Receiving God’s Love

 

 

When your problems in life and the enemy’s lies convince you that God doesn’t love you, you will attempt to earn back God’s acceptance and love. But God has never left you or stopped loving you (Hebrews 13:5). There is nothing you must do to earn God’s love. He has loved you from the beginning of time and will until the end of time. He accepted you as His own child when you believed in Jesus (John 1:12). He will never leave you as an orphan (John 14:18). The righteousness of God that Christ has given you is yours, and you can only live a holy life in His power. Righteousness is His gift. You didn't earn it then, and you can't earn it now. You have to believe it is yours and receive it as your own. 

 

Quit struggling to win God’s love. It is tiring trying to win something that is already yours. Believing who you are in Christ is the only way to be convinced of His love for you. It is the only way to receive His love.

 

Paul knew how to rejoice when he ran into problems because He knew who He was in Christ. 

 

“We can rejoice, too,” Paul wrote, “when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love” (Romans 5:3-5, NLT).

 

When we believe that God is the solution to our problems, we praise Him. Those problems develop strength of character instead of defeating us. We have hope and great confidence in God. We believe that He first loved us (I John 4:19). And that His work of salvation in us doesn’t lack a thing. It is complete, thorough, and finished. Faith shows the reality of what we hope for; it is the evidence of things we cannot see (Hebrews 11:1). The hope God has given us never leads to disappointment. When we believe God’s promises are ours, we choose to live by faith and not by sight (2 Corinthian 5:7). And when we believe His promises, no enemy—no lie—nothing has any power to rob us of what is ours in Christ.

 

When you believe you are the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus (2 Corinthians 5:21)—when you believe that the work of Jesus is finished (John 17:4), you stand strong in God’s power through each problem in life knowing He has already taken care of it. You see God’s finished outcome. And you walk by faith and not by sight (2 Corinthians 5:7). 

 

There is no fear in His perfect love for you because fear involves torment. God does not torment you. He is love. His perfect love in you casts out your fear because His love performs a finished work in you. You are newly reborn in His perfect love. As Jesus is in this world, so are you. (1 John 4:17-18). You have no power to accomplish this work. You know Jesus alone has done this work. There is nothing you do. It is His work of grace in you. 

 

We don’t receive from God through anything we do. We don’t perform to receive. We receive from God through faith in what Jesus has done for us. It is His work—not ours. Jesus has given us right standing with God. He has earned God’s righteousness for us through His finished work. Jesus has earned the blessings of God to supply all our needs (Philippians 4:19). 

 

It is only through faith in Jesus that a person has God’s righteousness (Romans 1:17). When we exercise our faith to believe in God's promise of righteousness, He is pleased (Hebrews 11:6). And we experience His finished work of grace in us according to what we believe (Mathew 9:29). 

 

 

© 2023 Lynn Lacher

www.lynnlacher.com/2023/08/receiving-gods-love.html

 

 

 

 

God's Grace Abounds More

 

 

Blessed and happy and to be envied is the person of whose sin the Lord will take no account nor reckon it against him.

—Romans 4:8 (AMPC)

 

 

Blessed is the man who will not be charged with the debt of sin (Romans 4:8). The flesh will continually try to claim us all the days of our lives. But Jesus died for all our sins. He paid the debt that was against us long before we were even born. He died for the sins we have committed in the past, the sins we will commit now, and the sins we will commit in the future (Hebrews 10:10-14). 

 

If I think that I can live a sinless life, then I have made the grace of Christ of no worth (Galatians 2:21). It is only Christ living in me who gives me the desire and the power to live a holy life. I choose to surrender to the righteousness He has credited to me. I choose grace over sin because His grace abounds so much more (Romans 5:20-21).

 

I was dead, but now I live. I was in sin and broken, but now I am forgiven and whole. I have no reason to live in shame. I have no reason to fear. I have no reason to worry. He is my living hope (1 Peter 1:3). I am safe. I am victorious in His love for me. It is who I am. Christ within me—His Word within me—is life and peace. He is my hope of glory (Colossians 1:27).

