A Peaceful Heart

Seclusion—for any reason—builds walls only if you let it. Closeness is hard to regain if you don't try. If others don't reach for you, reach for them. You determine your outlook—no one else.

 

"A peaceful heart leads to a healthy body; jealousy is like cancer in the bones" (Proverbs 14:30).

 

Jesus has given you the gift of a peaceful heart, but if you don't believe what you have received, you won't experience it. This Truth is something the Lord has taught me during the last five months that have not gone the way I wished. I never wanted to go through two hospital stays and be secluded at home. At times I was even envious of others. Sometimes, when I didn’t receive a call or text from those I cared for, I’d sense a loss. My problem, I discovered, wasn’t with anyone else. It was with me. I was looking for how much I was worth in what others thought of me instead of what God did.

 

My worth isn’t found in what anyone else says or doesn’t say, how they act, react, or think. My worth is in Christ alone. Jesus found me worthy enough to die for me, and He sees me worthy now. Any feeling that I have lost closeness with others is what I’ve determined in my mind. If I try to analyze what others think or feel, I’m looking for answers that I won’t ever have. If I need proof that others care, then I’m seeking for my worth in them instead of the Lord. I’m the one who determines that I won’t be paralyzed by any thought the enemy attempts to plant. When I know who I am in Jesus—when Jesus has taught me His Truth about my relationship with Him, I’m at peace with my relationships with others. I experience the gift of His peace that Proverbs 14:30 says leads to a healthy body.

 

We determine what we believe about our relationship with God. A positive or negative attitude determines whether we have God’s peace or not. A negative attitude and envy are like cancer to the bones. And what does cancer do? It eats away at everything good. The analogy to your bones is an incredible choice in this Scripture. Your bones hold your body together, and if cancer eats them, you fall apart. Without a peaceful heart, you fall apart from fear and anxiety. You isolate yourself in self-imposed rejection.

 

Whatever you are going through, don’t isolate yourself. Reach for God, and seek the Truth of the incredible depth of His love for you. Praise Him for He never leaves you or forsakes you! Reach out to others—not expecting them to say or do something that proves your worth. Reach out and love them! Unselfishness will bring peace and joy to your heart. Your outlook determines your outcome. 

 

“A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a broken spirit saps a person’s strength" (Psalm 17:22, NLT). Don't settle for a broken spirit that drains you. Find joy in your relationship with Jesus. He is the one who gives a peaceful heart and makes all the difference.

 

©2020 Lynn Lacher

www.lynnlacher.com/2020/09/a-peaceful-heart.html

 

A Mustard Seed of 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 that had possessed him, and this was his answer. They 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.

 

What is that mountain you want to move in your life? You can tell it to move. Just as Jesus told the disciples, all you need is a mustard seed of faith.

 

“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 you. You received all the resources of God when you were born again in your spirit. Your soul (mind) doesn't understand right away what Jesus has given you. Your mind doesn't understand the power of what you have received until you exercise it—again and again. It only took a mustard seed of faith for you to believe in Jesus. That mustard seed of faith grows as God’s Truth transforms your mind and the way you perceive what you have received from Christ. 

 

Your knowledge of the Kingdom you received at salvation may begin small, but it doesn't need to stay that way. With nourishment from the Word and time in the Holy Spirit, you grow to understand the relationship you have with Christ. Spiritual growth changes your perspective from what your natural mind sees to what God sees. When you understand the incredible gift of Jesus’ grace, you believe in what He has given you. 

 

A seed germinates in moist earth and pushes through the soil to find light. Your faith germinates and sprouts, reaching for the light of His truth. That small seed develops and stands against the elements. Circumstances of life bring greater growth instead of defeat, and your faith is nurtured when tested. The Word strengthens your mustard seed of faith as it transforms your perception. Your faith blossoms as you grow in understanding of your relationship with Christ. When you choose repeatedly to tell your mountain to move, your developing mustard seed of faith appropriates the truth that you have received through the revealed Word of God. You believe your mountain will move. 

 

Can you choose to believe in God's Truth no matter how you feel? It takes the Word to be renewed by the Holy Spirit in your mind. Faith comes by hearing the Word again and again. You have the faith to hope in what your eyes can’t see. Jesus delivered the boy that day of his demon. He removed that mountain. Jesus tells you that you can speak to your mountain and tell it to move. It begins with a mustard seed of faith and is found in your understanding of your relationship with Jesus. When you know what you have already received, you walk by faith and not by sight. You speak to your mountain, and it moves.

