He who follows righteousness and mercy finds life, righteousness, and honor.
—Psalm 21:21 (NKJV)
What has Grace given you that you haven’t grasped? Are you living the freedom of your new life in Christ or are the lies of your old life still directing your thoughts and beliefs? Are you ready to follow the Truth of your new identity in Christ? To discover the freedom that renewing your mind brings?
One day Grace found you and gave you a new life. The mercy of Jesus bestowed upon you the honor of His righteousness. When you choose to believe the Truth of the righteousness you have received in Christ, you are renewed in your mind by the Holy Spirit. You believe you are changed completely—that the old is gone and you have received the promises of His new life.
“And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God” (Romans 12:2, NKJV).
God’s Word—revealed to you by the Holy Spirit—is what renews your mind with Truth. A synonym for renewal is rebirth. You are reborn in Him, but you grow in the understanding of your new birth in Christ when you allow the Holy Spirit to retrain how you think and what you believe. This is not something that happens overnight.
Anything carnal is associated with what you sense. Don’t conform to your feelings and what the carnal mind says, but allow your mind to be transformed to believe in what God says. You either perceive by your senses or you perceive by the Holy Spirit. An example is: You decide whether you will have fear because of what you feel or if you will have faith in what God says. God hasn’t given you a spirit of fear but of power and love and a sound mind (2 Timothy 1:7). You don’t want to live in fear. Don’t you want God’s Truth to restore your life with power and love and a sound mind?
God isn’t going to pour confident trust into your mind. He isn’t going to give you anything that you have already received in Christ. And in your new life in Christ, you have received everything. You didn’t receive a partial new life from God. You didn’t receive a partial work of regeneration at the Cross. You became totally new and received all the promises that Jesus died to give you. But to know them and believe them is something entirely different. You can’t live the freedom of the new life you have been given if you don’t know what it is and how it changes you.
“And be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness” (Ephesians 4:23-24, NKJV).
You only receive the Truth of the Word of God through the revelation of the Holy Spirit. You only grow to understand when you allow the Holy Spirit to renew your mind by teaching you the Truth of His Word. When you believe what Truth reveals about who you are in Christ, you put on the identity of that new person. When you are transformed in your mind to understand WHOSE you are, you realize how much God loves you and that He never leaves you. God honors you by living in you, and you honor Him by following the righteousness He has poured into your life. You allow His righteousness to change you. You allow your heart to believe Him above anything else.
When we know God's Truth, we know that the “reality” of what we feel is not Truth. His Truth is our reality. Circumstances may be horrible, but the Truth is Christ has given us the authority to be greater than anything that comes against us. When you understand His power that lives in you, you see your circumstances from a position of His strength. You trust and know God addresses your needs. You don't need to see yourself unworthily crawling into His presence. You can go boldly into His presence. Christ has opened the door to a 100% relationship with our all-powerful and loving God. If God is for us, who can ever be against us?
“And of His fullness we have all received, and grace for grace” (John 1:16, NKJV). Grace found you the moment you breathed in His new life. Are you ready to experience it?
© 2021 Lynn Lacher
www.lynnlacher.com/2021/02/grace-found-you.html
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