Just Choose

Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other.

—John 13:34a-35b (NLT)

—Love as you have loved me? What about that person who has lied about me, Lord? What about that person who has hurt others I care about? You tell me to love anyway and to forgive anyway. But, Lord, where is the payment for the pain that has been caused? Where is the justice that I am due?

—Justice, you are due, child? Justice was satisfied when my Son made payment for your unforgiving heart. He loved you in spite of the pain you caused others. He looked beyond your fault and saw what you really needed. Forgiveness. His love forgave you.

—It is just too hard, Lord. I can’t forgive this. It is just too much.

—Too much to forgive as I have forgiven you, child? Too much to love as I have loved you? Was my life given in payment for your hardened heart, not enough? There is nothing more I could have done but give my life.

—I know, Lord. I’m trying.

—Choose to forgive, child.

—But I don’t feel…

—Child, you are exhausted holding on to this pain of anger and bitterness. You cry out for me to release you from your prison, but I have not jailed you. You have done it to yourself. You keep asking me to release you from this prison of pain, and all along you have had the key to open the door.

—Help me, Jesus. I can’t do this alone.

—You only need to ask. With my help, you can let this go. Choose my love. Choose to forgive as I have forgiven you. The same power that raised me from the dead will also raise you to experience the freedom of a forgiving heart.

—It is so hard to believe that I can be free…

—It is time to trust me. Choose to believe. Choose me. Just choose. 

© 2018 Lynn Lacher

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Own Your Heart

Only the love of Jesus takes your tormented past—the sin that enslaves—your broken heart to the cross and gives you a new life. There in His presence—with nothing to hide—your heart is cleansed of all that has held you captive and released from the hardness that has kept you from receiving His forgiveness. “I will give you a new heart,” He whispers, “and put a new spirit in you. I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh” (Ezekiel 36: 26, NIV).  

Where once your heart was as hard and unyielding as stone, it shall beat with the pulsating life of His loving grace. Where once calloused inner pain impeded God’s love, you shall be energized by His living presence. Your new heart will be His—continually softened and molded by the Holy Spirit. You shall walk by faith and not by sight. He shall be your God and your delight, and you shall belong only to Him. You will give abundantly from your heart as He has given to you from His own. Forgiving as you have been forgiven, your heart shall be continually softened by His love. His heart shall beat from within your own—tender and full of grace without malice or hardness of mind.  And you will love as you have been loved—set free by the Savior who owns your heart.

© 2018 Lynn Lacher

www.lynnlacher.com/2018/12/owns-your-heart.html

          

He is Your Gift

Thank God for this gift too wonderful for words!

—2 Corinthians 9:15 NLT

         If you are someone who is alone this Christmas, I will tell you that I don’t know exactly what you are going through. I don’t understand what it means to be without a husband or family at Christmas. But I do understand loss. Mother is gone. Daddy passed this year. I do understand how your heart breaks when those you love are gone from your life.

         Companies, like Hallmark, remind us again and again that Christmas is a time for love and for families—a time for sharing presents and home. Warm and cozy feelings are their goals—along with a hot cup of cocoa to soothe and renew our visions of sugar plum sweetness. Over and over again, we are reminded that what the retail world tells us is real. And loneliness is magnified. Loss becomes greater. Despair draws us in, and we feel abandoned—without hope in a world that has left us behind.

         Jesus was not born into a world of sugar plum sweetness. He was born in a lowly manger, with little comfort, because there was no room for him in the inn. He came alone, without fanfare, to offer himself to be our greatest gift. He was born to give his life with no expectation of return. His love was freely given—never to be earned. He knew loneliness as we will never know loneliness. Abandoned at Calvary, He died to offer unconditional love as His greatest gift so that we might know God's fullness and joy no matter our circumstance or our pain. He is our answer to loneliness. He is the answer to our pain of loss.

         If you are alone, don’t feel abandoned. You have not been left behind. Your Comforter has come so you can rest in His loving grace. His heart knows your loneliness. He knew it at Calvary, and for your pain—your loss—for your life He gave all He had to offer. His gift for you is His life. There is no greater love than that which came from innocence to love you through this season right into the next.

