Already Won

Don't worry over issues problems that come up each day! Recognize each one as an opportunity to allow the Holy Spirit to guide and empower you. When you concentrate on the hardship of each problem, you are relying on your own strength, and you can’t see how the Holy Spirit can carry you safely over each hurdle. When you rely on God’s strength, He directs and empowers you. Those hurdles become a springboard to greater faith.

“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith” (Hebrews 12:1b-2a, NIV).

You can only run this race of life with perseverance if He carries you, and He can’t carry you if you don’t extend Him the opportunity. He is the pioneer of your faith, and He perfects your faith. When you were born again, His Spirit perfected you in your spirit. But your mind is where His Spirit perfects and develops your faith. It is where you believe and trust in the gift of His life for yours. 

Regard each issue in your life as a springboard to greater faith, and don't dwell on what might be or what might happen. Keep your eyes on Jesus and run the race of life in His strength. As He perfects your faith, problems won’t defeat you. Consider each issue in your life as a means to bring you closer to Him, and life won’t bring despair but will increase your faith.

Greater faith brings the power of His peace. His peace flies above hurdles in life. It’s free of despair and full of the promises of God. His peace overcomes obstacles of which you have not even been aware. Those obstacles that you do know? He brings a resolution that is perfect and lasting.

You are going to run the race of life. How you run it is your decision. Keep your eyes on Jesus and allow Him to empower each step! The Holy Spirit shall perfect you in the spirit of your mind! Jesus has already won the race for you at Calvary! When you realize this, life will flow in His abundance!

© 2019 Lynn Lacher

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Be Real with God

I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, who will never leave you.

—John 14:16 (NLT)

Perhaps your whole world has been turned upside down, and your heart feels broken. God is your Father, and He has promised to care for you. Do you wonder why He let something happen that you believed with all your heart He would prevent? If your hurt escalates, you become angry with God and push Him away. You may even internalize your anger and feel guilty about it. The result is disillusionment and bitterness.

You have a choice what to do with your hurt. If you allow your pain to control your thoughts, you give it the power to immobilize you. You are then in bondage to your inability to forgive God and to forgive yourself. The Holy Spirit invites you to acknowledge the hurt that caused your anger. “Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom,” Paul writes (2 Corinthians 3:17). You have the freedom and the power to release your anger to God.

God is your loving “Abba” Father—not a God you must appease!  Jesus took care of that for you! You can be real with God. Tell Him you are angry because you believe He has failed you. Tell Him you are mad at yourself for being upset. He does not punish you because of anything you have done! Don’t condemn yourself. He doesn’t condemn you. Continue to be honest with Him. Some days will be easier than others. Don’t despair. The Holy Spirit is your advocate on earth—your constant support. He will never leave you. 

You are on the road to healing in Jesus’ grace. Each day God carries more and more of your load, and your pain is lighter. One day you realize that your hurt is entirely gone. You are free from all your self-destructive anger. You know God will never fail you. You know, without a doubt, that He is constant and unchanging. And that is rest. That is His peace.

© 2019 Lynn Lacher

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The Mind of Christ

Who can know the Lord’s thoughts? Who knows enough to teach him? But we understand these things, for we have the mind of Christ. 

—1 Corinthians 2:16 (NLT)

         God’s thoughts are higher than anything you might imagine with your natural mind. His ways are also beyond the ability of your logical mind to conceive. However, you received the mind of Christ when you were spiritually born again. Until your natural mind allows the spiritual mind of Christ to have control, peace is elusive. 

         “Who can know the Lord’s thoughts?” believers in Corinth asked Paul. “We understand these things,” Paul affirmed, “for we have the mind of Christ” (1 Corinthians 2:16, NLT). 

         You have a natural mind, and you also have the mind of Christ. One mind will outweigh the ability of the other in controlling your thoughts. If you respond to what you physically see, hear, and feel, then the spiritual mind of Christ will not grow stronger and impart greater faith to believe in the promises of God. When you choose to believe the Truth of God’s Word, it gradually alters your perception of the natural realm. You think beyond your physical senses. When you act upon a revelation inspired by His Word, your faith strengthens. You have exercised the mind of Christ, and you are renewed in the spirit of your mind by the Holy Spirit. Your natural perception surrenders to God’s perception. You see with His eyes, hear with His ears, and understand His thoughts with your mind.

