Just One Thing

So if the Son sets you free, you are truly free.

—John 8:36 (NLT)

Child, I loved you enough to give my life for you. The moment you accepted me in your heart, I took your past. It is gone. You received my blameless life—my righteousness life for your sinful one. The work to be free from sin has been accomplished by me. Each day since that moment I gave you my blameless life, has been a spiritual journey to convince you of that fact. That is why I had Peter tell you…

“Don’t lose a minute in building on what you’ve been given, complementing your basic faith with good character, spiritual understanding, alert discipline, passionate patience, reverent wonder, warm friendliness, and generous love, each dimension fitting into and developing the others. With these qualities active and growing in your lives, no grass will grow under your feet, no day will pass without its reward as you mature in your experience of our Master Jesus. Without these qualities you can’t see what’s right before you, oblivious that your old sinful life has been wiped off the books” (2 Peter 1:5-9, MSG).

Child, did you hear what I had Peter say?  Without these qualities growing, you will be oblivious to the fact that your old sinful life has been wiped off the books. You are clean. You are free. Do you want to believe who my Son sets free is undeniably free?  

“By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence. And because of his glory and excellence, he has given us great and precious promises. These are the promises that enable you to share his divine nature and escape the world’s corruption caused by human desires (2 Peter 1:3-4, NLT).

Child, I’ve given you everything you need to live the new life my Son died for you to have. Complement this gift! Allow me to build upon the faith of your born-again experience so you can know the fulfilling promises of my new life. These promises enable you to know who you are to me. You are my adopted child because my Son made you mine. Grow in this knowledge of what you have received. Your perspective will line up with mine. You will understand.

Are you tired of fear, anxiety, worry, anger, jealousy, rejection? That horrifying list is endless. There is just one thing on my list. If my Son sets you free, you are truly free.

© 2020 Lynn Lacher

www.lynnlacher.com/2020/02/just-one-thing.html

Peace in Identity

Not that I was ever in need, for I have learned how to be content with whatever I have.

—Philippians 4:11 (NLT)

If you really look at this verse, you will see that contentment and need do not necessarily go hand-in-hand. You don’t require a need to be fulfilled to know contentment. Contentment and peace do go hand-in-hand. When you are contented, no matter if you have a need or not, you have peace.

Paul declares that He has learned to be content with whatever He has. This means he is at peace with what he has or doesn’t have. He knows peace wherever he is, and a lot of the time that was in prison. Circumstances in life are never perfect and often your plans don’t work out the way you envision. Getting upset doesn’t do any good. It only destroys your peace. Trying to force something to happen, just frustrates you more. And what you may consider your need is not really what God knows to be your need.

Paul's contentment came from knowing His worth in Jesus Christ. He knew where he stood in his relationship with Jesus. There was nothing to prove or show. He also trusted God in whatever circumstance he found himself. No matter what he faced, he was content. His eyes were not on what He was around him but upon His Savior. Times of incarceration could not stop him from trusting God to meet all his needs. Chains could not keep him from writing of the grace of God. He knew contentment because He believed that he had been made righteous by the grace of Jesus. The man who had tortured and killed was no more. Paul was free, and that freedom gave Him peace and contentment in any circumstance of life.

 When you know your identity—your worth in Jesus—you, like Paul, have a deep abiding trust in God. When your circumstances are good, you might “feel” everything is fine. Then life throws a wrench in your plans, and you have no contentment or peace. Do you look at your circumstance instead of trusting in God? Struggling against that circumstance doesn't help. Being angry at God doesn't help either. In fact, this makes your discontent and unrest worse. But there is His peace that passes your human understanding. When you give God all your disappointments and allow Him to have control, He lifts you from a place of self-centered fear to His place of peace. You know peace and contentment when you trust God. And you trust God when you know you have right-standing in your relationship with Him. 

“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you,” Jesus said. “I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid” (John 14:27, NIV). “I have told you these things so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world” (John 16:33, NIV). 

The peace of God is not dependent upon what the world offers or upon your circumstances. You may have trouble, but you do not need to fear. Jesus has overcome it. When you realize this truth, you discover His peace in all situations. You boldly face life believing He makes all things new. You have His strength and His peace. Your new identity—knowing who you are in Jesus—is the greatest contentment and peace you will ever know.

© 2020 Lynn Lacher

www.lynnlacher.com/2020/02/peace-in-indentity.html

             

He Delights in You

For the Lord delights in his people; he crowns the humble with victory.

