Taste and See

 

Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good;

Blessed is the man who trusts in Him!

—Psalms 34:8 (NKJV)

 

 

God is good all the time. You don’t have to take someone else’s word for it. You can experience God’s goodness for yourself. He doesn’t bestow more goodness on someone else. His goodness is always before you. 

 

“I call to remembrance my song in the night; I meditate within my heart, and my spirit makes diligent search” (Psalms 77:6, NKJV). 

 

Remember the good things God has done in your life. Meditate on them in your heart. Don’t dwell on what the enemy has done. Diligently search God’s Word and allow the Holy Spirit to renew your mind (Romans 12:2) and sanctify you with His truth (John 17:17). Be still and rest in His truth, and know He is God (Psalms 46:10) and that He is good (Mark 10:18). 

 

You have been given the same measure of faith as everyone else who believes in Christ (Romans 12:3). It is your choice to believe God’s truth and exercise your faith. Exercising your faith makes it easier to believe in God’s promises. But exercising your faith means being stretched and challenged and stepping out of your comfort zone. Stepping out in faith is trusting God. And blessed is the man who trusts in Him. He will learn and know and believe who He is in Christ.

 

Experiencing God’s goodness comes from knowing who you are in Christ and believing all that He has done for you and in you. Exercise your faith. The fruit on the tree is not located at the trunk. It is out on the limb. Taste and see that the Lord is good!

 

© 2021 Lynn Lacher

www.lynnlacher.com/2021/11/taste-and-see.html

 

Believe

 

 

Move the unmovable

Break the unbreakable

God we believe

God we believe for it

 

—Believe for It by CeCe Winans

 

 

We praise God for moving the unmovable and breaking the unbreakable. We tell Him that we believe. But do we?

 

If we truly believed what God says is true, we would live as if we believe it—without fear—without a doubt. But we can’t live what we say we believe when deep within we hold on to doubt and fear.

 

God hasn’t given us a spirit of fear but of power, love, and a sound mind (2 Timothy 1:7). A sound mind grounded in the love of God is able to conquer doubt and fear more quickly. The power to exercise faith is available to believe and cooperate with God’s Word.

 

“If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes,” Jesus said to the father of the demon-possessed boy. Immediately the father of the boy cried out, “Lord, I believe! Help my unbelief!” (Mark 9:23-24).

 

It is possible to have belief and unbelief at the same time. When we say we believe the unmovable will move but then exhibit doubt, double-mindedness will keep the unmovable from moving. Doubt will choke out a promise and make the unbreakable impossible to break (James 1:6-7). 

 

God’s kingdom is one that operates in faith. He wants us to believe Him. We can either believe and cooperate with what God says is true or we can believe and live what the world says. We can either believe the opinions of men or the truth of God’s Word. 

 

We can’t allow what others say or the facts of our circumstances to be greater than what God says is true. But if we don’t know the Word, we won’t know what is ours in Christ. And if we don’t know what is ours in Christ, we will believe whatever we see and hear instead of the spiritual truth God has given us. 

 

God’s truth always trumps the facts of our lives. We choose to believe God’s truth is greater than anything else. 

 

Two blind men came to Jesus. 

 

“Do you believe I can do this?” Jesus asked them.

 

They said to Him, “Yes, Lord.”

 

Then He touched their eyes, saying, “According to your faith let it be to you.” And their eyes were opened. (Matthew 9:28-29).

 

According to what we believe we will receive. The unmovable will either remain or be removed.  

 

Keep choosing faith over fear and doubt. When we choose to believe and cooperate with what the Word says is true, our belief in the promises of God matures. Doubt is more easily conquered. When we know the truth of God’s Word—when we have confident assurance of who we are in Christ, we have the faith to believe the impossible. And…

 

From the impossible

We'll see a miracle

God we believe

God we believe for it

 

—Believe For It by CeCe Winans

 

 

© 2021 Lynn Lacher

www.lynnlacher.com/2021/11/believe.html

 

As You Think—You Are

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

—Proverbs 23:7

 

The way you think determines who you believe you are. If you want to believe who you are in Christ, you must allow the Word to positively change the way you think and see yourself. You choose to have a positive attitude about who God says you are. 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 there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy,” Paul writes, “meditate on these things.” (Philippians 4:8b, NKJV). 