 

© 2020 Lynn Lacher

www.lynnlacher.com/2020/09/a-mustard-seed-of-faith.html

Grace in Humility

 

Have you ever known someone so focused on his own ability that he abuses the grace of Jesus? He sees grace as a means to an end instead of the precious gift of righteousness that it is. You might call him a self-righteous Pharisee—someone who lives a holy life trying to impress the Lord. Jesus said that the Pharisees were like white-washed tombs, beautiful on the outside but filled on the inside with all sorts of impurity. Outwardly they looked righteous, but inwardly they were filled with hypocrisy and lawlessness (Matthew 23:27-28).

 

“God opposes the proud,” James wrote, “but gives grace to the humble” (James 4:6, NLT). Our lives in this world are performance-based. We want to be rewarded based on how we do. Pride keeps us competing to get ahead and be the best. God's Kingdom is the opposite. His grace is unearned and not based on us at all. The least is the greatest. We don’t have to perform well enough to win God’s love, acceptance, and favor. We received all that when we believed by faith in Jesus.

 

Am I a self-righteous Pharisee who believes that living holy will give me a better standing with God? I don't need to prove myself to God. He accepts me based on His merit and not mine. Our righteousness is a gift from Jesus. We have none of our own. The only sin that Jesus rebuked on earth was that of self-righteousness. He never rebuked sinners—only the Scribes and Pharisees. The problem was not that the Pharisees were not doing good things. They were doing good things but for the wrong reason. They were trusting in their own goodness.

 

Do I expect God to answer my prayers based on how good I have served Him? No one is good. All of us have fallen short of the glory of God. But if I ask God for something because of what I have done, I ask Him to reward my religious performance. And that is an insult to Him. Doing things to earn God’s grace is promoting myself and trying to relate to God based on what I have done instead of what Jesus has done for me. When I do this, I operate in pride. Pride will never raise anyone up. The only way up in God’s kingdom is down.

 

Living a separated life is not the same as living a grace-filled life. Holiness does not render grace. Only Jesus gives grace. Humility is our response to the grace of the Cross. It is not demeaning ourselves—humility is laying down self and recognizing the omnipotent power of God. Humbling yourself is not a one-time thing. You have to deal with “self” for the rest of your life. Everything good you have in your life comes through God. If self is on your throne, your goodness becomes your own.

 

“I know, Lord, that our lives are not our own,” Jeremiah prayed. “We are not able to plan our own course" (Jeremiah 10:23, NLT). Man is not able to direct his steps. But self-made men do things their way. Belief in what they can do instead of faith in God's ability leads to pride. God is not the author of pride. He is the one whose glory raises the humblest heart.

 

“There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death" (Proverbs 14:12, NKJV). Pride is the result of doing what you think is right. Humility is trusting God and recognizing that He is the source of all good things in your life. Pride leads to death. Humility before God gives life.

 

God imparts everything He has available to us through grace. His unmerited favor rewards someone who has humility in his heart. Grace abounds when you humble yourself and admit you need God. Honestly, ask yourself if you are trying to win God's love and acceptance based on your performance in serving Him. You don't have to prove yourself to God. He already approved of you on the Cross. When you encounter God’s amazing grace, you are humbled by His goodness. You know you are unable to direct your own life.  And you learn that God’s plan is better for you than anything you could have dreamed.

 

©2020 Lynn Lacher

www.lynnlacher.com/2020/09/grace-in-humility.html

Unbelief

 

I tell you the truth, you can say to this mountain, “May you be lifted up and thrown into the sea,” and it will happen. But you must really believe it will happen and have no doubt in your heart.

—Mark 11:23, NLT

 

What you believe is what you will experience. Believing God is essential to experience what the natural mind deems impossible. When it is the Word of God, you believe, all things are possible. Jesus told the disciples that they could speak to a mountain and tell it to be thrown into the sea. But they had to believe it without any doubt in their hearts. "I tell you,” Jesus said to them, “you can pray for anything, and if you believe that you’ve received it, it will be yours” (Mark 11:24, NLT).

