Serving the Lord with Gladness

 

 

Serve the Lord with gladness;
Come before His presence with singing.
Know that the Lord, He is God;
It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves;
We are His people and the sheep of His pasture.

—Psalms 100:2-3

 

 

Serving the Lord is something He accomplishes in us and not something we accomplish. 

When the Lord works in and through us, we serve Him with gladness. He does more than we ask or think (Ephesians 3:20)! The Lord draws us into His presence with singing! It is a new song (Psalm 96:1) of praise to God for Jesus’ finished work of grace! It is praise for complete freedom from the bondage of sin and all of its destruction and death. When our desire to serve the Lord is His desire and the power to serve is His, serving Him just flows of who He is within us. We serve the Lord with gladness when we know it is He who has made us righteous, and not we ourselves. 

 

Working for the Lord is either our work or His work. When we know our identity in Christ (that it is He who has made us and not we ourselves), then the Lord creates, births, and delivers His will in us. But when we serve the Lord out of our own or someone else’s desire, we make what we do for Him about us. The recognition of others and their opinions becomes more important than God’s desire. When we serve Him out of human expectation, we make the work we do for Him subject to our feelings instead of subject to His truth. When we serve the Lord because we are indebted to Him, we make what we do for Him our work. We burn out without His power working through us.

 

We are not free to serve the Lord with gladness when we serve Him out of debt. When we serve the Lord out of a sense of indebtedness to what He has paid in full, we are serving Him in the flesh and not in the Spirit. Any work for the Lord not born out of the new life Jesus has given us is a work of debt and a work of our flesh. It becomes our work born of the debt that we feel we owe Jesus. And there is no joy or gladness in a work that will never set us free from ourselves. Joy and gladness are only found in His work when it flows out of the new person He has made us. Gladness flows freely when we serve Him out of faith in the truth of what He has done for us and not out of feelings of indebtedness. Joyful service flows without hindrance and reservation when it flows freely out of our debt-free identity in Jesus Christ.

 

In Christ, we have no debt. We are His people and the sheep of His pasture. And as His sheep, we can hear His voice (John 10:27). When we draw near to Him, He draws near to us. We know He wishes to reveal Himself to us. He wants us to know ourselves as He knows us. He wants us to trust that He paid our debt in total—that there is nothing more we can do but listen to Him.

 

The Lord served us first before we ever served Him. The Lord loved us first before we ever loved Him. Yet, so often we try to serve Him without knowing He served us first. Often, we try to love Him without living by faith in the truth that He loved us first.

 

Jesus loved and served us first by making us right with God. His service is done. It is finished. It is complete. We receive the finished work of grace by faith and not by any service we do for Him. His work of grace is a complete work—the perfect work of salvation. We lack nothing in its truth. We stand in His righteousness before God without blemish—without debt. 

 

The Holy Spirit challenges you to behold the complete and finished work Jesus has done in your life. It is He who has made you and given you a new life of peace with God. Yes, we are called to serve the Lord, but we are called to serve Him with gladness. And joy is only found when we know that we are His—that He has remade us—that He has removed our sins as far as the East is from the West. Jesus, who had no sin, took our sinful debt and paid it so we might have His righteousness (2 Corinthians 5:21).

 

^“Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you” (Luke 6:38).

 

When you know who you are in Christ, you give out of His measure—and not out of your own. His power runs over! And your work will be His work and not yours. You will serve Him with gladness—pressed down and running over!

The Lord is good!  His mercy and truth continue forever (Psalm 100:5)!

 

© 2023 Lynn Lacher

www.lynnlacher.com/2023/07/serving-lord-with-gladness.html

 

 

 

 

Complete in His Finished Work

 

 Cast your burden on the Lord,

And He shall sustain you;
He shall never permit the righteous to be moved.

—Psalms 55:22

 

 

You are the righteousness of God in Jesus Christ. God never permits the righteous to be shaken, to slip, fall, or fail. Since you have received God’s righteousness, you have His truth and His grace to not be shaken by circumstances. You have received His truth and His grace to stand firm in the face of temptation and trials. Sudden devastation has no power over you when you realize the power of His righteousness that is yours.

