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Thursday, October 21, 2021

KNOWING JESUS



 

Whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

—Philippians 3:7–8a, 10–12, 13b–14 (NIV)

 

 

This is a powerful statement from Paul! He longed to be sold out to Jesus. He didn’t care what that sacrifice cost because His Savior had paid the greatest price. Paul knew that he was joined to Christ and one with Him in spirit (1 Corinthians 6:17). He never forgot that his faith was to “know’ Christ and the power of His resurrection—that in becoming like Christ in His death, he would experience Christ in His resurrection (Romans 6:4-5). 

 

To “know” Christ is to be one with Him, and that deep intimate relationship with Him releases His supernatural power in us and into the lives of those with whom we have contact. Paul knew who He was in Christ, and He experienced the power his cherished relationship with Christ promised Him.

 

To “know” Him also means we experience His suffering. This is the suffering we experience in this world because of our faith in Christ. We could never experience the depth of His suffering on the cross. We could never attain that. 

                                               

We begin our Christian lives filled with love for our Savior. Our hearts initially burn with joyful wonder at the magnitude of what God has given us only to find along the way that the inability to surrender control to God chokes out His Spirit. Pride exists without our surrender. We are called to have a servant’s heart. We have no need to exalt or degrade ourselves. True humility never promotes self. Neither does it degrade self. True humility only glorifies the Lord.

 

God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble (John 4:6). True humility releases spiritual power in a believer’s life that has been yielded to the Holy Spirit. Paul lived this humility because experiencing surrender, He knew who He was in Christ. He knew that the cost of living His surrender only had value spiritually. 

 

There is a great danger in humanly counting the cost of commitment. Analyzing too much about what you believe is personally required can cause you to retreat from the depth of surrender and keep you from renewing your mind in Christ (Romans 12:2). If you feel you have to win God’s love and meet His requirements, you will retreat. You can never win God’s love. Christ has won His love for you. But when you believe who you are in Christ, you “know” the outcome of your surrender is not your responsibility. His guidance and power are yours in the Holy Spirit. 

 

With too little commitment, the assurance of who you are in Christ will take a hit. However, when the price of commitment is spiritually counted and the cost is humble surrender to Jesus, biblical paradoxes take on new spiritual depth. Servitude means greatness. Weakness means strength. To live is to die, and to die is to live. Paul experienced these in his life. They are also what we experience when we are surrendered to Christ.

 

God doesn’t want you burned out from trying to meet requirements. He wishes you fresh, alive, and able to release the power He has given you. “Know” who you are in Christ (Ephesians 1:1-15).  Be renewed in the spirit of your mind (Ephesians 4:23). Put on the new nature that Christ has purchased for you—His righteousness (Ephesians 4:24). You will experience the supernatural presence of the Holy Spirit and inspire others to receive.

 

There is no greater passion than “knowing” who you are in Christ. There is no greater experience than following Him and exercising the measure faith He has given you. And there is no greater reward than the fullness of God in your life.

 

© 2021 Lynn Lacher

www.lynnlacher.com/2021/10/knowing.html



Wednesday, October 20, 2021

Humble Boldness


 

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)

 

God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble (James 4:6). His grace is not to be used for self-gratification or self-promotion. The only way we can come to God is in humility. Humility before God brings mercy and finds grace to help in time of need. 

 

When you come boldly, it doesn’t mean you come instructing God. That is not the surrender that expresses humility. That is pride. When you come boldly to God, you come knowing who you are in His grace. You have confidence in your relationship with Jesus.

 

“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, NKJV).

 

Do you have this confidence?  When you believe who you are in Christ, you are at peace in your relationship with God. You can come freely to your Father and receive His mercy and grace.

 

True humility does not promote self. Neither does it degrade self. It only glorifies the Father. When you have confidence in your relationship with God, you don’t need to beg for mercy and grace. Jesus has already provided you the freedom to confidently ask. You present your needs with “humble boldness” knowing that you will receive the petitions that you have asked of Him. 