 

Believing in the Truth of God’s Word without any doubt makes the difference in whether you live a defeated or victorious life! Jesus told the centurion, who asked him to pray for his servant, “Go back home. Because you believed, it has happened” (Matthew 8:13, NLT). The centurion’s faith brought healing to his servant. Unbelief stands between you and the promises God reveals to you in His Word. To receive, you must believe. And you need to believe in the Word of God with no doubt in your heart. Where do you get the faith to believe? Perhaps understanding unbelief will help.

 

One kind of unbelief is a lack of knowledge. “My people," God said about Israel, "are destroyed for lack of knowledge” (Hosea 4:6, NKJV).  A lack of knowledge in God's Word can destroy your ability to experience God's healing power. When what you are taught becomes established in your heart, you believe it. If it is the Truth of God's Word, it speaks life and blessing. If it is wrong teaching, it speaks death and curse. Wrong teaching is a roadblock to believing the Word of God. To believe, you must know God's Truth. 

 

Double-mindedness is another problem. A double-minded man is unstable in all His ways (James 1:8).  His opinion changes based on how he feels.  If you are double-minded, you have not decided in your heart what you really believe. When you allow the Word of God to settle into your heart, you experience transformation. Your mind is transformed by the Truth you receive. How you feel eventually lines up as a result. To not be double-minded, you must be convinced of God’s Word, and believe it without doubting.

 

Belief based on what you feel comes from your natural senses—what you see, hear, taste, touch, and smell. Living by your feelings is detrimental to believing the Word of God. When you try to believe God and your five senses tell you that it is not working, you have chosen defeat based on your feelings. When you experience something that has become a disappointment or a disillusionment, emotions try to embed in your heart. In experiencing this kind of unbelief, your five senses rise to dominate your mind. Renewing your mind with the Word is essential to overcome your senses—your feelings, and believe that the Word is true (Romans 12:2). 

 

Jesus saved and healed you at Calvary. Everything in the natural world screams that this is not true, but it is true. What you feel is not factual in God's Truth. "My child,” God speaks, “pay attention to what I say. Listen to my words. Don’t lose sight of them. Let them penetrate deep into your heart, for they bring life to those who find them, and healing to their whole body” (Proverbs 4:20-22, NLT).

 

Unbelief holds us back. Study and meditate on the Word. Pay attention to what it reveals. Hold on to what God shows you. Let the Word penetrate deep into your heart. His Word brings life when you grasp its meaning. It brings healing to your whole body. Be transformed by the Truth of God's Word. Believe what the Holy Spirit reveals to you. Doubt will flee, and you will be able to take captive every thought or feeling from the enemy. Take authority over your mind and believe.  

 

©2020 Lynn Lacher

www.lynnlacher.com/2020/09/unbelief.html

Live by Faith

Our physical eyes can’t help but see evil in this world, and even when we try to avoid it, our ears can’t help but hear. If we trust God, we learn that what we see or hear can’t destroy our faith. Instead of allowing fear to run rampant, we believe God will protect us, no matter what happens. We stand on His Truth. No weapon that comes against us has any power to destroy our confidence in His unfailing love. Victory comes from knowing our relationship with Him.

 

“You live by believing and not by seeing,” Paul wrote (2 Corinthians 5:7, NLT). His Word says that we live by faith and not by what we see. Exercising faith is something that we consciously render. When we consistently apply faith to our problems and struggles, we’re changed and renewed in our mind. The Holy Spirit reveals what the natural mind can never understand—the miraculous depth and life-changing power of a relationship founded on God’s Truth and Grace. 

 

Our natural inclination is the opposite of the spiritual. The spiritual mind knows the possibilities and opportunities and promises of God. We might experience hopelessness and fear in our logical mind, but as we choose to believe and exercise God’s Truth revealed by the Holy Spirit, the mind of Christ replaces our thoughts. His thoughts become ours—our attitude changes. We have hope in a world turned upside down by evil.

 

God has great hope for His children—where fear no longer controls us—where peace is consistent—where what we hear or see with our natural mind always gives way to His spiritual Truth. When we live by faith, our perception changes. We change in the spirit of our mind. We spiritually receive the revelation of God’s Truth and Grace. We have the ability to believe what we once thought impossible.

