With His Help

So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you. —Romans 12:1-2 MSG

How often do we miss the fact that without God helping us, we will never be changed from the inside out? Embracing this change is the best thing you can do for yourself. Just as Jesus offered His life for you, this day is your offering to Him. Welcome, all that He has for you. Anticipate His guidance with His promise of strength for whatever the day holds. Long to be renewed in your mind and open to all He wishes to pour into your life. Like a sponge, absorb Him so that you might grow spiritually mature in the understanding of His grace.

What is life like without spiritual maturity? Life has no emotional and mental stability. You are like a ship on the sea with no anchor to hold it securely. Subject to every circumstance that arises, you are tossed in the storms of life with no lasting peace. Your mind is so self-absorbed that all you know is worry and fear. Your ears are attuned to the accuser's voice instead of the encouraging voice of God. This is who you are if you don’t allow the truth of His grace to transform you.

Choose to surrender to His truth. Studying His Word changes your perception and shapes your attitudes. Focusing on Jesus instead of any thought or circumstance places your mind on His goodness and strength instead of your weaknesses. You are stronger as a result. If you allow the Holy Spirit to mold you, life is full of His supernatural promise instead of what the world says is true.

Changed from the inside out, you will not be subject to any lie or any fear. God will rescue you from any uncertainty and set you on His rock-solid foundation of truth. You will recognize the lesson He shows you, and you will respond without hesitation. His peace will anchor you safely through storms that come. His joy will spring up like a fountain, always offering a fresh outlook. His strength and power will continuously raise you above any circumstance or temptation. You will not be pulled back down to a level of immaturity that will ultimately destroy the peace you have in Him.

God brings out the best in your life! He is the potter, and you are His clay to shape as He wishes. With God’s help, place your life in His hands to be created and transformed by His grace. You are not your own. You are His.

© 2019 Lynn Lacher

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Only by Grace

Oh, foolish Galatians! Who has cast an evil spell on you? For the meaning of Jesus Christ’s death was made as clear to you as if you had seen a picture of his death on the cross. Let me ask you this one question: Did you receive the Holy Spirit by obeying the law of Moses? Of course not! You received the Spirit because you believed the message you heard about Christ. How foolish can you be? After starting your new lives in the Spirit, why are you now trying to become perfect by your own human effort? Have you experienced so much for nothing? Surely it was not in vain, was it?

—Galatians 3:1-4 (NLT)

Oh, child of God! What makes you think you must obey the law to receive the Spirit of Christ? Wasn’t the meaning of Christ’s death for you made very clear in the Word—just as clear as if you were there when He died? Answer this question. Did you receive the Spirit by obeying the Ten Commandments? Of course not! You received when you believed the message you heard about Jesus. Faith comes by hearing His message—not from obeying the law. Why do you allow the law to speak death to your faith in Jesus? The law only condemns you. Have you experienced His love for nothing? Was the precious gift of His life in vain?

“We know that a person is made right with God by faith in Jesus Christ,” Paul wrote, “not by obeying the law. And we have believed in Christ Jesus so that we might be made right with God because of our faith in Christ, not because we have obeyed the law. For no one will ever be made right with God by obeying the law” (Galatians 2:16, NLT).

You believe in Jesus! You are right with God because of your faith—not because of anything you have done. No one is made right with God by keeping the rules. A person is only made righteous by believing in Jesus. Just believe in His grace that looked beyond your sin and recognized your real need—to be reconciled to God. He opened the door to intimacy with the Father—something you and the work of your hands could never achieve.

“When I tried to keep the law,” Paul wrote, “it condemned me. So I died to the law—I stopped trying to meet all its requirements—so that I might live for God. My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not treat the grace of God as meaningless. For if keeping the law could make us right with God, then there was no need for Christ to die” (Galatians 2:19-21, NT).

