His Triumph

 

The story of David and Goliath reveals that no matter how big the problem, good triumphs over evil. A young man wielding a sling took down a giant. 

 

For years, David had been trusted to watch over his father’s flocks. He cared for their needs and protected them. He was ready for this battle with Goliath. As a shepherd, he had experienced triumph over a lion and a bear attempting to steal sheep from the flock. David had killed them. That was not an easy thing. But God was with David, and God had a plan.

 

Perhaps, once, you faced a lion and a bear coming against you, and you triumphed over them. You had victory over their evil. Now the enemy is coming against you again. That giant is right before you. This is where you stand and resist him again. David hadn’t let a bear and a lion steal from the flocks, and he wasn’t going to let Goliath have victory. David’s prior victories gave him courage and determination to stand strong. He didn’t doubt his victory. He maintained an attitude of victory. The devil roars around like a lion attempting to destroy us. In 1 Samuel 17:45-47, David declared to the enemy exactly what he was going to do to him. And just like David, we declare to the enemy, “Today I show you my God!”

 

This is the attack against the enemy we need to continually sustain. The enemy will try to wear us down. He will use any weapon he can to make us weary and to stop us from resisting him. His agenda is to steal, kill, and destroy, but Jesus came to give us an abundant life. To maintain this attitude of victory, we have to hide the Word in our hearts.

 

In this world, we will have trouble. But we have the Word—the powerful Sword of the Spirit (Ephesians 6:17). It must be drawn out and used as our weapon to battle the lions and bears of the enemy. David saw Goliath as just another lion and bear. David didn’t see defeat. He envisioned Goliath’s total destruction. And he declared his confidence to his enemy!

 

“Who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God?” 

 

Each one of us has had unwelcome and sudden lions and bears in our lives. David allowed his past victories to build trust in God for his future victories. 

 

“He will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine,” David declared.

 

“No weapon formed against you shall prosper, and every tongue which rises against you in judgment you shall condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness is from Me,” says the Lord.

 —Isaiah 54:17

 

No weapon that forms against us shall prosper, neither shall the accusation or the condemnation the enemy uses to tear us down.  We have a better weapon. We have the living God and His living Word. We have Jesus Christ alive within us. We have God’s power to shut the devil’s tactics and His mouth. 

 

Jesus gave us authority over the enemy (Luke 10:19). He revealed His victory over evil at the cross. His good always overcomes evil, no matter how huge the problem.

 

Jesus, our Good Shepherd, was entrusted with keeping His Father’s flocks. He knew the lions and bears would attack trying to devour the sheep. But He took care of their every need. He protected them by giving His life for them. His life was all that was needed. There was nothing more to be done. 

 

Jesus’ precious life for ours was the veil-tearing moment. Evil was defeated. It was God’s triumph for us. It was all that was needed. 

 

Is His victory enough for you?  

 

www.lynnlacher.com/2023/11/his-triumph.html

The Courage of His Peace

 

And the Angel of the Lord appeared to him, and said to him, “The Lord is with you, you mighty man of valor!” Gideon said to Him, “O My lord, if the Lord is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all His miracles which our fathers told us about, saying, ‘Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt?’ But now the Lord has forsaken us and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites.”

—Judges 6:12-13

 

If there is one thing we have all learned from disappointment and painful circumstances, it is that they can steal our peace. If we are honest, haven’t we all experienced some of Gideon’s attitude when we have faced heart-wrenching circumstances or things haven’t gone the way we wished?

 

Through many years, I’ve learned that it’s not always the best thing to seek comfort from someone else.  In the past, I have called a friend or tried to do something that would calm my fears. But trying to find an emotional peace from others or in something that I do, never offers a lasting peace.

 

Jesus has given us lasting peace with God. But there is a requirement. For God’s peace to be greater than our fears, we must allow His peace to rule in our hearts (Colossians 3:15). Something will always be greater in our hearts. We will always hold something more precious. The peace Jesus has given us is precious. He paid for it with His life. And His peace is powerful. He rose from death to empower it within us. 

 

“When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own palace, his goods are in peace” (Luke 11:21).

