Living as Those Made Alive

 

 

If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.

 —Galatians 5:25

 

There is a difference between being born again of the Holy Spirit, and actually drawing your life from Him. Many have made the born-again experience such a “one-time event” that they overlook its expected outcome in their lives. Walking in the Spirit is available to all who are born again. They can draw upon the power of the Holy Spirit instead of continuing to navigate life in the flesh.

 

“Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:11).

 

We are dead to sin and reborn as new creations in Christ. Our spiritual potential has been made alive in Christ. As born-again Christians filled with the Holy Spirit, we have received the gift to understand the mysteries of God (1 Corinthians 2:7-12). We no longer have to be limited in our understanding but can be renewed in the spirit of our mind (Ephesians 4:23). We can now pray in the Spirit and not be limited to our own thinking because we have received the mind of Christ (1 Corinthians 14:14-16).

 

Many Christians never begin to live by the Spirit. They are forgiven and saved but continue to live by their limited understanding. They haven’t grown in spiritual understanding of the new life they have received in Christ. And this completely goes against the purpose of the new birth!

 

“For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, for all patience and longsuffering with joy; giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light. He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins” (Colossians 1:9-14)

 

There is so much spiritual truth Paul prays for us in these verses! He makes it absolutely clear what it means to live by the Spirit. He prays that we are filled with wisdom and understanding of God’s will and that we are always increasing in our knowledge of Him. He prays that we are empowered with all of God’s power. Jesus has delivered us from the power of darkness!  And His deliverance should make huge differences in our lives. Joy and peace and patience and praise and walking worthy of God! We have His power but so often we don’t exercise what we have received because we haven't believed it. We are new in our born-again spirits! We should not settle for anything less! 

 

Paul prays for us in Ephesians 3:16.

 

“That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man.”

 

When you walk in the Spirit, you draw out the new life you have received in Christ. You draw from God’s power. You draw on the wealth of His riches in glory. You are strengthened with His might. You are dead to the old man and made alive in Christ.

 

 

www.lynnlacher.com/2023/12/living-as-those-made-alive.html

 

Drink His Living Water

But whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.

—John 4:14 (NKJV)

 

Just as Jesus told the woman at the well, He also tells us that after we drink of His living water, we will never thirst again. We received Christ’s living water when we were born again. However, Christians regularly speak of going through times where they thirst once more for the joy and peace of God. 

 

Is what Jesus said true or is what we feel true? They are both true. 

 

In our natural minds where we are subject to our emotions, the flesh fights against the truth of the new life we have received in Christ. Our emotions well up in us. However, in our born-again spirits where we have become new creatures in Christ (John 3:6, 2 Corinthians 5:17), we have received the living water of new life in Christ. We have received the fullness of God (Colossians 2:9-10). God never wavers. He is strong. He is victorious. He is our new life. All the old that once defined us is gone. The flesh is defeated. We are completely new. We are consistently filled with love, joy, peace, and all the fruit of His Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23). In our born-again spirits, there is no thirst. 

 

Yet, in our minds, we thirst. We know our flesh is not perfect. We know we fail. We never have enough. We are never satisfied. 

 

"But whoever takes a drink of the water that I will give him,” the Amplified Bible Classic Edition reads, “shall never, no never, be thirsty anymore."  

 

To never thirst again, we must drink of the truth of the new life the Holy Spirit has birthed in us. To defeat the lies of the flesh, we must defeat the battle that wages in our minds with God’s truth. We must take every thought captive to the truth of who we are in Christ (2 Corinthians 10:5). To conform to what the Word says is true of us as new creations in Christ, we have to be renewed in our minds by His truth (Romans 12:2). We have God’s power living in us. But the Holy Spirit has to convince us of God’s truth about what we have received in Christ until we believe it in our hearts. 

 

In our born-again spirits—where our old person has passed away and where we are reborn as new creations in Christ, we are constantly supplied with God’s living water. 

 

However, many Christians only draw occasionally from the well within them. They have not been renewed in their minds by the truths of what they have received as a new creation in Christ (Romans 12:2). If we would walk in the spirit instead of allowing our flesh to be controlled by our emotions, we would deny the flesh and not thirst for His living water (Galatians 5:16). Those who are thirsty for the joy and peace of God are not walking in the spirit where God has supplied His living water. But those who walk in the spirit live in God’s constant supply of joy and peace (Romans 8:6). They have His power to overcome the temptations of the flesh.