 

But you must release your burdens—your worries—your emotional ups and downs to the Lord to stand in the truth of His righteousness. God will sustain you because Jesus has paid the debt you could never pay. When you only see your burdens and worries and allow your emotions to stand in the way of His righteous power to overcome, you live a defeated life. You don’t see who Jesus says you are. You see the human depravity from which Jesus has set your free. You see the bondage of who you were before Jesus gave you His righteousness.

 

Never allow who you once were to determine who you are now. If you want to rise above circumstances—to allow nothing to kill, steal, and destroy you—to walk in the Spirit and not in the flesh, quit holding on to all the lies that once defined you. Walk in the righteousness Christ has won for you. Walk in the truth of who He says you are. When you received the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus, you received the finished work of Christ in your life. It was done. It was finished. 

 

And that is who you are. You are complete in Him. Cast all that comes against you in this life upon the Lord. He cared for you completely when He gave His life so you could receive His righteousness. God sees the perfection of Jesus when He sees you. His perspective sees only that “it is finished.” His righteousness has done its work. Jesus has finished it for you. When you really believe you have received His finished work of righteousness in your life, you walk in His righteousness and, thereby, crucify the desires of the flesh and the emotional turmoil they cause.

 

It is a terrible thing to be safe in Jesus and not know it. God never permits the righteous to be moved. He never allows the enemy to have the last word. Jesus had the last word on the cross.  You lack absolutely nothing in Him. Are you complete in the finished work of Jesus? Believe you are the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus.

 

 

© 2023 Lynn Lacher

www.lynnlacher.com/2023/07/complete-in-his finished-work.html

 

 

 

 

The Wisdom of God or the Opinions of Others

 

 

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,
And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.

—Proverbs 9:10 (NKJV)

 

 

The fear of man and what others think can keep us from receiving wisdom from God. The choices we make to either follow the Lord or yield to the opinion of others govern the amount of wisdom we will receive. Whenever we yield to our human need for acceptance and recognition, we forfeit God’s wisdom. Anything that feeds selfishness and pride keeps us from the wisdom that comes from an intimate relationship with God. 

 

If we want God’s wisdom in our lives, Proverbs 9:10 says the starting place is the fear of the Lord. This fear of the Lord is not being afraid of God. Instead, it is placing a higher importance on God and His Word than on the judgments, requirements, and opinions of others. We cannot walk in the wisdom of God until our respect for the Lord is a higher priority than what other people think and believe is best for us. 

 

The fear of man brings a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord shall be safe.

—Proverbs 29:25 (NKJV)

 

Being spiritually-minded and trusting God’s will over the opinion of others brings life and peace (Romans 8:6). But yielding to the opinions of others for your life instead of yielding to God’s purpose ensnares you in emotional bondage and restricts your potential. 

 

The fear of man will cost us God’s wisdom and eventually the respect of those we have tried to please. Look at Saul. He told Samuel, “I have sinned, for I have transgressed the commandment of the Lord and your words, because I have feared the people and obeyed their voice” (1 Samuel 15:24, NKJV). Saul humbly began as king and ended his reign in pride and destruction.

 

David, however, responded to Nathan the prophet when confronted about his sin with Bathsheba. He knew God’s truth was best for his life. He repented immediately and said of God, “You desire truth in the inward parts, and in the hidden part you will make me to know wisdom” (Psalm 51:6, NKJV).  He realized that a forgiven and open heart to God would bring God’s wisdom.

 

Jesus only listened to His Father. He ignored the religious leaders and had no desire to appease them or seek their good opinion. He also chose to honor His Father’s will over the occasional advice of those He had called to follow Him. The emotional pressures of others did not move Jesus. His delight was in the fear of the Lord. He did not respond to what his eyes saw or his ears heard from others (Isaiah 11:3). Jesus walked completely in the wisdom of His Father.

 

Do I walk in the fear of the Lord or the fear of man? Do I esteem the Word, which is Jesus—full of grace and truth—as my highest priority (John 1:14)? Or do I think more of what others think trying to win their approval? Yes, we all desire to be accepted by others—especially those we care about and think highly of. But when we desire God’s wisdom above all else, putting Him first is always the beginning.

