He Works Through Us

 

 

Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us.

— Ephesians 3:20 (NKJV)

 

We don’t use God. He uses us. God asks us to let Him live through us—not to live for Him. When we live for Him out of a sense of duty, we serve Him out of our own ability instead of His strength. When we allow Him to live through us, He does abundantly more than we could ask or think.  

 

Christ has given us an exchanged life—not a changed life. He exchanged our sins for His righteousness. We are new. The old is gone. When we surrender our will—our reasoning—our perception to the Holy Spirit and allow Him to guide and empower us, Christ lives through us. We serve Him out of His power at work within us. Serving Him flows out of faith instead of duty. It becomes a joy because everything rests on Him.

 

Yes, God does abundantly more than we ask or think, but we must not forget the whole verse. He does abundantly more through us when we surrender to Him. God doesn’t want us burned out from duty. He wants us fulfilled in His grace. 

 

Surrendering to God is surrendering to all of Him. It is allowing the fruit of the Spirit—love, joy, peace, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, self-control, gentleness, and patience—to flourish in your life. Your surrender is not a pick-and-choose surrender. Don’t refuse what the Holy Spirit wants to do in your life. Don’t reject receiving the gifts that He wishes to bestow on you. Deny any fear. Allow the Holy Spirit to teach and guide and empower you as He never has before. Allow Him to challenge your human reasoning and reveal Himself to you.

 

“Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us” (Ephesians 3:20, NKJV).

 

God uses as much of you as you allow.

 

 

His Power in Us

 

But I know that when I come to you, I shall come in the fullness of the blessing of the gospel of Christ.

—Romans 15:29, NKJV

 

This is a bold statement that Paul made! Paul had no doubt that he would walk in the fullness of God’s grace in His life. Paul knew God’s power was His, and he confidently drew strength from that truth. Do we believe that God also wants us to know His fullness and experience His power? Paul believed and acted by faith in God’s truth. When we, believe what is ours in Christ and act upon it, we receive (Matthew 9:29). 

 

Walking in the power of the Holy Spirit is something that doesn’t happen by chance. It is a choice to allow the Holy Spirit to work through us. Some people believe the Holy Spirit turns on and off His power when He chooses. God is always available, and His power is always available. We are the ones who are on and off with Him. Often, we let our flesh determine how we feel instead of being led by the Holy Spirit guiding us into God's truth. But when we choose to believe we have received the fullness of God’s life within us, we can be certain that the power of God that has been given to us in Christ will flow. Our responsibility is to exercise our faith and draw from the fullness of God that is within us. "He who believes in me," Jesus said, "out of his belly will flow rivers of living water" (John 7:38).

 

“For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope” (Jeremiah 29:11, NKJV).

 

God’s plans for us are full of hope and an expected future. When we yield and follow the guidance of the Holy Spirit, we can expect God’s good results. In Romans 15:29, Paul said he knew when he came to the Romans, that he would come in the fullness of the blessing of the gospel. He believed that the message within Him would be received. He believed in the miracle of God’s grace manifesting in the lives of those he taught and led. According to what Paul believed and expected, he received. He lived and breathed the fullness of God. Out of his life flowed the power of the Holy Spirit.

 

God wants us to believe and move in the fullness of the Holy Spirit. Paul was human, too. But he believed in the river of Resurrection power that was always within him. He believed it was Christ that lived in Him. And the faith by which he lived stirred him to act on what he believed.

 

We, too, must stir up the gift we have been given (2 Timothy 1:6) We, too, must draw on God’s Resurrection power from within us. And out of our lives will flow rivers of living water. 

 

Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us.

—Ephesians 3:20, NKJV

 

© 2022 Lynn Lacher

www.lynnlacher.com/2022/04/his-power-in-us.html

 

Christ Alive in You

 

“For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 6:10-11, NKJV).

 

Jesus Christ died for our sins once and for all time. His perfect work was finished. Our sinful nature was crucified with Christ the moment we asked Him into our hearts and confessed Him as Lord of our life. We were reborn in our spirit by His righteousness (2 Corinthians 5:17, John 3:6). Our sins were forever forgiven by God. 

 

If our sins are forgiven, why do many believers feel condemned in living for Christ? It is not Jesus who condemns you. It is the evil one. Christ came into the world not to condemn you but to save you (John 3:17). 

Struggling to keep the law without knowing who you are in Christ—without the righteousness of Christ empowering you—will condemn you.

 

“For 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 requirement—so that I might live for God” (Galatians 2:19, NLT).

