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Monday, October 31, 2022

Healing Freedom of God's Grace



 

It is hard to draw near to your Father when you aren’t certain if He loves you. If you believe God takes away or harms you for an unknown purpose or for a greater good, then you doubt where you stand in your relationship with Him. You doubt the right-standing Jesus died to give you. You doubt the way God thinks of you. Trust is then very difficult, and fear springs up destroying any intimacy you might have. 

 

God is love (1 John 4:8). God does nothing that goes against who He is. He does nothing to harm you. He never changes. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever (Hebrews 13:8). He certainly does nothing to make you question if He loves you. That is the enemy trying to kill, steal, and destroy the abundant life God has for you (John 10:10). 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 the life of His own Son out of love for you, why would He use harm to win your love?  Why would He not give you what you need to encourage you and build your trust?

 

We wonder why some Christians are afraid of God! They falsely believe they must work to earn and keep God’s acceptance and love. To have an intimate relationship with your Heavenly Father, you need to believe in your heart that Jesus’ sacrifice for you on the Cross was enough and that there is nothing more you have to do to win God’s love (Ephesians 1:6). Jesus won it for you. To live in intimacy with God, we continually “draw near (to Him) with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water” (Hebrews 10:22, NKJV).

 

When you believe in your heart that you are washed clean in the blood of His sacrifice, you know how much God loves you. You have God’s power that overcame your evil conscience. You know there is nothing to do to convince God to love you. He already loved you by becoming your sin and giving you His righteousness. He has given you everything. He held nothing back. You are at peace in the revelation of His love for you.

 

God loves and is pleased with His Son. He sees His Son when He sees you. He loves and rejoices over you with singing (Zephaniah 3:17). What you have with God is not a religion. It is not a list of works to perform to win God’s love. You have a relationship with God, and He wants you to know Him as He knows you. 

 

Learn in His Word how God sees you. Discover what it means that you are blameless and holy in God’s eyes because of Christ’s sacrifice. When you know who you are in Christ, you believe in your heart His sacrifice was enough. Your lifetime of sin has been completely punished in the body of Christ on the cross. Your sin-consciousness is crucified with Christ. You are free of its condemnation. And you can draw near to God with full assurance of faith. 

 

“Who condemns you?” Christ asked the woman condemned by her sin and her accusers. 

 

Knowing her accusers were gone, she answered, “No one.”

 

“Neither do I,” Jesus told her. “Go and sin no more.”

 (John 8:10-11)

 

Where sin abounds, His grace abounds more (Romans 5:20). When you really believe in your heart that you are completely and forever forgiven—washed clean—made new in His grace—have no debt to pay—then sin no longer has power. The love of God in Christ Jesus has given you everything you need to live a righteous and holy life. When you believe that His grace was sufficient for your sins—your sickness—your need, you choose to live in the fullness of His grace free of a conscience that condemns you. His grace is sufficient for everything (2 Corinthians 12:9). 

 

Christ’s perfect work is finished (John 19:30). When you believe there is nothing more to be done—that you do not need to win your Father’s love, you are free of condemnation, guilt, and shame. You are continually renewed in your mind by His truth and love for you. You continually put on the new nature Christ has given you—the righteous one that He created to be yours (Ephesians 4:23-24).

 

And you live in the healing freedom of God’s grace. 

 

© 2022 Lynn Lacher

www.lynnlacher.com/2022/10/healing-freedom-of-gods-grace.html

  

 

Friday, October 28, 2022

No Fear in His Love

 

 

There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love.

—1 John 4:18, NKJV

 

 

The person who lives by fear doesn’t live in the freedom of God’s love. Fear torments them because they don’t understand the depth of His love. They live in bondage to guilt and shame from which Jesus died to free them. God’s Word says that there is no fear in God’s love—that the perfect love of Christ casts out fear. To live this truth, we have to believe it.

