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Friday, July 30, 2021

His Word is Life


 

As for God, His way is perfect;

The word of the Lord is proven;

He is a shield to all who trust in Him.

                                          —Psalm 18:30 (NKJV)     

 

 

You are the Word, Lord God (John 1:1). Your Word is Truth (John 17:17). You have proved yourself to me. I can stand on your Word knowing it is perfect. You are my shield and protector. Nothing can come against me because you are for me (Romans 8:31). No problem—no sickness—no need has the power to defeat me because you have already defeated it. You empower me with the Truth of your living Word.

 

Your way is perfect. Your Word is flawless. You guide me into all Truth (John 16:13). You reveal who I am in you. In your strength, I can crush any attacker—scale any wall—overcome any issue (2 Samuel 22:30). You have given me the authority to speak life to every need and death to the enemy who tries to steal the abundant life you have given me (Luke 10:19, Proverbs 18:21, John 10:10).

 

Without faith, I have no hope (Hebrews 11:1). But you have given me your measure of faith (Romans 12:3). I believe in the Truth of your Word. I live by your faith and not what I see. When I walk by your faith and not by my sight, I hope and trust in you (2 Corinthians 1:7). You protect me. When I call, I know you will answer and rescue me. With long life, you satisfy me and show me your salvation (Psalm 91:14-16). How long can I live to be satisfied? As long as I can help others experience the joy of their faith (Philippians 1:25). Even in old age, I will remain fruitful, vital, and green (Psalm 92:14).

 

My life is perfect in you—not in this world—but in you. You are my way—my truth—my life (John 14:6). You have overcome my world with your peace (John 16:33). You are the hope of glory in me (Colossians 1:27)—the source of my joy and peace. I overflow with confident hope in you (Romans 15:13).

 

Nothing separates me from your love (Romans 8:35). You never leave me or forsake me (Hebrews 13:5). You are in me, and I am in you (1 Corinthians 6:17, John 17:22-23). You, who died for me, gave me your new righteousness to live in me (Romans 6:1-4). I am sealed and protected by your Holy Spirit of promise (Ephesians 1:13). I have no fear in your perfect love (1 John 4:18). I am whole and healed in your pure Grace (1 John 4:18, 1 Peter 2:24). 

 

“Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits: who forgives all your iniquities, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from destruction, who crowns you with lovingkindness and tender mercies, who satisfies your mouth with good things, so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s” (Psalm 103:2-5 NKJV).

 

His way is perfect. His Word is life (John 6:63).

 

© 2021 Lynn Lacher

www.lynnlacher.com/2021/07/his-word-is-life.html

 

 

 

 

Thursday, July 29, 2021

The Mind of Christ



The person with the Spirit makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments, for, “who has known the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ.

—1 Corinthians 2:15-16.  

 

 

1 Corinthians 2:15 in the Living Bible reads, “But the spiritual man has insight into everything, and that bothers and baffles the man of the world, who can’t understand him at all.” 

 

The spiritual man that Paul referred to in 1 Corinthians 2:15 is the opposite of the natural man that he referred to in 1 Corinthians 2:14. The natural man can’t understand the things of God because they must be spiritually discerned. The spiritual man is someone who is not ruled by his emotions and natural feelings and thoughts. He is filled and led by the Spirit of God.

 

The word “judgment” (used in 1 Corinthians 2:15, NKJV) is the ability to analyze and discern people and situations. Paul basically said that a spiritual person is someone who is led by the wisdom of God and is competent to judge people and situations correctly. 

 

“For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God” (1 Corinthians 2:11, NKJV).

 

In this verse and also in 1 Corinthians 12:16, Paul explained that no one understands the way God thinks except the Holy Spirit and those whom He teaches. A person who doesn’t know Christ doesn’t have the Spirit within him. So he cannot judge a person who is led and governed by the Spirit of God.

 

“For ‘who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct Him?’ But we have the mind of Christ” (1 Corinthians 2:16, NKJV).

 

We have all of God’s wisdom—not just a little portion. Some people can’t grasp this because they know they aren’t perfect. Their natural minds and natural thoughts and natural abilities fall short of the glory of God. They make mistakes—have human emotions and feelings—therefore, they believe they could never have the mind of Christ. 