 

If you think a positive attitude will happen quickly, you will be disappointed. You must meditate long and hard to change your thought processes 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 Holy Spirit who gives life to the Word (John 6:63).

 

Meditating on the Word of God and allowing the Holy Spirit to change the way you process its Truth is the answer for changing your attitude. Over time, the renewing of your mind by the Word will change your attitude (Romans 12:2). You will live from what you believe instead of what you feel. You will allow the Truth of God’s Word to reveal to you who you are instead of what the world or anyone else tells you.

 

“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). You speak what you believe in your heart—either what is negative and destructive or what is positive and life-changing.

 

Do you want to believe in the goodness of God’s love for you? Do you wish to believe by faith in His promise that you haven’t yet seen or experienced?  His Truth first transforms your mind and then becomes the abundance of your heart. According to the way you think in your heart, you speak what you believe. And according to what you believe, you receive (Matthew 9:29). 

 

When you speak what God says out of the abundance of your heart, you speak the power of His life into whatever your need. You believe no matter what the world says or anyone else says. You believe God is forever faithful to keep His promises and that His inherent goodness always brings forth His blessings in your life.

 

How do you think in your heart? 

 

©2021 Lynn Lacher

www.lynnlacher.com/2021/11/as-you-thinkyou-are.html

 

Christ Earned It All

 

Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

—Romans 5:1 (NKJV)

 

Being justified by faith—believing Jesus earned our right-standing with God—is the only way we can have peace with God. It is also the only way we can have the confidence to enter into His presence (Hebrews 4:16). If we come to God based on our performance, we will have little confidence to come to Him. When we judge our relationship with God based on how well we follow the rules and serve Him, then we make our performance more important than His grace in our lives. 

 

Some believers think that God is going to move in their lives in proportion to how good they are. When they were saved, they trusted God alone for their salvation. Then later they began trusting in their own personal holiness. If they prayed enough—fasted enough—studied the Word enough—tithed enough, surely God would give them a good grade and answer their prayers. 

 

God doesn’t respond to us because of what we have done. He responds because of what Jesus has done. It is impossible for anyone to live up to God’s perfect standard. Only Jesus was perfect enough. Only the grace of Christ brings peace and joy and God’s blessings. And these are based on Christ’s righteousness and not on how holy we are. The law no longer judges our performance. The grace of Jesus has judged our hearts righteous so we can have peace with God. This is why we are no longer under the law but now under grace (Romans 6:14).

 

If you strive to please God by what you do and how good you do it, you will never experience the peace with God that Jesus has given you. You will work yourself into failure and despair. To experience His peace and joy and His blessings, believe who Jesus says you are and the freedom He has earned on your behalf.

 

“Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith” (Philippians 3:8-9, NKJV).

 

There is no worth in anything we have ever earned. Paul counted it as loss. We can’t earn God’s righteousness. Jesus earned it all. The righteousness which comes from God is received by faith in Christ.  

 

You are made right with God by faith in Christ. Quit working to achieve what you have already received by faith, and allow the Holy Spirit to perfect your understanding of your right-standing in Christ. 

 

“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).

 

© 2021 Lynn Lacher

www.lynnlacher.com/2021/11/christ-earned-it-all.html

 

Knowing Who You Are in Christ

 

Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world.

1 John 4:17 (NKJV)

 

The Word is God’s powerful truth of His love for you. In the passage of Ephesians 1:1-14, Paul strongly reveals truths about who you are in Christ. And these truths reveal the fact that when God sees you, He sees Jesus. He sees what Jesus has done in you. You are born-again—completely new and righteous (2 Corinthians 5:17, 21). Your old life is now dead. When you believe this in your heart by faith, you live the power of your new life. Knowing who you are in Christ is knowing how God sees you. As Christ is, so are you in this world (1 John 4:17).

