Walk on Water

Are you sitting on the edge of your Promised Land? Do you want the promise, but don’t want to face the giant of your own fear? Instead of believing for His promise, do you live a defeated life—wishing but never receiving? 

“Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we cannot see” (Hebrews 11:1, NLT).

Faith assures you that no giant can stand against you when faced with the power of God. Faith is your confidence to move forward in His strength, believing He brings about His promise.

“You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised” (Hebrews 10:36, NIV).

What is your vision?  What has God promised you?  If you are wandering in a desert of dry bones, it is time to speak life to what God has promised.

“God will make this happen,” Paul wrote, “for he who calls you is faithful” (I Thessalonians 5:24, NLT). 

His Spirit bids you believe. Step out of your boat and move forward, trusting God to supply all you need to overcome any obstacle. The depths of those waters won’t drown you. With your soul believing what you have already received in your spirit, you will walk on water.

© 2019 Lynn Lacher

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Only Takes a Moment

I’d like to take a line from a song from Hello Dolly. “It only takes a moment to be loved a whole life long.”  And that is true with Jesus. In the one moment you believe in Him, He loves you your whole life long. 

Never question if He still loves you. His love is constant, and He never withdraws it. He loves you with His everlasting love. Jesus makes your life all about His love for you.

Yes, it only takes a moment to be loved your whole life long.

Your Gift is Forever

“This is how much God loved the world: He gave his Son, his one and only Son. And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life. God didn’t go to all the trouble of sending his Son merely to point an accusing finger, telling the world how bad it was. He came to help, to put the world right again” (John 3:16-17, MSG).

After all the hurried decorating, shopping, visiting, wrapping presents, and holiday parties, we wait in anticipation for the true meaning of Christmas. Bells have rung out their message of peace while we have busied ourselves with the fun of the season. The world has rushed and hurried into the busy celebration. We have sung Christmas carols, but with the last caroler's fading voice, and the final bell's echoing resonance, all is quiet with the hope of what this season means. We wait breathlessly for the promise of hope for the world.

That promise of hope is in a  baby born, not to condemn us but to save us. In one incredibly miraculous moment in God's great plan, Jesus Christ came into our world as an innocent child. He grew in God's wisdom and understanding. Completely human yet also wholly God, He understood our pain and suffering. He knew the gift of His life was the only way to pay the debt for our sins. Jesus gave His life for you and for me without hesitation. I stand in awe of His sacrifice and amazing gift of righteousness! He did not stay in the grave. He rose to live again, and He lives in me. His righteousness has taken the place of my sin! Jesus is my Christmas promise that my old sinful nature is forever gone, and I am a thoroughly washed clean by His grace. I am free!

Lord Jesus, I am in awe of your mind-blowing grace―that you would give your life for mine—that you, who had no sin, would tear my sin from me!  My mind yearns to fathom the depths of the gift of your righteousness. My heart rejoices in its promise! You came into the world to pay my debt for sin so I might be free from the pain of suffering, illness, guilt, and shame. I praise you for your continued peace and joy amid life's ups and downs. Thank you for your revelations of grace I discover in your Word—for this journey in life that continually amazes me. You are my peace each day, and my joy in each moment. Use me, Lord Jesus, to share your gift of love. Fill me to write as I have never written.

Jesus, you cried out, “it is finished!”  Your gift of grace lives forever in me. 

© 2019 Lynn Lacher

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No Longer a Slave to Fear

The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life.

—John 10:10 (NLT)

Living in fear is not God’s purpose. The enemy plans to destroy your faith. God has not given you a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and a sound mind. Jesus gives you a spiritually rich and rewarding life. When you seek His truth and continually allow Him to change the way you think, you discover the abundant and satisfying life He has imparted to you. When you allow His righteousness to claim your thought life, fear of failure—fear of illness—fear of anything fades into the background.

Are you exhausted from lies that run rampant because fear tortures you? Fear not only kills your faith, but it destroys you physically, mentally, and emotionally. You belong to Jesus.  Jesus knows you are His, but you have to recognize it, too, and allow that truth to rule your thought life. When you surrender your mind to Him, He can destroy fear that claims your mind.

If fear has controlled you for a long time, don't miraculously and quickly expect to be delivered from its grasp. Continually choosing to believe the truth that you are His child, and nothing can destroy His finished work, will eventually defeat fear. Oh, there will be battles, but don’t give up and allow the enemy to fill your mind with thoughts that steal, kill, and destroy. You choose to stay the course. You decide every day that God is not the author of your fear. You want to deny the lies. You want to believe the promise of a rich and satisfying life.