         Is it impossible to know the Lord’s thoughts? Paul says that it isn’t. Before Jesus opened the way into God’s presence, God’s thoughts were too high for you to grasp. God was distant and unapproachable. But the Grace of Jesus changed everything. The ability to trust God beyond what you see, hear, or feel becomes real when the mind of Christ controls your thoughts. Then Grace is abundant living. It is joy without comparison. Faith believes in what the world cannot acknowledge—the unconditional love of Christ, which loves with reckless abandon.

         And peace? No longer elusive. You have the mind of Christ.

© 2019 Lynn Lacher

www.lynnlacher.com/2019/06/the-mind-of-Christ.html

Forward in Faith

Deep calls to deep in the roar of your waterfalls; all your waves and breakers have swept over me. 

—Psalm 42:7 (NIV)

The depth of the Holy Spirit calls to the depth of the spirit in man and bids him come. Do we long for the waves and breakers of His Spirit to sweep away the dust and carry us to new heights? Are we tired of just observing the power that the wind of His Spirit brings to another life—of being someone who watches instead of one who partakes? If we yearn for these depths, we will let go of all that we have allowed to define us. We will believe in what He has for us instead of staying in the security of our boat. 

There is no security in life when you’ve constructed it. There are only false hopes and dreams that offer nothing in the end. Your life is subject to the waves and storms of life. Your life—just like a boat—can sink. But you discover that when you let go of your self-constructed identity and step out into the depths with Jesus, you are at last standing strong upon faith in Him and not sinking into questioning doubt. The life you have built is not your identity. He is your identity and all His resources are yours by faith.

Don't allow who you were before you found Christ to hold you back. Your failures—your sins—your old nature died at the Cross. And now He invites you to let go of old attitudes which have defined you. Jesus calls you to let go of what you believe is safe and walk on water with Him.

When you step out of that boat into what is uncertain, you are no longer the person who cannot get things together or who has been crushed by circumstance. You are no longer someone who lets feelings of rejection determine your life. No longer a failure or ruled by fear, you know your worth in Christ. You believe He has made you worthy—a new person in Him.

In Matthew 14, Jesus addresses Peter’s fear when faced with the uncertainty of the unknown: 

“But Jesus spoke to them at once. 'Don't be afraid,’ he said. 'Take courage. I am here!’ Then Peter called to him, 'Lord, if it’s really you, tell me to come to you, walking on the water. 'Yes, come,’ Jesus said. So Peter went over the side of the boat and walked on the water toward Jesus. But when he saw the strong wind and the waves, he was terrified and began to sink. 'Save me, Lord!’ he shouted. Jesus immediately reached out and grabbed him. 'You have so little faith,’ Jesus said. 'Why did you doubt me?’  "(Matthew 14:27–31 NLT) 

Jesus calls us to walk on water and step into what our natural mind cannot see. We must not be afraid to move forward into the depths of the Holy Spirit. There is freedom from all that has defined us when we leave our doubts and fears behind and step out in faith. When we take that first step on water, keeping our eyes upon Him, He empowers us to take another step and then another and another. We begin to see and understand what the natural mind cannot fathom—the absolute reality of His promises. The impossible becomes possible; failure becomes a success and defeat yields to victory. 

Are you hungry for these depths? Each day, step out of false security of your life and discover His truth that fosters greater faith. If you sow what faith you have in Him, you will reap greater confidence as a result. If you stay safe in the cocoon of your self-built life, you will never discover your identity in Jesus. Launch into His depths—into what has been your uncertainty. You will find it the most certain thing you have ever done.

 

© 2019 Lynn Lacher

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Be Still

May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God.

—Ephesians 3:19 (NLT)

Are you born again and struggling to feel the love of Jesus? You were so full of joy when you invited Him into your heart. But life happened. Things occurred that made you question if God is angry at you. God is love. He is not the author of evil. The enemy is. You have worked so hard to feel His presence again. You have tried to be good enough and do something that allows you to feel. You doubt that He loves you. 