 

All the old in life that condemned me is forever gone. Jesus has presented me without fault or blemish or debt to the Father. That is not just a feeling. That is the truth. My flesh—the feelings of the old person that I once was, will not control me. It is Christ who lives in me. I choose to live by faith in the Son of God who died for me (Galatians 2:20). I will walk by the faith He has given me and not by what I feel in this life (2 Corinthians 5:7).

 

Thank you, dear Lord, that no sin is held against me. You take no account of it. I don’t have a license to sin. In your righteousness, I am free from sin. I’m no longer a slave to sin but a slave to your righteousness (Romans 6:18). Your grace is greater than all my sin.

 

 

© 2023 Lynn Lacher

www.lynnlacher.com/2023/08/gods-grace-abounds-more.html

 

He First Loved Us

 

God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. We love because He first loved us.

—Romans 5:8, 1 John 4:19 (NKJV)

 

 

We are God’s passion. Jesus gave His life for us. There is nothing more He could have given. His passionate love delivered us from sin, and sickness, and conveyed to us the gift of God’s righteousness. He held nothing back from us. His fervent grace was costly. It cost Him everything. Even though His grace cost us nothing, when we accept His salvation, it commands us to love as He first loved us. But we cannot love as He first loved us until we allow the Holy Spirit to convince us of His love for us. Trusting His unconditional love for us without any doubt, pours His love into us for others.

 

Have I allowed His grace to change my perspective from the old person I once was? Have I allowed my failures, problems, and even memory of sins that were crucified with Christ to hold me back? When I believe in my heart that His passionate grace crucified the old person I was—and I am now reborn as a new person, I am consumed with His love. The old me is gone. I am free to love as He first loved me. There is nothing I want to deny Him. His passionate love flows without hindrance. 

 

In 1 Kings 19:21, Elisha, having been chosen by Elijah, walks away from all he has been. 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 me to let go of the bondage of the past that has defined me. He calls me to let go of what has kept me from understanding the new person He has made me and to believe by faith in the miracle of His new life in me. 

 

With my surrender, I am ready to receive the revelation of who He is in my life. The Word teaches me my new identity. My mind is renewed by its Truth (Romans 12:2). I am chosen, redeemed, forgiven, healed, blameless, favored, accepted, and sealed by the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 1:3-13). I am the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus (2 Corinthians 5:21). I choose to believe all that He reveals. I put on my new identity (Ephesians 4:23-24) and take ownership of its truth. His passionate grace fuels my heart. 

 

On the Cross, Jesus declared that I was His ultimate passion. When I believe who He is in me, I declare He is mine. I walk away from all I have believed myself to be. I accept the truths of the new person Jesus says I am.

 

Do you know and believe what His passion has given you? Abandon who you have believed yourself to be. Be renewed by the Word until you believe it in your heart. Just as Elisha accepted Elijah’s cloak, accept Christ’s identity as your own. Hold nothing back. Don’t believe what the enemy or anyone else says. Only believe what Christ says. Believe who He says you are.

 

Surrendering is only costly when you do not believe in the cost of what Christ has given you. When you believe the full value of His love for you—that His finished work on the Cross paid the full debt of your sin, you know you are new and complete in His grace. You hold nothing back. With your surrender comes the greatest fulfillment—the belief that you and the Father are one in spirit (1 Corinthians 6:17). What is His, is also yours. It is a joy that is unspeakable and full of glory!

 

While you were yet a sinner, Christ gave His life for you. You are now new in His love because He held nothing back. You hold nothing back when you spiritually grasp the depth of His passion for you. Your whole perspective changes. You believe His love for you. The truth of your new identity is the foundation of your life. You believe God loved you before you ever loved Him. You are free from your iniquities of shame and guilt because He took your punishment. You receive His unconditional love without hesitation. And His love in you flows unreservedly.  It cannot be contained. 

 

God sees you through the perfect sacrifice of His beloved Son. You are His Beloved. You love as He first loved you.

 

 

© 2022 Lynn Lacher

 

 

Receiving God’s Truth

 

We also thank God continually because, when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as a human word, but as it actually is, the word of God, which is indeed at work in you who believe.

—1 Thessalonians 2:13

 

 

 

Receiving God’s Word into our hearts is the foundation of our faith in Jesus Christ. The expression, “the Word of God,” is used forty-six times in the Bible. This expression not only refers to the written and spoken words of God but also refers to Jesus Christ, who, Himself, was the Word of God personified (John 1:14). 