—Psalm 149:4 (NLT).

         If God delights in you, why is it sometimes hard for you to find joy in Him? You need to absorb the truth that He delights in you. He takes joy in you. 

         God is constant–the same way yesterday, today, and forever. There is no change in His love for you. If you feel abandoned, perhaps, you have allowed something to make you lose confidence in Him. God never abandons His children. He delights in you because you are His creation, and His Son made you worthy by dying for you. That is the greatest love. That kind of love does not abandon you. But sometimes when you don’t believe the gift of freedom He died to give you, you judge His love for you. You judge His love because of unbelief and because of pain.

         You cannot know the delight of the Lord if you don’t believe what Jesus has done for you. You will always question His love if you don’t believe He has paid your debt in full. There is no condemnation in Jesus. Never listen to the enemy who condemns and lies to you. Guilt and shame are the enemy’s tools, and he ruthlessly uses them when faith in Jesus’ grace has not transformed your understanding.  

         You cannot know the delight of the Lord if some event or problem is so powerful that it keeps you from experiencing God's love and peace. You don't feel loved if you feel God has abandoned you and doesn’t care about your problem. That very feeling of abandonment can bring anger and bitterness toward God, and then anger toward yourself for being angry at Him. He forgives you. Forgive yourself. Life happens. Events happen. Problems come. Trials are inevitable. God has not abandoned you. He is not the author of evil. God is love! His power is greater in your life than that of any event. Allow Him to show you. He takes delight in you when those trials have the ability to produce greater spiritual maturity.

         When you humble yourself in His victory and not wallow in your defeat, you allow the trials of life to spiritually grow you into His beautiful creation. You invite His victory. Instead of defeating you, those trials inspire you to trust Him more. He crowns the humble with victory! “Humble yourselves under the mighty power of God, and at the right time he will lift you up in honor” (1 Peter 5:7, NLT). His power is best understood in humility. Its greatest revelation is found in humility. When you have a revelation of the freedom of His grace, you, just like Peter, want Him to wash all of you. You know without a doubt that He delights in you!

© 2020 Lynn Lacher

www.lynnlacher.com/2020/02/he-delights-in-you.html

         

The Peace of His Perfect Love

For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.

—2 Timothy 1:7 KJV

Don’t allow fear to rule your mind. It destroys all hope. Fear cannot live where His love and faith abound. “There is no fear in love,” the Holy Spirit whispers (1 John 4:18). No fear in His love! Wouldn’t it be incredible to live with a peacefully sound mind? A sound mind isn't just a dream. It is your promise of His reality.

“Perfect love drives out fear,” Paul continues in 1 John 4:18, “because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love” (1 John 4:18, NIV).

Fear is the blight of this sinful world. There is a fear of illness, poverty, loneliness, and devastation. Fear runs rampant. But the Holy Spirit promises to the believer who lives in doubt and fear that the perfect love of Jesus drives out fear. Fear has to do with punishment, this verse also says. Fear rises when you don't believe you have approval and acceptance—when you think that you have committed an unforgivable sin for which you must pay. You have forgiveness in Jesus! Never forget that His perfect love drives out the fear of punishment. When you know you have His mercy, there is no need to fear. You are made perfect in Christ by the grace of Calvary. His perfect love forgives and washes away the guilt and shame of sin. When you realize you have no debt to pay because Jesus has paid it—when you comprehend that you have forgiveness because of His perfect love for you—you have no reason to fear. Faith springs up because Jesus, who forgives you, has the power to make all things new. And only He can renew your mind with His perfect love.

Fear is the opposite of faith. When you allow the Holy Spirit to change your perspective to His, you are made new within the spirit of your mind. You have faith. You can choose it in all situations. God has given you His power, and with His perfect love, a sound mind that banishes fear. His perfect love—alive in you—casts out all doubt and fear And without fear, you discover that you are at rest in His all-embracing peace. Your heart is at rest. Your mind is sound because your thoughts focus on Him.

“You will keep in perfect peace,” He promises, “those whose minds are steadfast, because they trust in you” (Isaiah 26:3, NIV). 

© 2020 Lynn Lacher

www.lynnlacher.com/2020/02/the-peace-of-his-perfect-love.html

Accept His Truth

The Lord is my shepherd;

I shall not want.

He makes me to lie down in green pastures;

He leads me beside the still waters.

He restores my soul;

He leads me in the paths of righteousness

For His name’s sake.