One day you will know in your mind what Jesus has placed in your spirit. God has not given you a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and a sound mind! He has taken your defeated sinful life and given you His righteousness and power! One day you will know without a doubt that you are not a slave to fear. You are a child of God.

Believe what Jesus has given you. Faith always defeats fear.

© 2019 Lynn Lacher

Ask Believing

And we are confident that he hears us whenever we ask for anything that pleases him. And since we know he hears us when we make our requests, we also know that he will give us what we ask for.

—1 John 5:14-15 (NLT)

What is the desire of your heart this Christmas? He hears your request. He knows exactly what it is and 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.

Faith is the key. Confidence grows stronger when you allow His Word to define you instead of your feelings. You choose to believe by faith in what He has completed for you on Calvary. You decide to believe in what you can't see, touch, or feel at the moment. A heart that believes in the redeeming gift of Jesus’ grace has the faith to believe that God can move mountains.

Why are you anxious and worried? “Don’t worry about anything,” Paul wrote. “Instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done (Philippians 4:6, NLT). 

Worry inspires doubt, and doubt breeds fear. And fear is faith's enemy. Choose to believe by faith in the gift of His love for you. Resist worry and doubt. Don’t succumb to fear. Ask in faith, believing in your promise. Especially praise Him for supplying it. 

God is faithful. Trust in Him with all your heart. Don't try to figure out how and when. In everything, live and believe in His love for you. Ask believing. He believes in you. He gave His life for you. 

“Let us hold tightly without wavering to the hope we affirm, for God can be trusted to keep his promise (Hebrews 10:23, NLT).

© 2019 Lynn Lacher

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The Tablecloth

The pastor who experienced this miracle was  Howard Schade, who passed away many years ago.

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The new pastor and his wife were newly assigned to reopen an old and aged church. It was very run down and needed much work. They set a goal to have everything done in time to have their first service on Christmas Eve.

They worked hard cleaning, repairing pews, plastering walls, painting, and more. They were making wonderful progress when a terrible rainstorm hit the area. When the rain ended, the pastor’s heart sank when he saw that the roof had leaked and caused a very large area of plaster to fall off the wall of just behind the pulpit. There wasn’t time to fix it before the opening Christmas Eve service the next day. The pastor cleaned up the mess on the floor and with disappointment in his heart, headed home.

On his way home, he noticed that a local business was having a flea market sale for charity, so he stopped in. One of the items was a beautiful, handmade, ivory colored, ornately stitched tablecloth with exquisite work and beautiful colors. The thought hit him. It was just the right size to cover up the hole in the front wall. He bought it and headed back to the church.

By this time, it had started to snow. As he was approaching the church he noticed an older woman waiting for a bus. He knew there was no bus coming for 45 minutes and encouraged her to wait in the warm church.  She was grateful. She sat in a pew while he got out a ladder and some equipment to see if this beautiful tablecloth could redeem the ugly hole in the wall. When he finished putting it up, he could hardly believe how beautiful it looked! And it covered up the entire problem area. 

Then he noticed the woman walking down the center aisle. Her face was white as a sheet. “Reverend,” she asked. “Where did you get that tablecloth?” She immediately asked him to check the lower right corner to see if the initials EBG were stitched there. They were. These were the initials of the woman. She had made this tablecloth 35 years before in Austria.

The woman could hardly believe it as the pastor told her how he had just found the tablecloth. The woman explained that before the war, she and her husband lived in Austria. When the Nazis came in, her husband made her leave planning to follow her the next week. He never made it out of the country and was imprisoned. She was told he was dead and never saw her husband or her home again. The pastor wanted to give her the tablecloth, but she made the pastor keep it for the church. He insisted on driving her home. That was the least he could do. She lived on the other side of the city and was only there for an appointment.

What a wonderful Christmas Eve service they had. Many from the neighborhood came out. The Christmas songs and hymns and the Pastor’s words of the humble birth of the Christ child and the humble rebirth of the church touched everyone’s heart. The Christmas spirit was warm in the hearts of all.  At the end of the service, the pastor and his wife thanked each person at the door for attending and many said that they would return.