 

The Word is the living breathing supernatural power of God that successfully works in those who believe (Hebrews 4:12). The principal way God reveals Himself to us and releases His power is through His Word. And it is through God’s Word that we come to know who He is in our lives (1 Samuel 3:21 and John 8:31-32). 

 

God’s Word is unchanging and settled forever (Psalms 119:89). It is always relevant in our lives. The Word of God is the standard by which all of us will be judged (John 12:48). It always accomplishes the purpose God sent it to accomplish (Isaiah 55:11). 

 

Cleansing comes through God’s Word (John 15:3), and all that relates to life and godliness comes through God’s Word (2 Peter 1:3). We become partakers of God’s divine nature through His Word. We also escape the corruption of this world through His Word (2 Peter 1:4). When we try to live the Christian life without being strongly grounded in God’s Word, we will fail. We are unsuccessful when we put our efforts above the perfect and complete work of Jesus (Mark 4:14-20).

 

A vast difference exists between the words of man and the Word of God. God’s Word is above all of our human knowledge and effort. It is excellent and perfect in every way. His Word is Truth. His Word is Spirit and life. The words and opinions of men profit us nothing (John 6:63). Any attempt to make man’s words as important as God’s Word always results in making God’s Word of less value. Jesus told the religious people of His time that they were making the Word of God of no effect through their tradition (Mark 7:13). The traditions and teachings of man are not worthy to be compared to the Word of God.

 

In 1 Thessalonians 2:13, Paul was thankful the Thessalonians had taken the message of the Gospel to heart and were living holy lives by the power of the Holy Spirit. The reason Paul thanked God continually was that the Thessalonians had received his message not as a human word that he was preaching, but as the truth it really was—the spoken word of God. 

 

When we receive God’s Word in our hearts, holiness is produced as the fruit of our relationship with Jesus Christ. “You will know the truth,” John wrote, “and the truth will set you free” (John 8:32). God’s Word is truth (John 17:17), It sets us free from our own efforts to live holy and, instead, releases the power of God’s righteous life in us that we received by faith in Jesus.

 

Paul preached God’s Word. He preached the same Gospel message everywhere he preached, but that message didn’t always produce the same results in his listeners. His message was never different. The difference was the way the people received the Gospel message. 

 

The Thessalonians received Paul’s message as the true Word of God. Because they received the message as God’s actual truth, it produced life in them. Even though a preacher is responsible for how he preaches God’s Word, we are also responsible for how we hear it. Jesus was the perfect preacher. However, most of the people who heard Him rejected Him and His message. They didn’t have ears to hear or hearts to receive. 

 

It is crucial for us we have sensitive hearts to God so that when we hear the Word, we will receive it as the true and faithful Word of God. 

 

^“For indeed the gospel was preached to us as well as to them; but the word which they heard did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in those who heard it’ (Hebrews 4:2).

 

Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God (Romans 10:17). The Word profits us when we mix it with faith. His Word releases life-giving power when you believe what it says. 

 

You receive the unchanging and finished truth of God’s Word—the life-giving power of His truth in which you find profit—when you believe it by faith in your heart. 

 

 

© 2023 Lynn Lacher

www.lynnlacher.com/2023/08/receiving-gods-truth.html

Make His Truth Your Truth

 

He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. 

—1 John 5:12

 

 

Why do some Christians, having put faith in Jesus for salvation, find it hard to put faith in the Word for what God promises? They “almost believe” His Word.

 

When they first received Christ as their Savior, they believed in Jesus by faith and confessed their belief in Him. Why then is it hard for them to believe by faith in some truths in the Word? They say they believe these truths, but then reduce the power of these truths in their lives by asking God if His truth is His will. Adding “if it is God’s will” to what the Word says is true, hinders the power of God to work out that truth in your life. “Almost believing” does not receive (James 1:7). 

 

When you received Jesus by faith, you received His truth. That truth is yours because God gave it to you. If you have the Son, you have His life. Just as you received Jesus by faith, you also have to receive His truth by faith. God’s truth is not real for us until we make His truth our truth.