 

When we place our trust entirely in God’s Truth, He is our shelter from the bombardment of the natural world—keeping us safe where no enemy or fear can reach us. We have a relationship with Him like no other. He is our Savior—our Healer—our Provider. Nothing has the power to destroy what the Holy Spirit reveals as Truth. Live by believing God’s Truth and not what you see or hear or feel.

 

©2020 Lynn Lacher

www.lynnlacher.com/2020/09/live-by-faith.html

Unbelief Robs You

 

Jesus, Peter, James, and John had just come down from the mountain where the Transfiguration had taken place. Jesus discovered that the disciples who had not gone with them had been unable to cast out a demon from a boy. The boy’s father told Jesus that the demon had terrorized the boy since he was small. If he could, would Jesus please have mercy and help him?

 

“What do you mean, ‘If I can’?” Jesus asked. “Anything is possible if a person believes.”

 “The father instantly cried out, ‘I do believe, but help me overcome my unbelief’” (Mark 9:23-24, NLT).

 

In crying out for mercy, the father asked Jesus for compassion. Jesus had traveled throughout the country healing because the compassionate heart of God was His. If he could? If you believe Jesus told the father, it is possible. And the father wanted desperately to have enough faith to believe. Knowing that Jesus was the answer to his son's healing, the father cried out to Jesus to help his unbelief. Jesus commanded the spirit to come out, and it threw the boy to the ground and then left him. The boy appeared dead, but he wasn’t. Jesus had healed him.

 

In another account of this same story, Jesus explains to the disciples why they could not cast out the demon. “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). 

 

Unbelief keeps you from receiving what God has promised you. It only takes a little seed of faith to tell your mountain to move. God moves the mountain when you apply your faith to the Truth of His Word. And your promise comes when you know His Word and step out in faith, believing.

 

Whatever you tolerate in your life, you will live with it. Do you want something to change? Don’t tolerate something that you want to be gone. Don’t dwell on what you see or feel or taste or touch. What do you believe God for? Nothing is too little or too big for God. It is possible if you believe. God has a totally different perspective on what looks impossible to you right now. Speak to your mountain without doubt in your heart. Believe what God says in His Word. Value and esteem what God says over what others may tell you. 

 

You are greater in Jesus than any attempt of the enemy trying to destroy from God has promised you. Unbelief was a hindrance to the disciples in casting out that demon. It doesn't have to be a hindrance to you. The Word is God, and the Holy Spirit lives in you. The Word is alive in you, but if you don't know it and believe it, it cannot do anything for you.

 

At this moment, God gives you a choice. You can say you either believe or you don't. No matter how bad your situation—your health—your finances, when Jesus is involved, nothing is impossible. When you view life from what you perceive as your loss, you miss God's greater perspective of what He has for you to gain.

 

The promise that appears dead in your life isn’t. Jesus reached down to the boy lying on the ground, took him by the hand, and raised him up. When Jesus gets hold of your situation, the supernatural happens. Sometimes it is a process, and sometimes it is immediate. But when Jesus is involved, the outcome is different than anything the natural world or man tells you is true.

 

Unbelief robs you. Do you want to wipe it out of your life? Then know what God says. His Word is living Truth, and in it is the power for you to believe and receive what God has promised you. What are you waiting for?

 

©2020 Lynn Lacher

www.lynnlacher.com/2020/09/unbelief-robs-you.html

No Proof Needed

 

It was the evening of the Last Supper. Jesus had just told his disciples that they knew where he was going. Thomas immediately responded.

 

“No, we don’t know, Lord,” Thomas said. “We have no idea where you are going, so how can we know the way” (John 14:5, NLT).

 

Thomas, the disciple who would soon doubt the risen Lord, didn’t understand the spiritual standing right before him.

 

“If you had really known me,” Jesus said, “you would know who my Father is. From now on, you do know him and have seen him” (John 14:6, NLT).

 

Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied” (John 14:8, NLT!

 

Just like Thomas, Philip is blind to what is right before him.

 

Jesus replied, “Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and yet you still don’t know who I am? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father! So why are you asking me to show him to you” (John 14:9, NLT)?

 

Philip could only be satisfied with physical proof.  Had the years with Jesus not been enough evidence?  If Peter could not relate to Jesus spiritually, there was no proof that could convince Peter that he had seen the Father.