When you focus on fulfilling Old Covenant law, New Covenant grace has little meaning. The law will always condemn you for not being good enough. Paul stopped trying to meet all of its requirements. He focused his whole life on what Jesus had done for Him instead of judging whether what he did for Jesus was good enough. And what did Paul discover? He could live for God without the fear of failure. Because of the grace of Jesus, Paul longed to serve God and share His love. But He knew His worth didn’t depend on that. Jesus loved and accepted him no matter what he did. His old sinful nature was crucified with Christ. Paul no longer lived—only Jesus lived in Him. Paul lived by trusting Jesus, who gave His life for him. The grace of Jesus meant everything to Paul, and he never treated it lightly or made it into something that it wasn’t.

“Christ has truly set us free,” Paul wrote. “Now make sure that you stay free, and don’t get tied up again in slavery to the law” (Galatians 5:1, NLT).

The grace of Jesus is a state of being right with God. It is not a state of doing anything to make yourself right with Him. Christ has truly set you free! When you know you are free in Jesus, you are free to live for Him! You never consider grace as a license to sin but as a gift to live as He has loved you. Don't make faith a work. Don't live for His approval. He already approved you when you believed in Him. Live, knowing you are approved by Jesus.

© 2019 Lynn Lacher

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My Shield

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

I cannot shield myself. I cannot save myself. I cannot fix anything. Jesus, you shield me! You protect me! I trust you. I believe you. I am yours. I have no need to struggle to feel accepted. You accepted me when you died for me. You made me new. I don’t have to work to win your love. I am loved.

I lay myself down before you, Lord. I surrender any thought that I must do something to win your love. I rest in your Grace. Your love which saved me also holds and guards me. You came into the world to save me—never to condemn me. You accomplished your work in me when I said yes to your Grace. I did nothing but only receive. What once separated me from your glory, has been ripped into shreds. The work of Calvary is finished. 

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

I lay down and wake up in peace. You guard my faith with your Grace. I am not afraid of anything that comes against me. I have surrendered to your peace and believe what you make real in my life. Though the enemy may attempt to steal what you have safely secured for me, he cannot. I trust you and believe. Ten thousand cannot defeat me. I stand in your power without fear. You are my shield. You are my glory.               

© 2019 Lynn Lacher

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Wisdom Conquers

One who is wise can go up against the city of the mighty, and pull down the stronghold in which they trust. 

—Proverbs 21:22 (NIV)

Have you ever faced a wall in your life that seems impenetrable? You can't find a weakness in its structure. Each time you think you have found a way to break through, the wall only reinforces itself. No matter what you try, you fail. You are about to give up, but then you admit that you haven't asked God for His help. You have stubbornly tried to bring that wall down by yourself. Without His wisdom to reveal the weakness in that wall, you can't discover what will bring it down. With God's wisdom and His power, you can leave that whole wall in ruins.

Do you have a stronghold that holds you fast? Perhaps, there is something where you have unwisely and maybe even unwittingly, placed your trust. It is even possible that you can't quite put it in words. You need God's wisdom to identify and conquer what you alone have no power to address.  

"If any of you lacks wisdom," James writes, "you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you" (James 1:5, NIV). If you ask God for His wisdom, He bestows it abundantly without restraint. With His understanding, you can identify and conquer that very thing where you have placed your trust—the very thing that has held you in bondage. With His power, you can pull down any stronghold which has claimed your confidence more than God has claimed your trust. 

What you believe determines your outcome! Don’t believe in your stronghold more than you believe in your God! Admit you have a stronghold. Seek God's wisdom. When you have studied that wall with His spiritual understanding, you will find the weakness in its structure. When addressed in His power, He shall pull down the whole wall. Let the Holy Spirit have control and guide you, and your wall no longer is impenetrable. That stronghold no longer has greater strength than your God who strengthens you. His wisdom has found the weakness in its structure, and it will fall. 