 

“Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom” Solomon wrote. “And in all your getting, get understanding” (Proverbs 4:7, NKJV).  God’s wisdom is the most important thing. So ask God for wisdom. He gives it generously (James 1:5), and seek to understand how to apply and exercise His wisdom in your life.

 

“We do not cease to pray for you,” Paul said, “and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding” (Colossians 1:9, (NKJV).

 

Fear of the opinions of others will pull you out of the will of God and His plans for your life. The wisdom of God is always found in placing God’s desires above what others think. When you are filled with God’s wisdom and spiritual understanding, the opinions of others take second place to God’s opinion. You trust God’s truth over the opinions of others. And you choose Him.

"Sanctify them with truth," Jesus prayed. "Your Word is truth" (John 17:17).

 

© 2023 Lynn Lacher

www.lynnlacher.com/2023/07/the-wisdom-of-god-or-opinions-of-others.html

 

Jesus Stood Perfectly in the Gap for You

 

 

So I sought for a man among them who would make a wall, and stand in the gap before Me on behalf of the land, that I should not destroy it; but I found no one.

—Ezekiel 22:30 (NKJV)

 

 

God sought a Savior among men who could bring deliverance to mankind. But He found no one. No one was qualified. All men had fallen short of His perfection (Romans 3:23). Because no one qualified, God made Himself to be a man and the Savior of mankind.

 

“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14).

 

The Word became flesh (John 1:14). That is precisely how the virgin birth transpired. Jesus Christ was God in the flesh. He was God’s truth in the flesh.

 

Jesus is the glory of the Father (Hebrews 1:3). The truth of God declares that all have sinned and come short of Jesus—the glory of God (Romans 3:23). Therefore, we all deserve God’s judgment. But we have been given Good News! Jesus bore all our judgment. When God, the Father, placed the punishment for our sins on Jesus, Jesus closed the gap that sin had created—the gap that kept us from receiving God’s truth. And, now through Jesus, we can receive God’s mercy (Ephesians 4:2-6). Praise Jesus! God’s truth and the grace of Jesus have come together. Righteousness and peace have finally kissed (Psalm 85:10). Jesus has brought peace between God and man.

 

Jesus was the only one who could close the gap sin had created. He was the only one who could become our bridge to God. Jesus is the giver of our faith, and the Holy Spirit is the sealer of our faith (Romans 12:3, Ephesians 1:13). Jesus is our hedge. He is the Word—our wall of truth that stands against the lies of the enemy. Jesus saved you from God's judgment. He stood in the gap for you to receive God's peace and righteousness. He saved you from destruction.

 

Jesus calls us to stand in the gap for others with His truth and grace until they spiritually understand what Jesus has given them—until they receive the truth of the new life that is theirs in Christ. But standing in the gap for others does not rest on our ability. It rests on God’s ability. It rests on our availability. Standing in the gap is not about how much or how well we work for God. Standing in the gap is about His power—His truth and grace—working in and through us, accomplishing more than we ask or think (Ephesians 3:20).

 

Our human love can never love God as He loves us. Our love fluctuates. It changes based on how we feel at a given moment. But our relationship with God is all about how much He loves us. It is not based on our limitations in loving Him. His love never changes. It is based on His truth and is the only constant in our lives. God loved us before we ever knew Him (1 John 4:19). He loved us while we were still sinners (Romans 5:8). We have been given God’s love through the grace of Jesus, but we have to receive His truth and grace to love as He has loved us. We can only love others with God’s perfect love and grace when we believe in our hearts that Jesus has removed our sins as far as the East is from the West (Psalm 103:12).

When we bear each other’s burdens—we care for them with the love of Jesus (Galatians 6:2). When we serve others with God’s love, we serve Him. Serving God is meant to flow out of the truth of who He is within us. If we are struggling to love others as God has loved us, we have not spiritually received an understanding of how much God loves us. God gives grace and more grace (James 4:6). However, abundant grace is received in humility. We cannot receive His grace and love when we are focused on our limitations instead of His grace that overcomes them. When we focus on our ability or lack of ability, our thoughts are on ourselves. And when we are self-focused, we have made ourselves unavailable. 