Don’t live in constant fear that you will never feel the love of the Lord again! You are right where the enemy wants you—living in fear. As long as you struggle to feel the presence of the Holy Spirit, don’t expect to feel Him. Give your mind a rest from your constant need to figure out why you don’t feel Him. “Be still, and know I am God,” the psalmist wrote (Psalm 46:10). And there is your answer. If you want to feel Jesus again, let go of your constant mental work to discover what you have done wrong. You end up helping the enemy condemn you. You have not driven Jesus away. The Holy Spirit is with you and in you. Allow Him to teach you who you are in Jesus. Study the Word to know what Jesus accomplished for you on Calvary—not just the rote you hear about the Cross but the life-changing truth of who you are in His love. 

You can experience the love of Christ without understanding it fully! Knowing the completeness of Jesus in your life is not mentally understanding it. Knowing is believing by faith that you are a new person in Jesus. Knowing is believing by faith you are the righteousness of God in Jesus. Knowing is the greatest rest—the gift of His peace. It is not a peace you can work up. It is spiritual peace that you have with God because Jesus opened the way into His presence. And knowing it flows into every area of your life. His peace brings joy.

Peace and joy are not feelings! They are the state of your being. You can’t struggle to receive what He placed in you when you were born again. You received ALL of Jesus—not a part here and a part there. The Holy Spirit transforms the way you think when you spiritually realize that Jesus has given you every necessary resource for living a peaceful and joyful life. When you have a revelation of Jesus in the spirit of your mind—when you have a spiritual understanding of who you are in Him—the way you mentally view life changes. Calvary impacts you. You experience peace and joy as feelings in your mind and heart. You are complete with all the fullness and power that comes from God. 

My friend, you are a new person in Christ. The old is GONE! The new has COME! Allow the Word of God to transform your perception. Believe by faith in His truth, and quit struggling to understand mentally what can only be known spiritually. 

© 2019

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Choose Faith

Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think.

—Ephesians 3:20 NLT

Why would you forget that God can do more than you can imagine? Do you question His love? Do you forget the victory He wrought for you and allow fear to have control? Fear can become so powerful that it replaces God as your spiritual center. When constant fear rules your life, it becomes your obsession. When you allow fear control, you give it power. Fear and faith can’t exist together. One will grow stronger over time and destroy the other. You don’t want fear to defeat faith. You want faith to win, but if you don’t allow the Lord to take control of your fearful mind, then fear will win.

This verse in Ephesians 3 says that He can do more than you can imagine. He can—in your circumstance and your life! He can take care of your problems and certainly take care of you. As much as you allow, He works within you. The more you allow His power to mold your heart and mind, the more you can believe He can take care of what seems impossible. The more you grow in faith, the more you can know that He hears whatever you ask, and provides more than you even know you need. He increases your confidence so that no matter what your eyes see or ears hear, or heart feels, you walk in trust and freedom.  He renews your mind, and He casts out fear. Faith takes over and becomes your spiritual center. Your thoughts focus on Him, and you rest in His perfect peace.

Is this possible? Absolutely. But it is His responsibility within you. It is impossible for you to change yourself without His power. What you can do is choose to believe you are a new person in Jesus Christ. Don't allow what has been in the past to condemn you. Don't let old sins and failures and wrong perception defeat your faith in Him. Know His Truth and apply it in your life. Walk by faith and not feelings. The Holy Spirit changes the way you perceive yourself and your circumstances. He changes your attitudes by destroying false beliefs that you have thought were true. 

Release all fear to Him and praise Him for taking care of everything that has concerned you. Allow Him to control the thoughts that come into your mind. Refuse the lies of the enemy and the condemnation that comes from guilt and shame that is not yours to carry. What you think in your mind is what determines your life. You choose to believe in what is uplifting, encouraging, and hopeful instead of what brings fear. You can live a faith that produces peace instead of fear.

"I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources," Paul implores, "he will empower you with inner strength through his Spirit. Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. Your roots will grow down into God's love and keep you strong. And may you have the power to understand, as all God's people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is" (Ephesians 3:16-18, NLT).