 

Our natural minds are limited and certainly don’t know everything. But in our born-again spirit, we are a completely new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17). That is where we have the mind of Christ. Our spirits have been totally reborn by the Holy Spirit into the image of God (Colossians 3:10).  Because we have been reborn in our spirits by the Holy Spirit, we have received God’s power to understand all things (1 John 2:20). The spiritual part of us has received the mind of Christ while our natural minds have to be renewed to understand what we have received. 

 

Since we are new creations in Christ and created in the image of God (Colossians 3:10, 2 Corinthians 5:17), we have been reborn in God’s perfect wisdom. But the knowledge we have received in our spirits needs to impact our natural minds—the way we think, our emotions, and our actions. That is why the renewing of our natural mind is so important (Romans 12:2). It is not our spirits that teach us. It is the Holy Spirit who trains our natural mind to let the perfect wisdom of Christ take precedence over our natural thinking. We choose to “put on” the new nature that was created in the image of God (Colossians 3:10, Ephesians 4:24).

 

The Word of God is Spirit, and it is life (John 6:63). God is the Word, and He lives within us (John 1:1). The Holy Spirit renews our natural mind with His Word. As we study the Word with the revelation knowledge of the Holy Spirit, our natural mind is molded and conformed to the mind of Christ.

 

“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).

 

Don’t we wish more than anything else to understand what we have received from God—to understand the very things that empower us to live the righteousness Christ has given us? 

 

“Be renewed in the spirit of your mind,” Paul declared! “Put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness” (Ephesians 4:23-24, NKJV).

 

Be renewed in the spirit of your mind. Walk by faith and not by sight. You have the mind of Christ.

 

© 2021 Lynn Lacher

www.lynnlacher.com/2021/07/the-mind-of-christ.html

 

Wednesday, July 28, 2021

The Faith of Christ

    

 

I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.

–Galatians 2:20 (NKJV)

 

 

The last part of this verse says, “I live by the faith OF the Son of God”—not that I live by faith IN the Son of God. We certainly place our faith IN the finished work of Christ. But in this verse, it is obvious that Paul said he was living by the faith OF Jesus Christ. Paul said this same thing twice just a few verses earlier in Galatians.

 

“Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified” (Galatians 2:16, KJV).

 

In Galatians 2:16, the faith OF Christ is referred to two times. Our faith IN Christ is referred to only once. Yes, we place our faith IN Christ and trust Him for our salvation. However, it is not our faith IN Christ that justifies us but the faith OF Christ that makes us right with God. Human faith strives to justify itself by believing it must do the right thing when Christ’s faith has already accomplished the right thing. Our human faith puts the emphasis on our efforts instead of us trusting in the glorious miracle of the new life Jesus has purchased for us.

 

We were so spiritually depleted that we could not even believe in salvation with our own faith. We had to have Christ’s supernatural faith that came to us as a gift through hearing God’s Word (Ephesians 2:8, Romans 10:17). Human faith believes only in what is experienced and felt. God’s kind of faith goes beyond what we can see, taste, hear, smell, and feel. His kind of faith calls things that are not seen or felt as though they are (Romans 4:17). We just trust and believe what His faith has already acquired for us. 

 

When Paul said, “I live by the faith of the Son of God,” he was declaring that he was exercising the faith OF Christ. Paul knew that nothing within himself justified him to receive so great a gift. But he knew that Christ had purchased it for him and as a born-again believer it was his. 

 

“For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith” (Romans 12:3, KJV).

 

There are not different measures of faith. Every believer has been given THE measure of faith. This says that there is one measure of faith. Since Paul said the faith he was living by was “THE faith of the Son of God,” then that must be the measure of faith given to every believer.

 

Many believers do not know that they have THE faith OF Christ. This truth cannot be understood with the natural mind (1 Corinthians 2:14). It can only be spiritually understood through the revelation power of the Holy Spirit (John 6:63). 

 

We never have a lack of faith because every believer has been given Christ’s measure of faith. We only lack knowledge of what is ours in Christ. When we know who we are in Christ, we believe what is ours by the faith of Christ. The old man that once lived is gone, and we live by the powerful faith of Jesus in His gift of new life.

 

Praise God that our new life in Christ is full of His faith and not our own! Isn’t it an amazing thing that God shared His life and faith without heaping religious burdens on us? There is absolute peace placing our trust in Jesus’ faith instead of in our own.