 

Are we fully armed in the power of Jesus Christ? Are we guarding ourselves against the power of our circumstances and our feelings to manipulate us? If we are standing strong in the gift of our righteousness in Jesus, we are at peace. God gave us free will and will never supersede how we choose to respond to Him and His Word. We always choose to arm ourselves and exercise the peace that is ours in Christ. 

 

Right before Gideon practically accused God of turning them over to the Midianites, God called Gideon a mighty man of valor (Judges 6:12).  A man of valor is a man of courage. How did Gideon exercise His free will? Although God’s Word to Gideon about being a mighty man of courage should have strengthened his heart, God’s Word didn’t make a difference. God’s encouragement went in one ear and out the other. The Lord then gave Gideon instructions on how to rescue Israel, but Gideon was blinded by what He saw in the natural. What did Gideon do after God had encouraged him and given him instruction? Gideon went on to remind himself of his own inadequacies (Judges 6:15).

 

We are human like Gideon. We are sometimes quick to not hear God encouraging us. We are sometimes quick to repeat our own inadequacies.

 

God is constantly reminding us of our victories in Jesus. He is constantly reminding us of who He is in our lives. The enemy is also continually trying to steal our peace from us. He continually reminds us of our inadequacies. He lures us to walk in fear, doubt, and worry. It is our free will to listen to whom we choose.

 

This life has plenty of difficulties to overwhelm us.  There is always something or someone trying to upset us. But there is always God calling us His mighty person of courage and giving us instruction on how to overcome. If you know God as your peace, as your Jehovah Shalom, you will have the courage to face dire situations and declare that nothing is impossible with your God. 

 

You are a child of God, and God has given you His power. God doesn’t deliver you into the hands of destruction. He has delivered you into the kingdom of His Son (Colossians 1:13). He calls you a mighty person of courage! You don’t have to be ruled by any chaos around you. You don’t have to bear the weight of battle! Jesus has declared your victory!  He has given you instructions in His Word on how to stand strong. You have no power of your own, but you stand in the power of your relationship with God. You are at peace in your relationship with God. You fight with the peace that is yours in Jesus Christ.

 

Have you realized that the God of peace, your Jehovah Shalom, has rescued your fearful heart?

 

 

www.lynnlacher.com/2023/11/the-courage-of-his-peace.html

 

 

 

 

 

Have Faith in God

 

But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.

—Hebrews 11:6 (NKJV)

 

 

You cannot please God without faith. Romans 8:8 says that those who are in the flesh cannot please God. When we compare Hebrews 11:6 and Romans 8:8, we can see that those who are in the flesh are not living in faith. Our faith in Jesus is what pleases God. If we have faith in Jesus, then God is pleased with us based on what Jesus has done and not on anything we do.

 

Faith is believing that God is. He is ever-present and ever-faithful. The Word is God’s faithful and absolute truth in your life. It is living and powerful (Hebrews 4:12). When we diligently seek God and put our faith in His living and powerful truth, He rewards us based on His Son’s atonement for our sins. We earn nothing without Jesus.

 

Believing God can do what His Word promises is faith. Questioning if He will do what He promises isn’t exercising faith.

 

The power of the Word is realized in your life when you act upon it and put your faith in living its truth—even when what God promises you is not seen, heard, or felt with your natural senses. Persistent seeking of God’s truth rewards you. The truth of His Word takes root and comes alive within you. You believe without seeing, hearing, or feeling because you trust your Father who has revealed Himself to you. You believe His promises are true.

 

The Word discerns your heart and reveals it to you (Hebrews 4:12), but you cannot discern what the Word reveals with your natural mind (1 Corinthians 2:14). God’s Word can only be understood spiritually by the Holy Spirit revealing it to you. 

 

God’s truth is only real in your life when it becomes yours. When the Holy Spirit reveals His promise to you in God’s Word, you choose to take possession of it. When you take His truth and make it your own, it becomes the foundation for what you believe. Your attitude about your life changes. His truth defines your life—and not your feelings, your circumstances, your illness, or your loss. You see who God says you are. You see beyond what you experience. 

 

How we think is crucial to our faith. To be carnally or naturally minded is death to our faith. To be spiritually minded is life and peace (Romans 8:6). Choose to be spiritually minded. Draw a line in the sand, and confidently believe what God has promised you in His Word. When you pray according to His will, He hears you. And having heard, you have what you have requested of Him (1 John 5:14-15).