 

Are you one of those who live in fear and don’t experience freedom because they don’t understand the depth of God’s love for them?  When you don't wholly believe in your heart that the righteousness of Jesus is yours, you struggle to pay for the guilt that is no longer yours to pay. You live in defeat instead of knowing you are victorious. It is time to understand and believe what the gift of grace has given you—a new life in Jesus (2 Corinthians 5:17). Learn who you are in Him. Jesus has given you His righteousness (2 Corinthians 5:21). He sees you clean and without sin. It is time for your belief in your identity to be changed by the power of His Resurrection. 

 

Only the Holy Spirit can renew you in the spirit of your mind (Ephesians 4:23). Only God’s Word can transform the way you think and the way you perceive truth (Romans 12:2). The new life Jesus gave you when you were saved becomes real in your mind when the Spirit changes your understanding to His. Your mind is where you understand, and your heart is where you believe you are righteous (Romans 10:10). 

 

You will live who you think and believe you are. If you believe you still need to win God’s love, then you miss the whole point of why Jesus died to save you. You will live without freedom and in bondage to the old person you were. You will become frustrated trying to earn God’s love that Jesus already earned for you. You will strive and fail. You will burn out. But when God transforms your understanding of who you are in Christ, you experience the new life you received at Calvary (2 Corinthians 5:17). There is peace only He gives (Philippians 4:6-7). There is no guilt. You have nothing to prove. You believe who Jesus says you are. 

 

Are you tired of the old roller coaster ride of fear and shame and guilt? In Jesus, you are victorious over all of these! You have made it in Jesus. He gave you His life to secure your freedom. He hasn’t given you a spirit of fear but of power, love, and a sound mind (2 Timothy 1:7). Power, love, and a sound mind are yours. You receive what you believe by faith.

 

Allow the Holy Spirit to transform your understanding of the new person you are in Christ. Let Him teach you who you are and change the way you think. Believe in your heart who Christ says you are. Take His identity as your own. 

 

To be free and not live in freedom only torments you.  Don’t hold on to fear and shame. Quit fighting the battles that have already been won. You have the power of the Holy Spirit to defeat the lies and the fears that have claimed your mind. Believe in the perfect love of Jesus for you, and live in the freedom of His love.

 

 

© 2022 Lynn Lacher

www.lynnlacher.com/2022/10/no-fear-in-his-love.html

 

 

Thursday, October 27, 2022

Believe Christ in You


 

Then Jesus answered and said, “O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with you? Bring him here to Me.” And Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of him; and the child was cured from that very hour.

 

Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, “Why could we not cast it out?”

 

So Jesus said to them, “Because of your unbelief; for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you. However, this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.”

—Matthew 17:17-21 (NKJV)

 

 

In Matthew 17 (and also in Mark 9), Jesus had just returned from the Mount of Transfiguration with Peter, James, and John to a father who begged him to cast a demon out of his son. The father told Jesus that the disciples had been unable to cast out the demon.

 

Jesus was exasperated with His disciples, and He called them faithless and perverse. He had already given them the power to cast out all unclean spirits (Matthew 10:1, 8). He expected His disciples to be able to cast the demon out of this boy. But when faced with the opposition of evil, the disciples just didn’t believe. How about us? When we are faced with evil, do we believe in Christ’s authority in us?

 

Jesus immediately cast the demon out of the boy. The disciples asked Jesus why they couldn’t cast it out.

 

“Because of your unbelief!” Jesus said. “If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you have enough faith to move mountains. Nothing will be impossible to you. However, this kind of unbelief does not go out except by prayer and fasting.” (Matthew 17:20-21, Mark 9:28-29).

 

Jesus wasn’t saying in Matthew 17:21 that there are certain demons that only come out by prayer and fasting. There never was or ever will be a demon that the name of Jesus or faith in the name of Jesus won’t cast out. Jesus said in Matthew 17:21 that prayer and fasting cast out this kind of unbelief the disciples had. 

 

Unbelief kept the disciples from casting out the boy’s demon. Unbelief will also keep us from overcoming the enemy. What kind of unbelief did the disciples have? 

