Only His Love

Only the love of Jesus took your sinful self—your tormented mind and heart to the Cross. Only His love gave you a new born-again spirit filled with His righteousness. There at the Cross, your heart was cleansed and released from the hardness that kept you from peace with God. "I have given you a new heart," Jesus whispers, "and put my Spirit within you. I have removed from you your heart of stone and given you a heart of flesh" (fulfillment of Ezekiel 36: 26). 

Where once your heart was as hard and unyielding as stone, does it now beat with the pulsating life of His unconditional love? Where once calloused inner pain impeded God's love, are you now energized by His living presence? Your heart is His, and your mind is ready to be continually softened and molded by the Holy Spirit. Do you allow it? Do you live in the promise of His fullness?

What is that promise? You shall walk by faith and not by sight. You shall experience the power, peace, and joy of your God. He will continually be your delight. You will give abundantly from your heart as Jesus has given to you from His own. His heart shall beat from within you—tender and full of grace without the hardness of self. And you will love as you have been loved—set free by the Savior whose heart broke for you.

© 2019 Lynn Lacher

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It is Finished

Jesus knew that his mission was now finished, and to fulfill Scripture he said, "I am thirsty." A jar of sour wine was sitting there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put it on a hyssop branch, and held it up to his lips. When Jesus had tasted it, he said, "It is finished!" Then he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

—John 19:28-30 (NLT)

Jesus knew that what He had been sent to do was accomplished. Sin was defeated, and new life was the promise for anyone who would believe in Him. To fulfill the Scripture (Psalm 22:15; Psalm 69:2), He said, "I am thirsty." Yes, He was thirsty. He had been drained—had given everything. Jesus had exchanged His righteousness for our sin. He thirsted for what He had given. When He tasted the sour wine soaked in a sponge, He said, "It is finished." Then he bowed his head and gave up His spirit. At that moment, the work of redemption was complete. Jesus thirsted no more. There was nothing left to be done to set us free. Resurrection life was the promise. The next move was ours—to believe.

That move is ours. We are to believe by faith. God credits Jesus' work on the Cross as our righteousness. He has forgiven us! We are free in His love! Salvation is a finished work. What Jesus accomplished on Calvary is an irrevocable gift. What He has given was given freely. It cannot be returned. It is for all time. 

"And he also said, ‘It is finished! I am the Alpha and the Omega—the Beginning and the End. To all who are thirsty I will give freely from the springs of the water of life'" (Revelation 21:8, NLT)!

His thirst was for us. Our thirst is for Him. He gives freely from the springs of the water of life! We cannot work for what is free. There is nothing we have to do but believe in Him! Come and drink!

© 2019 Lynn Lacher

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This Day

In that day the Lord will end the bondage of his people.

He will break the yoke of slavery and lift it from their shoulders.

—Isaiah 10:27 (NLT)

"That" day is "this" day! Jesus has broken the bondage of sin and the power of all the emotions that go with failure. You can't live perfectly even though your born-again spirit longs to honor Jesus with a perfect life. If you could live perfectly, then you wouldn't need Jesus. You would be perfect and prideful in your own self-righteousness. 

Because you are human, it is impossible to get through a day without failing at something or making a mistake. The enemy knows that, and he wants to convince you that Jesus is just waiting to beat you up with a bat of guilt and shame. If you believe that Jesus desires your punishment, then you don't understand what He has done for you on Calvary. Jesus, who had no sin, became your sin so that you could have His righteousness. Jesus took your punishment, and He has set you free from the power of sin to destroy what He has done for you. When you are repentant for anything you have wrongfully done, you turn from it and determine that with His power it will not happen again. You lean on His righteousness instead of your own inability to be perfect. 

"Sin shall no longer be your master," Paul wrote, "because you are not under the law, but under grace" (Romans 6:14, NIV). You are no longer under the law. If the law could have made you righteous, it would have. But it couldn't. It only made you aware of your sin—what you couldn't do correctly. The Grace of Jesus is the ONLY truth that makes you righteous. "The power of sin is the law," Paul also wrote. "But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ" (I Corinthians 15:56-57, NIV). 

The Grace of Jesus breaks the power of sin to destroy who you are in Him. It lifts the yoke of slavery from your shoulders. Have you experienced His freedom? His Grace is not a license to sin, but the freedom to trust that He alone is your righteousness. Grace doesn't make light of sin. Grace makes more of Jesus.

© 2019 Lynn Lacher

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No Debt

Freely you have received; freely give.

—Matthew 10:8b (NIV)

Freely you have received forgiveness. Freely you give it away. Forgiveness is the life-changing message of the Grace of Jesus Christ. Perhaps, you don't live this freedom. Maybe you don't live in His freedom because you don't understand what Jesus has given you.