 

Jesus’ well of living water—this fountain of new life He has given us—springs up in us into everlasting life. Everlasting life is an intimate relationship with God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Those who come to accept Jesus’ finished work of grace and do not continue to know God intimately, miss the truths of their salvation. 

 

My Christian brother and sister, Jesus lives in you. He is like an artesian well or spring. He does not need to be primed or pumped. The Holy Spirit wishes to teach you everything you need to know about the new life you have received in Christ. The life of God is meant to just flow out of you. When your naturally emotional mind is continually renewed by the Word and to the unchanging mind of Christ you have received (1 Corinthians 2:16), Jesus, like a spring of living water, will continually and supernaturally flow out of you. You will thirst no more to live in peace and joy. You will have His power to subject the flesh to God’s truth and put on the regenerated life you have received in Jesus Christ.

 

“And be constantly renewed in the spirit of your mind [having a fresh mental and spiritual attitude], and put on the new nature (the regenerate self) created in God’s image, [Godlike] in true righteousness and holiness” (Ephesians 4:23-24, AMPC).

 

The flesh thirsts, and it profits you nothing. It is the Spirit who gives life to you (John 6:63). Be renewed in the spirit of your mind by His truth to know the new person you are in Christ.  Put on your new nature recreated in God’s image of righteousness and holiness. He birthed it in your born-again spirit. Drink what is yours. Draw from His truth and live by His truth. He has given you living water.  

 

© 2023 Lynn Lacher

www.lynnlacher.com/2023/12/drink-his-living-water.html

 

 

The Message of the Angels

 

 

 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.

—Luke 2:14

 

 

Where is peace in this world?  The War in the Mideast has the potential of becoming a worldwide crisis. People are living lives that are in direct opposition to God’s Word.  It seems people are hurting more than ever. Where is the peace on earth the angels proclaimed?  It is critical to understand that the angels were not proclaiming peace among men. 

 

Jesus said as much in Matthew 10:34.

 

“Think not that I am come to send peace on earth. I came not to send peace, but a sword.”

 

The angels were praising God because Jesus would bring peace on earth between God and man. They were proclaiming the end of God’s war on sin. This would be accomplished by Jesus taking our sin into His own body on the cross (1 Peter 2:24) and thoroughly paying the sin debt that we owed (Romans 6:23).

 

Sin had separated man from God (Isaiah 59:1-2). God loved sinful man despite his sin. But because He was holy, He had to punish sin just as He had promised Adam in Genesis 2:17. Under the Old Covenant, the Lord allowed men to substitute the death of an animal for their own death. But that was only symbolic and a shadow of the perfect sacrifice for our sins that was to come (Hebrews 10:1). In a way, under the Old Covenant, God forgave sin on credit. 

 

But with the birth of Jesus, the real debt would be paid in full. There would be an end of God’s wrath toward those who would put faith in Jesus’s sacrifice for their sins. This was why the angels were praising the birth of Jesus!  And we should be praising what Jesus has done for us!

 

What does Scripture say?

 

“Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us” (Hebrews 9:12).

 

“And for this cause he is the mediator of the new testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance” (Hebrews 9:15).

 

“By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all” (Hebrews 10:10).

 

“For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified” (Hebrews 10:14).

 

The war is over for those who accept God’s gift of salvation. Jesus completely paid for all our sins over two thousand years ago before we were even born or had ever sinned. When we believe in Jesus Christ's atonement for our sins, we are sanctified through the offering of Jesus’s body once and for all (Hebrews 10:10). By His one offering for our sins, we have been perfected forever (Hebrews 10:14). All of our sin debt has been paid (Colossians 2:12-14), and we are forgiven for all our sins.

 

I pray for you, as a believer in Jesus Christ, that the message of the angels will take on new meaning this Christmas. You have peace with God through faith in His grace (Romans 5:1-2). 

 

And for you who don't know Him? Jesus is God’s greatest gift to you! I pray that you hunger to receive the grace of Jesus in your heart and to know His forgiveness that sets you free.

 

www.lynnlacher.com/2023/12/the-message-of-angels.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Expectation and Hope

 

 

 

For I know that this will turn out for my deliverance through your prayer and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, according to my earnest expectation and hope that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ will be magnified in my body, whether by life or by death.

—Philippians 1:19-20

 

 

You may not realize it but your life is always filled with expectations.  Your expectations are either positive or negative. Pessimists expect nothing but defeat in their lives. They live without hope. Optimists find something positive in every situation. They expect God’s blessing through any hardship. Your life will always bear the fruit of what your expectations are. 