 

There are three kinds of unbelief: unbelief from ignorance, unbelief from wrong information, and unbelief that rises from what we feel or what makes sense to the natural mind. Unbelief that is the result of ignorance or erroneous teaching can be eliminated by receiving the truth of God’s Word.  However, the unbelief that hindered the disciples in casting the demon out of this boy was a “natural” type of unbelief. It came from what they felt—not from what Jesus had told them was true.

 

Just like us, life had taught the disciples to rely on what they experienced—what they could see, hear, smell, touch, and taste. They were simply dominated by the natural senses more than by the truth of what Jesus had told them—that He had given them the power over evil. The Holy Spirit tells us, just as Jesus told the disciples, that the way we deal with this kind of “natural” or “feeling” unbelief is by prayer and fasting. But it is not the acts of prayer and fasting that wipe out unbelief. It is the truth accomplished in our hearts as a result. If we focus on the acts of prayer and fasting instead of trusting in the truths they give us, then we trust in our own ability over God’s ability.

 

Prayer and fasting change the way we receive the Word from the Holy Spirit. They change what we believe and give us spiritual insight into what is really true in God’s realm. The callousness of our natural mind to things of the Spirit—our ability to understand what we haven’t experienced—is affected by prayer and fasting. Knowledge is the solution to not knowing the Word and also the solution to erroneous teaching. But knowledge by itself will not rid us of the “natural” unbelief that comes from what we feel and sense.

 

The natural man does not receive the things of God. They are foolish to him (1 Corinthians 2:14). We connect with God spirit to Spirit—not by what we feel—not by the “natural” mind. We commune and worship with God in spirit and truth (John 4:24). A heart change from unbelieving to believing comes as a result of receiving the revealed truth of the Word by the Holy Spirit. 

 

God’s Word is truth and it is life. The flesh—what our “natural” mind understands—accomplishes nothing (John 6:63). We don’t “earn” the power that Jesus has given us through prayer or fasting or any act that we perform. Jesus earned everything. We can’t receive the truth of who we are in Christ or the authority He has given us through our senses—through our “natural” understanding or through what we do. We receive God’s truth spirit to Spirit. We can’t change the unbelief of our “natural” emotions from what we feel to the peace of spiritual truth by just wishing it to be so. We receive an understanding of God’s truth and conform to that truth when our minds are renewed spirit to Spirit (Romans 12:2, Ephesians 4:23). 

 

“But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come.” (John 16:13).

 

Jesus Christ has revealed Himself in us. The Holy Spirit continually reveals this new life Christ has given us. 

 

“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)

 

We have the mind of Christ to understand (1 Corinthians 2:16). Let’s receive His spiritual understanding of who we are and what is ours. Let’s believe and walk by faith and not by sight (2 Corinthians 5:7).

 

© 2022 Lynn Lacher

www.lynnlacher.com/2022/10/believe-christ-in-you.html

 

Wednesday, October 26, 2022

What You Think is What You Believe


 

 

But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.

—Hebrews 11:6 (NKJV)

 

Your faith is what pleases God. He rewards those who diligently seek Him with all their heart. And persistent seeking of His truth rewards you. The truth of His Word takes root in your heart and comes alive within you. You believe without seeing because you believe His promises. 

 

The Word is powerful within you when you act upon it and choose to live its truth—even when what you experience is not seen, heard, or felt. When you take what God has given in His Word and make it your own, your attitude about your life changes. You see beyond what you experience.

 

Just wishing that God’s truth is yours does not make it your own. Wavering in believing what God promises fills you with fear and doubt. Fear robs you of a sound mind and makes you question if God loves you enough to meet your need. God meets your need. It is met in His truth and in His way. You take possession of His truth and make it your own truth. And then it becomes powerful in your life.