 

© 2021 Lynn Lacher

www.lynnlacher.com/2021/10/humble-boldness.html

Monday, October 18, 2021

ALL



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 103:2-4 (NKJV)

 

 

With all my heart—with all that is within me, I praise you, Lord Jesus! With every breath I take, I praise your holy name! I will never forget the good things you have done for me. You forgive all my sins. You heal all my diseases.

 

Lord, you speak your Truth to me. You speak promises that my physical eyes cannot see. You speak abundant life when circumstances or pain or the enemy try to tell me something else (John 10:10). Your promises are true (Psalm 18:20), and you, my loving Abba Father, never lie. You are the same yesterday, today, and forever (Hebrews 13:8).

 

Faith is the evidence of what I hope for—the proof of what I haven't experienced or seen (Hebrews 11:1). The faith you have given me has the power to believe your Truth beyond what I experience in this natural world. I choose to exercise it and believe it. I receive your promise when what you say is more real to me than what I perceive with my natural mind. Your perception becomes what is true. 

 

I am free from sin's condemnation (Romans 8:1)! Out of your great love, Jesus, I received your forgiveness for all my sins. You became sin for me so that I might have your righteousness (2 Corinthians 5:21). You love me with a grace I could never earn—a grace that asks me only to receive it. 

 

By the wounds you suffered for me, I also received your healing (1 Peter 2:24). Illness is not your will. The gift of your grace heals me. I live in newness of life—not only forgiven of all my sins but also healed of all my diseases. Jesus, your life given for mine was not a partial work. It was a finished work. I’m restored. I’m whole. I choose to believe your Word and walk in it. 

 

Holy Spirit, I will open the Word, and let it take root in my heart. I’ll be renewed in the spirit of my mind. I’ll keep putting on the new righteous nature you have given me (Ephesians 4:23-24). 

 

It is your Spirit, Lord, who gives life. What I perceive doesn’t profit me anything. The words that you speak to me are spirit, and they are life (John 6:63).

 

With your lovingkindness and steadfast mercy, you save my life from destruction. Your Word is all life and healing to me. I receive your Truth.

 

© 2021 Lynn Lacher

www.lynnlacher.com/2021/10/all.html

 

Friday, October 15, 2021

All His Fullness



That He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, 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 3:16-19 (NKJV)

 

 

The untouchable God of the Old Testament— the God of holiness—the God of infinite power—the God of forgiveness and healing——became entirely accessible through the love of Jesus Christ. When we chose to receive His love, we were born again in our spirits (John 3:6). We became new in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17).

 

Our human reasoning cannot discern this love. We can only discern God's love, spiritually (Romans 8:6). When we allow the Word to mold us, it conforms us to His image (Romans 12:2) and convinces us of His love. We receive spiritual understanding and believe it in our hearts. His eternal love dwells in our hearts through faith. And when we grasp the revelation of God’s love in our inner man, we are strengthened and rooted in His love and are filled with ALL the fullness of God (Ephesians 3:16-19).

 

Do you believe this in your deepest being? That God gives you His love at no cost to you? Jesus paid the price for you to receive God’s love. The source for everything with which God loves you is His riches in glory. And that is the widest—the longest—the deepest—the highest source of ALL! God abundantly strengthens you with ALL His power! He lavishly forgives you with ALL the forgiveness His Son purchased for you. God generously heals you with ALL the healing Christ won on your behalf. He liberally provides with ALL His riches in glory. The Holy Spirit reveals to you the unending depth and length and height and width of the love of God that Jesus Christ gave His life for you to have.

 

“When God our Savior revealed his kindness and love, he saved us, not because of the righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He washed away our sins, giving us a new birth and new life through the Holy Spirit. He generously poured out the Spirit upon us through Jesus Christ our Savior. Because of his grace, he made us right in his sight and gave us confidence that we will inherit eternal life” (Titus 3:4-7, NLT).