When your wall comes down, you understand His freedom in a way you never thought possible! You can breathe His Spirit! There is nothing between you and God! You know nothing separates you from His love. You have a peace that nothing else can give you. You have a joy that makes you even stronger. You have experienced the power of His grace and stand without shame unveiled in His presence. When you abide in Jesus, no power on earth or in hell can rebuild that wall. 

© 2019 Lynn Lacher

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You Are His

If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake and for the sake of the Good News, you will save it.

—Mark 8:35 (NLT)

Giving up your life for Jesus’ sake is giving up your limited human frailty to receive all the fullness of His unlimited spiritual life! It is discovering who He has created you to be. You can’t hang on to who you were before He saved you from your sinful life. If you do, you will falter in feelings of guilt and shame. If you allow the sin of who you were to define who you are now, you will believe you owe something when your own righteousness has no worth. Only His righteousness has worth! When you believe in the gift of His life for yours, you receive His righteousness. He gave everything He had for you. He held nothing back. You were worth it all to Him. And now He calls you worthy because He has made you righteous. 

What is your identity? Who are you? Do you belong to your past, or do you belong to Jesus? Do you belong to what you believe in your natural mind instead of what He wishes to reveal through His Spirit? If you hang on to who you were, you will never know who you are now. If you keep trying to pay a debt you don’t owe, you will forever be indebted. When you give up the power of your past to determine who you are and what you believe, you will know the power of faith in Jesus Christ. You will walk in His new life by faith and not by sight. 

His Good News is too good to be true to the natural mind! Who would ever die for someone else? Only Jesus—the righteous Son of God—would give His life with nothing owed in return. Don't try to hang on to who you were. It will defeat His power to change your perception to one of acceptance instead of one of needing to win His approval.  If you give up the selfishness of your failures and desires and allow His righteousness to transform your mind, you will be changed by the Holy Spirit to believe you are free in His grace.  

You were bought with the most precious blood—given for you without hesitation. Give your life for His sake—for His Good News—and discover who Jesus says you are. You are chosen in Christ to be holy and without fault in His eyes. You are forgiven—showered in His love with all wisdom and understanding.

When you first believed in Jesus, He identified you as His own. So who are? YOU ARE HIS. 

© 2019 Lynn Lacher

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Believing Faith

Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prosper. —3 John 2 (KJV)

Many years ago, I discovered this verse. I had just found out that I had cancer, and God spoke these words directly to my heart. The Holy Spirit placed my name after beloved. I was His beloved. He wished for me to thrive and be in health! My mind focused entirely on these words, and I believed they were His promise for me! 

Now years later, I understand how important the second half of the verse is. It reads, “even as thy soul prospers." With spiritual growth, my soul prospers, and my mind renews. With a thriving soul, God bestows greater faith to believe. I think differently. I see life differently. I trust in what my natural mind says is impossible. I can believe for God's healing even when I haven't yet experienced it. 

         Are you facing a difficult situation in your life? Perhaps you suffer an illness which claims your days. God wishes above all things that you prosper in Him and be in good health. When you were born again by His Spirit, you became new and filled with His righteousness. The abundance of His life became yours. But it takes your soul—your mind—blossoming in His truth to believe who you are in Jesus. When your soul thrives, and your mind transforms to His truth, you grow to understand what His truth reveals. He gives you everything you need for life.  

         “My God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus,” wrote Paul (Philippians 4:19, NIV). His riches in glory are full and abundant and over-flowing! When faith grows, you believe.

Choose to believe Jesus has healed you! Although you might not feel it, choose to believe—again and again. Be renewed by His power in your soul and mind. Hope will spring up, and faith will grow. You soul will thrive, and you will know His promise for you.

© 2019 Lynn Lacher

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Faith Brings Joy

My purpose in writing is to encourage you and assure you that what you are experiencing is truly part of God’s grace for you. Stand firm in this grace.