 

When you believe God, you see with faith what has not been seen or experienced. Believing His truth pleases God, and He rewards you according to what you believe (Matthew (9:29). If you believe His Word and envision His promise, you receive its benefit. If you don’t believe, then you miss the abundant life Jesus died to give you.

 

To be carnal or naturally minded is death to your faith. To be spiritually minded is life and peace (Romans 8:6). Draw a line in the sand, and choose to believe. Faith comes by hearing the Word of God—not with your mind but with your heart (Romans 10:17). Walk by faith and not by what you see (2 Corinthians 5:7). If you doubt, you will never receive what God promises (James 1:6-8). But when you believe, nothing is impossible with God (Mark 9:23). Reach out believing—without doubting—and seek Him with all your heart. You believe before you receive.

 

Do you believe that God loves you and rewards those who seek Him? As you think in your heart, that is what you believe (Proverbs 23:7).

 

© 2022 Lynn Lacher

www.lynnlacher.com/2022/10/what-you-think-is-what-you-believe.html

 

 

 

 

Tuesday, October 25, 2022

Get Wisdom



 

Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom. And in all your getting, get understanding.

—Proverbs 4:7 (NKJV)

 

“Wisdom,” Greg Mohr writes in his book, Walking in Wisdom, “is the grace to prioritize and correctly apply knowledge for the greater common good. It is the ability to know what to do, to know what principle to apply in a situation that will produce life, good fruit, and leave people better off.”

 

Wisdom is not just knowledge or understanding. Knowledge gathers facts and truth. Understanding organizes facts and truth. Wisdom correctly applies those facts and truths. When we understand what knowledge teaches, we organize it in ways that we can access it. Wisdom applies our understanding of facts and truth so we can apply the right principle of truth to people and situations. 

 

“If any of you lacks wisdom,” James wrote, “let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways” (James 1:5-8, NKJV).

 

When you ask for God’s wisdom, He gives if freely. He does not judge you for asking. If you ask in faith believing without doubting, you will receive wisdom. If you doubt the Holy Spirit will reveal wisdom, then you will not receive it. Without God’s wisdom, you will lack “the ability to know what to do, to know what principle to apply in a situation that will produce life, good fruit, and leave people better off.”

 

Solomon realized the value of wisdom after becoming King of Israel. He asked God for it so that he could rule effectively. 

 

“Now give me wisdom and knowledge, that I may go out and come in before this people; for who can judge this great people of yours” (2 Chronicles 7:10, NKJV)?  

 

The principles of God’s truth are important in our lives but they are of little effect without God’s wisdom to apply them. When we seek God’s wisdom above what the world pursues, not only will we find it, but other things will also be added to our lives.

 

“Do not forsake her,” Solomon declared about wisdom, “and she will preserve you. Love her, and she will keep you. Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom. And in all your getting, get understanding. Exalt her, and she will promote you; she will bring you honor, when you embrace her” (Proverbs 4:6-8, NKJV).

 

Love God’s wisdom. It will keep and protect you. It will give you understanding and honor you. Wisdom will hold you in the grace of God and fill you with the discernable presence of God.

 

There are revelations yet to be known—ideas to be discovered—solutions to difficult problems just waiting to be found. There are lives and relationships waiting to be restored. God yearns for His Word to be known—understanding to be found—and wisdom to be applied. 

 

Wisdom is the primary thing you need to experience a spiritually fulfilling life. Know the Word. Ask and expect the Holy Spirit to reveal the understanding of God’s truth. Seek God’s wisdom to apply the correct principle of truth to the right situation at the right time. 

 

I pray “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).

 

 

© 2022 Lynn Lacher

www.lynnlacher.com/2022/10/get-wisdom.html

 

Monday, October 24, 2022

His Passion

 

 

God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

—Romans 5:8 (NIV)

 

 

We are God’s passion. Jesus gave His highest for us. There is nothing more He could have given. His passionate love bought us healing from sin, and sickness, and gave us the gift of His righteousness. He held nothing back from us. His fervent grace was costly. It cost Him everything, and even though His grace cost us nothing, it yearns within us to love as He first loved us.