         Yes, the loss is real, but He understands it in ways I never will—in ways you never will.  Do not strain to comprehend His grace. Your mind cannot receive what is meant to heal your heart. He is your gift.

© 2018 Lynn Lacher

www.lynnlacher.com/2018/11/he-is-your-gift.html

Praise Him

Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good! His faithful love endures forever. Give thanks to the God of heaven. His faithful love endures forever.

—Psalm 136:1,26 NLT

The love of God never ends. It faithfully endures forever. He doesn’t withdraw it. He wouldn’t, and He can’t. His unconditional love was secured for you on Calvary. If you feel alone, you aren’t. He is with you in your valley. If you wish to perceive His goodness in whatever situation you face, then give Him thanks. Thank Him for the answer you can’t see. Thank Him for the provision you don’t possess. Thank Him for His faithfulness when your valley screams otherwise. Praising Him in your valley secures greater faith to believe in the promise He imparted on the mountain. 

God doesn’t grade your performance. He just desires your love. Just because your life isn't going great right now doesn't mean He doesn't love you. Praising Him in spite of your circumstance—your fear—your uncertainty reveals your trust in His faithful love. Praise doesn't change God. Just like prayer praise changes you. Praising Him in your valley bestows a greater appreciation for the promise you heard on the mountain. It gives you strength to believe—to endure, and an overwhelming joy when His promise rises to defeat the lie of your valley.

Praise is that very instance when in your most difficult circumstance, you honor God’s faithfulness, and your promise has hope. Praise Him! Believe Him. Believe His faithful love endures forever!

© 2018 Lynn Lacher

www.lynnlacher.com/2018/11/praie-him.html

Ask

This is the confidence we have in approaching God: 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 what we asked of him.

—1 John 5:14-15 (NIV)

What is the need of your heart this Christmas? The Lord knows it. If you ask anything according to His will, He hears you. He has your provision ready. You can rest assured that He has the best answer for whatever you need. Have confidence in approaching Him. Ask in faith believing that He will answer. Trust His love for you. Trust His faithfulness to you. Bring to Him your desire knowing that to lay it on the altar means His help in your time of need. He desires to deliver what you need, but you ask believing that He will supply what is best for you. 

Faith is the key that unlocks the door, but faith only grows stronger in intimate contact with Him. To know Him intimately means you understand His will for your life, and that it is more important than anything else. A heart that is sold out to God has the faith to believe that He can move mountains. Let Him own your heart, and “do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God" (Philippians 4:6, NIV).

Ask in faith confidently believing He will supply your request. He will never forsake or fail you.

© 2018 Lynn Lacher

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After All

I don’t mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection. But I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me.

—Philippians 3:12 (NLT)

Grace gives joy to pressing on. I don’t press on because it is required. I don’t press on to win Jesus’ love for me. He revealed His love on Calvary, and I received it when I asked Him into my heart. I press on because not pressing on would break the intimacy of His presence. Not pressing on would erect a wall to the grace He won for me.

He is perfect. I am not. As long as I live in this human body, I shall never reach absolute perfection according to the law. But that never keeps me from pressing on to know Him more. It never keeps me from this adventure of undeserved favor—this growth to understand what grace really means for my life. I press on to grasp in my heart this grace that first possessed me. 

His grace is perfection. It meets the requirements of the law, which I could never attain. When I allow—when I press on, His grace does a work in me that I could never achieve. He gives me the power to press on—not to be perfect in meeting the requirements of the law. I press on to comprehend the depth of His grace—to possess that perfection of grace—that perfection of love for which Christ Jesus first possessed me. Yes, His grace is perfect, and it is constantly my joyful journey and my gift. 

Why do you press on? Are you constantly striving to meet those requirements that only He could meet?  Or do you seek to know better the Savior who gave His life for your freedom? He has written you the greatest love letter—His Word. He yearns for you to know Him, and the power of His grace. Law tells you to fear the Word. His love gives you the power to view the Word—all of it—through the eyes of His grace. Jesus cries for you to grasp the love and joy of His grace that first possessed you. After all, He gave His life so you might have it.