 

“But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways” (James 1:6-8)

 

Faith comes by hearing the Word of God—not with just your mind but with your heart (Romans 10:17). To receive God’s promises, you have to believe His Word. Being double-minded and doubting God comes against the power of His truth in your life.

 

Are you in bondage? What are you struggling to overcome? What is your need? You don’t have a lack of faith. Each believer has received the same measure of faith (Romans 12:3, KJV). Destruction comes from a lack of knowledge (Hosea 4:6). The answer to living a victorious life is knowledge of what is yours in Jesus Christ. The knowledge of His truth sets you free from bondage (John 8:32). Knowledge of His truth breaks every chain.

 

“Lord, I believe! Help my unbelief!” the father of the demon-possessed boy cried out to Jesus (Mark 9:24).

 

You can believe in God’s truth and still have unbelief. You can have faith. But when you don’t understand the faith that is yours in Christ, you will not believe. 

 

“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1).

 

Faith is the proof of what you cannot see but what you believe.

 

It doesn’t take faith to believe what you see, hear, and feel. It doesn’t take faith to see your need, your illness, or hear bad news. It is right before you. It takes faith to see what you cannot see, hear, or feel. It takes faith to believe God’s truth that you hope for.

 

“Have faith in God,” Jesus told the disciples, and then explained they should not doubt, but believe those things He had promised. And they would have what they said (Mark 11:22-24).

 

The measure of faith God has given you is exercised when you grow spiritually from hearing the Word (Romans 10:17). Walk by faith and not by what you see (2 Corinthians 5:7). Step out in faith and believe in God’s promises. Diligently and unceasingly seek His truth with all your heart. You will find that His Word is true for your life (Matthew 7:8). 

 

The Word of God—the promises in His Word—are spirit and life to you (John 6:63). 

 

“My son," the Holy Spirit says to your heart, "give attention to my words. Incline your ear to my sayings. Do not let them depart from your eyes. Keep them in the midst of your heart. For they are life to those who find them, and health to all their flesh” (Proverbs 4:20-22).

 

 

© 2023 Lynn Lacher

www.lynnlacher.com/2023/11/have-faith-in-god.html

 

 

 

 

 

Changed by the New Creation

 

 

When you were born again what changed?  Did your mind and the way you think suddenly change?  Did you change physically? Of course not. So where were you reborn as a new creation in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17)?

 

“That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit” (John 3:6, NKJV). 

 

Your spirit was where you were reborn as a new creation in Christ by the Holy Spirit.

 

^“Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Thessalonians 5:23).

 

You are spirit, soul, and body. But for you to be sanctified in your soul and body by your new birth, your mind must be renewed by God’s truth.

 

“Be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness” (Ephesians 4:23-24).

 

You have to be renewed in your understanding of what God’s Word says about your new nature in Christ. You must put on the new man—the righteousness you received when you were born again in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:21). 

 

 

“Let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think,” Paul declares” (Romans 12:2).

 

This statement is life-changing. 

 

To be renewed in your mind and changed by the Holy Spirit is a decision you make. When you choose to put on your new man, you allow the Holy Spirit access to change the way you think. The Holy Spirit brings His power to transform and renew your thoughts and desires.

 

It is your choice to put on your new nature which was created to be like God in righteousness and holiness (Ephesians 4:23-24). It is your decision “to make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love” (2 Peter 1:5-7, NIV). 

 

When you purposely choose these virtues, you deliberately put on the new righteous nature you received when you were born again. When you choose over and over again to grow into the new person you are in Christ, God faithfully changes your attitude and the way you think. Your self-focused mind which has been consumed with your fears and doubts, focuses instead on others. When you consistently surrender your mind to the power of the Holy Spirit and choose to add these virtues to your life, you are continually renewed in the way you think. The Spirit will empower what do you for Him. He will enlarge your perspective. You shall experience the fulfillment of the desires He has placed in your heart. 