 

People who know who they are in Christ are people of faith. They don’t ever forget the miracle of the grace of Jesus that has set them free. Their identity is not based on the opinions of others or on circumstances that are forever changing. Their identity is based on the finished, redeeming and unchanging work of Christ. 

 

People of faith know how God sees them—holy and set apart—blameless and pure—redeemed and forgiven—covered by His grace—overwhelmingly blessed—chosen to be His before He created the world—called to be His children—lavished by His precious grace—unconditionally loved and accepted. They know that the grace of Jesus has given them a wonderful inheritance of every spiritual blessing. They are confident that their lives will work out according to His plan and purpose (Ephesians 1:1-14). They know that these promises are who they are in Christ and that His identity is theirs. 

 

People who know who they are in Christ are not just satisfied with the status quo.  They are hungry to understand all Jesus has given His life for them to have. They know that what God has for them is as great as what they envision. They choose to believe and walk by faith as if that vision has already come to pass in their lives.

 

People who know who they are in Christ praise God for His love for them. They know He never leaves or forsakes them (Hebrews 13:15). They don’t live by their emotions. They praise Him for what they can’t see but they know is real. The peace of God holds them steady through the ups and downs of life (Philippians 4:6-7). Joy in the faithfulness of God gives them the power to stand strong no matter what happens. Their love for God abounds because they know God loved them first (1 John 4:19). They receive God’s unconditional love without any hesitation because they believe who they are in Christ. When you appreciate what Jesus has given you, it keeps on appreciating and flourishing in your life. You know the value of what He has done for you.

 

People who know who they are in Christ know that God has given them the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him (Ephesians 1:17). They know that God wants to reveal Himself to them. They believe that the Holy Spirit guides them into all truth. They know the Holy Spirit doesn’t speak on His own authority. Whatever He hears from God, He speaks (John 16:13).

 

People who know their identity in Christ know how important it is for them to live by faith. Faith calls for our response (James 2:26). Our believing response to what Christ has done for us pleases Him. His love has been perfected in us. Living our faith boldly with the authority He has given us (Matthew 10:8; 28:18-19) reveals that we believe that as He is so are we in this world (1 John 4:17). We believe that He rewards those who diligently seek to know who they are in His love (Hebrews 11:6). 

 

When we start understanding who we are in Christ, then we start to understand the Resurrection power of the new life within us. What Christ accomplished on the Cross is already ours. We see that His finished work is done. We know that all has been won. And we walk not as the world defines us, but as who He says we are.

 

You are a person of faith. You are everything the Word says you are. Knowing who you are in Christ sets you free to receive the abundant life He came to give you (John 10:10). What are you waiting for?

 

© 2021 Lynn Lacher

www.lynnlacher.com/2021/11/knowing-who-you-are-in-christ.html

 

 

  

Let Your God Love You

 

He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?

—Romans 8:31-32, NKJV

 

Don’t beg God to love you. He never withholds His love. Why would He ever withhold any good thing from you when He gave His only Son so you could have a new and abundant life (John 10:10)?  He wouldn’t because God’s very nature is love (1 John 4:8).

 

It is hard to draw near to a Father when you aren’t certain if He loves you. If you believe God takes away or harms you for an unknown purpose, then you doubt your standing in His eyes. Trust is then very difficult, and fear springs up destroying any intimacy you might have. 

 

God is love (1 John 4:8) He does not harm you. He never changes. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever (Hebrews 13:8). God does nothing to make you question His love. That is the enemy interfering and trying to rob you of the freedom God has for you. If the enemy can convince you that God will harm you for a greater good, then you will believe a lie that will keep you in perpetual bondage. And you will never find fulfillment in God’s grace.

 

The true nature of God is unconditional love and grace. If He did not spare His own Son out of love for you, why would He use harm to win your love?  Why would He not give you good things to encourage you and build your trust?

 

And we wonder why people are afraid of God?  They’ve been told falsely by religion that they can never be good enough to please God. They have been told they must work to earn His approval. If you want an intimate relationship with your Heavenly Father, you only need to believe that Jesus’ love for you on the Cross was enough, and there is nothing more you have to do to be accepted into the Beloved of God (Ephesians 1:6).