 

Our relationship with Jesus is one that can only be lived by putting faith in God’s truth. The truth of His Word will only be realized when we put faith in it. We live by faith and not by sight. We trust that His truth works out what we do not currently see or experience in our lives. 

 

When you doubt because of not seeing or experiencing God’s truth, you doubt God’s will. You doubt His promises. A person who doubts God’s promises doubts his right standing with God. He may not realize this but he doubts He is worthy enough to receive from the Lord. God deemed you worthy when you believed in His Son’s love for you. 

 

If something is in the Word, it is God’s truth. Just because you might not experience His truth as your reality at this moment does not mean that it is not true for you. When you know what the Word says about something, you can pray for a specific outcome knowing that it is God’s will. You can have confidence that when you pray according to God’s will, you have what you have requested of Him (1 John 5:14-15).

 

We have to do more than just say we believe His truth. That truth has to be sown in our hearts. It has to be protected from the lies of the enemy. That truth has to renew us in the spirit of our minds until it becomes our identity. It has to become God’s truth in the abundance of our hearts.

 

Don’t be more concerned about the opinions of men than the praise of God (John 12:42-43).  Don’t allow the things you experience in life—like illness—to keep you from confessing God’s truth as “your” truth. Life and death are in the power of the tongue, and you will receive the fruit of what you confess (Proverbs 18:21). His truth is life to you. Don’t doubt His truth in your heart. Anything you believe that is not God’s truth speaks death to your faith.

 

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

 

Hold fast to His truth. Speak His truth into your life. God is faithful to keep His promises, but you have to do more than believe His truth. You have to make His truth your own. You have to receive His truth in your heart until you see without seeing and hear without hearing (Matthew 13:16-17).

 

 

© 2023 Lynn Lacher

www.lynnlacher.com/2023/08/make-his-truth-your-truth.html

 

His Treasure is 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 its benefits. 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. 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 wishes to reveal to 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 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. 

 

You are just a vessel. His treasure is within you. 

 

 

© 2023 Lynn Lacher

www.lynnlacher.com/2023/08/his-treasure-is-in-you.html

 

His Gift to You

 

 

I am leaving you with a gift—peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don’t be troubled or afraid.

—John 14:17 (NLT)

 

Don’t ever despair. Don’t be troubled or afraid. Jesus has left you a gift—peace of mind and heart. No, your circumstances will never be perfect. This world will never give you peace. But you know that already. You have tried to make things right and failed. You have tried to make yourself perfect and realized the impossibility of that work. You have strived and struggled until fear has claimed your heart and mind. Jesus waits for you to come to Him and give your circumstances—your despair—your fears to Him.

 

You can’t change what has happened—just like you can never transform your own heart. Only Jesus can. He loves you with His everlasting love. He has drawn you in loving kindness. He has plans for your life—plans that don’t disappoint but give you hope. The hope He gives never leads to disappointment because He dearly loves you. The world loves you only when you please it. He loves you in your pain—in your fear—in your misery—in your sin and imperfection. He makes right what you don’t have the power to make right. Escape is never your answer. Believing in Christ and what He promises you is your answer.

 

Without hope, faith has no life. Allow yourself to hope. Faith gives substance to what you hope for. It is evidence of what you can’t see. Don’t despair. Don’t be troubled and afraid. Don’t give up. Learn the truth of who Jesus says you are. Learn your right standing in Him. Your Father supplies all your needs. His arms are always open. He loves you. He has peace of mind and heart for you.

 

Child of God, you have peace with God and not believe it. Open your mind to be renewed by His truth, and your heart to believe it. His righteousness is yours. Jesus has given you peace with God. And His peace, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your heart and mind.

 

© 2023 Lynn Lacher

www.lynnlacher.com/2023/08/his-gift-to-you.html

God is Faithful

 

 

God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

—1 Corinthians 1:9

 

What are you called to do? You are called to be in fellowship with Jesus. And when you are in fellowship with Jesus, you will be in His will. Quit struggling to figure out what God wants you to do. God is faithful to perform His will in you. Let the Holy Spirit lead you beside His still waters and restore your soul. Listen to the Word of faith rising in your heart. 