 

Don't copy the world or make yourself like anyone else. You are God’s unique new creation to be molded by His truth and His Spirit. When you allow the Holy Spirit to renew your mind to the truths of the new creation you are in Him, you come to believe those truths in your heart. Your spirit, soul, and body receive the results of His truth. You shall be transformed to know His good, pleasing, and perfect will for your life (Romans 12:2).

 

© 2023 Lynn Lacher

www.lynnlacher.com/2023/11/changed-by-new-creation.html

 

 

 

 

As God Has Loved Us

 

 

Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.

—I John 4:7-11

 

 

God so loved the world that He acted out of His love. He sent His Son to die for the world so whoever believed in Him could be saved (John 3:16). If we believe in the atonement of Jesus for our sins, we have received the compassionate love of God. When we love others in deed and in truth, we know that we have received God’s agape love (1 John 3:18-19). Our actions toward others will match the agape love God has for us.

 

There are many characteristics of God, but the real nature of God is love. God is “agape” love. Agape means “wide open, especially with surprise or wonder” (www.languages.oup.com). God’s love is wide open for us. It surprises us because we know we don’t deserve it. It amazes us because there is no work we must do in order to receive it. We only have to believe in Jesus Christ as our Savior. The Gospel sounds almost too good to be true. But it is true. While we were yet sinners, Jesus died for us (Romans 5:8).

 

Love isn’t only a feeling. It’s an action. And love isn’t just an action. Love is a person. God expressed His love toward us by giving His Beloved Son as complete payment for our sins so we could partake in His life. When we receive the agape love of God, it calls for our response. God’s kind of love is expressed in our actions toward others. 

 

Loving others is conditional on us knowing God. If we have a poor relationship with someone else, it indicates that our relationship with the Lord is also poor. And when our relationship with the Lord is poor, we love others out of our selfishness. Our human love isn’t the agape love of God. God’s kind of love seeks the welfare of others even if there is no feeling of love toward them. Everyone who acts in God’s love must be born of God and know Him because God’s love only comes from Him. Every other kind of love is just a cut-rate imitation. 

 

Our love for God isn’t the greatest example of love because we don’t have a reason not to love God. He has been incredibly unselfish in His love toward us. God’s love for us is the greatest example of love. We haven’t done anything to deserve it. On the contrary, we have done many things that deserve God’s judgment. 

 

“But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).

 

God in His love for us revealed His true nature.

 

^“Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another” (I John 4:11).

 

When you receive Christ as your Savior, you are part of God’s Beloved (Ephesians 1:4-6). You have received the love of God. If God loved you when you didn’t deserve it, then you should love others who don’t deserve your love.

 

You have received the forgiveness and unconditional love of God you didn’t deserve. So “be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you” (Ephesians 4:32).

 

 

 

Again I Say Rejoice!