 

 

© 2021 Lynn Lacher

www.lynnlacher.com/2021/07/the-faith-of-christ.html

 

 

Tuesday, July 27, 2021

As He Has Loved Me



 


What kind of love do I give? Do I love with the love of Christ? Jesus said to love my enemies; do good to those who hate me; bless those who curse me; pray for those that hurt me. And then Jesus gives specific examples that put His kind of love in perspective. If someone slaps me, I offer him the other cheek. When someone demands something from me, I give it to him. If someone asks for help, I give it. If someone takes something from me, I don't try to get it back. Do to others as I would like them to do to me. (Luke 6:27-30, NLT). 

 

The love Jesus speaks of in these verses knows no bounds. It is His love that gives unconditionally. It is selfless and flows through the life of one who knows and lives who they are in Christ. The “me” mentality of “what about my need” pushes people away. Jesus humbled himself to die for me. Can't I humble myself and lay down my needs for someone else?

 

“Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance” (1 Corinthians 13:4-7, NLT).

 

His love is never boastful or jealous or proud or rude. The love of Jesus never demands its own way. It doesn't keep a record of those who have caused pain or been unfair. Jesus never demanded anything for himself but, instead, gave His life. 


Do I keep an account of those who have said things that have hurt or slighted me? Christ’s love never keeps an account of wrong but always rejoices when truth prevails. His love is full of forgiveness, honesty, and grace. Do I extend His love and grace? The love of Christ never gives up. It always has faith to believe in what is not seen or heard. Looking beyond the selfishness of the human heart, His love is hopeful and perseveres through any circumstance. 

 

I have His grace within me to overcome any problem that comes up in life. If I don’t choose to love with His grace, I have nothing to offer but my own selfishness. But when I let go of what I want and what I think is right, I can love with the grace of Jesus that keeps no accounts. His redeeming love flowing through my life is the power that changes hearts—not my love—not my power. His love never gives up and never loses faith in me. And I want His love in me to never give up and lose faith in others.

 

“I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me” (Galatians 2:20, NKJV).

 

© 2021 Lynn Lacher

www.lynnlacher.com/2021/07/as-he-has-loved-me.html

Monday, July 26, 2021

Seek to Believe



But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

—1 Corinthians 2:14 (NLT)

 

The things of the Spirit of God are spiritually discerned. They are not mentally understood. You can have a mental understanding of God but not understand Him spiritually. The spirit is where the spirit of God lives within you—where He quickens your heart to receive His Truth. The Spirit bears witness with your spirit (Romans 8:16)—not your mind. Faith is not a mental exercise born of emotions and feelings and reasoning. Faith does not rise from the logic of your mind. It rises from the Word which has been planted in your heart. 

 

“Son of man, receive into your heart all My words that I speak to you, and hear with your ears” (Ezekiel 3:10, NKJV). Faith comes by hearing the Word spiritually with your heart (Romans 10:17). It doesn’t come by hearing it with your natural mind. Faith believes with the heart (Romans 10:10). The words that God speaks to your heart are spiritual life (John 4:24, John 6:63).

 

Paul prayed for believers to spiritually hear and receive in their hearts a revelation knowledge of God. He prayed “that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of 

Him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power” (Ephesians 1:17-19, NKJV).

 

Having revelation knowledge is not something that automatically happens in your life. It comes from seeking and pursuing God. We are not meant to be spiritually blind and have no spiritual understanding. God wants to pour a revelation knowledge of Himself into our hearts. He wants us to believe His Truth and be enlightened by it. He wants us to know the hope of His calling in our lives and the great power He has given us. Spiritually discerning God’s Truth in our hearts comes from allowing the Word to renew our minds until we believe it (Romans 12:2). If we fail to renew our minds, we will live our lives without experiencing the abundant life Jesus has given us (John 10:10).

 

Look at Ephesians 1:17-19. What is the hope of His calling and His power in us who believe?  It is the same power that raised Christ from the dead. But if we don’t have a spirit of wisdom and revelation in our hearts about His power within us, we will not know that this power is ours. When we don’t believe what Christ has given us, we have no spiritual understanding of our capability in God. But when the eyes of our spiritual understanding have been opened to receive, we have His eyes to see, His ears to hear, and His understanding to see what the natural mind cannot grasp. And our hearts believe.