God is not trying to find you. He has already found you. He wants you to discover and know your right standing with Him because of Christ. He desires you to seek and understand what you have received. 

Jesus fulfilled the debt for our judgment. He paid it all. We are to love others as He has loved us, and in doing so, we fulfill the Law of Christ (Galatians 6:2). We are to stand in the gap for each other. But we cannot stand in the gap when we believe the lies and condemnation of the old person we once were. We can only stand in the gap for others when we believe Jesus bore our sins and that we have become the righteousness of God in the finished work of His grace (2 Corinthians 5:21). 

 

God came to you as Jesus because He could find no one to stand in the gap for you. Jesus closed the gap between you and God perfectly. There is nothing lacking in your relationship with Him. But standing in the gap for others can only be realized in your life when you believe Jesus stood perfectly in the gap for you.

 

Freely—without cost to you—you have received the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. Fulfill the grace of Jesus (Galatians 6:2).  Give freely without cost to another (Matthew 10:8). Hold no one in debt. Stand in the gap for them.

 

"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" (I John 4:17).

 

 

 

© 2023 Lynn Lacher

www.lynnlacher.com/2023/07/jesus-stood-perfectly-in-gap-for-you.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Holiness is the Fruit of Your Relationship with Jesus

 

 

But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.

—1 John 1:7

 

According to 1 John 1:5, God is light. Walking in the light is not living a sinless life because we all have fallen short of God's perfection (Romans 3:23). If walking in the light was living a sinless life, then there would be no need for Jesus to cleanse us from all sin as I John 1:7 declares. 

Walking in the light is walking in God. 

All believers are in God but don’t instinctively walk in Him or live the way He desires. In Romans 8:5-9, Paul teaches about being in the Spirit and walking after the Spirit. He explains why only those who walk after the Spirit experience the righteousness of God fulfilled in their lives. 

Walking in the light doesn’t produce fellowship with God. However, fellowship with God produces the ability to walk in the light. This is an important difference and one that is often missed. Our actions reveal whether or not we have fellowship with the Lord. But our actions do not cause us to have fellowship with the Lord.

Failure to understand that our actions do not give us a relationship with God has led many believers to try and earn fellowship with God through what they do. When we do this, we are trusting in our own holiness. We are coming to God without trusting in Christ and His righteousness. When we come to God on our own merits, we are defenseless against Satan’s condemnation. God doesn’t accept us based on what we do. He accepts us based on our faith in Jesus. If we have faith in Jesus and fellowship with Him, holiness will come as a fruit of that fellowship (Romans 6:22).

 

“For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit” (Romans 8:5).

 

Romans 8:5 gives us a test so that we can determine if we are walking after the flesh or after the Spirit: We have to judge what we are thinking about. If we are consistently thinking about the things of the Spirit (John 6:63), then we are walking after the Spirit. If we are thinking about carnal things, then we are walking according to the flesh and are subject to our feelings instead of God’s truth. We need to constantly remind ourselves—to be continually renewed in the spirit of our minds (Ephesians 4:23) that to be carnally minded is death and to be spiritually minded is life and peace (Romans 8:6).

 

We are now new creatures in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17) and have a new identity, which is our spiritual man and not the flesh. But we will always be in the flesh until we put our faith in Christ alone. We have to put on the righteousness in which we have been reborn (Ephesians 4:24). We walk in His light by faith in Christ, realizing that within ourselves we are nothing. We can’t earn the righteousness of God. It is His gift to us in Christ. When we believe this in our hearts and submit to the new righteous identity Jesus has given us, holiness is the fruit of our relationship with God.

 

“And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you” (Romans 8:10-11).

 

Holiness is not born of your works. Holiness is the fruit of your relationship with God in Christ. Holiness in your life is only born of your relationship with Jesus whose work was perfect. 

 

Walk in the light—walk in God—walk in the Spirit, and you will crucify the desires of the flesh (Galatians 5:16).

 

You only reap holiness as a result of your relationship with Jesus Christ.

 

© 2023 Lynn Lacher

www.lynnlacher.com/2023/07/holiness-is-fruit-of-your-relationship-with-Jesus.html

 

Trust, Dwell, and Delight in the Lord

 

Trust in the Lord, and do good; dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness. Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart.