 

The love of God is made known to us in the gift of His Son. To understand the depth of this unconditional love, we need a divine revelation of it. If we ask for that revelation and seek it, we shall find it. He never withholds the truth of His love! God desires us to have a supernatural understanding of His love because He desires a Spirit-to-spirit relationship with us (Ephesians 1:1-11).

 

God's love is not because of anything we have done. He is passionate about us because of His great mercy. Jesus washed away our sins and gave us new birth and life. The grace of Jesus forgives us and makes us right in God’s sight. It gives confident trust in our relationship with Jesus. Forgiven. Healed. His mercy has purchased new life for us. And God liberally pours His Spirit into our hearts.

 

We have the promise of everlasting life. But the overwhelming love of God is not just for heaven.  We have an eternal relationship with God that is real. The abundant and overwhelming love of God is for us right now (John 10:10). 

 

When we are rooted and grounded in spiritual understanding of God’s love, we believe we have received His love in all its fullness. We never doubt it. Human reasoning and feelings are overcome by spiritual truth. We rest and have peace in God’s love for us. Filled with all the fullness of God, we live the joy of His abundant life. We believe that our God shall provide everything we need according to His riches in glory (Philippians 4:19).

 

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ” (Ephesians 1:3, NKJV).

 

© 2021 Lynn Lacher

www.lynnlacher.com/2021/10/all-his-fullness.html

 

Wednesday, October 13, 2021

Revelation Knowledge


 

“These things I have spoken to you while being present with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.”

—John 14:25-26 (NKJV)

 

 

When we were born again by the Spirit, Jesus brought us new life. He spoke God’s truth into us. Our minds need to be renewed by the Word for us to know what His truth is. God sent the Holy Spirit to teach us all things and bring to our remembrance all things that Jesus has spoken. There can be no revelation knowledge apart from the illuminating power of the Holy Spirit.

 

One of the most significant differences between Old Testament believers in God and New Testament believers in Christ is the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit. Another substantial difference is the quickened understanding that the Holy Spirit gives. The night before His crucifixion Jesus shared knowledge four times with His disciples that revealed the Holy Spirit is the source of revelation from God. These Scriptures (John 14:26, 15:16, 16:7-11, 16:13-15) show that the Holy Spirit is specifically appointed by God to impart revelation knowledge of His Word.

 

“However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come” (John 16:13, NKJV).

 

The Holy Spirit will lead us into all truth, but we have to follow His leading. We have to make the effort to study the Word and trust Him to guide us. Jesus had spoken many times of the Holy Spirit that evening, but in John 16:13, He revealed something else—that the Holy Spirit will show us things to come. This does not automatically happen, but it can be appropriated by Spirit-filled believers through faith. This is one of the most amazing and beneficial ministries of the Holy Spirit. 

 

The Holy Spirit brings to us the remembrance of everything Jesus has spoken to us. He tells us of things to come. These are available to all Spirit-filled believers, but they must be exercised by faith. With such revelation truth offered to us by the Holy Spirit, we should never say we don’t know the truth that the Word teaches.

 

“I pray,” Paul said, “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” (Ephesians 1:17-19, NKJV).

 

Believe in the truth of the Holy Spirit. Exercise by faith what He offers. And receive the spirit of wisdom and revelation in your knowledge of Him.

 

© 2021 Lynn Lacher

www.lynnlacher.com/2021/10/revelation-knowledge.html

His Victory in You



 

For the Lord delights in his people; he crowns the humble with victory.

—Psalm 149:4 (NLT)

 

 

When you humble yourself before the Lord, you receive His grace and power in your life. When you allow the trials of life to change you into His beautiful creation, you invite His presence. Instead of those trials defeating you, His presence inspires you to trust Him more. He crowns the humble with victory. 

 

Humble yourselves under the mighty power of God, and at the right time he will lift you up in honor.

—1 Peter 5:7 (NLT)

 

God’s grace is received in humility. Its greatest revelation is received in humility. When God owns your heart, selfishness is more easily defeated. Pride’s power to control your emotions and feelings becomes less as God becomes more. When your life is about Him, what you spiritually see, hear, and understand is not yours to own. Your life is His, and there is nothing more for you to gain. You are at perfect peace. He is enough. There is nothing to prove. There is nothing to declare that God hasn’t already called into existence. 

