling you glorified. This is how God sees you. 

 

“What then shall we say to these things?” (Romans 8:31a, NKJV). Paul asks a crucial question here. “Do you believe the things God says about you—that you are called, justified, and glorified?” The Word can declare these things about you, but until you take ownership and believe it, they have little power in your life.  

 

What is your response to who Jesus says you are? This is where who you are in Christ comes down to your personal relationship with Him. No one else can respond to Romans 8:30 for you. You can say, “God saved me but to believe I’m called, justified, and glorified. Filled with the power of God? I don’t know about that.” And with this response, you close the door to God’s image of who you are in Christ.

 

OR you can say, “You know what I say to this? I am called. I am justified. I am glorified with the Spirit of God living in me. I have the shed blood of Jesus, dying, and then living again within me. So what do I say? I am forgiven. I am whole. I am healed. I am delivered. I see myself as God sees me. This is true for me now! Not tomorrow or the next day. It is true now!”

 

“If God is for us, who can be against us?” (Romans 8:31b). God is for us. No one stands against who Jesus says we are in Him.

 

©2020 Lynn Lacher

www.lynnlacher.com/2020/11/god-is-for-us.html

 

Wednesday, November 11, 2020

Do Not Be Discouraged



Why am I discouraged? Why is my heart so sad? I will put my hope in God! I will praise him again—my Savior and my God!

—Psalm 42:11 (NLT)

 

 

Do you get discouraged? Are you sad when reminded of the joy you once had? The psalmist who wrote Psalm 42 understood discouragement and despair. He remembered the joy He once had in the Lord.

 

"My heart is breaking as I remember how it used to be: I walked among the crowds of worshipers, leading a great procession to the house of God, singing for joy and giving thanks amid the sound of a great celebration" (Psalm 42:4, NLT)!

 

The psalmist remembers the joy he took in his performance as a leader of a grand procession of worshipers. In his sadness, the psalmist is determined to regain what He has lost. As the deer longs for water, the psalmist thirsts for peace and joy in His Savior. "I will put my hope in God," he writes. "I will praise Him again—my Savior and my God" (Psalm 42:5b-6a, NLT)!

 

Even though he is discouraged, the psalmist doesn't get angry at God or turn away from Him. No matter what life presents, he declares that each day the Lord pours His unfailing love. He chooses to praise God for hope. 

         

"But each day the Lord pours his unfailing love upon me, and through each night I sing his songs, praying to God who gives me life" (Psalm 42:6-8, NLT).

 

Do we make that choice when we are discouraged? Are we determined to praise God no matter how we feel?  We have something that makes all the difference—something this psalmist didn't have. We have Jesus and peace with God, where we have nothing to prove. Jesus proved Himself for us. We have faith that in Christ, God's promises are real. We believe when we know who we are in Christ. 

 

The psalmist knew he needed to please God to be accepted by Him. He received God's love based on whether he lived righteously or if he failed God's standards. You are no longer under that Old Covenant striving to win God's love. The grace of Jesus has earned your acceptance—your peace and your joy. There is nothing you need to do to earn God's love. 

 

Be honest with God right where you are! You can't shock Him. He already knows. Let His love be real in your discouraged heart!  Praise Him no matter what life presents! Place all your hope in Him! Jesus never lets you down. He has already provided your promise. If you ask, you will receive. If you seek, you will find. The joy of your salvation will set your aching heart free! Peace and joy come when you believe without any doubt that the King of Kings—the Lord of Lords—your Redeemer—your Healer—your Deliver—your Provider—live within you. And you are loved—not because of who you are but because of who Jesus is. 

 

Don't be discouraged. When you believe in the overwhelming goodness of God toward you, you can say—no matter what happens, "The Lord pours His unfailing love on me!" Praise Jesus! We no longer have to be good enough to receive from God. We are free to receive because Jesus, who was our God-in-the-flesh, died for our freedom.

 

©2020 Lynn Lacher

www.lynnlacher.com/2020/11/do-not-be-discouraged.html

 

 

 

Tuesday, November 10, 2020

No Doubting



Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.

—Hebrews 10:23 (NKJV)

 

 

Take hold of your faith in Jesus. Believe in who He is in you. Speak your hope without doubting or wavering. Do you believe God is faithful to do as He promises, or do you doubt Him? Doubt comes against the power of faith. The opposite of doubt is certainty—belief—confidence—trust. What God promises is certain. When you place trust in God, your faith grows. Confidence grows. And you find it easier to believe in God’s promises even when they haven’t happened.

 

Believing is the answer to receive from God. “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). Don’t doubt your mountain will move. Believe that what you ask will be done. When you pray, believing, you will receive, you shall receive.

 

What hope has God placed within your heart? You can believe it without doubting. God is not going to pour confident trust into your heart so that you can believe Him. Believing comes by applying faith in the goodness of God. God keeps His promises. He doesn’t lie. You choose not to doubt it but to believe by faith in the evidence of what you can’t see right now. God has already done the work in His realm. For it to be real in yours, you place confident trust in God and believe Him.

 

“But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. For let, not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways” (James 1:6-8, NKJV). A person who can’t make up his mind to believe one way or the other is unstable. He doesn’t know what He thinks. How can this man receive God’s promise if he doesn’t really understand what He believes?

 

“As you have believed,” Jesus told the centurion, “it will be done for you” (Matthew 8:13, NKJV). And in the next hour, the centurion’s servant was healed. “Daughter, your faith has made you well,” Jesus told the woman who touched His garment (Mark 5:34, NKJV). And she was made whole.

 

What do you believe God has promised you?  And do you believe strongly—without doubting or wavering? Do you speak your hope? The power of life or death is in what you speak. You will experience the result of what you confess and believe (Proverbs 18:21). Declare and speak your hope without wavering. Your God, who promised you, is faithful. 

 

©2020 Lynn Lacher

www.lynnlacher.com/2020/11/no-doubting.html

 

Christ My Hope of Glory

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