—Psalm 37:3-4 (NKJV)

 

 

When we trust in the Lord and submit to Him, we have His promise that we will dwell in the land and receive His provision. The land spoken of in Psalm 37:1 was the Jews’ Promised Land. We, who are reborn as the children of God in Jesus Christ, will dwell in the fulfillment of God’s promises to us and receive His provision. We will not only inhabit the life He has for us but will receive it abundantly (John 10:10). 

 

Psalm 37:4 does not promise that when we trust in the Lord, He will give us whatever we desire. However, it does say that when we trust in the Lord, He will place His desires in our hearts. When we delight in the Lord, we trust Him. This is one of the humblest and most predominant ways to receive guidance and direction from the Lord.

 

The word “delight” was translated from the Hebrew word `ANAG. Strong’s Concordance states that it means, “to be soft or pliable.”  To receive guidance from the Lord, our hearts must be “soft and pliable” toward Him.

 

What we “dwell” on—or think about—is what we become sensitive to. If we want to “dwell” in God’s promises, our hearts need to be trusting, leaning, pliable, and listening to Him. If we don’t “dwell” on God, our hearts become hardened to His guidance and direction. Focusing on the things of God keeps our hearts soft and pliable and able to hear His voice. If our hearts are humble and sensitive toward the Lord, then His desires shall be in our hearts, and what we do shall be what He desires. 

In Psalm 1:2, David said those whose delight is in the Word of God and who meditate on it day and night will be blessed. This expresses what David also expressed in Psalm 37:4. When you “delight” yourself in the Word, you meditate on it day and night (Joshua 1:8).

Delighting yourself in the Lord and in His Word does not happen automatically.  You choose to delight and place your trust in the Lord. You commit yourself not to be distracted by what your physical eyes see and your physical ears hear. You focus on God’s truth and not anything else. You believe what He has promised. You place faith in the abundant and life-affirming promises of God revealed to you in Jesus Christ.

Are you looking for God’s promise?  

 

“Commit your way to the Lord. Trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass” (Psalm 37:5).

 

 

© 2023 Lynn Lacher

www.lynnlacher.com/2023/07/trust-dwell-and-delight-in-lord.html

 

 

Only God Judges a Heart

 

“Judge not, that you be not judged,” Jesus said. ^“For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you.” 

—Matthew 7:1-2 NKJV

 

Judging is forming an opinion or a conclusion about something. God has given us His Word by which we judge if something is right or wrong. But judging, when based on what we feel instead of God’s truth becomes subject to our human emotions instead of what God says is true.

 

There is not only a right and wrong way to judge something. How we judge is also important. It is not wrong to judge if something a person has done hurts or offends us. That is just life. You cannot go through life without being offended by someone. The problem is when we judge someone’s motive. Judging the motive behind someone’s word or action is wrong. We don’t know what is in another person’s heart. And truthfully, sometimes we do not even admit the real motive behind what we do. Only God knows what is in someone’s heart and in our hearts. So how can we judge the motive of someone else?

When judging another person’s motive, we set ourselves up to be judged in return. When we judge the motive behind what someone else does or says, we set ourselves up to experience a range of hurtful emotions. We not only judge the motive behind someone’s word or action, but we allow the offense to wound us and put us on the defensive. And then we react out of our hurt and pain. Our emotions are then subject to manipulation by the enemy. The wounds of the past and the hurts of the present direct what we do and say. Our judgment of the motive of the person who has wounded us reminds us of every insufficiency in our own lives, and we see insufficiency in the lives of others. In our judgment of another person’s motive, we hinder love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control in our own lives.

 

God determines right or wrong in our lives. He gives us His Word so we can know if our actions or someone else’s actions are right or wrong. But we have to separate an action that is wrong from the person who has done the wrong. God's standard judges if an action goes against His truth. That is apparent. What isn't apparent is the motive behind an action. God knows the heart. Not us. We forgive the offense to us because Christ has forgiven our offense. The problem is when we judge the motive behind another person’s action. The problem is when we react out of our feelings instead of out of His truth. We have to separate the action that God judges as wrong from the person who has done it.