 

God loves and is pleased with His Son. He sees His Son when He sees you. He loves and is pleased with you. Quit listening to religion, and let God love you.

 

© 2021 Lynn Lacher

www.lynnlacher.com/2021/11/let-your-god-love-you.html

 

Your 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's life. 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 all 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 your revelation of God’s love in your heart, nothing is the same. All things are absolutely new.

© 2021 Lynn Lacher

www.lynnlacher.com/2021/11/your-revelation-of-gods-love.html

 

The Things of God

 

 

—However, we speak wisdom among those who are mature, yet not the wisdom of this age, nor of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the ages for our glory, which none of the rulers of this age knew; for had they known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.

—1Corinthians 2:7-8 (NKJV)

 

 

God’s wisdom is not a mystery that He hides “from” His children. His wisdom is hidden “for” His children. The Holy Spirit offers God’s wisdom beginning with the revelation that we all have the need of a Savior. If we put our faith in Jesus and receive this truth in our hearts, we receive the mind of Christ (1 Corinthians 2:16). We can have the revelation of the things of God that we believe. But if we discard the revelation wisdom that the Holy Spirit tries to impart to us, then God’s wisdom remains a mystery. Paul declared that Jesus Christ was both the power and wisdom of God (1 Corinthians 1:24). But God’s power and wisdom are only for God’s children in Christ. His wisdom is hidden from those who don’t know Him. The Holy Spirit is the only one who grants access to the wisdom found in Christ (1 Corinthians 2:13). And God’s wisdom is only spiritually discerned (1 Corinthians 2:14).

 

The enemy can never spiritually discern the things of God. If the people the enemy used to crucify Christ had had any spiritual perception, they would never have crucified him. Jesus had stated many times that He would be crucified and would rise from the dead. When they crucified Jesus, evil defeated itself. What the enemy tried to accomplish actually brought about God’s plan of salvation. 

 

—But as it is written: “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.” But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God.

—1 Corinthians 2:9-10 (NKJV)

 

1 Corinthians 2:9 quotes from Isaiah 64:4 and from a time when God was a mystery to His people and His ways could not be understood. But Jesus changed all this for those who believe in Him. Fulfilling the Old Covenant law, Jesus became a curse for our sins (Galatians 3:13) and gave us right-standing with God. 

 

Many believe that this New Testament verse (1 Corinthians 2:9) says that we can’t know the things of God. But when read in context with the other verses and in the understanding of what Christ has done for us, that is not what this verse says. Verses 9-10 reveal that what keeps us from knowing the things of God is not receiving revelation knowledge from the Holy Spirit. When we only use human wisdom, we can’t understand the things of God. We are blind to them. But 1 Corinthians 2:10 clearly shows that God has granted us revelation knowledge through the instruction of the Holy Spirit. We have to believe what is ours in Christ and open our hearts to receive. 

 

—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. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God.

—1 Corinthians 2:11-12 (NKJV)

 

In 1 Corinthians 2:11, Paul says that just like no one really knows the deep thoughts of anyone else no one really knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. We have received the Spirit of God, but we must be totally reliant on the Holy Spirit to give us God’s wisdom. In verse 12, Paul explains that if we have received the Holy Spirit, we have an open door to His wisdom. Observe in verse 12 that the Holy Spirit “freely” gives us His revelation. We don’t have to beg or strive to get what is freely ours. 

 

The Holy Spirit wants to give us the revelation of Christ more than we want to receive it (John 14:26, 15:26, and 16:13). But the revelation from the Holy Spirit just doesn’t fall on us. We have to be still and quiet and listen to what the Spirit reveals (Psalms 46:10). We have to receive what is ours in Christ. 

 

—These things we also speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. 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. But he who is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is rightly judged by no one. For “who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct Him?” But we have the mind of Christ.