 

Have we allowed His grace to change our perspective from the old person we once were? Have we allowed our failures, problems, and even sins that were crucified with Christ to hold us back? When we believe in our hearts that His passionate Grace is completely ours, we take possession of it. We are overwhelmed, overjoyed, and overflowing with His love. The old person is gone. There is nothing to hold us back. We are free to love as He first loved us (1 John 4:19). There is nothing we would ever deny Him. His passionate, forgiving, and healing love flows without hesitation through us.

 

In 1 Kings 19:21, Elisha, having been chosen by Elijah, walks away from all he has had. He destroys what is left in his life that might draw him back from his call. He accepts the cloak and purpose of His Master without hesitation. Jesus calls us to let go of the bondage of the past that once defined us. He calls us to let go of what has kept us from understanding the righteousness He has given—to believe by faith in the miracle of His finished work of grace. With that surrender, we receive the revelation of who He is in us. We are fueled by His passionate love. On the Cross, He declared that we were His ultimate passion. When we believe in who He declares us to be, He becomes our ultimate passion. We walk away from all we have believed ourselves to be. We accept who Jesus says we are.

 

Do you believe what His passion has given you? Abandon who you have believed yourself to be. Believe who He says you are. Just as Elisha accepted Elijah’s cloak, accept Christ’s identity as your own. Hold nothing back. Surrendering is only costly when you do not believe what He has given you. When you believe the truth that you are new and lack nothing in His grace, you flow in His love and power. You know your Father is in you. You hold nothing back. With your surrender comes the greatest fulfillment—living in the fullness His Grace has given you.

 

While you were yet a sinner, Christ gave His life for you. His passion declared His love for you. You are now a new person in Christ’s love because He held nothing back. You hold nothing back when you believe the depth of His passion for you. Your whole perspective changes. You believe that He first loved you. Your love for Him just overflows. It cannot be contained. His unconditional love in you fuels your passion to love as He first loved you.

 

When we believe who we are in Christ, we take possession of our right standing with God (Ephesians 4:24). We put on our Master’s cloak. We cannot make ourselves live God’s passion. But when we surrender to His passion for us—when we allow His love to take possession of us, we experience His passion. We hold nothing back. We love because He first loved us (1 John 4:19). 

 

The more you know who Christ is in you, the greater His love is within you. You become less as He becomes more. 

 

© 2022 Lynn Lacher

www.lynnlacher.com/2022/10/his-passion.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Friday, October 21, 2022

Come Confidently




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)

 

The only way we come to God is in humility. God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble (James 4:6). Humility before God doesn’t demand anything based on what you do or your accomplishments or your worth. Humility is also not begging and groveling for God to answer your prayer. Humility before God is coming to Him in confidence knowing that He gives mercy and grace in your time of need. It is knowing the worth Christ has placed on your life.

 

When you come boldly to the throne of grace, 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 Christ. You come knowing your right-standing with God. When you come to God knowing and believing in your heart the truth of what the blood of Jesus purchased for you, you have confidence in your relationship with Him.

 

“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?  When you believe who you are in Christ, you are at peace in your relationship with God. You walk in the freedom His grace has given you. When you have a need, you come freely to God without fear of reproach or judgment or retribution. You come knowing what the love of Christ has given you. You come knowing your Father loves you and you will receive His mercy and grace to help you. You come with a heart of praise because you believe.

 

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. You don’t need to beg God to give you anything that He has already provided in the gift of salvation. You don’t need to beg for forgiveness, or healing or your needs to be supplied. Jesus paid the price for all these things long before you were born or wrestled with sin or illness or need. 

 

“But He gives more grace. Therefore He says: ‘God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble’” (James 4:6, NKJV).

 

You have received the grace of Christ. God pours more grace into the lives of those who have confidence in their relationship with Him and walk in true humility (James 4:6). Present your needs to God with confidence knowing Christ has made you worthy to receive the petitions that you have asked of Him.