 

Are we like that? Do we need physical proof to believe God is with us?  We stumble in the physical realm needing proof that we see or hear the Father. And Jesus is right before us in the spiritual—just waiting for us to relate to Him spirit-to-spirit. When you need proof God is with you, no evidence or feeling of His presence will ever be enough. Needing to see or hear something from God can hinder you from having an intimate spiritual relationship with Him. 

 

Without faith, you can’t please God. God wants you to believe He is with you by faith—without needing proof or a feeling to believe He is with you. Emotional and physical manifestations of God’s presence make you feel good for a while, but, if not careful, you will get to the point where you need more feelings as proof.

 

Many believers ask for physical signs as proof from God. The problem with fleeces is you become dependent on them instead of walking by faith in God’s truth. God wants you to operate in faith instead of needing feelings to sustain you. Feelings won’t carry you for long. They will ultimately destroy your chance of spiritual growth.

 

Like Philip, do you say “show me the Father, Jesus, and I will be satisfied?” If Jesus doesn’t satisfy you, then you will always need physical proof—something you can see, hear, taste, smell, or touch to believe He is with you. 

 

“Put your finger here,” Jesus told doubting Thomas, “and look at my hands. Put your hand into the wound in my side. Don’t be faithless any longer. Believe” (John 20:27, NLT)!  Ok, Thomas, here’s your physical proof. Touch me and feel where I died for you.

 

“My Lord and my God!” Thomas exclaimed (John 20:28, NLT)/

 

Then Jesus told Thomas, “You believe because you have seen me. Blessed are those who believe without seeing me” (John 20:19, NLT).

 

The greatest blessing you can receive from Jesus comes when you need no physical evidence He is with you. Manifestations of the Spirit are wonderful to experience, but you don’t need them as proof when you are connected to Him spirit-to-spirit! Feelings never last. Physical things die. But the spiritual needs no proof. It lasts forever.

 

©2020 Lynn Lacher

www.lynnlacher.com/2020/09/no-proof-needed.html

His Peace is Within You

 

You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You because he trusts in You.

—Isaiah 26:3 (NKJV)

 

 

The key to perfect peace comes from trusting God. Keep your mind on the Lord and His Word. Absorb His Word and trust what you have absorbed. Your emotions follow whatever dominates your thoughts. If you allow your feelings to have control, your thoughts are dominated by what you feel instead of the truth that the Word imparts. Fear, rejection, jealousy, unforgiveness—can not give you spiritual peace. Letting your feelings determine your thoughts will keep you from the peace God promises in His Word.  

 

“For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace” (Romans 8:6, NKJV).  The Cambridge English dictionary says that carnal “relates to the physical feelings and wants of the body.” Your feelings come from the natural—the carnal—what you sense. And that, Paul, says in this verse, leads to death. But to discern the Word spiritually is life and peace. To be spiritually-minded is to be Word-minded. You absorb the Word spiritually. Meditating on the Word renews your mind, and your thoughts line up with God’s truth. Consider the feeling of fear that can consume you. If you don't want to fear, you can't let fear dominate your thoughts. You meditate on a Scripture such as, "God has not given you a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind (2 Timothy 1:7, NKJV). When your mind remains on God’s truth, you receive His perfect peace. 

 

People pray for deliverance from fear. But they reap fear. They pray to be accepted. But they reap feelings of rejection. They aren’t reaping deliverance because they didn’t plant themselves in God’s Word. What you plant in your mind is what is going to grow there. If you plant what brings death to your spirit, you will live on a roller coaster ride of emotion. If you plant the Word, you will reap peace. The truth about fear is that it is not from God. The truth about rejection is that Jesus never rejects you. He accepts and approves of you. Nothing separates you from His love. 

 

"As a man thinks in his heart, so is he" (Proverbs 23:7). You can know if feelings rule your heart or not. Look at where your mind is focused—on your natural feelings or the truths discerned by the Spirit. His power to bring you perfect peace resides within you. You choose to exercise what you have received.

 

 

©2020 Lynn Lacher

www.lynnlacher.com/2020/09/his-peace-is-within-you.html

 

 

May I Be

If you forgive those who sin against you, your heavenly Father will forgive you. But if you refuse to forgive others, your Father will not forgive your sins.