“These things I have spoken to you,” Jesus said, “that in Me you may have peace. In the world you, will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” John 16:33   The world experiences joy and peace in direct proportion to its circumstances. Bad circumstances create depression and sadness, while good circumstances create joy and peace. Being dependent on our circumstances to give us joy and peace is being in bondage to our emotions. As Christians, we don’t have to let our circumstances and feelings determine our joy. We can determine to be of good cheer! Christ has overcome the world. Our joy is not dependent on what is happening in our lives, but rather on Jesus Christ. He is our peace and joy.    The way to receive the benefit of our peace and joy in Christ is to have our minds and hearts focused on things above and not on things of this world. The unseen things of God are eternal while our visible problems on earth are only momentary. The problems in our lives fade in comparison to the glory that is ours through Jesus.   “Rejoice in the Lord always,” Paul wrote. “Again I will say, rejoice (Philippians 4:4)!”   We can choose to rejoice in the Lord always. Rejoicing is an action that comes out of our trust in God. It is not a reaction to our problems. Joy is a gift that was given to us at salvation. God’s joy is constant and doesn’t fade away. We are the ones who aren’t constant and fade away when circumstances are hard. The Lord has put His joy in us. We are commanded to “rejoice in the Lord.” When we choose to obey this command in Scripture—to rejoice in the Lord—we draw out the joy that is ours in Christ.   Many Christians don’t experience real joy because their joy is determined by their circumstances. They are waiting to rejoice when things in their lives are going well. But it is very seldom that everything goes well. “Rejoicing in the Lord always” means we are to rejoice continually in who the Lord is and what He has done for us. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. He never changes (Hebrews 13:8), and His mercy and compassion for us are new every morning (Lamentations 3:22-23).   Joy comes from knowing who we are in the Lord. His joy is our strength (Nehemiah 8:10). Happiness is a state of well-being that is dependent on how our circumstances make us feel. We may not always be happy, but we can always rejoice. We can rejoice regardless of what’s happening to us. The reason many Christians don’t rejoice always is because they don’t realize that they already have joy. Joy is a fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22). We have joy, but we must choose to rejoice.   Rejoicing in the Lord is not a suggestion or a request from Paul. It is a command from the Holy Spirit. Those who don’t follow this command are breaking the Word of God just as much as those who don’t follow God’s moral law. It is our choice to do as we are instructed. And it is all for our benefit! It is the best choice for is! Rejoicing in the Lord gets our minds off our circumstances and on God’s faithful love for us.    Paul’s command to “rejoice in the Lord always” makes it clear that we have to take authority over our emotions.  If we were unable to control our emotional reactions to our circumstances, the Lord would never give us a command that is impossible to keep. The Lord would be unfair and unjust to give us an impossible command and then hold us accountable for it (Deuteronomy 28:47-48).  But our God is not unjust, and He only commands us to choose what He knows we are capable of doing. To rejoice in Him always encourages our faith.   Praise God, we have the power to control our emotions! Our circumstances don’t have to control our feelings. We can rejoice in the Lord!  Again and again! Jesus has given us peace and joy. He has overcome all of our circumstances. We are at peace with God in the righteousness that is ours in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:21).   The Word instructs you to rejoice in the Lord always! And then it reminds you that “rejoicing always” is critical. “Again, I say rejoice!”    Your circumstances will never give you lasting peace and joy. You have the joy of the Lord that the Holy Spirit reveals in the Word. Isn’t it time to know in your heart who you are in Christ and what He has given you?   “Your words were found, Lord, and I ate them, and Your word was to me the joy and rejoicing of my heart” (Jeremiah 15:16).       © 2023 Lynn Lacher www.lynnlacher.com/2023/10/again-i-say-rejoice.html

The Purpose of Parables

Matthew 10:13-17

 

And the disciples came and said to Him, “Why do You speak to them in parables?”

He answered and said to them, “Because it has been given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. For whoever has, to him more will be given, and he will have abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him. Therefore I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. And in them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled, which says:

‘Hearing you will hear and shall not understand,
And seeing you will see and not perceive;
For the hearts of this people have grown dull.
Their ears are hard of hearing,
And their eyes they have closed,
Lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears,
Lest they should understand with their hearts and turn,
So that I should heal them.’

But blessed are your eyes for they see, and your ears for they hear; for assuredly, I say to you that many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.

 

Jesus spoke in parables because those who didn’t know Him could not understand the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven.  Jesus told the disciples they were blessed to understand what those who had human knowledge could not see, hear, or understand. Those who didn’t know Him had spiritual eyes that were closed and spiritual ears that were hard of hearing. If they would see with their spiritual eyes and hear with their spiritual ears, they would understand with their hearts so He could heal them.

 

Jesus is speaking to us. If we know Him, we can understand the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven hidden from the world (1 Corinthians 2:3-8, Ephesians 1:8-9, Ephesians 3:3-5). But it is impossible to rationalize what the Holy Spirit reveals to us with our human understanding. It is foolishness to the natural mind. We can only understand the truth of God’s Word with the spiritual mind that is ours in Christ (1 Corinthians 2:14-16).

 

What we believe in our hearts is who we are (Proverbs 23:7). If we believe anything that comes against the spiritual truth that the Holy Spirit reveals in God’s Word, then what we believe is a lie on which we have based our lives. 

 

Is the Holy Spirit showing you something you have not thought about? Does it challenge what you believe?  Will you pray about what is challenging you and test it in context and with other Scripture? If what you believe is a lie, you don’t want it to define your life. If what you believe is God’s truth, then it will strengthen your faith. You want the spiritual understanding of God’s truth to be the basis of your life. But you can’t judge God’s truth with your natural mind. You can only understand God’s truth spiritually in your heart (Romans 10:10).