 

© 2022 Lynn Lacher

www.lynnlacher.com/2022/10/come-confidently.html

 

 

Wednesday, October 19, 2022

Joy Unspeakable and Full of Glory



 

 

When all I see is the battle, You see my victory.

When all I see is the mountain, You see a mountain moved.

When all I see are the ashes, You see the beauty.

When all I see is a cross, God, You see the empty tomb.

—from The Battle Belongs to You by Phil Wickham

 

When I only see the battle—the mountain—and the ashes of my life, then all I see is the cross. But when I see what you see, Lord—when I see my life from your perspective, I see your victory. I see the mountain moved. I see the living beauty of your Grace because I see what you see—an empty tomb. 

 

When all I see is the cross, I forget the Resurrection power of the empty tomb. The same battle is waged again and again. The mountain is always in front of me. My vision perpetually sees the ashes. But when I allow your truth to challenge my understanding—when I dare to gain your perspective, then I believe the victory has already been won on the cross. The battle becomes nothing. In my spirit, I’m not the old person I once was. I have new life in you.

 

Convince me of who I am in you, Jesus. Show me, Holy Spirit, how to gain your perspective. My perspective is all flesh. Your perspective is all spirit and life. Reveal to me the new person you have made me. I desire only to see and hear with your understanding—to know myself as you have made me.

 

There had to be a cross for me to know the Resurrection power of the empty tomb. Lord, when I fail to believe that I am your finished work, I miss the miracle of the empty tomb. I remain defeated and powerless to stand strong against the enemy in the battles of life. But when I allow you to teach me the person you have made me, I receive understanding of your perfect work of grace on the cross. When I see that the war and all its battles have already been won—that everything is finished—done, I rest in the peace and the power of the empty tomb. I have nothing to prove. I just receive by faith what you have given me. 

 

“I do not cease to give thanks for you,” Paul writes to me, “making mention of you in my prayers: 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 which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come” (Ephesians 1:16-21, NKJV).

 

Only you reveal truth, Holy Spirit! Thank you for continually imparting a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of your Word! Reveal yourself to all who are hungry enough to seek and seek and seek again. When we seek, we find the revelation of your amazing Grace. Your finished work on the cross is done. We live in the power of your Resurrection life. Death is defeated. Fear has no power. Sickness is conquered. We receive what is ours by faith. We live your peace with joy unspeakable and full of glory!

 

© 2022 Lynn Lacher

www.lynnlacher.com/2022/10/joy-unspeakable-and-full-of-glory.html

 

 

 

 

Tuesday, October 18, 2022

His Treasure in You


 

 

But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us. We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed— always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. 

—1 Corinthians 4:7-10 (NKJV)

 

 

The love of God has given us the greatest treasure. Another way of defining the treasure we have been given is “Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Colossians 1:27). Paul was speaking of our lives being joined with Christ and all the benefits it affords. This truly is a treasure, far beyond anything this earth or any man can give us. This treasure was purchased with the precious blood of Christ (1 Peter 1:18-19).

 

The earthen vessels that Paul speaks of are our physical bodies. 2 Corinthians 4:7 compares the worthlessness of our bodies to the matchless value of Christ in us. Our bodies are like clay pots that contain the precious treasure of Christ. Paul says hard times and things might come against us but they can’t destroy the treasure of His grace within us. 

 

In 2 Corinthians 4:8-9, Paul wasn’t saying God was the source of these troubles. He wasn’t saying the Lord was performing some kind of redemptive work using these problems. Paul was only listing things that are shared by everyone. But he also showed how God’s power makes us more than conquerors in every difficulty (Romans 8:37). What Paul shows us in these verses is how the credit for the power to live a victorious life goes to God and not to us.