 

Our expectations come from what we believe about God, ourselves, and others, and what we allow to influence our lives. If you question God’s love for you, you doubt if He cares about you. If you were raised with negativity, you doubt yourself. You will doubt how others think about you. If you are allowing negative things to influence your life, you are feeding a defeatist attitude. If you think about your past with shame and guilt, you probably expect more of the same. Your attitude about life is powerful. It greatly affects your outcome. 

 

In Philippians 1:20, Paul speaks of expectation and hope as separate things. Your expectations make up your attitude. It is your approach to life. Your attitude is based either on the truth of God’s promises or your fears and limitations. 

 

The hope of God that is poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit (Romans 5:5) grows when we have positive expectations. If faith is the substance of things hoped for (Hebrews 11:1), and if it grows when we have positive expectations, then a negative view of life can never be an environment that inspires faith. You are motivated by faith when positive expectations and hope are alive. This is the very reason many believers struggle to live a victorious life. 

 

Expectations, hope, and faith all spring from one of two sources: you have been promised something or you have sown a seed in your heart. God gives His promises to trigger our faith. Faith comes when we “hear” His Word in our hearts (Romans 10:17). A natural seed and a spiritual seed both increase according to their nature. A farmer who sows a seed can expect a harvest. A believer who sows the seed of God’s incorruptible truth into his heart can expect a harvest of God’s promise. And when you sow the love and grace of God into others, you can expect a harvest of love and grace. You reap what you sow.

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What do you expect in your life?  What is the source of your attitude and approach to life? If you are building your life on God’s truth and His promises—if you are sowing the seed of His Word in your heart—if you are tending and protecting it from the lies of the enemy, then you will undoubtedly live a life of faith. But if the source of your expectation, hope, and faith is not the promise of God that has been sown in your heart, you will see everything in your life with negativity and pessimism. You will live your life on your own strength instead of believing by faith in God’s truth. 

 

Paul lived his life by faith in God. No matter his circumstances, he had great expectations and hope. Even though he did not know if what was coming would result in life or death, he believed in his eternal deliverance. Paul knew that through their prayers for him and the power of the Holy Spirit, he would unashamedly and boldly continue to preach Christ crucified. Paul knew the one in whom he had placed his faith (2 Timothy 1:12). He sowed God’s truth in his heart, and he reaped the harvest.

 

Without expectation and hope—without prayer and the supply of the Holy Spirit, we will not have the faith to believe. With expectation and hope, we can have faith to reap the harvest of God’s Word. When we know the one in whom we have placed our faith, we trust His outcome.

 

 “Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit” (Romans 15:13).

 

 

© 2023 Lynn Lacher

www.lynnlacher.com/2023/12/expectation-and-hope.html

 

 

 

 

 

Your Own Worst Enemy

 

In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves.

— (2 Tim. 2:25, KJV)

 

 

Other translations of this phrase in 2 Timothy 2:25 say that we are to instruct those in opposition with gentleness and humility.  Look at the wording in the King James Version. Have you ever realized that you can oppose yourself and be your own worst enemy? 

 

It is absolutely possible to know God’s truth in your mind and yet oppose yourself in your faith, in your words, and in your actions. Many Christians know good doctrine but speak words of failure, sickness, lack, and defeat. Their actions do not reflect the new life Jesus Christ has given them. Not only are they in opposition to themselves, but they react as a victim when they find themselves in opposition to others. They are easily offended and are not living a victorious life. Their expectations and their outlooks are negative. However, if you asked them something about doctrine, they would have no problem answering you.

 

The same thing is true for setting goals and fulfilling God’s call upon our lives. We can have a vision for a promising future, but if we choose to pursue meaningless things, they offer us no value. We become as the world, and our vision becomes nothing more than something we have imagined in vain (Romans 1:21). When we permit fleeting pastimes to replace long-term goals, we are only opposing ourselves. We have become the double-minded man James writes about.

 

“For he that wavers is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord. A double minded man is unstable in all his ways” (James 1:6-8).

 

The lusts of our flesh—an unrenewed mind—a doubtful, pessimistic outlook—and fear are all in opposition to our true identity in Christ and to God’s call upon our lives.  They are our enemies that place us in opposition to ourselves. The more time we give to these enemies, the more we are our own worst enemy.