Allow the Holy Spirit access to you. Choose faith and act upon His Truth. You will have the power to understand how complete and powerful His love is for you. 

© 2019 Lynn Lacher

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You Shield Me

But you, O Lord, are a shield around me; you are my glory, the one who holds my head high. I cried out to the Lord, and he answered me from his holy mountain. I lay down and slept, yet I woke up in safety, for the Lord was watching over me. I am not afraid of ten thousand enemies who surround me on every side.                                                                                                                                                                                —Psalm 3:3-6 NLT                      

You shield me! You protect me! Jesus, I long to trust you—to believe you—to have no fear. I cannot shield myself. I cannot save myself. I cannot fix anything. I cannot be good enough. Striving not to fear, Lord, gets me nowhere. I long to feel free—just as you tell me that I am free.

I cry out, and you answer me. I give up the struggle to make myself new and believe that you made me knew at Calvary. Trying to be good enough to receive your acceptance is frustrating and wasted. You accepted me when you died for me. When I get the fact that I don’t have to work to win your love, then I am free. And with that release comes your peace.

I choose to lay myself down before you, Lord. I decide to surrender overwhelming thoughts that I must do something to win your love. I wish to rest in your Grace. The same love which saved me holds and guards me. You came into the world to save me—not to condemn me. You accomplished your work on Calvary—and in me when I said yes to your Grace. I did nothing but only receive. What has separated me from your glory has been ripped into shreds. 

Your altar waits. You wait to not only shield me from all dead attempts to change my life, but for me to understand that you alone are my glory. You solely are the one who renews my mind. You are the one who lifts me from destruction—which holds my head high when life is hard. You are the shield that protects me. You are the one who strengthens and empowers my life.

I can trust you! You are in control! I lay down and rest. I wake up in peace. You saved me by your Grace, and not because of anything I did. You guard my faith by your Grace. My attempts are self-defeating. I am not afraid of anything that comes against me. I have surrendered to your peace and what you make real in my life. Though the enemy attempts to steal what you have safely secured for me, I trust you and believe. I stand in your power. You are my shield. You are my glory.               

© 2019 Lynn Lacher

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No Greater Love

So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.”

—John 13:34-35 (NLT)

“Love one another,” Jesus said to the disciples in the Upper Room the night before His crucifixion. “Love as I have loved you.” It was a new commandment because Jesus, who had just spoken it, was about to reveal its life-changing purpose on the Cross. Jesus had prepared himself to fulfill His Father’s purpose. 

Just before speaking this new commandment, He had washed the disciples’ feet and revealed the one who would betray him and the one who would deny Him. He had made himself less before them. He knew they didn’t get it. Gethsemane was before Him where the disciples would sleep, and Calvary waited for Him alone. And there Jesus’ love would give everything for these disciples and for the whole world. Mercy and grace would flow from the Savior who had just said, “Love as I have loved you.” 

The capacity to unreservedly love as Jesus became real when we were born again—when our old nature became new. Do we grasp what His grace accomplished? He exchanged His righteousness for our sin. He, who knew no sin, became sin, so that we who believe in Him, could become the righteousness of God. When we understand this truth, we begin to comprehend just how much He loves us. And when His Spirit has renewed our minds, unconditional love flows smoothly and without restraint through us.

His grace has set us free to love. However, we often bicker and argue and find fault and hold grudges and judge. If we gave the Holy Spirit access, loving others would flow easily and naturally through us. The new commandment that He established by giving up any rights and offering His life cries out to live in us. Have we allowed the Holy Spirit access to renew us in the spirit of our minds so we might understand what it means to be free from the burden of sin? He forgives us!  We are free from the weight of the law. If we know we are free, we have no reason to burden others. We are free to love as He has loved us. 

“Let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes,” Paul wrote. “Put on your new nature, created to be like God—truly righteous and holy” (Ephesians 4:23-24, NLT). You have the spirit of Christ in your born-again spirit. You have His nature. Put on that new nature daily, and allow Jesus to transform and renew your thoughts and attitudes. Your old life died on Calvary. A new commandment is here—the old law is fulfilled, never again to take precedence. You can love as He has loved you. His grace loves beyond measure—beyond fault—beyond rights. His love is everlasting mercy and life-changing grace that conquered sin and renews you. 