 

You take ownership of God’s Truth when you spiritually receive it in your heart. Look again at Ephesians 1:17-19. When you believe these verses in your heart, they are true for you—not just for someone else. They are yours. God will freely give you His wisdom and impart to you the revealed knowledge of the Holy Spirit. You will believe without a doubt that you possess God’s exceedingly great power—the same power that raised Christ from the dead. And you will hear and receive God’s Truth—not with your natural mind but with your spiritual understanding. The same power that raised Christ from the dead is alive in you, but if you don’t have spiritual eyes to see and spiritual ears to hear, and a spiritual understanding to believe this Truth in your heart, you will live a defeated and powerless life.

 

“Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us” (Ephesians 3:20, NKJV). The natural mind cannot grasp this Truth, but your spiritual heart can believe it. It is His power at work in you.

 

Seek to believe in your heart what you have been given by the love of God in Christ Jesus.

 

 

© 2021 Lynn Lacher

www.lynnlacher.com/2021/07/seek-to-believe.html

 

Friday, July 23, 2021

Hope


 

I wait [patiently] for the Lord, my soul [expectantly] waits, and in His word do I hope.

—Psalm 130:4 (AMP)

 

Now faith is the assurance (title deed, confirmation) of things hoped for (divinely guaranteed), and the evidence of things not seen [the conviction of their reality—faith comprehends as fact what cannot be experienced by the physical senses]. 

—Hebrews 11:1 (AMP)

 

Let us seize and hold tightly the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is reliable and trustworthy and faithful [to His word].

—Hebrews 10:23 (AMP)

 

Through Him we also have access by faith into this [remarkable state of] grace in which we [firmly and safely and securely] stand. Let us rejoice in our hope and the confident assurance of [experiencing and enjoying] the glory of [our great] God [the manifestation of His excellence and power].

—Romans 5:2 (AMP)

 

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing [through the experience of your faith] that by the power of the Holy Spirit you will abound in hope and overflow with confidence in His promises.

—Romans 15:13 (AMP)

 

www.lynnlacher.com/2021/07/hope.html

 

Thursday, July 22, 2021

Law or Grace



 

For if you are trying to make yourselves right with God by keeping the law, you have been cut off from Christ! You have fallen away from God’s grace.

—Galatians 5:4 (NLT)

 

Do you try to make yourself right with God by living a perfect life? When you live a righteous life to prove to yourself and to God that you are righteous, then you have missed the whole point of the finished work of Christ. When Jesus said, “It is finished," He proved that our work trying to be good enough would never amount to anything. It is an impossible task. His Grace alone fulfilled the Law perfectly. There is nothing more for you to do but believe in Christ and allow the Holy Spirit to convince you what Christ accomplished for you. Then you have the freedom to live His righteousness instead of struggling to live your own.

 

Falling from Grace is not falling into sin. It is falling into the mental and emotional agony of trying to keep the Law. And working to keep the Law doesn’t keep you from falling into sin. It only makes you doubt God’s forgiveness and love. And when you sin, repentance isn’t working to make yourself right with God. Repentance is a decision to turn entirely away from wrongdoing and never go back to it. If you try to make yourself right with God, you cut yourself off from Christ’s grace. 

 

“You have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God’s Spirit when he adopted you as his own children. Now we call him, ‘Abba, Father’” (Romans 8:15, NLT).

 

You don’t need to be a slave to the Law—to live in fear of not being good enough to meet its standards. Christ, as the perfect sacrifice, met its standards. You have been accepted in Christ, and you have been sealed with the Holy Spirit. God has adopted you. When you know that God is your Abba Father, you have child-like faith in Him. You know that your relationship is based on unconditional love that forgives and accepts you. The Grace of Jesus has opened access to His Father and made Him your Father, too! When you believe this, you discover deeper intimacy and trust. You trust that He guides you as a loving parent. You understand that the gift of His Grace is freedom from the performance trap of keeping the Law and its accompanying feelings of shame and guilt. You are free to receive His Grace and love as never before. And with this awareness, you experience His peace and joy. 

 

“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). 

 

You never benefit from what you do—from placing your faith in the Law. You don’t have to earn the benefits Jesus has already earned for you. They are His gift to you. You receive them by faith. What is important is placing your faith in Christ's redeeming love.