—Matthew 6:14-15, NLT

 

 

These two verses in Matthew 6 follow Jesus’ instructions to his disciples in how to pray. Don't pray like the hypocrites, he tells them, who want attention for their devotion. Pray in secret to the Father, and your Father will reward you. Don't think your prayers are answered by just repeating something over and over. Jesus shares with them The Lord’s Prayer, and in the prayer, he includes this statement, “Forgive us our sins, as we have forgiven those who sin against us” (Matthew 6:12, NLT). Jesus’ first comment following the prayer is on the importance of forgiveness. Forgiveness is the crux of His ministry. It is where sin washes away, and death becomes life. 

 

Has someone hurt you? You can't go through life without someone hurting you. And when those you love hurt you, it cuts to the core. Unforgiveness injures you. Refusing to forgive imprisons you in bitterness and steals your peace. When you don’t forgive, you can’t experience the forgiveness Jesus has given you. When someone has hurt you, you have a choice to make. You can let the hurt go or let it tear you into shreds. Forgiveness is a decision. Instead of pain and anger consuming you, open your heart to the unselfish love of God. When you choose to forgive, you experience God's healing grace softening your heart again and again. And your own forgiveness from God is perceived in depths never known. You forgive as He has forgiven you. 

 

“Do not judge others, and you will not be judged,” Jesus says. “For you will be treated as you treat others. The standard you use in judging is the standard by which you will be judged. And why worry about a speck in your friend’s eye when you have a log in your own” (Matthew 7:1-3, NLT)?

 

Lord, I want to experience the peace of your forgiveness. I'm tired of being torn into pieces. Please help me get this log out of my eye. I choose to forgive as you have forgiven me. You never thought of yourself as greater than anyone else. You forgave me with your life. May your love have its way in my heart. May I be free to love, Jesus.

 

©2020 Lynn Lacher

www.lynnlacher.com/2020/09/may-i-be.html

No Fear of Death

O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting? For sin is the sting that results in death, and the law gives sin its power. But thank God! He gives us victory over sin and death through our Lord Jesus Christ.

—1 Corinthians 15:55-57 (NLT)

 

Death is not something to be dreaded because the real you does not die. It is only the end of the physical body. And you are not your physical body. You are a spirit who has been reborn by the Spirit of God through Jesus Christ. Regenerated by His Spirit, you belong to Him. You began living with Him the moment you believed that Jesus died to set you free from sin. And when your physical body is no more, your spirit moves from living with Him or earth to living with Him in heaven.

 

Until there were standards God set in place, sin was not an issue. The Abrahamic covenant of grace covered God’s people until the law given to Moses finally defined what constituted sin. And with that Mosaic covenant, the law gave sin its power. A man could never live perfectly according to the requirements of the law. “But when the right time came, God sent his Son, born of a woman, subject to the law. God sent him to buy freedom for us who were slaves to the law, so that he could adopt us as his very own children” (Galatians 4:4-5, NLT).

 

Death has no victory. Sin has no sting. Jesus, the Son of God, a man subject to the law, became our perfect sacrifice to fulfill the law’s requirements that no one else could satisfy. Spirit became flesh for the sake of man. “The old system under the law of Moses was only a preview of good things to come, not the good things themselves. The sacrifices under that system were repeated again and again, year after year, but they were never able to provide perfect cleansing for those who came to worship. If they could have provided perfect cleansing, the sacrifices would have stopped, for the worshipers would have been purified once for all time, and their feelings of guilt would have disappeared. But instead, those sacrifices actually reminded them of their sins year after year” Hebrews 10:1-2, NLT).

 

Struggling to make perfect in our lives what Jesus has already made perfect reminds us of our sins and fosters feelings of guilt. The Old Covenant sacrifices repeated again and again, never gave any relief from the bondage of sin. Jesus, the perfect sacrifice, became our freedom from sin’s control. Sin has no power to condemn anymore. “Sin is no longer your master, for you no longer live under the requirements of the law. Instead, you live under the freedom of God’s grace” (Romans 6:14, NLT). And with the freedom of God’s grace, we have become God's beloved children.

 

God became flesh so that we might receive eternal life. You have nothing to fear as your spirit moves from life on earth to life in heaven. Flesh is not who you are. You are spirit as God is Spirt. Sin has no power to separate you from what Jesus has joined together. Death to your body doesn’t separate you from the love of God. You live with Him forever.

 

©2020 Lynn Lacher

www.lynnlacher.com/2020/09/no-fear-of-death.hml