 

Paul came into situations where he didn’t know what to do and even where there seemed to be no escape. But He knew he was never without God’s help. His earthly reasoning didn’t have the answers. But Paul wasn’t just a mind and body. Paul had Christ living in his born-again spirit, and he drew on the power of the Holy Spirit from within. He had the treasure of God’s grace living in him, and he drew from that treasure by faith. This kept him from despair and discouragement. Our problems or even our lack of problems should never determine how we feel. We can draw from the treasure of Christ within us—the power of the Holy Spirit—to overcome every situation and to know what the Holy Spirit asks of us (Romans 8:37, 1 Corinthians 15:57). 

 

It is only when we die to ourselves that Christ can manifest His life in us. God doesn’t give us problems to prove that we are His. Satan is the one who afflicts and attempts to steal God’s truth from our hearts (John 10:10). Godly believers are constantly persecuted because of their stand for Christ. When we lean on Christ, we experience the life of Christ and His power in our lives.

 

Paul endured his afflictions for the sake of others. He denied himself so that others could receive the grace of Jesus. Throughout his ministry, many made Christ the Lord of their lives. And this was enough reward for Paul. In dying to self his inner man was being renewed every day. When we allow our inner man to be transformed by the truth of who we are in Christ, we conform to God’s image of us (Romans 12:2). 

 

Paul died to himself so Christ might live through him (Galatians 2:20). Knowing his position in Christ and all the benefits it gave Him, Paul was able to yield to God. Knowing your position in Christ is crucial in order to yield to Him. You yield to God when you trust Him more than yourself. Dying to self—dying to your need to prove yourself, magnifies God’s position in your life. And knowing who you are in Christ gives you God’s perspective. You have His power within you to show your power is from Him and not from you. You have His faith to believe that Christ is greater in you than anything that comes against you. 

 

Do you believe His treasure is within you?

 

© 2022 Lynn Lacher

www.lynnlacher.com/2022/10/his-treasure-in-you.html

 

 

Monday, October 17, 2022

God Works in You



 

 

For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him.

—Philippians 2:13 (NLT)

 

 

What an amazing word!  The Holy Spirit not only gives us the ability to walk in His power but also puts the desire within us to do what pleases Him. The Holy Spirit is always drawing us toward God’s will. But it doesn’t just happen. God puts the desire in us, but we must surrender and cooperate with Him.

 

When we believed in Christ, we were spiritually reborn and sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise (Ephesians 1:13). God poured the complete and finished work of Jesus into our born-again spirits. And the same power of God that rose Christ from the dead came to live within us (Romans 8:11). But we have to allow what we have received in Christ to change our understanding—the way we think (Romans 12:2). Jesus has done His part. It is up to us to believe and appropriate what Christ has given us by grace. Our minds and bodies must yield to the nature of God that we have received. 

                                                                                                 

“Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling” (Philippians 2:12, NKJV).

 

Salvation is the gift of God that can only be received by faith in Christ (Ephesians 2:8-9). The Holy Spirit stirs within us the desire to take our salvation to its greatest potential—that is to be more like Christ. Philippians 2:13 reveals there is a divine power that motivates us and is able to achieve God’s purpose within us. This calls for our response— to work out our salvation. We don’t work to be saved, and we don't work to keep our salvation. We work—we diligently persevere to understand what we have received in Christ. When we cease from trusting in ourselves and instead trust the power of God at work within us, we work out our salvation. 

 

Surrendering to God is allowing God to work in us. Cooperating with God is allowing Him to teach us the knowledge and wisdom of His truth. We have to allow God’s truth to take root it in our hearts until we believe it. That is when God’s truth changes our attitudes and makes a difference in how we live. Often, we work out our salvation with fear and trembling because it challenges our human reasoning and human understanding. When we work out our salvation, we are challenged to believe what is true in God’s realm and what can only be perceived spiritually. Working out our salvation inspires us to reach out in faith and take hold of the new person that we are now in Christ. 

 

Surrender your preconceptions and rationalizations to God. Open your spiritual mind to receive the Word, and allow the Holy Spirit to teach you (1 Corinthians 2:14, John 14:16). Allow Him to reveal the truth of the new creation you are in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17). 