Forgiveness cost Jesus His life. He paid the total debt for your forgiveness. When you experience the freedom of His Grace, you realize that forgiveness costs you nothing. Forgiveness then becomes impossible to withhold from others. No one owes you for your forgiveness. There is nothing they have to do or to act upon for you to forgive them. The perfect work of Grace teaches that, by faith, you have received His blameless life for your sinful one. Without experiencing guilt or shame, you love and forgive without expectation of anything in return—without fear of rejection—without debt. No one is to blame.

Human love places conditions. It says, "I will forgive you if you forgive me." The love of Jesus is unconditional. It says, "I forgive you without cost. There is nothing you have to do to win my love." You may have asked Jesus into your heart, but if you don't allow His Grace to transform the way you think and believe in the spirit of your mind, then you don't experience Grace's freedom. If you can't forgive yourself for the sins that Jesus has forgiven, then how can you forgive someone else? 

If you believe you are unforgivable or unacceptable, then you, in turn, become the same way toward others. If you don't think Jesus forgives you, you pass along that debt to others. They owe you for what they have done to you or said about you. When you have a revelation of what His Grace accomplished for you, you can forgive yourself as He has forgiven you­. You have no debt to pass along to others. However, if you don't understand your debt is canceled (just like the servant in the parable in Matthew 18), you pass along a debt no one owes you. You need a revelation—an understanding of His Grace in your life!

YOU HAVE NO DEBT. Jesus, who had no sin, became your sin so that you might become His very righteousness—so you might receive his blameless life. He came, not to condemn anyone, but that those who chose to believe, could be saved from the debt of never being good enough! There is no more need to blame anyone. His Grace has ended guilt, shame, and fear of punishment. You are FREE to live an abundant life filled with Grace. You, who Jesus forgives, now can forgive yourself and others without cost.

Ask the Holy Spirit to guide you into a revelation of the Grace you received the day you asked Jesus into your heart. Ask Him and gain understanding. Be transformed by His Word and His Spirit. Jesus FORGIVES you! His love was free to you, and it is free to flow through you. Believe it.

© 2019 Lynn Lacher

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Who I Am

"But what about you?" he asked. "Who do you say I am?" Jesus asked. Simon Peter answered, "You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God."

—Matthew 16:15-16 (NIV)

If God revealed to Simon Peter that Jesus was the Messiah, the Son of the Living God, don't you believe that God shall reveal to you who Jesus is in your life? Jesus told Peter, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven" (Matthew 16:17, NIV). And so your identity in Jesus Christ is not revealed to you by flesh and blood but revealed to you by the Holy Spirit. 

As the disciples walked with Jesus toward Gethsemane, He spoke words to encourage them. "When the Advocate (Holy Spirit) comes, whom I will send to you from the Father—the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father—he will testify about me" (John 15:26, NIV). "He will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. He will glorify me because it is from me that he will receive what he will make known to you. All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will receive from me what he will make known to you" (John 16:13-15, NIV).

Do you know who you are in Jesus? The person of the Holy Spirit reveals to you your identity in Jesus. He shows it through Scripture and through revelation that draws from Scripture. Jesus has sent the Holy Spirit from His Father to testify to His identity. The Holy Spirit will guide you—not into just partial truth—but all truth. He does not speak on his own. He is one with God, the Father, and Jesus. What the Holy Spirit reveals is from Jesus and the truth of what Jesus has done for you. He promises to make that truth known to you.

When you know your identity in Jesus, everything in your life changes. Jesus gives you not only peace with God but peace with life. You know He is in control no matter what happens. Fear dissolves. You have the liberty not to see wrong in others. Freedom from judging others means that you do not feel judged. You can breathe His unconditional love! Jesus died to take your sinful life and to meet God's judgment for your sin. You have nothing to pay. He died so that you might have new life and receive His righteousness. 

"Now if the ministry that brought death (the law), which was engraved in letters on stone, came with glory, so that the Israelites could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of its glory, transitory though it was, will not the ministry of the Spirit (grace) be even more glorious? If the ministry that brought condemnation was glorious, how much more glorious is the ministry that brings righteousness" (2 Corinthians 3:7-9, NIV)!

Do you know the law reveals standards that are impossible to meet? There are actually over 600 laws in the Old Testament, and to be perfect by the rule of law, you must meet each one. Because of that inability, we strive to meet standards that only the righteousness of God can satisfy. And it took Jesus, the perfect son of God, to fulfill the law and give us the righteousness that God requires. 

"God made him (Jesus) who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God" (2 Corinthians 5:21, NIV). Yes, it is only in Jesus we can stop striving on our own strength to be righteous. He alone makes us righteous. If you have fear and worry, this is not the ministry of the Spirit! This is not the freedom of the Spirit. Do you know that you are no longer under the ministry of condemnation? Jesus did not come into the world to condemn you, but to save you! He met the requirements of the law. You are not under the law. You are under Grace. 