 

When you lay everything down, you become His instrument to use as He wills. When you humble yourself under His hand, He uses you for His purpose—as He ordains. His power is greatest when revealed in humbleness of heart. 

 

Humble yourself before Him with nothing to prove and nothing but to live who He is in you. Experience His Spirit—alive in you—setting you free from all that you have thought yourself to be. Discover that your true purpose is His to direct and His to own. You are ready for the greatest abundance when you lay down all He has imparted—all you believe He has given you—and allow Him to wash your feet. 

 

Stripped of all that stands in the way of His Hand upon you, you are unhindered by need or perception or anything at all. He, who became less for you, now has become everything in you. You are His, and you realize that He has brought you to a place of victory that you never imagined. At His feet, you learn what it means to be crowned with victory because He was willing to humble himself for you. You know His joy that no word can describe. 

 

His presence is enough. Jesus, the hope of glory, is yours.

 

© 2021 Lynn Lacher

www.lynnlacher.com/2021/10/his-victory-in-you.html

 

 

 

 

Tuesday, October 12, 2021

The Final Word




Forever, O Lord, your word is settled in heaven.

—Psalm 119:89 (NKJV)

 

 

When you take the Word at its unfailing value—when you believe it by faith, you receive. God’s Word is settled in heaven. It is the final authority.

 

“So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Romans 10:17, NKJV). 

 

Faith and the Word of God are interchangeable. You can’t have faith without hearing the Word, and the Word can’t be heard without it building your faith. 

 

The Word connects our healing with what we hear. A few examples are Matthew 13:15, Luke 5:15, and Luke 6:17. 

 

Listen to Matthew 13:15: “For the hearts of this people have grown dull. Their ears are hard of hearing, and their eyes they have closed, lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, lest they should understand with their hearts and turn so that I should heal them” (NKJV). 

 

Don’t be “hard of hearing” with closed eyes and ears and a barred heart. This verse states that when you understand the Word with your heart, you receive God’s healing. The truth of your identity in Christ needs to be known and understood over what the world or what any other person says. You have the mind of Christ to understand His truth (1 Corinthians 2:16). And when you allow His truth to renew your mind, you believe (Romans 12:2).

 

Faith pleases God (Hebrews 11:6). When you appropriate (take) by faith what Jesus has given His life for you to have, it pleases Him. Faith means nothing without the Word and has no power without the Word. An alive faith comes by hearing the Word and not by just having heard the Word in the past. God rewards those who diligently seek Him with the revealed truth of His Word. You seek God, and you receive His Word (John 1:1, Matthew 7:8).

 

We experience this natural world through our senses—what we see, hear, feel, taste, or touch. The Word of God is the substance of things hoped for.  It is the truth of things not perceived by our senses (Hebrews 11:1). It is the truth in God’s spiritual realm.

 

“Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful” (Hebrews 10:23).  

 

What we speak is what we receive (Proverbs 18:21). What we experience in the natural realm are facts, and what is real in the spiritual realm is God’s truth. When we speak of what we feel as truth—we confess what is felt by our senses. But when we speak the truth of the Word—no matter how we feel or what our circumstance—we confess the truth of the supernatural realm of God. We speak the authority of God’s unseen over what is seen. 

 

The world says to be afraid. God has not given you a spirit of fear. (2 Timothy 1:7) The world says you are sick and have no chance of healing. God says that by His stripes you were healed (1 Peter 2:24). The world says your needs won’t be met. The Word says He supplies all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ (Philippians 4:19). If you really believed the Word, wouldn’t you confess His truth instead of what the world says or what the enemy says about you? Wouldn’t you believe the Savior who died for you over the one who attempts to steal, kill and destroy you?  

 

Walking by faith and not by sight is believing in the unseen truth of God over what you see, feel, taste, or touch. Renew your mind with God’s truth (Romans 12:2). The Holy Spirit wants to guide you into all of God’s truth—into the unseen of God’s spiritual realm that fills you with every spiritual blessing (John 14:17, 16:13, Ephesians 1:3).