—Psalm 23:1-3 (NKJV)

Who you believe you are, is who you are. Wrong beliefs keep you from knowing the wholeness and healing that Jesus has given you. The “I can’ts” that fill your mind reinforce the lies that hold you back. Knowing your identity in Christ is absolutely critical to experience a fulfilling life of freedom that overflows in Him. When you know His truth, it sets you free. You become a conduit of His love and grace—filled with peace and joy instead of fear and anxiety. When you are ready to fight the “I can’ts" in your life, you are prepared to experience the fullness of Jesus' love and grace.

In Psalm 23:1-3, there are truths I’d like to look at which tell you who you are in Jesus and what He accomplishes in your life. These are truths that defeat lies that have convinced you that you are someone you aren't.  

The lie: The Lord doesn’t care about you.  The truth: The Lord is your shepherd. The Holy Spirit guides you. He takes care of you and rescues you from destruction. He teaches you what the gift of righteousness means in your life. The lie you have believed that you weren’t “good enough.” Well, that is a lie that defeats what you try to do even before you start. You are “good enough” in Jesus. He is your shepherd, who feeds you with truth and His power.

The lie: I am in need.  The truth: You shall not want. You are not in need. You have the fullness of Christ’s finished work on the Cross in you, whether you live it or not. You can’t live what you don’t believe. Allowing the Holy Spirit to transform your mind to the truth of God's Word teaches you to believe you are healed and whole in the gift of His grace. When you believe that you are righteous in Jesus—forgiven in Him—healed in Him, you live a life of freedom from the pain of guilt and shame. Your life in Jesus abundantly overflows into the lives of others. 

The lie: Rest is not of God, and He always wants you striving and working to prove that you love Him. The truth: He makes you lie down in green pastures. He leads you beside still waters. The Holy Spirit is always trying to convince you of the truth of what Jesus has done for you. Sometimes you are just too busy with worry and life and doing for Jesus to take the time to hear Him. He wants you to experience His peace—to experience His joy. When you “work” for Jesus without taking the time to be refreshed by His Spirit, you burn out. You make your life about you instead of Him. Get off the treadmill of doing and allow Him to show you what it means to be His. Slow down and listen and wait and be patient and be molded by His Spirit. He wants you to rest in His grace and receive from His bounty. He leads you beside still waters to reveal the next truth.

The Lord restores your soul. Yes, He really does. You do not have to accept the lie that you will forever experience rejection and fear and illness and failure.  Jesus doesn’t see you as a victim. He sees you as a victor. The Holy Spirit wants to restore you to wholeness and healing that Jesus has—without hesitation—died to give you. Choose to believe the gift that has set you free. Accept what Jesus says is true. He has overcome the torture of emotions that are out of control. He restores you to believe in your mind (soul) what you have received in your born-again spirit.

The lie: I can never live a godly life. The truth: He leads you in paths of righteousness. Jesus has made you righteous! Without Him, you can't live a godly life. In Him, you can!  What you believe and accept about yourself is true. Do you think that you are the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus? Do you experience the unmasked freedom of that truth? You will know that freedom when the “I can’ts” don’t outweigh the “I cans.” 

When you accept the Holy-Spirit revealed truth of your real identity in Jesus, you will live in the fullness of God. You will not accept the lies of the enemy or of those you once heard as a child. You do amount to something in Jesus. You are worth His life. You are loved with the most amazing love. 

Why does He do all this for you? He does it for His name’s sake—for His own glory. What Jesus has done for you, can’t be undone. Jesus can't deny what He accomplished on the Cross. It is forever true. The lies and the “I can’ts” don’t have to rule your life. Accept what Jesus says about you.

© 2020 Lynn Lacher

www.lynnlacher.com/202/02/accept-his-truth.html

Life-Changing Word

For the word of God is alive and powerful. It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword, cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow. It exposes our innermost thoughts and desires.

—Hebrews 4:12 (NLT)

Scripture has something to say about itself. Scripture clearly reveals its power. The Word divides between soul and spirit—joint and marrow. From the spiritual to the mental to the physical, the Word changes and defines us. It is alive, breathing ultimate healing into a hungry soul—peace into a breaking heart—truth into a mind upon which the enemy tries to etch lies—life into my dry bones which ache to live. The Word slices through doubt and speaks faith. It exposes the wrong attitudes and desires of my heart. It opens my mind to listen to His instruction and to trust His truth. 