—1 Peter 5:12b (NLT)

I don’t know why I had never noticed this message in these verses of 1 Peter before, but now it speaks to me. My purpose in writing this devotion is to encourage and assure you that no matter what happens in life the Holy Spirit living in you gives you the power to stand. It is God’s plan for His grace to strengthen you. God does not cause bad things in life, but whatever you go through can make your faith stronger. Peter is writing to believers who are living as foreigners in other provinces. He reassures them that the hardships they experience residing in foreign lands are a part of God's grace. They are not to give up, but to stand firm.

“This world is not our permanent home,” the writer to the Hebrews imparted. “We are looking forward to a home yet to come” (Hebrews 13:14, NLT). Yes, we are looking forward to that time one day when we shall live with God, but for now, we live His message of grace in a world where others often misunderstand us. We have something the world longs to have and doesn't know it. Perhaps the way we live our faith has something to do with it.  

When you experience the love of Calvary, you are different than the world. But you don’t reach others. Jesus does. His unconditional love flowing in your life reaches them without judgment. You might not accept their actions, but you love them anyway—recognizing their potential instead of their failures. You become less so that Jesus can be more in you. Living a life filled with the grace of Jesus means greater faith for you and new life to someone else. His grace is the power to not only continually transform you but to also change someone else. Anything in life you experience—whether a blessing or a trial—is an opportunity for Jesus to love through you with the grace and truth of His Word.

“Because of our faith,” Paul wrote, “Christ has brought us into this place of undeserved privilege where we now stand, and we confidently and joyfully look forward to sharing God’s glory” (Romans 5:2, NLT). Jesus has made us, who once were undeserving, now accepted in Him. Yes, we look forward to sharing His glory! That glory also gives us abundant life now! It is a life filled with joy to share His grace.

“We can rejoice, too,” Paul continued, “when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance” (Romans 5:3, NLT). Don’t give up. Stand firm, believing! Allow His grace to continually transform you. Persevere each day in His power and strength. Love with His grace the way He loved you. You will inspire not only yourself but others to know without a doubt that faith in Jesus brings the ultimate joy.

© 2019 Lynn Lacher

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He is the Gate

Open for me the gates of the righteous; I will enter and give thanks to the Lord. This is the gate of the Lord through which the righteous may enter. 

I will give you thanks, for you answered me;

 you have become my salvation. The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; the Lord has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes.

—Psalm 118:19-23 (NIV)

God laid a stone for me in Zion. And this stone, which was rejected and despised, has become my sure foundation. His name is Jesus. Upon His Grace, I rest my faith. Jesus opened this gate for me to enter into the very presence of His Father. This is the gate that only the righteous may enter, and I may because Jesus alone has made me righteous. I praise Him for He did not have to save me. He didn’t have to give His life for mine, but He did. And His gift is too marvelous for words! 

Jesus, you opened that gate forever! The door into your presence is always open. You know my coming and going. You raise me to walk without hesitation into the unknown. You are my greatest weapon—defeating all that comes against me. You are my voice—speaking to the mountains in my life. Because you are powerful, I am powerful. I am fearless because you are fearless. You know me! And I know who I am in you! Your righteousness lives in me because you took my sinful nature and gave me your blameless one. You have opened this gate of righteousness to me, and I stand before you uncovered with nothing hidden! I have peace with the Father you have given me. Absolutely nothing separates me from your love! I am free!

Do you realize that through Jesus, you have unhindered access into the presence of the Father? Christ has opened the gate of righteousness to you. “Jesus suffered and died outside the city gate to make his people holy by means of his own blood” (Hebrews 13:12, NLT). Now you can “enter his gates with thanksgiving; go into his courts with praise. Give thanks to him and praise his name. For the Lord is good. His unfailing love continues forever, and his faithfulness continues to each generation” (Psalm 100:4, NLT)!

“I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me,” Jesus said (John 14:6, NLT). Only Jesus gives the gift of righteousness and unhindered access to God. He opened this gate to you. Run into your Father’s presence. He waits with open arms.