 

Beloved, let God draw you into a relationship with His unconditional love and grace. You don’t have to hide anymore behind fig leaves that never rid you of the shame and guilt you feel. Let those fig leaves drop. Quit trying to cover up what Jesus has washed away. His grace cleansed your heart. You don’t have to hold yourself together. Drop the false identity that hides the pain in your heart. Accept the unconditional love of Jesus. Jesus is your real identity. That is who you are. You are His. New life is yours. Behold, the old life is gone. You are not His just for a moment. You are His right now for eternity.

 

Freedom from sin and its shame is not found in what you do. Freedom from sin and its shame is found in the perfect love of Jesus. Jesus, who had no sin, became your sin, so you could have His righteousness. Quit making your faith about what you lack and believe His complete work of grace is finished in you.

 

God is faithful. His love is constant. He never moves away from you. He has judged you righteous because He sees Jesus’ perfect and completed work of grace in you. Your sin to God is as far as the East is from the West. The love of Jesus is not about how well you are able to love God. You could never love God as He loves you. The love of God was revealed to you in Jesus. God loved you first when you were not perfect. Your identity in God is not how much you love Him. Your identity is about how He loved you. 

 

“Deep calls unto deep at the noise of Your waterfalls. All Your waves and billows have gone over me” (Psalms 42:7).

 

The Holy Spirit calls you into the depths of a relationship with Jesus full of unconditional love and redeeming grace. Will you let go of your need to reason everything out and just walk by faith in Jesus? Will you let go of what you see, and hear, and touch and trust His Spirit? 

 

Now drop the fake fig leaves. Let go of the attempts to prove your righteousness. Let go of the old identity you had before you received Jesus in your heart. Open yourself to the new creation He has wrought forth in you. You are not meant to thirst and never to be filled. Believe who Jesus is in your life and the new life that is yours. And out of your heart will flow rivers of living water.

 

God has called you into a relationship with Him, and He is faithful to that relationship. As God loved Jesus, He also loves you.

 

 

© 2023 Lynn Lacher

www.lynnlacher.com/2023/08/god-is-faithful.html

 

 

 

An Attitude of Victory

 

 

In everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

—1 Thessalonians 5:18

 

 

It is impossible to really give thanks to the Lord without being thankful for all that He has done and trusting Him for all He is going to do. If we remove thankfulness from our lives and dwell on our problems instead of focusing on God, it is very easy to start glorifying our problems instead of praising God.

 

God is the author of everything good. Satan comes against God’s children trying to steal, kill, and destroy us. Jesus came to give us abundant life (John 10:10). If I praise God for the evil in my life, I give praise to the enemy for the destruction he brings. Yes, we can learn from the evil that comes against us (Romans 8:28), but learning from something bad in our lives does not mean that God is the author of it.

 

In all things—no matter what you face because you live in a fallen world—no matter what evil the enemy throws at you, trust the Lord, your God, your Father. Give Him thanks for the truth the Word reveals—not for the lies of the enemy attempting to destroy your faith. Thank God for the good. Give praise to God in the bad that happens, but don’t give Him credit for it.

 

God’s will for you is to know who you are in Jesus. Then you can give thanks no matter what happens. Then you can trust His love, and any work for Him will flow out of who you are in Jesus and not out of you. When you know that any evil you experience in this life is thoroughly conquered by the redeeming blood of the Son of God, you can have an attitude of victory. You know that nothing has any power to separate you from the love of God in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:39). 

 

The righteousness of God that is yours in Christ is greater than any weapon coming against you (2 Corinthians 5:21, Isaiah 54:17). Praise God for the truth of your victory in Jesus! Have an attitude of victory. Draw from His righteous power, and walk by faith in His Spirit (Galatians 5:16, 25). 

 

 

© 2023 Lynn Lacher

www.lynnlacher.com/2023/08/an-attitude-of-victory.html

Perfect Love

 

 

 

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.

 

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.

 

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.

 

Believe you no longer have any room for fear! His perfect love fills you and casts out fear. 

Already Won in Jesus Christ

 

Are you in a battle?  Your battle not only belongs to the Lord.  He has already won it. 

 

When David spoke to Goliath, he addressed the oppression of evil coming against Israel.