The Word of God inspires me not only to believe what it says but also trust its message. My life changes because of its truth. I can trust God's Word for every moment of my life. Its very nature is timeless! It is unchanging, and just like God, it is the same yesterday, today, and forever. I can believe its direction for all the circumstances I face, and for the decisions I make. 

“As the rain and the snow come down from heaven,” the Word declares, “and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my Word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it” (Isaiah 55:10-11, NIV). 

The Word has a purpose, and the Holy Spirit reveals it to me when I open my soul to its life-changing message. I can stand on what it says. I can believe in its promises. As I study and seek His truth, the Holy Spirit breathes revelation understanding into my mind, changing the attitudes and desires of my heart. 

The Word reveals God’s truth about who Jesus Christ is in our lives, and the finished work He alone accomplishes. Jesus is the final message of the Word—the complete and eternal truth of God’s love for us. Each truth revealed in His Word points to the gift of His life for ours.  He came ‑not to condemn us of sin but to save us from it. His love frees us from who we were and gives us new life in Him.

Do you believe His truth?  Do you experience contentment and peace? Do you live a joyful and abundant life? His Word goes out from His mouth and does not return without accomplishing the purpose for which He sent it. You are His purpose. Allow Him to show you.

© 2020 Lynn Lacher

www.lynnlacher.com/2020/01/life-changing-word.html

Grace Changes You

 BECAUSE...

GRACE CHANGES YOU!

It is not who you are in life that is important to your kids. It is who you are when you are with them.

—Bill Snow

This quote is a very true statement about your relationship with your children. Think about who you are when you are with others. Your position in life is not important. It is what Jesus has done for you and your understanding of it, that is. Who you believe yourself to be is revealed in your relationships with others. Either you are healed and free in your relationships or bound up with pain you have fought to keep hidden. But when you know who you are in Jesus, you are free to love and forgive.

There are many Christians who have asked Jesus into their hearts but are not living in the freedom He bought them. They try to guard their hearts against their pain, and in their attempt, create more pain.

If you haven’t experienced the healing power of the Grace of Jesus in your life, then the Holy Spirit hasn’t had complete access. “Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom,” Paul wrote (2 Corinthians 3:17, NIV). When you drop the mask that Jesus died to remove and allow Him access, you receive His healing. His Grace frees you. You live that freedom and healing in your relationships. You don’t act out love and joy and peace and patience and kindness and goodness and faithfulness and gentleness and self-control. Jesus is each of these virtues in you. They flow from Him through you because you have nothing to hide and nothing to prove. You are free not to fix but just love as He has loved you. 

An abundant, joyful, forgiving, peaceful, unguarded, and healed life is your promise. When you allow the Grace of Jesus to transform you, this is who you are. You are His—and not just in name only but set free from fear and rejection and hurt and pain. When you are free, you pass along that freedom. His Grace is revealed in you and lived out in your relationships. The Holy Spirit is unstoppable in your life when you are free. 

The commandment Jesus gave His disciples the night before He died, reveals His Grace— to love as He has loved them.  Allow Him to love you in those areas that you have hidden. Allow Him to heal them. His Grace changes everything because His Grace changes you.

© 2020 Lynn Lacher

www.lynnlacher.com/2020/01/grace-changes-you.html

No Cost to You

Freely you have received; freely give.

—Matthew 10:8b (NIV)

Freely you are forgiven. Freely you receive. Freely you give it away. This freedom is the marvelous result of the Grace of Jesus Christ working in your life. But perhaps you don't live it. Maybe you don't live in His freedom because you don't “get” in your mind what He has given you.

Forgiveness costs you nothing. But it cost Jesus His life. He paid the whole debt for your complete forgiveness. What does His work of Grace mean in your life? You don’t withhold from others what He has freely given you. 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. The Grace of Jesus that saved you is now freely yours without any cost—without fear of punishment—without fear of rejection—without debt. There is no one to blame.

Human love has 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 His Grace has not transformed the way you think and 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 affection and love. They owe you attention. When you have a revelation of what His Grace accomplished for you on Calvary, you can forgive yourself as He has forgiven you. You have no debt to pass along to others. However, if you don’t understand (just like the servant in the parable in Matthew 18), you don’t believe your debt has ended. In your misunderstanding, you pass along a debt that someone else can never pay. To be set free, you need to be molded by the Word of God and seek His spiritual awakening to the Grace He has poured into 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, but that the world, through His Grace, might be saved. There is no more need to blame anyone—not yourself or anyone else. Guilt, shame, and fear of punishment are over. You are free to live an abundant life filled with His Grace. 