 

A person who believes in the Grace of Jesus seeks to live a life of faith. He knows he has been forgiven of the rules he has broken. He accepts his forgiveness and allows the Holy Spirit to guide His life. He knows that he has one requirement—to just believe.

 

You are free from the performance trap of the Law. Have you grasped this? Allow the Holy Spirit to reveal the Truth about His Grace and your relationship with God. You don’t have to live in fear of failure and losing His love. He is your Father, and He is love. Draw God’s Truth into your heart and allow the Holy Spirit to teach you to believe. 

 

 

© 2021 Lynn Lacher

www.lynnlacher.com/2021/07/law-or-grace.html

 

Wednesday, July 21, 2021

A Revelation of God's Love



 

God is love (1 John 4:8). His very nature is love. 

 

“This is how God loved the world. He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him” (John 3:16-17 (NLT)

 

God's love isn’t about your ability to love Him. The love of God isn't based on anything you’ve done. It’s offered without condition. Human love places conditions on love. “I’ll love you if,” it says. Not God’s love! His love for you is eternal. God loved you so much that He sent His Son to show you how much He loves you. Jesus came to die for you so you could receive the infinite and unfailing love of God. 

 

“In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise” (Ephesians 1:13, NKJV). 

 

God’s love transforms you to believe and trust what His love has purchased for you in the gift of His Son. Your eternal relationship with God began the moment you received the love He offered you in Christ. You were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise. And that was the beautiful beginning of eternity for you.

 

“The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly” (John 10:10, NKJV). 

 

Your relationship with Jesus gives you abundant life—no matter what your world appears to be. It is a life of peace when your circumstances or your feelings aren’t peaceful. Faith in Christ believes in the love of God no matter what happens in life. Faith believes that God has already met each need He knew you would ever have. He saved you to the uttermost. He has forgiven your sins—healed your sicknesses—and delivered you from evil (Psalm 103:2-3). In the midst of your hurt or problem or need, you can be at rest believing in the promises that He gave His life for you have. No other love came into the world to love you like this. And when you believe the fullness of that Truth in the depth of your heart, you receive all God’s love promises. 

 

“He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love” (Colossians 1:13, NKJV).

 

You are God’s child—redeemed, healed, and whole in His love. All things are new in you and for you (2 Corinthians 5:17). The enemy cannot kill, steal or destroy the abundance God has placed in your heart. Don't exclude yourself from God's promises because you feel unworthy. Your feelings aren't Truth. The truth is that Christ made you worthy to receive God’s promises. You are loved. You are accepted and justified in Christ (Romans 8:33). God doesn’t condemn you. It is the enemy who does (Romans 8:34), and he is defeated. The power of darkness has no power over you. 

 

When God’s love is more real to you than what you see or feel, you know how much He loves you. Your faith thrives. Your heart is open to receive everything He has for you. You praise Jesus for the Cross and new life in Him. You step out in faith with confidence. You declare God’s promises. You speak His life into your need. You proclaim His love and faithfulness. And you are astonished at how you could have ever doubted Him and His love—His peace—His joy—and His promises.

 

When you receive a revelation of God’s love in your heart, nothing is the same. All things are absolutely new.

 

© 2021 Lynn Lacher

www.lynnlacher.com/2021/07/a-revelation-of-gods-love.html

 

Tuesday, July 20, 2021

Fully Convinced


  

He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully convinced that what He had promised He was also able to perform.

—Romans 4:20-21 (NKJV)

 

 

Abraham was fully convinced that God—who had promised him in his old age that he would be the father of many nations—was able to provide that promise. Being fully convinced is believing without a doubt. Are you fully convinced? What promises are you hanging on to? What does God’s Word say about your circumstances?  

 

What you see in this physical world are facts. Facts that are real in the natural aren’t the same as God’s Truth in the supernatural. His Truth has the power to change the facts. God’s Word surpasses facts, and when His Truth is believed by faith, it ultimately changes them. Abraham didn’t waver at God’s promise through unbelief. In the natural, he couldn’t see the fulfillment of His promise. He and Sarah were way too old to have a child, but he completely believed God. Abraham praised God for what he hadn’t yet received. Instead of the facts defeating him, his faith was strengthened.