 

“You come to me with a sword, with a spear, and with a javelin,” David told Goliath, “but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of armies of Israel, whom you have defied” (1 Samuel 17:45)!  

 

In Christ, God became human “for only as a human being could he die, and only by dying could he break the power of the devil, who had the power of death” Hebrews 2:14, NLT).

 

The enemy might attack you with lies of loss, sickness, and failure, but you stand against him in the power of the name of above all names—the name of Jesus—the one who broke the enemy’s power over death. God has put everything under Christ’s authority (Ephesians 1:21-22). And the authority that Jesus gave the disciples to have power over the works of the enemy (Matthew 10:1) has been given to us (Matthew 28:18-19). 

 

The power of the Cross and Resurrection have spoken life! But to experience this Truth, we must exercise by faith what we have been given. The Grace of Jesus has already conquered your sin, your sickness, your need, and blessed you (Ephesians 1:3). God declares that His complete work of redemption is finished (John 19:30, 1 Peter 2:24). His Word affirms that this is true. God’s Son became flesh because only as a human being could he give His life for our sins and sicknesses and every destruction of the enemy that comes against us. In dying for us, Jesus broke the power of the enemy, the author of death. God, the author of life, sent Himself as His Word (John 1:1) and healed us from all our destructions (Psalm 107:20).

 

“This day the Lord will deliver you into my hand,” David told Goliath. “Then all this assembly shall know that the Lord does not save with sword and spear; for the battle is the Lord’s, and He will give you into our hands” (1 Samuel 17:46a, 47).

 

Yes, your battle is God’s. You don’t own it. But time is nothing to God. He doesn’t see past, present, or future failures, sicknesses, and circumstances. He sees the timeless and finished healing work of His Son in you. God sees you whole and healed and forgiven and made new by the Resurrection power of His Son’s perfect sacrifice.

 

Do you see your battle already finished—over with—done?  In your born-again spirit, you have received Christ’s finished victory. It’s time to be renewed by the Word and transformed by its Truth so you can believe it. God wants to give you a spirit of revelation in your knowledge and wisdom of who He is in you (Ephesians 1:17).

 

And who is He is you? “The glory which You gave Me I have given them,” Jesus prayed to His Father, “that they may be one just as We are one: I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one” (John 17:22-23a, NKJV). The glory of God came to live within you when you believed in Jesus as your Savior.

 

David only had the promise of a battle that he believed would be won. But David believed that the battle belonged to the Lord. We have the promise that all our battles are already won. The war is over. Sin and sickness and death are overcome. Finished. But like David, do we believe it?  

 

When you get a revelation from the Holy Spirit that Grace has already won your war over sin and sickness and all the power of the enemy, you believe it in your heart. And when you believe in your heart that you are victorious, you walk by faith and not by sight. You receive out of the blessings Jesus purchased for you with His life. 

 

All things are possible to the one who believes (Mark 9:23). Your battles are won because He is in you, and you are in Him. The war over sin and sickness is finished and won. Believe in His glory that He has given you. Believe that He lives within you. And according to your faith, you shall receive (Matthew 9:29).

 

© 2023 Lynn Lacher

www.lynnlacher.com/2023/08/already-won-in-jesus-christ.html

 

I AM YOURS

 

Whenever I am afraid,
I will trust in You.
In God (I will praise His word),
In God I have put my trust;
I will not fear.
What can flesh do to me?

—Psalms 56:3-4

 

Lord, fear shall not have any power in my life. I place my trust in you every day—every moment—and in every changing circumstance. Your perfect love in me leaves no room for fear. It casts out all fear. When I praise you—when I praise your Word, I trust you and my mind is on you. I know you are faithful. I place my faith in your unchanging love and your promises that I have not seen. I take your promises and make them my own. I believe you. I will not fear the opinions of any other person or what anyone says or does. My own flesh cannot destroy the perfect work of grace you have wrought forth in my life. You are greater in me.

 

In God (I will praise His word),
In the Lord (I will praise His word),
 In God I have put my trust;
I will not be afraid.
What can man do to me?