Allow His grace that put you first on Calvary, to be first in your life. "Love as I have loved you," He said, and stretched out His arms and died. There is no greater love.

© 2019 Lynn Lacher

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Fickle Feelings

Do you often feel alone and wonder where God is?  Do unexpected thoughts fill your mind and bring fear? “So do not fear,” God promises, “for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand” (Isaiah 41:10, NIV). Even though you may feel alone and have terrifying thoughts, God waits for you to trust Him. You can't trust your feelings. They will change. But you can trust God and the Truth of His Word. His Word is rock-solid and unchanging.

You may feel afraid. “Don't be afraid,” God declares. “I have not given you a spirit of fear but of power, love, and a sound mind” (2 Timothy 1:7). You may feel evil battering you. “I am your hiding place. I will protect you and deliver you” (Psalm 32:7). Your feelings will betray you. God asks you to look beyond your feelings and trust Him—to see that what you feel offers you no security.

Faith asks you to risk what you feel is secure. It asks you to look beyond what your natural mind says is true and believe what you cannot see or feel. Faith requires you to trust in the truth of God's Word instead of your feelings. Faith is not an emotion. It is a choice, and when it is made again and again, feelings fall in line with His truth. It comes by allowing the Holy Spirit to train your mind to believe in God's Word instead of your feelings. When you are renewed by the Word transforming the way you think, you discover that it makes complete sense to trust in God’s Word rather than how you feel.

Praise God that His truth is greater than your feelings! Choose to trust His unchanging Word instead of your ambivalent feelings. Believe Him! “I will strengthen you, and uphold you,” He assures you. “You are never alone.” What He promises is absolute truth! Knowing His truth gets you off that roller coaster ride of fickle feelings. What an incredible guarantee!

© 2019 Lynn Lacher

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Yes I Am

For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

—2 Corinthians 5:21 (NKJV)

We sing the chorus from Hillsong, "Who You Say I Am," and I wonder if we listen to what we sing—if the words of the song resonate with us. What is its message? I am a child of God, and I am free! I am free of condemnation! I am free of sin's judgment because Jesus became my sin and paid the price for me. 

         Who was I that Jesus would die for me? I was once a nobody and unworthy, but He accepted me and made me worthy by the gift of His righteousness. When I understand who He says I am, I believe—without a doubt—that I am chosen and not forsaken. And who am I? What is my identity?  I am the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. I stand blameless before God because of the loving mercy and grace of my Savior.

         Why do some believe that after they receive Jesus’ love that they could never earn, that they must earn the right to keep it? They think they have to work hard enough—and be good enough— to hold on to His precious love. They were so in awe and in love with Jesus for the gift of His life that saved them, and, then after receiving His love, they believe they have to earn what He unselfishly died to give. That makes no sense. It would make God a God who has changed. The Word says He is unchanging, and the Word is Truth. 

         “Because of our faith,” Paul wrote, “Christ has brought us into this place of undeserved privilege where we now stand, and we confidently and joyfully look forward to sharing God’s glory” (Romans 5:2, NLT). Jesus didn’t bring us to a place of undeserved privilege because of our performance or because of anything we had done right. No! Jesus brought was into a place of right standing with God because of our faith. We believed in Jesus, and God accounted it to us as righteousness.

         Dear friend, Jesus has not brought you to a place of undeserved privilege and then said you now must work to make yourself right before Him. When you understand what His gift of righteousness means in your life, you walk by faith and not by sight. When you grasp the fact that your righteousness cost your precious Savior everything—that only He could set you free— then you are free from the torment of guilt and shame. Then you are free to believe that Jesus, who died for you, now lives in you renewing your mind and transforming you. He does the work—not you. 

         You can lean on Jesus, and breathe a sigh of relief! The One who died for you empowers you. Let go and let Him. You are a child of God! Yes, you are!

© 2019 Lynn Lacher

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