 

Faith is the evidence of things not seen (Hebrews 11:1). It takes no faith to believe facts. You can see them. It only takes faith to believe the Truth. That is why we are told to walk by faith and not by what we see (2 Corinthians 5:7). Faith comes by hearing the Word (Romans 10:17). The Word is Truth (John 17:17). The Truth that you HEAR and you KNOW in your heart will set you free (John 8:32). God’s Truth doesn’t benefit your life if you don’t believe it by faith.

 

If we are going to see the supernatural power of God rise up in faith from within us, we have to connect what we believe and how we think to God’s Word. Then we can see God actually making a difference in our lives and someone else’s life. It is easy to identify with what you see—especially when you see symptoms of illness or problems in circumstances. To walk by faith and not by sight, you have to intentionally choose to have faith in God’s Truth over what you see.

 

Do you believe only what you see? Do you doubt God’s Truth? Being double-minded will keep you from receiving from God (James 1:6-8). Face the facts in your life, but believe what God promises in His Word. The facts of your physical life—circumstance or sickness or need—can change when you believe His Truth.

 

In Matthew 9, two blind men follow Jesus asking him to have mercy on them. 

 

“When he had gone indoors, the blind men came to him, and he asked them, ‘Do you believe that I am able to do this?’ ‘Yes, Lord,’ they replied. Then he touched their eyes and said, ‘According to your faith, let it be done to you,’ and their sight was restored” (Matthew 9:28-30, NIV).

 

Faith doesn’t create anything. It only provides what Jesus has already created for you with the gift of His life. Believing by faith in God’s Truth is the power that alters your reality. Praise God for His promise. Be fully convinced that God’s Truth is greater than any fact before your eyes. Instead of the facts defeating you, allow faith to strengthen you. According to your faith, you will receive. 

 

© 2021 Lynn Lacher

www.lynnlacher.com/2021/07/fully-convinced.html

 

Monday, July 19, 2021

Why Study



 

Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

—2 Timothy 2:15 (KJV)

 

Why do we study the Word? Do we study to prove to God that we are upright and honorable and righteous? Absolutely not. We study to prove to ourselves that God chose us before the foundation of the world to be His (Ephesians 1:4)—that He accepts us because we are part of the Beloved in Christ (Ephesians 1:6) and approves of us because Jesus Christ has made us righteous (2 Corinthians 5:21). When we chose Christ as our Savior, we became chosen because Christ was chosen. We come to God on the righteous merit of His Son. Jesus Christ alone makes us worthy. Trying to prove to God that we are righteous insults His love. And it frustrates us when we try to win God’s love when He has already won it for us.  

 

You don’t study the Word to prove to God that you are worthy to be loved. You study to prove to yourself—to convince yourself—that the finished work of Christ is what makes you worthy. You study to prove to yourself that you are His workmanship. Sin will not master you because you are not under the law’s requirement to prove to God that you are righteous. You are under the redeeming Grace of Jesus Christ (Romans 6:14) that frees you to receive His righteousness. His work in your life is perfect when your work never is. 

 

You are a new creation in your born-again spirit (2 Corinthians 5:17). When you allow the Holy Spirit to transform your mind—to convince you that you are new and old things have passed away, you believe you are changed and that you have His power to live the new life He has given you. Knowing who you are in Christ convinces you that nothing will ever separate you from God’s love. Believing that His redeeming Grace is completely yours frees you from the need to prove to God that you are His. You know you belong to Him. Nothing stands in the way. The old has passed away, and you are new. 

 

Study the Word to prove to yourself—to erase any doubt in your mind—that God loves you, accepts you, and approves of you. God wants to reveal to you who you are in His love—that He has given you the mind of Christ (1 Corinthians 2:16). And when you study His Word, the Holy Spirit continually reveals to you the incredible depths of God’s Grace and Truth. 

 

Pray “that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height—to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God” (Ephesians 3:17-19, NKJV).

 

© 2021 Lynn Lacher

www.lynnlacher.com/2021/07/why-study.html

 

Friday, July 16, 2021

Come Boldly to Him


 

 

Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

—Hebrews 4:16 (NKJV)

 

 

You can come boldly to the throne of grace when you know who you are in Christ and what He has given you. When you believe the infinite value that Jesus chose to place on your life, you believe He has made you worthy. Nothing separates you from the love you have received in Him (Romans 8:38-39). You can come to God with confidence knowing that He chose you to love with the life of His own Son (Ephesians 1:4). He knows your need before you even ask (Matthew 6:8). 