 

You already have enough enemies in your life. Don’t become an enemy of yourself and your God-given purpose. If you walk in the Spirit, you won’t fulfill the lust of the flesh (Galatians 5:16). Be renewed in your mind with God’s truth, and you will conform to it. You will know His purpose in your life (Romans 12:2). Choose to have a positive optimistic outlook. Your vision will not be in vain, and your life will not be in opposition to the plans God has for you.

 

 

www.lynnlacher.com/2023/12/your-own-worst-enemy.html

 

God’s Gift

 

When the right time came, God sent forth His Son from heaven into the world. He was born of a virgin and was made subject to the requirements of the law. Jesus was sent at a specific time. His entrance from the heavenly realm into this world was not haphazard or random. Some things had to take place before Christ could come to earth and redeem man. God sent His Son to the earth at the earliest possible time.

 

God’s purpose for sending His Son into the world was twofold. First, Jesus came “to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons” (Galatians 4:5). Jesus did this by perfectly keeping the law, fulfilling its requirement, and fully paying for its curse (Matthew 5:17, Galatians. 3:13). We cannot keep the whole law perfectly. If we fail in one area, we fail all of it (James 2:10). Christ delivered us from the law's curse. He delivered us from our inability to live a righteous life. He gave us a new life of righteousness we could never earn (2 Corinthians 5:17, 21).

 

Secondly, Christ gave us the position of sonship with all its inherent rights. In Paul’s day, the Greek word, “agorazo” was often used to describe the ransoming of slaves from the market. Not only were we ransomed from the bondage of the law, but we were redeemed from our orphaned status into sonship. 

 

Many people stop at redemption, only realizing what they were delivered from and not what they have inherited. Praise Jesus, He has redeemed us, and we have the promise of eternity!  But we have also been adopted as sons and daughters by God! Jesus came to give us abundant life (John 10:10). Our abundant life in Christ is found in realizing the full benefits of the inheritance He has redeemed for us. 

 

When we agree with God’s Word and believe it in our hearts, we can live the abundant life God promises no matter what attempts to come against us. Jesus has “recreated” us in God’s righteousness—He has “restored” us to a right relationship with the Father so we can walk in the assurance of our sonship. He has given us “the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you” (Luke 10:19). We don’t walk by sight. We walk by faith in the authority Jesus has given us. We walk in the truth of the relationship Jesus has purchased for us with His precious blood. 

 

God created us for Himself but we sold ourselves into slavery to the devil. God bought us back through the precious blood of Jesus Christ. No amount of effort, human works, or man's own righteousness could bring the divine favor that we needed. It took the actual life of God (Leviticus 17:11) to purchase our redemption.

 

Love is God's gift. His life for ours. Could there be any greater gift this Christmas season? And what is our response to His gift?  Do we open His gift and receive Him in our hearts? Or do we let Him remain unwrapped and unknown? 

 

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The Confidence We Have in 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

 

 

This is a powerful promise! Is this the confidence we have in God? The only reason many Christians don’t ask God for help is because they aren’t confident that they will receive what they have asked of Him. 

 

This promise makes it clear that we must ask for God’s help according to His will. How do we know what God’s will is? God’s Word is His will. We don’t have to add “if it is your will” at the end of a prayer and wonder what is going to happen if we know what His Word says about it. When we know His will and are praying in agreement with His Word, we can be confident that God has heard us and that we shall receive what His Word promises.

 

These verses in 1 John 5:14-15 indicate God hears us when we pray according to His will. This certainly doesn’t mean that the Lord doesn’t know what we pray or only hears certain prayers we pray. He hears every word that every person speaks (Matthew 12:36). But these verses are speaking of God hearing and granting our requests. The Lord never answers prayers that do not line up with His will. 

 

In the New Testament, God has already provided everything we could ever need through the atonement of His Beloved Son, Jesus Christ. The prayer of faith is our positive response to what Jesus has accomplished through His finished work. The prayer of faith only appropriates what the precious blood of Jesus has given us through grace.

 

“Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them” (Mark 11:24).

 

The word “therefore” Jesus uses in Mark 11:24 indicates that the message in this verse is important. Jesus says that for you to have what you ask for in prayer, you have to believe that you receive it. 

 

When you know what you request in prayer agrees with the Word, you can believe your answer has been provided by God. You believe that it “will” come to pass in the future. This future could be in an instant but the word “will” signifies future tense.