Yes, He disciples you, but discipleship is not a burden. It is joyful and rewarding when you know who you are in Jesus—when you realize the cost He paid so you might be free of sin’s condemnation. You don’t have to grovel and plead for God to accept you. Jesus tore down the wall that separated you from His Father. He gave you His Father as your own. You, who have received forgiveness, can forgive yourself and others without cost.

© 2020 Lynn Lacher

www.lynnlacher.com/2020/01/no-cost-to-you.html

I Believe

When the Father sends the Advocate as my representative—that is, the Holy Spirit—he will teach you everything and will remind you of everything I have told you.

John 14:26 (NLT)

Holy Spirit, continually teach me who I am in Jesus. Remind me every day of what He has done for me. Please show me your truth. When I have your revealed knowledge of what His grace has purchased for me, I know who I am in you. I am new. The old is gone. When I know who I am in you, no lie that has taken root in my mind can withstand the power of your truth. No lie can live in me. 

In my mind, I have a growing awareness of the gift of your blameless life. You are my Savior. There is nothing I have to do—no confrontation that I make on my own. Holy Spirit, confront this lie within me—this lie that I have believed.  Speak to it through me. Yes, you give me the authority to rebuke it, but it is your power and your words that I speak that comes against this lie. It is your power that changes the way I think. 

Right now, Lord, I pray for you to change the way I think—uprooting thoughts that have supported the lie that has defeated me. I pray for a revelation of what your grace has accomplished in me—what you have unselfishly poured into my life out of the greatest love. When I experience the transforming depth of your grace, my attitude is changed by you. I can stand on you, my Rock, knowing that the lie has no power to defeat me.

Lord, if you want to know the truth, I haven’t trusted you, but I am going to trust you now. You are revealing to me that I am free and whole in you. You are showing me that nothing has the power to destroy what you have done for me on Calvary. I am going to have a full revelation of who I am in you. There will be no lie that can stand against your truth, because I am the righteousness of God in you, Jesus. I know who I am by the power of your amazing grace. I believe, Jesus. 

© 2020 Lynn Lacher

www.lynnlacher.com/2020/01/i-believe.html

That Lie Must Die

Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain.

—John 12:24 (NKJV)

Jesus speaks in this Scripture, knowing His time is almost upon Him. His life—given in death for the sins of the world—will produce much grain—much fruit in the lives of believers. But that one grain must die; Jesus has to die for this miracle to happen. What is the miracle? Death is the lie. New Resurrected life in Him is the truth. 

How many of us allow a lie to hold us back from what Jesus wishes to produce in our lives? We latch on to the “I can’t” answer because of a lie we have believed. You might believe one of these lies: “You will never amount to anything.” “You will never be good enough.” "Jesus loves someone else more than He loves you." "Jesus doesn't have time for your problem." "You aren't forgiven. You have to work for it." "If you don't feel something, it is not real." And the enemy berates you and continually throws your lie in your face.

The lie you believe—just like a grain of wheat—must die for the Holy Spirit to set you free and live fully in you. When the lie, which has owned your life instead of Jesus, is finally rooted out, then the Holy Spirit—without any hindrance—produces fruit in your life. 

Susie Larson, in her new book, Fully Alive, writes: “What we rehearse we remember, and what we remember we live from. What core belief stands in the way of you flourishing?”

Ask yourself this question. Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal to you what lie has held you back from flourishing in Jesus. What have you rehearsed over and over in your mind? Perhaps, something that was hammered into you as a child. Perhaps, something that was done to you years ago that keeps you from understanding His love for you.

What are you battling right now?  Susie also writes that the Holy Spirit spoke to her during her battle, “The storms reveal the lies we believe and the truths we need.”  Allow your storm to reveal your core lie. So His truth can kill it.

Do you realize Jesus sees you healed and whole and flourishing in Him? Until you believe what Jesus says about you, you will continually struggle to know who you are and what you have as a new person in Jesus. When you allow the Word to transform your mind and defeat the core lie that has stolen your freedom in Him, you will know who you are in Jesus.

The knowledge of His truth sets you free.  Allow your storm to reveal your lie and His truth that defeats it. When you know who you are in Jesus, the Holy Spirit freely flows and reaches beyond what you ever thought possible.

© 2020 Lynn Lacher

www.lynnlacher.com/2020/01/that-lie-must-die.html