© 2018 Lynn Lacher

www.lynnlacher.com/2018/11/after-all.html

Gift of Peace

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)

         This world is troubling. It is emotionally draining. It pulls in so many directions until you feel shattered into pieces. You crave peace above anything else, but you can’t hide from your life. It is always with you—fearfully demanding and constantly expecting something from you. Some escape from this life because of the pain—because no one stayed the course with them until they received the peace of mind and heart Jesus promises. Escape is never the answer. There is no hope in escaping. There is no peace of mind and heart in escaping. 

Don’t despair. Don’t be troubled or afraid. Jesus has left you a gift this Christmas—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 battle. You have strived and struggled until fear has claimed your heart and mind. Jesus just waits for you to crawl into His arms, and give your circumstances—your despair—your fears to Him.

You can never change what happens—just like you can never change your own heart. Only Jesus can. He has loved you with an 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 only when you please it. He loves you in your pain—in your fear—in your misery—in your imperfection. He makes right what you don’t have the strength to make right. Escape from life is never the answer. Then hope is gone. His arms are always open. He loves you. He has a gift for you. Peace of mind and peace of heart.

© 2018 Lynn Lacher

www.lynnlacher.com/2018/11/gift-of-peace.html

A Thankful Heart

Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

—1 Thessalonians 5:18 (NIV)

         A friend discovered this verse at a time she desperately needed it. Having gone through the sudden loss of her only child, she faced sadness and utter desolation. Then God offered her a gift of hope. This verse revealed to her something that became a lifeline. She was told to give thanks in this terrible trial because it was God’s will for her to praise Him. Even though she didn’t feel like praising God at all, my friend took God at His Word. Her praise became an offering of her pain and heartache to Him. It became her sacrifice of self. And God did a miracle. He lifted her from the terrible agony. Yes, she still felt the loss, but her focus changed from her pain to her promise. She would see her son again one day. Her life had a purpose and a message of promise to share with others. 

The day my friend heard of the death of her son, the news was shocking, sudden, and overwhelming. When faced with such hard news, numbness is often our first defense. After the numbness lifts, the pain can become too much to bear. If it isn’t released, it can destroy us. Pain is often released in anger, and we strike out in its bitterness. The greatest way to release the pain is to God.

Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips that openly profess his name. (Hebrews 13:15 NIV) 

In praise, we find release. It is a sacrifice to give praise when your life is fractured. It is a sacrifice to praise Him when what you face makes no sense to your heart. My friend found release in a sacrifice of praise to God. She discovered His strength in the midst of her loss.

The hardships of our lives will always come. When we are on the top of the mountain, we praise Him easily. When we are in the valley, praise becomes harder. God knows that when we praise Him in our hardest times, we receive release from the pain that has claimed us. When we praise Him in the midst of loss or pain or discouragement or embarrassment or loneliness or sadness or illness, the heart and mind become stronger through its surrender. 

         Do you give praise in all circumstances? If not, the truth in Hebrews 13:15 is healing. All it takes is your acceptance of His love for you and a willingness to offer a sacrifice of praise. Through praise, my friend has discovered God’s healing power in her life. Greater faith has become her reward. She knows God will not forsake her at any time. The pain you may feel now can become part of the joy you will receive. That joy is His gift to His child who praises Him no matter what. Praise Him in whatever your circumstance—and you shall also receive.

© 2017 Lynn Lacher

Form Me, Fire Me, Fill Me

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Peace of Mind and Heart

“I am leaving you with a gift—peace of mind and heart,” Jesus told the disciples the night before His death. “The peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don’t be troubled or afraid.”

—John 4:27 NLT

Peace of mind and heart! There is nothing like it. How you crave it in a world you can’t control—in thoughts, you can’t control. But it is real, and it is the greatest gift that comes when you are have been saved from sin and the regulations of the law. The law only exposed sin. It didn’t wipe it away. It didn’t heal your heart. Jesus gave His life so you can have a new life, and have it abundantly without torture or terrorizing thoughts of fear—so you can wake up rejoicing in the day ahead no matter what that day may bring. 