 

You have a God whose throne of grace is always open. You don’t have to fear Him or worry if you are a disappointment to Him or if He is going to cast you away from His presence. He wants you to cast your cares upon Him (1 Peter 5:7). He will never leave you or forsake you (Hebrews 13:5). 

 

Come to Him, and ask because of the worth He has placed on your life. When you question if you are worthy enough to come to Him, you question the worth of His love for you. Jesus paid the ultimate price for you. You are His. And God fully takes care of His own. 

 

Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him.

—1 John 5:14-15 (NKJV)

 

Do you have this confidence in your relationship with God?  That He has made you worthy to boldly come into His presence and ask for grace to help in your time of need?  God chose you to be His before the foundation of the world (Ephesians 1:4). When you chose Christ as your Savior, He made you worthy. When you don’t feel worthy enough to come to God, it is because you are coming to Him on your own merit. You come to God on the merit of His Son.

 

Don’t question His merit. Come boldly to God with confidence in your time of need. 


 

© 2021 Lynn Lacher

www.lynnlacher.com/2021/07/come-boldly-to-him.html

 

Thursday, July 15, 2021

Dare to Believe Your Wounded Healer



 

There was nothing you did to get God to save you. It was His gift. You were saved by God’s grace through childlike faith. And there is nothing you can do to get healed either. You receive healing just as you received forgiveness—by faith in God’s grace.

 

“Bless the Lord, O my soul. And all that is within me bless His holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul. And forget not all His benefits: who forgives all your iniquities, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from destruction, who crowns you with lovingkindness and tender mercies” (Psalm 103:1-4, NKJV).

 

In these verses, David praises God for His redeeming grace. He encourages us to remember God’s benefits. But so many Christians live far beneath the benefits that God has for them. We should never forget that we are forgiven of all our sins—that Jesus has provided a finished and complete redemption to every believer. David also reminds us that not only are we forgiven but that we are also healed of all our diseases. Just as it is God’s will for us to be forgiven, it is also God’s will for us to have good health (3 John 2). God wills us to receive His love and grace for healing just as He wills us to receive His love and grace for the forgiveness of sin.

 

“Who himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness—by whose stripes you were healed” (Peter 2:24, NKJV).  

 

Jesus took all your sins and diseases to the cross over 2000 years ago and paid the full price for them. Notice the verb tense “were healed” in 1 Peter 2:24 in the NKJV version. It reveals that healing has already been accomplished. By Jesus’ stripes, you are now healed. That doesn’t mean that sickness won’t come against you. But in the realm of God’s Truth, you are healed. You have God’s power to fight sickness just as you have His power to resist sin. Understanding who you are and what is yours in Christ helps you to fight and resist sickness from a mindset of victory instead of a mindset of defeat. Even when you are experiencing the physical onslaught of sickness, you can believe in your healing.

 

After you receive Christ’s redeeming grace, the enemy still tempts you with sin and comes against you with sickness. If you commit a sin, that is not the new nature God has given you. You can repent and be dead to that sin and alive in Christ. You can live His righteousness. In the same way, you can be dead to sickness and alive to healing in Christ. Being dead to sin doesn’t mean that it is impossible for you to sin. And being dead to sickness doesn’t mean it is impossible for you to get sick. If you can resist sin by the power of God, you can also fight sickness by the power of God. By the same grace of God that forgave you, you can also receive the healing Jesus died to give you. 

 

Healing begins in your mind. It arises from God’s Truth that you believe in your heart.  If you can believe in God’s forgiveness, you can have faith in His healing. “Daughter, your faith has made you well,” Jesus told the woman who was weak from the loss of blood for many years. “Go in peace,” He said, “and be healed of your affliction” (Mark 5:34).

 

Jesus became wounded so that you can be whole. By His wounds, you are healed. Live each day by faith and not by sight or what you feel (2 Corinthians 5:7). Your faith takes the Truth of God’s Word and makes it yours. Healing is believed before it is received.

 

Dare to believe your wounded healer.


 

© 2021 Lynn Lacher

www.lynnlacher.com/2021/07/dare-to-believe-your-wounded-healer.html


 

God is Personal

    But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his s...