—Psalm 56:11-12

 

It is only in you, Lord, that I can praise you.  My flesh will never praise you. Your Holy Spirit within me praises you. Praising you in the Spirit fills me with your righteousness, peace, and joy. Praising you is trusting you. No weapon that comes against me will prosper. Those who condemn me have no power over your righteousness and the peace I have in you. What can anyone really do to me?  They cannot touch the new life you have given me. 

 

He has redeemed my soul in peace from the battle that was against me.

—Psalms 55:18

 

Jesus, you have redeemed me. You have given me peace with you and the battle that was against me. Your love has given me freedom from the power of sin and sickness and want. I lack nothing in you. I am filled with your perfect love. Sin shall not have any dominion over me. I am wholly and safely preserved by your love. Your grace changes everything.

 

I AM YOURS.

 

© 2023 Lynn Lacher

www.lynnlacher.com/2023/08/i-am-yours.html

 

 

Completely Lacking Nothing in Christ

 

 

 

For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power.

—Colossians 2:9-10

 

The young lions lack and suffer hunger;
But those who seek the Lord shall not lack any good thing.

—Psalms 34:10

 

YOU LACK NOTHING IN CHRIST!

 

But those who are immature in the knowledge of their faith in Jesus Christ experience a lack—a shortage—and suffer the results of their lack of knowledge. Instead of hungering for the knowledge of their faith, they hunger for what they see, taste, hear, smell, and touch. Their changing feelings rule the problems and circumstances of their lives instead of their unchanging identity in Jesus Christ. They face destruction, desolation, fear, and continual unrest because they suffer from a lack of knowledge of who they are in the finished work of Jesus and what is theirs in His grace (Hosea 4:6).

 

However, those who seek the Lord behold who He is in their lives and believe His finished work of grace completes them (Colossians 2:9-10). They believe they are the person who Jesus—the Word (John 1:1)—says they are. They are growing in their understanding of grace and trust the perfect love of Jesus in their lives to cast out all fear (1 John 4:18). They are not tormented by the enemy’s lies of fear and unrest. They know that God is greater than the enemy (I John 4:4). They also know God is greater than their own conscience that can condemn them (1 John 3:20). They know they are at peace in their relationship with the Lord (Romans 5:1). They know that there is no weapon which rises against them which can destroy them. They appropriate the power of the Holy Spirit and stand against any condemnation that comes against them (Isaiah 54:17). They believe they are the righteousness of God in Jesus (2 Corinthians 5:21).

 

Those who know that they lack nothing in the finished work of Jesus believe that His perfect work of grace has completed them. No work can earn them any earthly status or reward from God. They have already received the complete work of Jesus and all He paid in full for them to have over two thousand years ago. They believe when they were saved they were reborn completely as new creations in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17). They walk by faith and live in the truth that they are completely new in their spirit and they lack nothing (2 Corinthians 5:7). They behold His glory.

 

Beholding Jesus is not working for him. It is not struggling to know Him. Beholding Jesus is hearing Him (the Word of faith) in your heart (Romans 10:17). It is allowing the Word to renew your mind with the truth of Jesus’ perfect work of grace you have received in your born-again spirit (Romans 12:2). Beholding Jesus is believing and living by faith the truth you have heard (Galatians 2:20). Beholding Jesus is believing and receiving in your heart the truth of the new person you have become in His redeeming love. It is knowing who the person of Jesus is and what is yours in Christ.

 

You are not still in the process of being born-again. You were reborn completely when you were saved. What you received when you were born again was the finished work of Jesus. Growing in the knowledge of His grace is how you come to know the new person you are. 

 

Never set aside the grace of Jesus. Your righteousness does not come through the law—through any work you do—through any tradition or religious status. Your righteousness is the gift of Jesus Christ. Don’t try to prove yourself. Jesus did not die for you in vain (Galatians 2:21). 

 

You are a new creation in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17). Behold, all things in you are new. Never stop beholding in His Word the truth of the new person you are in Christ. Be renewed in the spirit of your mind. You can only live the truth of the new person He has created in true righteousness and holiness when you are renewed by the truth of the new identity He has given you (Ephesians 5:23-24). 

When you believe you are completely filled with all of Him—His righteousness—His forgiveness—His love, you have no desire to seek anything else. 

 

 

© 2023 Lynn Lacher

www.lynnlacher.com/2023/08/completely-lacking-nothing-in-christ.html