Do you understand the message of Calvary through your human mind, or do you allow its message to take you places you have never been before? His Word, rendered through the power of Holy Spirit, is life-changing! There is nothing worse than having something and not receiving the full benefit from it. Know who Jesus is in you, and receive the whole benefit of His gift of undeserved Grace!

The Holy Spirit wishes to guide each one of us into His truth. Ask Him to show you in His Word your identity in Jesus.

© Lynn Lacher

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The Same Power

The same power that rose Jesus from the grave
The same power that commands the dead to wake
Lives in us, lives in us. 

—Jeremy Camp

We sing this chorus in church, but do we really grasp its truth? We sing of the power of God that rose Jesus from the grave, but do we really understand its message? The same power that lives in Jesus lives in us.

In the upper room the night before His crucifixion, Jesus comforts the disciples over His coming departure. He tells them that they should not be troubled. Jesus is leaving to make a place for them in heaven. He is the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father, but by accepting Him.

“If you really know me,” Jesus declares, “you will know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him” (John 14:7, NIV). Philip, like many of us, can’t grasp what Jesus imparts, and demands, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us” (John 14:8, NIV).

Can you imagine Jesus’ sadness that Philip hasn’t realized what has been right before Him? “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, 'Show us the Father'" (John 14:9, NIV)?

“Believe me,” Jesus says, “when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the works themselves. Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son” (John 14:11-13, NIV). 

The power of God that rose Jesus from the dead lives in us. Jesus says in this Scripture that whoever believes in Him will do even greater things. Jesus is going to the Father by way of the Cross. The Cross is the only way for our sake, and He chooses it. We are the miracle! Jesus opens the way to intimacy with the Father. The same power that brought Jesus forth from the grave brings us forth from spiritual death into new life. The same power of God that rose Jesus from the dead now lives in us through the perfect sacrifice of His Son. 

We are so like Philip and just don’t get it. Jesus has shown us the Father! Jesus actually lives in us, but we don’t see. He is our evidence, but we have trouble accepting it. Do we believe that He indeed rose? Do we believe that by taking our sins to the Cross we are reconciled to God and have the righteousness of God in us? Or do we live defeated lives not living in the same power that rose Jesus from the grave? Why do we not live the miracle of our faith? Why are we not on fire with His message of grace and power? Because we don't believe.

 “You may ask me for anything in my name,” Jesus imparts, “and I will do it” (John 14:14, NIV).“The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you,” Paul writes (Romans 8:11, NLT). Rise up and believe!

“Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, ACCORDING TO HIS POWER THAT IS AT WORK WITHIN US, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen” (Ephesians 3:20-21, NIV).

© 2019 Lynn Lacher

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Believe in Me

Jesus told them, “This is the only work God wants from you: Believe in the one he has sent.”

—John 6:29 NLT

Just believe. All things are possible when you believe in me! Peace and rest are real when you quit trying to do things to win my acceptance. I accepted you the moment you asked me into your heart. The only work, my father, desires from you is to believe in me. He sent me to die for your sins and to set you free from the performance trap of never being good enough. Quit trying to prove yourself to me. I did the work on Calvary for you. When you believe in the new life I have bought you, work for me is born of love and not of fear.

If you think that you have to win my love, what you do will never be good enough in your own eyes. You not only judge yourself but others. When your work is an out-flowing of the guilt-free grace I wrought in your life, all things are possible. While you were yet in sin, I took your sin to the cross. I gave my life for you. I paid your debt. I did the work on the cross—not you! And that work is finished. There is nothing you can do to make yourself righteous. You are righteous—blameless because of me. 

Remember, you are loved. You don’t have to win my acceptance! Live your life out of my love—not out of fear! Open your mind to receive spiritual understanding of the magnificence of my gift of grace. My love changed your life, and I long for you to know it.

© 2019 Lynn Lacher

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Trust and Believe

I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in him. Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit.

—Romans 15:13 (NLT)

God is not only the source of hope. He is the source of confident hope! Confident hope in the Holy Spirit fosters deep trust. Trusting in Jesus inspires joy and peace. When you overflow with confident hope through the power of His Spirit, you walk by faith and not by what you feel, see, or hear. The Holy Spirit opens your spiritual eyes and ears to the truth of God's Word. You see with God's vision and understand with the mind of Christ. You trust in His promises. Circumstances don't shake you. Peace is constant. And joy isn’t an emotion but the state of your mind.

Sounds amazing? Impossible? Oh no, it isn’t impossible at all. If the Word promises that God will fill you fully with joy and peace, then it is true. Do you trust God? God is the unconditional love of Jesus. The God who died for you doesn't play with your emotions. The enemy does that. When Jesus died for you, peace with God became real. There was nothing left to separate you from His love. The power of the enemy to control your emotions was defeated.