 

Don’t judge the motive of someone else. Don’t react out of what you feel. You become harsh. And those of us who are harsh with others are treated the same way. When you injure someone they want to strike back. But when we sow mercy, we reap mercy (Matthew 5:7). How we respond to others is what we receive in return (Matthew 7:12).

 

God alone knows the motive in someone’s heart—ours included. Only God judges a heart. With the measure we use to judge another person’s heart, it will be measured back to us. 

 

We are debt-free because Jesus has made us debt-free. We hold no one else’s heart in debt to us. We give away what we have freely received. We forgive with the forgiveness with which Jesus has forgiven us.

 

 

© 2023 Lynn Lacher

www.lynnlacher.com/2023/07only-god-judges-a-heart.html

 

 

 

 

As You Have Received

 

 

As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him.

—Colossians 2:6-7 NKJV

 

 

We didn’t receive salvation because of our own righteousness or goodness (Titus 3:5). We received salvation by putting our faith in Christ as our Savior (Ephesians 2:8). In the same way, we receive everything else in the Christian life. However, many who were saved by faith in God’s grace try to earn the gifts of their salvation through their works. They believe God blesses them because of what they do. 

 

When we were saved by faith, we came just as we were—knowing we had nothing to offer. We hadn’t been fasting, reading the Word, or praying a lot but we received the greatest gift of all—salvation. We received a new life in Christ. But after receiving Christ by faith, many believe that they can only maintain and keep their salvation through their works. They worry that if they don’t fast enough, pray enough, read enough, or give enough, God will stop loving them. That is not true. Paul said that those who attempt to prove themselves righteous fall from grace (Galatians 5:4). They put faith in what they do instead of what Christ did.

 

“This only I want to learn from you,” Paul asked the Galatians. “Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh? (Galatians 3:2-3, NKJV).

 

Having begun our Christian life by putting faith in Christ, we should continue our Christian life living by faith in Him. Faith in the grace of Jesus produces works that are alive. They are not dead like the ones born of the need to prove ourselves. Any work we do seeking to prove to God we are worthy of His love is about us. It tells God that His grace wasn’t enough. Christ died so we might be made worthy. He paid that price. When we work to win God’s love, we belittle the gift of righteousness He has given us. We say His worthiness wasn’t enough.

 

Instead of focusing on our inadequacies, we need to put faith in what God has already provided by grace. 

 

“Listen,” Paul declared! “If you are counting on circumcision to make you right with God, then Christ will be of no benefit to you. I’ll say it again. If you are trying to find favor with God by being circumcised, you must obey every regulation in the whole law of Moses. For if you are trying to make yourselves right with God by keeping the law, you have been cut off from Christ! You have fallen away from God’s grace” (Galatians 5:2-4, NLT).

 

If we count on something we do to make us right with God, there is no benefit to us. That work is dead. We can’t find favor with God through what we do because He has already favored us in Christ. If we try to make ourselves right with God by keeping the law, we fall away from His grace. We frustrate the work of faith in and through us (Galatians 1:21).

 

“But we who live by the Spirit,” Paul continued, “eagerly wait to receive by faith the righteousness God has promised to us. For when we place our faith in Christ Jesus, there is no benefit in being circumcised or being uncircumcised. What is important is faith expressing itself in love” (Galatians 5:5-6, NKJV).

 

Let’s live by faith and by the Spirit!  Let’s know who we are in Christ so we don’t have the need to prove ourselves to God who already proved Himself to us. When we know the immeasurable worth Christ has placed within us, we know there is no benefit in what we do. Faith in the good grace of God produces good work in us—not work born of our needs but work born of His righteousness having met our needs.

 

When what we do is born of faith in Christ’s finished work of grace, we have no need to prove ourselves through our work. We are free of the need to perform. The love of God abounds within us and expresses itself in love for others. Christ has met our needs.

 

We aren't the center of our universe! Christ gives more grace to the humble (James 4:6). Our life in Jesus is not about us. It is not about our work. It is about His work. It is all about Him. It is about His grace which expresses itself in and through us. It is about Christ, the hope of glory, living within us—freely giving just as He gave Himself for us.