One older man, whom the pastor had hired to do some painting, continued to sit in one of the pews and stare. The pastor wondered why he wasn’t leaving. The man asked him where he got the tablecloth hanging on the front wall because it was identical to a one that his wife had made years ago when they lived in Austria before the war. He told the pastor that before the Nazis came, he forced his wife to flee the country for her safety. His plan was to follow her a week later, but he was arrested and put in a camp. He never saw his wife or his home again. The pastor asked if he would allow him to take him for a little ride as he answered his question about the tablecloth.

 The Pastor and his wife drove him and to the same house where he had taken the woman three days earlier. He helped the man climb the three flights of stairs to the woman’s apartment, knocked on the door, and he saw the greatest Christmas reunion he could ever imagine. It was truly a Christmas miracle.

“I will give you back what you lost to the swarming locusts, the hopping locusts, the stripping locusts, and the cutting locusts... Once again you will have all the food you want, and you will praise the Lord your God, who does these miracles for you” (Joel 2:25-26, NLT).

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Believe This Christmas

For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord.

—Luke 2:11 (KJV)

A child is born, but not just any child. He is a child born to save the world from sin. He is a child born to set us free from condemnation, guilt, and shame. He is a child born to give us His righteousness so we might walk in newness of life. This child promises a new life while the world continually brings up the old. This child gives joy while the world offers defeat. He imparts what the world can never impart—His gift of perfect peace and rest.

Why do so many believers live defeated lives? After receiving Jesus, they have not received a revelation of the grace He has given them. Without that divine understanding of the gift of His righteousness for their sin, they live with shame—daily reminded by the enemy of the guilt of sin, which is no longer theirs. 

“For all who mourn in Israel,” Isaiah promised, “he will give a crown of beauty for ashes, a joyous blessing instead of mourning, festive praise instead of despair. In their righteousness, they will be like great oaks that the Lord has planted for his own glory” (Isaiah 61:3, NLT).

Instead of mourning over the debt of your past, Jesus gives you a crown of beauty. Instead of ashes from a burned-out life filled with condemnation, He gives you victory. You are no longer in debt to sin. When you understand in the spirit of your mind the new life His righteousness imparts, you live your freedom from guilt and shame. Festive praise rises instead of mourning over what has been. You are a new person in Jesus, and you believe it! In the righteousness He died to give you, you are like a great oak the Lord plants for His glory. You stand firm in Him and unmoved by the lies of the enemy or the world. 

This Christmas, determine to believe in the gift of His righteousness. Ask the Holy Spirit to give you a divine revelation of His grace and what it means in your life. Allow Him to teach you your new identity in Jesus. You will experience God’s peace, which will continually guard your heart and mind. His joy will claim you. His purpose will guide you. His power will sustain you. His promise will fill you. 

Jesus has given you His righteousness for the ashes of your burned-out life. Believe. You don’t need to wallow in the guilt and shame of condemnation anymore—struggling to pay a debt you do not owe. This Christmas ask for His heavenly revelation of the gift of His life for yours. Seek, and you will find.

© 2019 Lynn Lacher

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Feast

God blesses you who are hungry now, for you will be satisfied.

Luke 6:21a (NLT)

 On Christmas Day, you may not have eaten much in anticipation of what you are going to have for your holiday meal. Perhaps, you have waited expectantly for that feast, and you can't wait to be full of its riches. This is just an earthly feast. Its riches don’t last. It is there one moment filling you to overflowing and then leaving you hungry the next. You have partaken of its earthly bounty, but it has offered no lasting sustenance. Its riches have left you deflated. You are empty once more. Like Esau, you have filled yourself with the immediate satisfaction of a rich blessing, but unlike Esau, you don’t have to miss the promise of a lasting one.

Jesus' feast is like no earthly one. He prepares a table of spiritual riches that satisfies the most profound void in your life. His feast isn't devoured in an instant and then gone the next. His feast is everlasting, and the richness of its offering is constant. When you hunger spiritually for what He has prepared for you, your emptiness is satisfied. Sometimes you come in desperation. Feasting hungrily on His riches, you discover sustenance and help for your time of need. Other times you come with a deep hunger to receive understanding, which offers joy and peace no matter your earthly circumstance. And sometimes you come to bask in the richness of His glory. But you come. You take in the wealth of His truth, and its nutrition fuels and nurtures your life. Each morsel of His grace fills you with what earthly riches could never give. You feast on the unshakeable Kingdom of God―His feast that never ends.

This Christmas come hungry to His table. Feast upon His unending bounty. Feast upon His truth and promises in His Word. Feast upon His presence. Feast upon His grace. Feast upon the One who created you and delights in you. Feast upon the incredible gift of His life given in unconditional love so that you might partake of all He has for you. Feast upon the Father who calls you His child. 