 

It is only when we allow the Holy Spirit to reveal God’s truth to us that we can judge if what we believe is based on a lie or on His truth. If we believe in God’s truth, it will reinforce and strengthen us. The truth of His Word will be seen in our lives. If what we believe is not based on His truth, the lies of the enemy will control us. 

 

When God’s truth uproots a lie we believe, we need to realize that any change doesn’t happen quickly. It is a process to renew our minds with God's truth until what we believe in our hearts conforms us to His image (Ephesians 4:23, Romans 12:2).

 

God’s truth is the final authority in our lives. But it makes no difference if we don’t spiritually understand it. His truth only becomes our truth when we choose to believe it by faith—when we take possession of it and nourish it in our hearts.

 

No matter how much head knowledge you have, it is not the spiritual truth of God’s Word that takes root in your heart. Never be hard of hearing or not open to seeing. Never have a dull heart.

 

“For whoever has, to him more will be given, and he will have abundance.” The Holy Spirit has an abundance of spiritual understanding for you to receive in your heart. 

 

Your identity in Christ is not hidden from you. It is hidden from the world for you (1 Corinthians 2:3-8). But you must ask and seek to find. Ask to spiritually receive God’s truth in your heart. Seek in the Word who you are in Christ. Hearing, you will hear. Seeing you will perceive. And He will one day heal what you have doubted in your heart. 

 

© 2023 Lynn Lacher

www.lynnlacher.com/2023/10/the-purpose-of-parables.html

 

 

 

 

 

The Plans in Your Heart

 

 

The preparations of the heart belong to man,
But the answer of the tongue is from the Lord.

All the ways of a man are pure in his own eyes,

But the Lord weighs the spirits.

Commit your works to the Lord,

And your thoughts will be established.

—Proverbs 16:1-3

 

 

“O Lord, I know that the way of man is not in himself. It is not in man who walks to direct his own steps” (Jeremiah 10:23).

 

We are not competent to direct our own lives. The Lord created us so that we would need Him to guide us in the best direction. He gave us the freedom to choose the way to go in life (Deuteronomy 30:19). But when left to our own reasoning, we will think everything is alright. We will think nothing is wrong with our sin. However, when what is wrong is exposed by the truth of God’s Word, our foolishness becomes obvious. It is crucial that we constantly renew our minds with the truth of God’s Word for our thoughts and our plans to be established (Romans 12:2).

 

Proverbs 16:3 speaks of our thoughts being “established.” Proverbs 16:1 speaks of our hearts being “prepared.” We prepare our hearts to receive God’s truth when we are renewed in our thoughts by the Word. We conform to His Word when His truth is established in our hearts. 

 

“All the ways of a man are pure in his own eyes, but the Lord weighs the spirits” (Proverbs 16:2).

 

Only the Lord can correctly evaluate and weigh our lives. We can’t correctly assess our plans. This is why we must have God’s input. This is why we need the Word of God to teach us the way to go. 

 

Strong’s Concordance says that “works” in Hebrew means “an action [good or bad]; generally, a transaction; abstractly, activity; by implication, a product [specifically, a poem] or [generally] property.” 

 

When we turn our lives and our “works” over to the Lord, what we do for Him becomes His property—not ours. When we surrender ourselves to Him, our thoughts will be established, and His good plans will be confirmed. 

 

Solomon’s wisdom reveals what will happen when we subject all our “works”—all of our actions, plans, and activities to the evaluation of the Lord. The Holy Spirit will weed out what is wrong. He will reveal what needs to be removed. And what is left will be established. 

 

God looks on the heart. He sees what we can never see. Have the plans in your heart been examined by the Holy Spirit? Have you chosen to let go of those things that are your “works” instead of His? 

 

Never rush to prove your plans. With a humble heart, submit them to God. Seek His heart. The Holy Spirit will examine your heart and reveal the motives behind your plans. He will convict you as to what is His and what is yours. When His plans are your plans, your works are His works. You have committed them to Him. They will succeed (Proverbs 16:3). You will “prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God” (Romans 12:2).

 

“For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart” (Jeremiah 29:11-13, ESV).

 

 

 

© 2023 Lynn Lacher

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