—1 Corinthians 2:13-16 (NKJV)

 

The things of God are not foolishness. They are spiritually understood and are life and peace (Romans 8:6). You have received the mind of Christ. Be still and listen—not with your natural-thinking mind but with His spiritual one. Your natural eye may not have seen or your natural ear heard, but Christ within you knows and wants you to receive the wisdom that God liberally gives (James 1:5).

 

The things of God are not hidden from you. They are hidden for you. You have received the Spirit who is from God, that you might know the things that have been freely given to you by God. Open yourself to the Holy Spirit and receive.

 

© 2021 Lynn Lacher

www.lynnlacher.com/2021/11/the-things-of-god.html

The Gift of His Love

 

Who dares accuse us whom God has chosen for his own? No one—for God himself has given us right standing with himself. Who then will condemn us? No one—for Christ Jesus died for us and was raised to life for us, and he is sitting in the place of honor at God’s right hand, pleading for us.

—Romans 8:33-34 (NKJV).

 

 

Even before you knew Him, God chose to love you (1 John 4:19). You responded to His gift of love on Calvary, and He delivered you from the power of darkness and moved you into the Kingdom of His beloved Son (Colossians 1:13-14). God is your Father. You are no orphan. You belong to Him (Romans 8:15). 

 

Christ has destroyed the works of the enemy (Hebrews 2:14). The enemy has no power over you (Luke 10:19). No one has any authority to condemn you—not satan or the opinions of men. God is the one who validates and justifies you (Romans 8:33).

 

Not only is your sin crucified and buried with Christ, everything about you is delivered from the power of darkness. You are reborn and raised with Him in new life (Romans 6:1-4). You are whole and new in His Grace. Your spirit has been reborn with the Spirit of the living God (John 3:6). You are a new person with a new lineage (2 Corinthians 5:17). 

 

The enemy will try to tell you that you are the same—that you will never receive the promises of God, but the love of God says differently. God is the author of life (John 14:6), and the enemy is the author of death (John 10:10). You are delivered from the enemy’s clutches. You are saved, forgiven, healed, delivered, and complete in God.

 

Jesus Christ, who was dead and then raised to life, now sits at the right hand of God interceding for you (John 17:20). Jesus doesn’t beg for His blood to be enough for you. Jesus knows what the gift of His life accomplished—that it was enough. He pleads His own blood for you. He presents you clean to the Father and reminds Him that the work of the Cross is finished—that His blood was enough.

 

Jesus doesn’t intercede for you out of weakness. He intercedes with God with the power of Resurrection Life. Neither do you need to beg God out of your weakness, because in your weakness, Jesus is strong (2 Corinthians 12:9). Jesus has given you authority over anything or any lie that comes against the redemption He gave His life for you to have (Luke 9:1, 10:19). 

 

Your prayers remind God that Jesus has made you clean and whole with the gift of His blood for you. When you believe God's love for you, you praise Him for the forgiveness of sins, healing, and the abundant life His Son bought. You don’t need to beg God for His love and provision when He has already given His life for you to be made new and complete in Him. Praise God for all He has done (Hebrews 13:15). You have victory because Jesus was victorious. 

 

“Since he did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won’t he also give us everything else” (Romans 8:32, NKJV)?

 

It is so important to understand that God’s true nature is love (1 John 4:8). You are loved. God loves you so much that He did not even spare the life of His Son. And if He let His Son die for you, what else would He possibly hold from you? He already gave you the most exorbitant gift. Nothing else can surpass it. God would never give you the life of His Son, and then hold back the gifts of redemption that Jesus died for you to have.  Why would He hold back what you need to live? He feeds and takes care of the birds of the air (Matthew 6:26), and He clothes the lilies of the field (Matthew 6:28-29). Are not you more important than these? Why would God hold back your forgiveness, your deliverance, your provision, or healing?

 

“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us” (Romans 8:35,37, NKJV).

 

Nothing separates you from the love of God. You fight the power of darkness with the power of God's Resurrection love. You fight sin. You fight sickness. You fight fear. You fight hardship and persecution. When you know how much God loves you, you fight every lie that comes against you with the Truth of Calvary. In all these lies, you are more than a conqueror. Every sin, symptom, sickness, emotion, feeling, and attack of the enemy is defeated. You more than conquer the enemy with a revelation of God’s love. Your salvation is thorough, and it is enough. You are forgiven of sin and healed through and through with His miraculous grace.