“Christ himself has brought peace to us,” Paul told the Ephesians. “He did this by ending the system of law with its commandments and regulations” (Ephesians 2:14a,15a NLT). Why do you keep striving to be good according to the law and then feel condemned when you aren’t perfect? Does the law save you? No, only Jesus saves you. Only the Holy Spirit transforms your thoughts and renews you in the spirit of your mind! Your part is to surrender and allow Him to change you. You grow in His grace when you allow His grace to teach you what it means to be the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus.

^“Suppose we seek to be made right with God through faith in Christ,” Paul told the Galatians, “and then we are found guilty because we have abandoned the law. Would that mean Christ has led us into sin? Absolutely not! I am a sinner if I rebuild the old system of law I already tore down. For when I tried to keep the law, it condemned me. So I died to the law—I stopped trying to meet all its requirements—so that I might live for God” (Galatians 2:17-19, NLT).

Paul said that when he tried to keep the law, it condemned him. Die to the law, and open your eyes to the freedom of His grace. No, His grace is not a license to sin. That would only make His grace cheap. But you are free to live as He instructs—not because you have to, but because you love Him and want to. He has given you the freedom to choose. If you are tired of the emotions of roller-coaster days that run rampant and fears at night you can’t control, you can choose the freedom of His grace which was greater than your sin—greater than your failure—greater than the condemnation you live under because you don’t feel good enough.

Don’t be troubled and afraid. Peace of mind and heart is yours.

© 2018 Lynn Lacher

www.lynnlacher.com/2018/11/peace-of-mind-and-heart.html

Mustard Seed Faith

“You don’t have enough faith,” Jesus told them. “I tell you the truth, if you had faith even as small as a mustard seed, you could say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it would move. Nothing would be impossible.”

—Matthew 17:20 NLT

         The disciples had just asked Jesus why they couldn’t deliver a boy of a demon who had possessed him, and this was his answer. They just didn’t have enough faith. All they needed was faith as small as a mustard seed for nothing to be impossible. They could speak to the mountain in that boy’s life, and tell it to move.

         Last night Dr. Benny Tate asked our church, “what is your it?” He used John 14:14 as his text. “Yes, ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it” (NLT)! What is your it? What is that one thing you want to move in your life? I would like to take a few of his points and introduce a mustard seed of faith.

         You ask in prayer. You abide in His presence, and a mustard seed of faith is planted. That mustard seed germinates in moist earth and pushes through the soil to find light. Faith comes by hearing the Word again and again. Your faith germinates, and sprouts reaching for the light of His truth. That small seed begins to burst forth into a larger plant. Circumstances of life bring greater growth instead of defeat, and your faith grows when tested. Your mustard seed of faith has been strengthened by prayer, by abiding in His presence, and by the Word guiding you through life’s circumstances. Your mustard seed of faith is answered by a Savior who loves you more than His own life.

         “The Kingdom of Heaven is like a mustard seed planted in a field,” Jesus said in a parable. “It is the smallest of all seeds, but it becomes the largest of garden plants; it grows into a tree, and birds come and make nests in its branches” (Matthew 13:31-32, NLT). The Kingdom of Heaven resides within your heart. It begins as a small mustard seed. It may begin small, but it doesn’t stay that way. With proper nourishment, it bursts forth changing your perspective from what your natural mind sees to what God sees. When faith anchors you, others are drawn to “nest” in your life—to grow in their own faith. 

         Do you have faith to hope in what your eyes can’t see, but what you want to believe in your heart is real?  Hope springs eternal in the human heart! Jesus delivered the boy that day of his demon. He removed that mountain. He tells you that you can speak to your own mountain, and tell it to move. All it takes is a mustard seed.

© 2018 Lynn Lacher

www.lynnlacher.com/2018/11/mustard-seed-faith.html