By faith, you choose for the Holy Spirit to capture each thought that is not of Christ. By faith, you allow the Holy Spirit to imprint His truth in your mind. By faith, you are changed in the spirit of your mind. With His soul-changing truth, you see and understand with God's heart. You are absolutely safe in His love. Jesus, your Savior, has taken care of everything. You don’t have to cry or beg for mercy! Mercy became yours at Calvary! New life became yours at Calvary. The Grace of Jesus has fulfilled your promise of joy and peace. 

You have His promise of confident hope! Trust and believe.

© 2019 Lynn Lacher

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Feel Forgiven

“Let us go right into the presence of God with sincere hearts fully trusting him. For our guilty consciences have been sprinkled with Christ’s blood to make us clean” (Hebrews 10:22, NLT).

        “I’m tired, Jesus, and my mind has no peace. There is so much that I don't understand, and I’m convinced that I need to do something in order to feel your love. I need to pay for my sins. I need to prove to you how sorry I am. You say that I’m forgiven, and that there is nothing I have to do to win your love. I long to believe that, but I just can't grasp it. I know that I should have enough faith to trust you. But everything has overwhelmed me.”

        “Child,” He whispers, “I am here. Choose to place your trust in me. In the midst of all the pain, of all the questioning, of all the wandering of your mind, choose to believe me even though you may not feel it. I don’t condemn or judge you. I don’t seek out your sins! They are no more. I died to set you free of the lie of any condemnation. Don't allow your mind to believe that lie. Don’t run from me. Run to me! Your mind is bombarded with all kinds of thoughts that are not from me. I will take care of all the concerns of your mind and heart. There is rest in me. To rest in me means that you know you are safe in me. It means you trust my love for you and that you choose to dwell on my love instead of the lies of the enemy that claim your mind. You must see those lies for what they intend to do, and that is destroy your belief in my unconditional love for you. Those lies are sent by the enemy to rob you of my peace and joy. Choose to believe me. Say you believe me even if you don't feel it. Just like I gave you the freedom to choose or reject my salvation, you now have the freedom to accept or reject the revelation of grace I long to show you. Come into my presence fully trusting me! Your guilty conscience is no more! It is washed clean by the gift of my blood for you. I am always with you, and you need to believe it.”

        “Lord Jesus, I choose to believe you! I might not feel it at this moment, but I put my trust in you. I choose to shut down the terrible thoughts that say I must win your love. I choose to believe in what your Word tells me—that you died to give me your righteousness and you have no reason to punish me! I am forgiven! I can have perfect peace when my mind stays focused on you. I rebuke the enemy, and tell him that he is defeated. He can’t lie to me! You are my Savior and my protector.  I praise you, Lord Jesus, again and again—choosing to believe that the lies of the enemy will be silenced.”

        “Oh my child, the moment you realize you owe me nothing is the moment those lies are silenced. Your sacrifice of praise releases my healing in your life. You shall know in the very depths of your soul what you have chosen to believe the truth of my grace. And you shall not only know you are forgiven. You shall also feel it in the depths of your heart.”

© 2019 Lynn Lacher

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Paid the Price

Yesterday I thought of how often we make the gift of Jesus’ grace heavy. We feel that there is something we have to do to win His love and acceptance! And then last night I read the following passage from Paul M. Geisler’s book, Be Set Free…

Do you think that God’s expectations of you are a heavy burden? Jesus says, “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:28-30). His yoke is easy and his burden is light. This is what it’s like to live under grace. He does not put the heavy weight of the law on you but rather removes it. Have you experienced the lightness of Jesus’ burden?

Since it is not our good works that restored our fellowship with God in the first place, it is not our good works that keeps God happy with us. Paul says, “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that so no one may boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9). It is entirely a gift that we humbly receive, realizing that we were spiritually powerless to achieve it ourselves. This is why Jesus said that we must enter the Kingdom of Heaven like little children. He is talking about the humility of a child and that we need that kind of humility to receive such a large gift.

It takes humility to receive something when we know we can’t pay it back. We are at the mercy of the gift giver. It takes humility to receive Jesus’ gift because we have to acknowledge that we were in a powerless state to get righteousness on our own…

Paul M. Geisler began a thought that I would like to consider. If we were humble enough to realize that we could not earn our own righteousness when we were saved, then why are so many of us caught in the performance trap of trying to earn it now? Could it be pride? It is certainly not humility which takes on that heavy burden. The performance trap says, “Jesus, now that you saved me, I can handle this.” Guilt and shame, which were crucified with Christ, rise up and urge, “now pay and make things right,” when Jesus has already paid and made things right. Salvation is free. It is a gift, and your Savior, the spotless and perfect Lamb of God, has already paid the price for your freedom.

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