“You are my beloved child,” He whispers. “Come and be filled. Feast and never hunger again.”

© 2019 Lynn Lacher

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Spiritual Gifts

“There are different kinds of spiritual gifts, but the same Spirit is the source of them all. There are different kinds of service, but we serve the same Lord. God works in different ways, but it is the same God who does the work in all of us. A spiritual gift is given to each of us so we can help each other. To one person the Spirit gives the ability to give wise advice; to another, the same Spirit gives a message of special knowledge. The same Spirit gives great faith to another, and to someone else the one Spirit gives the gift of healing. He gives one person the power to perform miracles, and another the ability to prophesy. He gives someone else the ability to discern whether a message is from the Spirit of God or from another spirit. Still another person is given the ability to speak in unknown languages, while another is given the ability to interpret what is being said. It is the one and only Spirit who distributes all these gifts. He alone decides which gift each person should have” (1 Corinthians 12:4-11, NLT). 

Christmas. It is the time of gift-giving when God gave us the greatest gift of all—His son, Jesus Christ.  Because Jesus willingly gave His life, the Holy Spirit imparts spiritual gifts to those who believe in Him. These are gifts that the Lord has chosen for us to help build and edify believers in Jesus Christ. Whatever spiritual gifts God has chosen for each one of us, we exercise each gift for the benefit of believers. When using our spiritual gifts in the way that the Holy Spirit desires, believers are encouraged and receive a passion for sharing the love and grace of Jesus. 

Whatever spiritual gifts the Holy Spirit has bestowed upon you, allow Him to use them unpretentiously in your life. Don't neglect them. Use them under His divine direction. If they are not exercised humbly in His power, those gifts will remain fruitless in your life. Your brother or sister in Christ will not be edified. In fact, spiritual damage may be the result. 

How you use each gift reveals if God's grace has continually transformed and empowered your life. If you surrender each spiritual gift to Him, He will use your life beyond what you believe you are capable of doing. Through each surrendered gift, believers will hunger for more of Him. Prayer will be cherished and rewarding; peace will be the norm; the Word will bring continued revelation, and unstoppable grace will flow to each life in its path.

The Lord has chosen your gifts wisely, but for you to know the gifts that He has chosen, you spend time with Him. You seek Him and not any gift. You do not choose your gifts. He chooses and bestows as He wishes because He knows which are the best for you.

Love Him only and not what He bestows. Don’t be afraid of any gift. Open your heart and use what He pours into you. Don't ever neglect what He has chosen for your greatest potential. When you have experienced what He can accomplish through your surrendered life, you yearn to be consumed by all of His power. You cry out in complete surrender, just as Peter did, “Lord, wash all of me!”

The grace of Jesus is the gift that keeps on giving through you. The Holy Spirit challenges you to believe beyond yourself.  Trust Him. 

© 2019 Lynn Lacher

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Give His Love

It is almost impossible to believe another year has passed. 2020 is just around the corner. I remember the Christmas in 1968 Pat placed an engagement ring on my finger. It seems like yesterday, but the years tell a different story. Grady was born in 1970. Tricia joined our family in 1972. On we advanced through the many years with our two children married, giving us grandchildren and a great-grandchild to bring joy. 

There have been so many life lessons to be learned throughout my 71 years. There have been joys, and there have been heart-wrenching times. Mama passed away in 2013. Daddy passed away in January of 2018. Through all of this life, Jesus has been my anchor, my peace, my promise, my fulfillment.  And His love is the gift that I have offered over and over again. It is the gift that I will offer until the moment I leave this earth to live with Him.

This Christmas, I celebrate His life for mine—His grace that fills me with love beyond what I can humanly give. I celebrate my family and friends, and those God continually brings into my life. This life is a beautiful gift we often squander or waste. Each moment is a chance to love with His love. That moment to love will never come again. Love those who are in your life. This Christmas, celebrate life with your family and friends because you never know how long you may have the opportunity. Celebrate the gift of His life that you have been so graciously given. 

I pray you allow His love to fill your heart this Christmas beyond what you have ever experienced! Give His love away, and you will continually receive. Now I pray “to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy! All glory to him who alone is God, our Savior through Jesus Christ our Lord. All glory, majesty, power, and authority are his before all time, and in the present, and beyond all time! Amen” (Jude 1:24-25, NLT)!

© 2019 Lynn Lacher

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