 

The Lord answers our prayers that meet the prerequisites of His Word but He moves in the spiritual realm. His workings are not always immediately evident to our physical eyes. By faith, we believe that He is answering our prayers before we see any physical evidence. If we cannot believe until we physically see something, then we have doubt (2 Corinthians 5:7). Doubt will cause us not to receive the things that we have asked that are according to God’s will (James 1:5-7). But when what we ask of the Lord agrees with His Word, all the evidence we need is our faith. It is the evidence of what we cannot see (Hebrews 11:1).

 

Just as the fig tree did not immediately die after Jesus cursed it, receiving what we ask God for in prayer can also take time (Mark 11:20). By placing our faith in the Word and the absolute truths the priceless blood of Jesus purchased on our behalf, we can believe that when we ask according to God’s will, we know He hears us and that we have the petitions we have asked of Him. 

Is this the confidence you have in Him?

 

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His Place of Faith and Peace

 

 

 

 

A great windstorm arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that it was already filling. But He was in the stern, asleep on a pillow. And they awoke Him and said to Him, “Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?” 

 

Then He arose and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace, be still!” And the wind ceased and there was a great calm.

 

But He said to them, “Why are you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith?” 

—‑Mark 4:37-40

 

Many disappointed and frustrated believers become upset at God because of their storms. This story documented in Mark 4 of Jesus and the disciples focuses on many of the concerns we face regarding faith. 

 

Jesus was at peace in the storm. He was fully convinced that the storm was not going to drown them. You can see this from His place of peace. 

 

The disciples were fearful and then accused Jesus of not caring. But Jesus had faith. He rebuked the storm, and it suddenly became calm. And then he rebuked the disciples, “Why are you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith?” 

 

The main characteristic of true faith is peace. Regardless of the circumstances, the spirit of peace prevails. You know you have the victory no matter what. When believers are frustrated and begin to question God, that is a sign that they do not believe by faith, even though many declare they do. 

 

The difference is that God’s kind of faith—the faith Jesus had—is not mental. It is not emotional. It is spiritual. It is of the heart and not the head. This is where many well-meaning believers (including me) have missed it. 

 

“I know I’m believing by faith because I’m convinced the Word is true,”  many declare, “but why does this sickness still plague me?” This kind of statement is often made out of frustration and not out of peace. Faith that has to physically see what you believe for is not God’s kind of faith. It is human faith that struggles to believe out of discouragement.

 

True faith has already spiritually seen God's victory. True faith cannot be shaken or discouraged. True faith believes in the outcome before it comes. God’s kind of faith does not fail. Just as Jesus rebuked the storm, He calls us to rebuke our storms. 

 

How do we enter into God’s kind of faith? The same way Jesus did. He could only do what He saw and heard from the Father (John 5:19). Just because we know God’s Word doctrinally does not mean it has come to life in our hearts. We, too, can sleep in peace and trust God. Daily fellowship with the Lord takes us into His place of faith and peace.

 

 

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Wisdom and Revelation in Your Knowledge of Him

 

 

In Ephesians 1:15-20, Paul prays for believers in Ephesus to have a spiritual revelation of their position in Christ. The prayer is for us, too. It is a powerful prayer because Paul prays from the knowledge and belief of who he is in Jesus Christ. Paul knows that believers have no power without the spiritual wisdom God has given them. He doesn't plead with God to provide the Ephesians with spiritual insight. He prays for the Ephesians to open their spiritual eyes to what they have received in Christ.

 

“Therefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, do not cease to give thanks for you, 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” (Ephesians 1:15-18, NKJV).

 

Paul does not stop praising God for faithful believers and their love for each other. He prays that God would give them wisdom and revelation in their knowledge of Him. Paul wants them to understand what they have received—what is theirs in coming to know Christ. He knows that without knowing what they have received they will not grow in their understanding of their new birth in Christ. Without believing in their position in Christ, they will have no power to stand against the enemy's lies and have confidence in God’s calling. Without understanding, they will not believe the spiritual riches that are theirs in Christ. 

 

Have we grown in knowledge of what we have received in Christ?  Do we know what belongs to us? Do we often plead with God to give us what we have already received because we don’t have the wisdom to know that it is already ours?  

 

“I also pray that you will understand the incredible greatness of God’s power for us who believe him. This is the same mighty power that raised Christ from the dead and seated him in the place of honor at God’s right hand in the heavenly realms” (Ephesians 1:19-20, NKJV).