 

You were made new the moment you were born again by the spirit of the living God (2 Corinthians 5:17). In your spirit, you are completely reborn—not just partially made new. Not knowing and understanding the Word keeps you from receiving in the flesh what Christ has given you in the spirit. But when you believe God’s Word, you sow His Good News in your heart, and you reap its good benefits. 

 

“Who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed (Isaiah 53:1, NKJV)?

 

Hear God’s Word in your heart. Believe His good report. Allow His truth to renew your mind, and you receive the healing freedom of His grace. When you believe His good report, you have the power of His final Word that sets you free. (John 8:32).

 

The work of Jesus is finished. And it is perfect.

 

“Forever, O Lord, your Word is settled in heaven.”

 

© 2021 Lynn Lacher

www.lynnlacher.com/2021/10/the-final-word.html

 

Monday, October 11, 2021

Your New Identity



 

Jesus said to him, “Go; your faith [and confident trust in My power] has made you well.” Immediately he regained his sight and began following Jesus on the road.

—Mark 10:52 (AMP)

 

 

When Bartimaeus, a blind beggar, heard that Jesus was the reason for the large crowd, he began crying out loudly for the Lord to have mercy on him. Several in the crowd told him to be still and quiet, but Bartimaeus cried out even louder. It didn’t matter that they were upset. Jesus heard Bartimaeus and called him to come to him. When some in the crowd heard Jesus calling him, they said to Bartimaeus, “Take courage. He is calling you.” Bartimaeus jumped up and came to Jesus. Jesus asked him what we wanted, and Bartimaeus said he wanted to regain his sight. And Jesus told him that his faith had made him well.

 

This blind beggar believed that Jesus could heal him. He took responsibility for what he needed in his life. It didn’t matter about the taunts of the crowd or what they thought of him. When Bartimaeus moved forward toward Jesus, he stepped away from his identity as a blind man. And he received what Jesus had for him—a new identity as a man who could see.

 

Often, we identify with an illness we experience—or a problem we have—or a failure we encounter, instead of identifying with Jesus. Jesus waits for us to move forward in faith, believing all things are possible in Him. It doesn’t matter what anyone else thinks or says. If Bartimaeus had waited for the perfect opportunity, he would have missed his healing. Jesus made it clear to Bartimaeus why he received his sight. "Your faith [and confident trust in My power]," Jesus said, "has made you well" (Mark 10:52, AMP). 

 

Sometimes, we allow an illness or problem or failure to be our identity instead of believing who we are in Christ. We see ourselves less than Jesus sees us. When we push our way through the obstacles to believing the truth of who we are in Him, we move away from the emotional and physical things we experience toward the spiritual truth of healing freedom in Him. Feelings become less important. We start to see ourselves through the truth of God’s Word. Our perception changes and we identify with Jesus. He becomes our identity. 

 

After Jesus told Bartimaeus that his faith had made him well, Bartimaeus immediately began following Jesus down the road. He went with the person who had changed his life. Yes, Bartimaeus could see with his physical eyes, but he could see so much more. He no longer saw himself as the man who sat by the road's side, begging in his need. Bartimaeus identified with Jesus, who told him that his faith had made him well. 

 

Do you identify with Jesus? Or do you identify with an illness, a failure, or your past? 

 

"Therefore if anyone is in Christ [that is, grafted in, joined to Him by faith in Him as Savior], he is a new creature [reborn and renewed by the Holy Spirit]; the old things [the previous moral and spiritual condition] have passed away. Behold, new things have come [because spiritual awakening brings a new life]" (2 Corinthians 5:17, AMP).

 

You are reborn and renewed by God’s Spirit. Jesus doesn't see you as sinful or sick or a failure. He desires for you to see and understand what He has redeemed in your life. Your old sinful nature has died. The sin and the sickness it brought are gone. There is nothing against you. You are forgiven, healed, and delivered—completely new in Him—grafted and joined to Him by faith. Christ is your new identity.