 

“As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God” (1 Peter 4:10).

 

 

© 2023 Lynn Lacher

www.lynnlacher.com/2023/07/as-you-have-received.html

 

 

 

 

Confident Hope

  

Lord, my heart is not proud. My eyes are not haughty. I don’t concern myself with matters too great or too awesome for me to grasp. Instead, I have calmed and quieted myself, like a weaned child who no longer cries for its mother’s milk. Yes, like a weaned child is my soul within me. 

You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, all whose thoughts are fixed on you!

 

O, child of God, put your hope in the Lord—now and always. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.

 

I pray that your hearts will be flooded with light so that you can understand the confident hope He has given you as a rich and glorious inheritance. I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in him. Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit.

 

(Psalm 131, Isaiah 26:3, Philippians 4:8, Ephesians 1:18, Romans 15:13)

 

 

www.lynnlacher.com/2023/07/confident-hope.html

 

 

 

The Finished Word and Work of Christ

 

My pastor often shares a profound truth. 

 

“God said it and that settles it.”  

 

What has the Word said to you?  Whatever the Holy Spirit has said in the Word to you is settled in your life. It is God’s will. 

 

Settled means “established, stable, solid, firm, matured, complete, and finished.” God’s promises to you are established. They are solid and firm. They are complete with nothing lacking. 

 

“Forever, O Lord, Your word is settled in heaven. Your faithfulness endures to all generations; you established the earth, and it abides” (Psalm 119:89-90).

 

God's Word endures through all time. His promises are settled—established—solid and complete in His Word just as they are settled—established—solid and complete in Heaven. His truth reveals His promises to you, and God is faithful to perform His truth in your life. 

How you believe the promises of God determines whether you will experience them or not. 

 

God has given Himself as Jesus to you and is the Word (John 1:1, Psalm 107:20). 

When you received Jesus, you received the Word. His Word is His Will, and it is established in your life. But you can only know God’s will and that is established in your life when you know His Word.  

To experience the power of the Word, God’s truth must be accessed by faith in the finished and complete work of Jesus. You have to believe what the Word promises and that God’s truth is “settled, established, stable, solid, firm, matured, complete, and finished in your life.”  

 

You mature in the finished work of Christ when you are transformed by the renewing of your mind with the Word and make it the final authority in your life. (Romans 12:2). You believe when you take the incorruptible seed of God’s final Word and sow it in your heart (Matthew 13:18-23).

 

How do you receive the settled and final authority of God’s Word in your heart?  Does the enemy come and snatch away God’s truth sown in your heart? Perhaps, you received God’s promise with joy and believed in it for a while. But when tribulation came—either from circumstances or the opinions of others—you let go and doubted God’s final Word on your promise. The cares of life and the deceitfulness of riches also keep the Word from bringing forth the abundant life the Word promises. However, when you receive the seed of God’s Word in your heart—when you hear the Word of faith in your heart and understand it, it “indeed bears fruit and produces some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty” (Matthew 13:23).

 

Is the Word the settled and final authority in your life? Do you believe in God’s truth?  Do you believe in God’s will? Does His Word produce abundant fruit in your life? 

 

What has God’s truth birthed in your life? Not what you have birthed and tried to establish in your life. Not what the world or the opinions of others birth and try to establish. Only the seed of His Word sown in your heart births the fruit of His truth in your life.

 

You have been born again “not of corruptible seed but incorruptible through the word of God which lives and abides forever” (1 Peter 1:23). 

 

Jesus—the Word—has given you His new life (2 Corinthians 5:17). Jesus—the Word—is the final authority in your life. The Word is His truth. It is mature and complete in your life. But it makes no difference if you don’t know and believe in your heart what Jesus gave His precious life for you to have. 

 

God’s Word is settled and complete. Your account is settled. It is paid in full. Jesus’ work of salvation is settled and complete. His promises are His final say. Receive His Word of faith in your heart (Romans 10:17). Believe His Word.  He is faithful to perform His Word (Psalm 119:90). Trust in God's final Word. Trust in the finished work of Christ. 

 

 

© 2023 Lynn Lacher

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