 

“For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:38-39, NKJV).

 

Are you persuaded—are you convinced—that nothing that comes against you—no circumstance—no power of darkness—no lie—nothing in all creation can separate you from the love of God you have received in Jesus Christ? Nothing can separate you from the power of God's love. When you believe this Truth—that you are secure in Christ’s finished work of grace—you are convinced of God's love. You live the confidence that His love gives you. You persevere and believe in what you are promised.

 

Hold on to God’s Truth, and claim the promises of your new life in Christ. He is the Lord who completely restores—your healer of sin and sickness and fear and grief and the pains of life. God’s will for you is living life in the fullness of His love and grace. Persevere and believe by faith. God supplies all that you need according to His riches in glory (Philippians 4:19). God lacks nothing. You receive from the bounty of His overwhelming love for you.

 

“For all the promises of God in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of God through us” (2 Corinthians 1:20, NKJV).

 

© 2021 Lynn Lacher

www.lynnlacher.com/2021/11/the-gift-of-his-love.html

 

Chosen to Be His

 

—Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure. So we praise God for the glorious grace he has poured out on us who belong to his dear Son.

—Ephesians 1:4-6 (NLT)

 

Before God made the world, we were chosen to know Him and to have fellowship with Him. But the powerful God who made us was pure and holy, and sin separated us from His presence. God loved us so much that He made a way for us to have an intimate and loving relationship with Him. He sent His dear Son to us—not to condemn us but to save us. (John 3:16-17). When we accept Christ into our hearts, God adopts us as His own. 

 

—And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, “Abba, Father!” Therefore you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.

—Galatians 4:6-7 (NKJV)

 

The Holy Spirit within us cries out to God saying, “Abba.” “Abba” is a term of endearment that indicates a deeply loving and intimate relationship with God. The presence of the Holy Spirit within us proves that we are the children of God. God is our Abba Father—our loving “Daddy.” It is a spirit of sonship, and it brings a sense of worthiness that we are at peace with God. Knowing God loves and accepts us is the opposite of feeling we are slaves to God. The thought of being a slave to God creates a sense that we need to earn the privilege to be in His presence. And there is no way to be at peace in the presence of God if we believe we are not worthy in His eyes.

 

—For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.”

—Romans 8:15 (NKJV)

 

The law made God our judge but the Grace of Jesus made God our Father. We are no longer under the law but under Grace (Romans 6:14). God desires for us to know Him not as our God who judges but as our Father who loves us. As His adopted children, we don’t need to fear His judgment. He doesn’t want us to have a tense and uncomfortable relationship with Him. God longs for us to know that we have the freedom to boldly come to Him in our time of need (Hebrews 4:16).

 

God chose us to be His sons and daughters. We have a privileged status of “sonship” because of Christ. The sonship that Christ has given us is found in three ways, and we were created to need these three things—a secure identity, acceptance, and approval. Without these things, we cannot live peaceful lives. But no person can give us a sense of worth. Only in Christ do we find our true worth in God.

 

When you believe you are not worthy enough, you don’t walk in the redemption of Christ. You try to find your identity, acceptance, and approval in people and circumstances instead of the Beloved Son of God who has already made you worthy. The law makes us insecure, but the Grace of Jesus gives us unshakeable security. And Christ is within you crying out that you are no longer slaves to the law, but a child of His Grace. 

 

—To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.

—Colossians 1:27 (NKJV)

 

The love of God has been made known to us in Christ. Christ lives within us, the hope of glory. We receive our identity, our acceptance, and approval from being His and being in Him. As Jesus is, so are we in this world (1 John 4:17). When God sees us, He sees the identity of His Son. Just as much as God loved and accepted and approved of His Son, so He loves, accepts, and approves of us.

 

Who we believe we are in Christ—our identity in Him—our sense of worthiness in Him—makes all the difference between living a defeated or victorious life.

 

© 2021 Lynn Lacher

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