 

See yourself as Christ sees you—not as others in the crowd see you. Allow the Holy Spirit to reveal your new identity in the Word. Leave the baggage of your old self behind. Have confident faith. When you identify with Jesus, all things are possible. You will know His truth, and it will set you free. Like Bartimaeus, fight the obstacles. Believe, and receive.

 

© 2021 Lynn Lacher

www.lynnlacher.com/2021/10/your-new-identity.html

 

 

Friday, October 8, 2021

Overflowing



Without knowing who we are in Christ, we face the prospect of failure. Exercising faith to believe in God’s truth develops good character traits to help us make it successfully. Faith is powerful and helps us walk positively through any circumstance. Hope helps us believe in God’s promises for what we can’t see.

 

“Let us hold tightly without wavering to the hope we affirm,” the writer to the Hebrews penned, “for God can be trusted to keep his promise” (Hebrews 10:23, NLT).  We can trust God to keep His promise. 

 

“By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life,” Peter wrote. “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. And because of his glory and excellence, he has given us great and precious promises. These are the promises that enable you to share his divine nature and escape the world’s corruption caused by human desires” (2 Peter 1:3-4, NLT).

 

God has given us everything we need for His righteousness to be alive in us. And we received "all of this" we need the day we believed in Christ. We received Jesus by faith, and we also received everything we need to live a righteous life.

 

God has given us great and precious promises that enable us to share in His divine nature. But if we don’t know the promises that are ours, we live defeated and powerless lives. When we exercise faith and allow the Holy Spirit to renew the way we think, we learn to see from God’s perspective instead of what we see. The full righteousness of God lives in us, but we can’t know what that means until we allow our faith to transform our understanding.

 

“For this very reason,” Peter continued, “make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love (2 Peter 1:5-7, NLT). 

 

Make every effort to add to your faith, Paul said—not just attempt and then when it gets too hard to give up. You decide to add these virtues in your life, but God’s power fosters personal growth and results in spiritual understanding. 

 

You decide to grow. You decide to change. You decide to forgive. You decide to persevere. You decide to be patient. You decide to surrender and allow Him to mold your mind. God empowers your choices and carries you in His strength, and your perception changes to His. You are transformed in the spirit of your mind. You have the mind of Christ. Peace is not just a dream. You discover it more quickly. Fear is defeated more easily. Walking the road of life is easier because your eyes are not on the road but on God. 

 

Life will always present trials. Whatever you face will either spur you on or hold you back. Christ promises success, but you decide to believe what you have received. Without allowing the truth of His Word to impact your mind, you will not understand the wonderful gift of righteousness He has given you. His promises are true, but if you don’t know them, you remain in bondage. Faith comes by hearing the Word. Knowledge of the Word sets you free. And faith gives wings to His promises.

 

“The more you grow like this, the more productive and useful you will be in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ,” Peter wrote in conclusion. “But those who fail to develop in this way are short-sighted or blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their old sins” (2 Peter 1:8-9, NLT).

 

If you live with shame and guilt, you’re in bondage to the old person you were before you knew Jesus. You haven’t allowed the Holy Spirit to help you grow in spiritual understanding of what Jesus has actually given you. 

 

Never remain short-sighted in your knowledge and understanding of the grace of Jesus. Make every effort, and He will transform your understanding. The glass no longer has to appear half-empty or even half-full. It is always overflowing. Christ, the hope of glory, lives in you.

 

© 2021 Lynn Lacher

www.lynnlacher.com/2021/10/overflowing.html

Thursday, October 7, 2021

Humbled by His Grace



Our lives in this world are performance-driven. The hunger for acceptance and recognition drives many people. They compete to get ahead and try to earn approval. The need to prove yourself stems from pride. God's Kingdom is the very opposite. 

 

“God opposes the proud,” James wrote, “but gives grace to the humble” (James 4:6).