 

Paul prays for us to understand the power we have when we believe what God says. It is the same power that raised Jesus from the dead. Do we understand that His Resurrection power lives in us?  We don’t plead with God from weakness. When we have the spiritual wisdom of who we are in Jesus Christ, we pray from His position of strength. We know that in our weakness, He is strong. And that His strength and power are ours. We pray, believing we have already received what we ask (Mark 11:24, 1 John 5:14-15).

 

Do you know what you have received in Jesus Christ? You have received Jesus and His finished work of grace in your born-again spirit (John 3:6). Do you believe what you have received is true for you? With your heart, you believe unto righteousness (Romans 10:10), and you believe the truths your right standing in Christ has given you. If you don’t know the truths of your new identity in Jesus, then you will not be changed by the truths that are yours. Learn who you are in God’s Word. His Word is Truth, and it is life (John 6:63). Allow the Holy Spirit to teach you what you have received in Christ. Ask Him for wisdom. He gives it generously (James 1:5). 

 

When we seek God’s truth, we find it. When we renew our minds with God’s Word, we conform to its truth.  When we believe His truth in our hearts, we receive the promises Jesus purchased for us with His precious blood. When we believe in the new life that is ours, we put on the righteousness He has given us. We live in the fullness of His grace. 

 

And then blessed are our eyes because they finally see and our ears because they finally hear what the Holy Spirit desires for us to see and hear and understand with our hearts. 

 

You might begin with Ephesians 1. The Holy Spirit wants to give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in your knowledge of Him.

 

 

© 2023 Lynn Lacher

www.lynnlacher.com/2023/12/wisdom-and-revelation-in-your-knowledge-of-him.html

 

 

 

 

 

What Do You Hear in Your Heart?

 

Therefore He who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you, does He do it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? 

—Galatians 3:5

 

A miracle is God’s work that supersedes natural law, and faith is how we receive from God. God does not work a miracle in response to anything we do to work up ourselves to believe. Faith comes by hearing the Word of God in our hearts.

 

The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God. 

—Romans 8:16-17a

 

The Holy Spirit Himself bears witness with your spirit. He quickens God’s Word of truth in your heart.

 

So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. 

—Romans 10:17

 

Faith doesn’t come by hearing the Word in your mind. Yes, the Holy Spirit must renew your mind with the Word’s truth. But it is when you believe God’s Word in your heart that His Word is quickened in you. This is when His Word comes alive in you. You believe, and the truth you believe is His.

 

When the Holy Spirit brings to life God’s Word in your heart, you believe what God has promised you beyond a shadow of a doubt. You know it is already yours in the spiritual realm. You have the faith to believe without seeing with your physical eyes. No one can shake what you believe—not the tradition of men—not the opinions of others—not the devil—not anyone. 

 

So Jesus answered and said to them, “Have faith in God. For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says. Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.”

—Mark 11:22-24

 

It is by hearing the Word in your heart that you have faith in God to receive His promise to you. Jesus says that when you speak and do not doubt in your heart, you will receive what you have spoken. “Therefore”, Jesus then says, and “therefore” means the next point is crucial. “Whatever things you ask for when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.”

 

You believe before you receive from God—not after you receive. Seeing is not believing. That is not faith. Believing in God’s promise is not something you can make yourself do. Yes, you make the choice to believe. You submit to the Word and allow God’s truth to renew your mind until your perspective becomes His perspective. And then your heart can be quickened by the Word. 

 

When the Word is quickened in your heart, the Word comes to life in you. You believe. You know God is faithful, and you let nothing sway you from what God has shown you. You believe without physical proof. You continually renew your mind with the Word. You guard His truth in your heart with all diligence and keep it from being choked out by the cares of life or stolen by the enemy. Just like the fig tree Jesus cursed in Mark 11:20 did not die right away, you know that God’s promise for your mountain to be removed may not happen right away. You hang on to God’s truth which has been quickened in your heart. You believe no matter what happens in your life. You believe above the voices of others who can’t see the spiritual truth God has revealed to you.

 

The Word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart (that is the word of faith that we preach); that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.

—Romans 10:9

 

You believed for your salvation with the measure of faith God gave you (Romans 12:3). You did not physically see Jesus Christ crucified for you. You chose to believe in Him because of the word of faith quickened in your heart. 

 

In the same way, you believe God’s promise with the word of faith you hear in your heart (Romans 10:17).

 

Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.

—John 20:29

 

 

What do you hear in your heart?

 

 

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