 

When you cooperate with the Holy Spirit and allow Him to reveal God’s truth to you, your mind is renewed and you conform to God’s image of you (Romans 12:2). You become more like Christ. And as you become more like the new person Christ gave His life for you to be, God gives you the desire and the power to do what pleases Him. His power flows through you into the lives of others.

 

 

© 2022 Lynn Lacher

www.lynnlacher.com/2022/10/god-works-in-you.html

 

Friday, October 14, 2022

Trust in Him



 

Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in me.

—John 14:1 (NLT)

 

 

Fear dominates the minds of many believers. They know the Word says they can have peace, but peace is elusive. They try to find peace in their circumstances instead of trusting in God. Jesus gave us peace when he gave his life for us (John 14:27). Even though Jesus prayed for God’s will to be on earth as it was in heaven (Luke 11:2), He didn’t mean that our circumstances would always be perfect in this world. He meant that His peace within us could be perfect. His peace was never meant to be the peace we find when our circumstances are perfect. No, His peace is real within us when things around us make no sense.

 

The night before His crucifixion, the disciples were fearful about Jesus leaving them. He wanted them to know that they would be with Him again and not to be troubled or fearful. 

 

“Trust in God and trust in me,” He told them. Jesus was amazed when he was asked to show them the Father. “Have I been with you all this time and still you do not know me? I am in the Father and the Father is in me” (John 14:9-10).

 

Insecurity had filled the disciples with fear, and Jesus was telling them to trust in Him instead of what they would experience. If they really KNEW Him, they would trust Him. The Holy Spirit tells us the same thing. If we really KNOW Christ, we will trust Him. We don’t have to experience the insecurity of the world around us when we KNOW the security of God within us. 

 

When you have a revelation of what you have in Christ—what you have because He paid with His life for you to have it—you have peace no matter what happens around you. You trust Him.

 

Trust is "the acceptance of the truth of a statement without evidence or investigation.” Accepting God’s Word as Truth without needing proof, changes your perception of life from one of insecurity to trust. You don’t need to see to believe. Trust is the “firm belief in the reliability, truth, or ability of someone or something.” When you firmly believe in God’s truth and His reliability, you trust Him. 

 

If you have fears that keep you from trusting God, then those fears are more important to you than the peace Jesus has given you. Trust begins as a decision. You choose to give up the fears where you have placed your trust. When you submit the things that worry you to God, you let go of them. And when you submit to God, you resist the enemy who tries to create fear. Giving God your worries and fears allows the peace of Christ to rise in your heart and mind (Philippians 4:6-7).

 

If you trusted God by faith for your salvation, why can’t you now trust Him for everything else? He will never leave you or forsake you. That is His Truth you can believe and trust.

 

Don’t worry about today or tomorrow. When you believe in the Truth of the new life Jesus has given you (2 Corinthians 5:17), you have the security of your relationship with the Father. Jesus has given you His Father as your very own. Jesus is in the Father, and the Father is in you (John 17:20-21). He has given you abundant life (John 10:10). That abundant life comes from knowing who you are in Christ and not allowing your circumstances to determine who you are. Trust comes from knowing who you are in God’s love—from believing without a doubt that Christ has overcome. There is no need to fear circumstances or anything in this world. 

 

Trust begins as a decision to accept what God promises in His Word as Truth for your life, and the Holy Spirit empowers you to believe it by faith. So don’t let your heart be troubled. Trust in God. Trust in Jesus. Trust the Holy Spirit within you. Fear has no power in your life when you know who you are in Christ. 

 

“God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind” (2 Timothy 1:7).

 

© 2022 Lynn Lacher

www.lynnlacher.com/2022/10/trust-in-him.html

Christ My Hope of Glory

  .   And now, Lord, for what do I expectantly wait? My hope [my confident expectation] is in You. —Psalms 39:7 (AMP)   I wait [patiently] f...