© 2019 Lynn Lacher

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In His Image

Whatever is good and perfect is a gift coming down to us from God our Father, who created all the lights in the heavens. He never changes or casts a shifting shadow. He chose to give birth to us by giving us his true word. And we, out of all creation, became his prized possession.

—James 1:18-19 (NLT)

Out of all creation, we are God’s prized possession. He fashioned us in His image and created us to know Him. The Word existed with God, and in Jesus, became flesh just like us. But unlike us, Jesus was without sin. God chose to birth His life in us through the gift of His Son’s life for our sins. When we believe by faith in Jesus, the righteousness of Jesus is gifted to us. God claims us as His children. Then we are no longer just one of His creations. We are prized and loved by Him—heirs to all of His promises.

Our Father never changes. He is the same as He was yesterday, and He will be the same in the future. God is not the author of evil. Whatever is good and perfect in our lives is His gift to us. Jesus came into the world to save it—not to condemn it. There is no condemnation in Him. God is redeeming love.

Have we experienced the glory of Jesus, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth? We say we believe, but do we? If we did, wouldn't we walk in His freedom unhindered by fear? Wouldn’t we be free in His grace to experience forgiveness without retribution—to receive peace without hesitation—to know joy without a doubt? Perhaps we don’t know who Jesus has made us to be.

Jesus told the disciples that the Holy Spirit would come and guide them into all truth. Ask the Holy Spirit to give you a divine revelation of what Jesus has done for you. He has taken your sins from you and given you His righteousness. You are forgiven. You can go freely to your Father and rest in His presence. God sent His Word and healed you. His Word was flesh in Jesus, and that Word died in Jesus for you. Every sin was taken to the Cross, and you have risen with Him to walk in the righteousness of God. 

Just as your Father is three-in-one, so are you! You are spirit, mind, and body. His righteousness lives in your spirit because that is where you were born again. When you are renewed in your mind by the righteousness you received at salvation, you are transformed by the gift of His life for yours. And your body lives out what your mind believes. When you behold Jesus’ grace in all of its beauty and wonder, you experience the freedom and joy of His love. You experience the fact that God sent His Word and healed you in spirit, mind, and body. You believe the Word was flesh in Jesus, and that flesh died to give you the magnificence of your Father.

Jesus said on the Cross that His work for us was finished. There was nothing more to be done. God sent His Word and healed you in spirit, mind, and body. His Word was flesh in Jesus, and that Word died for you so you might have its life.

“May God himself,” Paul wrote, “the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Thessalonians 5:23, NIV).

© 2019 Lynn Lacher

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Within You

For the Lord your God is living among you. He is a mighty savior. He will take delight in you with gladness. With his love, he will calm all your fears. He will rejoice over you with joyful songs.

—Zephaniah 3:17 (NLT)

The Lord of the Old Covenant lived among His people. The Lord of the New Covenant came to dwell within the hearts of His people. Jesus, our mighty Savior, changed our relationship with God when He paid our debt on the Cross. The mighty Savior, who once calmed fears from the outside, now lives within our hearts calming our fears. As the Lord of the Old Covenant, He rejoiced over the performance of His people. Now, because of Jesus, we are His adopted children. Now He rejoices over us because of what His Son has done. He sees us through the eyes of Grace. Because of Jesus alone, we are righteous in His eyes. 

Jesus lives in you—strengthening you for any battle. The enemy will try to tell you differently. He will lie and tell you that you are weak—that your promise is nothing. Hold to your promise. His Word is Truth. He has revealed it to you. Keep it safe in your heart, and allow it to transform your mind—allow it to change the way you think, feel, hear, and see. Be continually renewed by the Holy Spirit in the spirit of your mind.

When you step forward into the battle, you know that you are not alone. Anything you face is nothing when confronted with the power of God that lives within you. You walk by faith and not by sight. You believe the battle already won. Your fear is no more. You live in peace. Nothing that tries to defeat you succeeds. God rejoices over you with singing. He delights in your faith.

Step forward in His peace. He has already won the war.

© 2019 Lynn Lacher

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