 

God’s grace is unearned and not based on performance at all. The least is the greatest in His Kingdom. You don’t have to prove yourself to win God’s love and approval, and favor. You received that the moment when you believed by faith in Jesus Christ.

 

Do you believe that living a holy life gives you a better standing with God? You don't need to prove yourself to God. He accepts you based on His merit and not yours. Righteousness is a gift from Jesus (2 Corinthians 5:21). You can earn nothing. The only sin that Jesus rebuked on earth was that of self-righteousness. He never rebuked sinners—only the Scribes and Pharisees. The problem was not that they were doing bad things. They were doing good things but for the wrong reason. They trusted in their own goodness.

 

Living a holy life is not the same as living a grace-filled life. Look at the Pharisees. You can live a holy life for the wrong reason. Holiness does not render grace. Only Jesus gives grace. 

 

No one is good. All of us have fallen short of the glory of God. We can’t expect God to answer our prayers based on our own goodness and how well we have served Him. If we ask God for something because of what we have done, we ask Him to reward our religious performance. And that insults His grace. Doing things to earn God’s grace is promoting ourselves and trying to relate to God based on our best instead of what Jesus has done for us. If we do this, we operate in pride. And pride will never raise anyone up. 

 

“Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time” (1 Peter 5:6, NKJV). 

 

The only way up in God’s kingdom is down. God exalts. We don’t.

 

Humility is our response to the grace of the Cross. It is not demeaning ourselves. Humility is laying “self” down and recognizing the omnipotent power of God. Humbling yourself is not a one-time thing. You have to deal with “self” for the rest of your life. Everything good you have in your life comes from God. If “self” is on your throne, your goodness becomes your own.

 

“A man’s heart plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps” (Proverbs 16:9, NKJV)

 

When you experience God’s unconditional grace and inherent goodness, it humbles your heart. You know you are unable to direct your own life. You quit struggling to prove your worth. You trust in God’s goodness. You believe that His plan is better for you than anything you could have ever dreamed of.

 


 

© 2021 Lynn Lacher

www.lynnlacher.com/2021/10/humbled-by-his-grace.html

Wednesday, October 6, 2021

Within



Jesus spoke to His disciples the night before His crucifixion. 

 

“A little while longer and the world will see Me no more, but you will see Me. Because I live, you will live also. At that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you” (John 14:19-20, NKJV).

 

Jesus was speaking of the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit that assures us of God’s presence within us. God has given us His Spirit as proof that we live in Him and He in us (1 John 4:13).

 

“When I am raised to life again,” Jesus told the disciples, “you will know that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you.”

 

When we really know in our hearts that we are in Him and He is in us, our lives are impacted. We live in the freedom of His grace. We experience the new life He has given us in all its fullness. Doubt and fear may try to rise in our minds but it is easily defeated. We believe that greater is Christ within us than anything that comes against us (1 John 4:4).

 

Is this true about us? That Christ is greater within us? We have been crucified with Christ. It is Christ who lives in us. And we live by the faith of the Son of God who loved us and gave His life for us (Galatians 2:20). To experience the fullness of the new life that is ours, we have to believe what we have received in Christ. The battle to believe what we have been given is within the mind. We have the Holy Spirit to teach us. We must allow the same faith we had for salvation to now convince us of the new life that is ours. Old things have passed away. Fear is done. Doubt is defeated. Christ, the hope of glory (Colossians 1:17), lives within us. All things have become new (2 Corinthians 5:17).

 

“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). 

 

We don’t conform to the image of any belief other than God’s truth. We can’t allow what the world or our natural minds tell us is true. We conform to the image that God has of us by the renewing of our minds with the truth of His Word. Only then are we even able to agree with what God thinks about us and experience the plans He has for our lives.

 

Do you experience God within you? He is in you, and you are in Him. You don’t have to call His glory down. He rises from within you to convince you of the image He has of you. When self becomes less, He rises to be more. His glory is within you. 

 

And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one: I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one.

—John 17:22-23a (NKJV)

 

© 2021 Lynn Lacher

www.lynnlacher.com/2021/10/within.html

 

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