 

You live for God by faith in Christ's finished work of salvation and not by meeting the requirements of the law. You die to the dictates of the law so you might live for God. When you quit struggling to meet the requirements of the law, you quit trying to prove that you are right with God. You know and believe that Christ has made you right and new in your born-again spirit. And you keep His commandments with the righteousness Christ has given you. 

You have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer you who live, but Christ who lives in you. The life you now live, you live by faith in Jesus, who loved you and gave himself for you (Galatians 2:20). You no longer live by the dictates of the law. You live by His grace (Romans 6:14).

 

You can’t earn God’s grace or prove yourself to Him. Christ already has proved you worthy to God. Quit living in fear that He will leave you or forsake you.

 

“For He Himself has said, ‘I will never leave you nor forsake you’” (Hebrews 13:5, NKJV). 

 

God never leaves you or forsakes you. He never removes His grace from your life. When you choose not to walk in the righteousness He has given you, you are the one who pulls away from Him. 

 

“In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise” (Ephesians 1:13).

 

My sweet sister or brother in Christ, He will never leave you. After you heard and believed in Christ, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise. You are forever forgiven by the grace of Jesus. 

 

“For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Corinthians 5:21).

 

Christ took our sins. Our sinful nature was crucified with Christ, and we were reborn by His Spirit into new life. Christ has judged us holy and presented us without fault to the Father (Ephesians 1:4). We live what we believe. If we believe that Christ has made us righteous, then His righteousness will prevail in our lives. If we believe that there is something more that we need to do to earn His righteousness, then we will live our lives always struggling to meet requirements only the righteousness of Christ could meet.

 

With faith, we please God. When we believe that His righteousness is ours and that He rewards those who diligently seek Him (Hebrews 11:6), we live by faith and not by what the law dictates. We know our flesh may fail at times, but in Christ, we are forgiven, accepted, and loved.

 

“Therefore, if you died with Christ from the basic principles of the world, why, as though living in the world, do you subject yourselves to regulations— ‘Do not touch, do not taste, do not handle,’ which all concern things which perish with the using—according to the commandments and doctrines of men? These things indeed have an appearance of wisdom in self-imposed religion, false humility, and neglect of the body, but are of no value against the indulgence of the flesh” (Colossians 2:20-23).

 

Your flesh cannot defeat sin. Only Christ in you, the hope of glory, defeated sin. And now you live that truth by faith. When you live to keep the law, you fall from grace—not back into sin (Galatians 5:4). When you live by faith in the Son of God who died for you, you live by the righteousness Christ has given you.

 

Learn and know and understand and believe who you are in Christ. Trust in the finished work of Christ in your life. Believe Christ has crucified your old sinful nature and given you new life. Live by faith in who are you in Christ, and you will defeat the flesh by the power of the Holy Spirit within you. 

 

© 2022 Lynn Lacher

www.lynnlacher.com/2022/04/christ-alive-in-you.html

 

 

What Sin

 

 

If, indeed you have heard Him and have been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus: that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and 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 4:21-24 (NKJV)

 

 

Sweet child of God, you are a new creation in Christ. You are reborn by His Spirit. The old is gone, and you are new (2 Corinthians 2:17). But do you believe that you have lost your right standing with God because you still deal with the struggles of your flesh? You haven’t. We can’t change the temptations that come against us. But when we know and believe who we are in Christ, we have His power to overcome. 

 

Your old man is gone. He is no more. To have God’s power to overcome, you have to believe your old sin nature has been crucified with Christ and that it is not you who lives but Christ who lives in you (Galatians 2:20). To believe the old nature is gone, your mind must be renewed by the truth of your new nature revealed in God’s Word (Romans 12:3, Ephesians 4:23). And when you choose to walk in the truth of the righteousness that Christ has earned for you, you put on who you are in Christ (Ephesians 4:24). You defeat the daily temptations to sin that come. You become new in the motive and attitude of your heart.

 

Your new nature is your true identity in Christ. In Today’s English Version Ephesians 4:24 reads, “and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.” 

 

You cannot make yourself new. Purchased by His precious blood and reborn by His Spirit, Christ has given you His righteous nature. Be renewed to know yourself as God knows you in “true righteousness and holiness.” Clothe yourself in your new identity. It was created “after the likeness of God.” As Christ is so are you (1 John 4:17).

 

Christ has earned for you a new life of righteousness created after the likeness of God. Allow the Word to teach you the new person you are. Clothe yourself in your new identity. Choose to deny the temptations that try to convince you that your old sin nature is still alive.

 

What sin, what sin?
Well that's as far away 
as the east is from the west
What sin, what sin?
It was gone the very minute you confessed
Buried in the sea of forgetfulness.

—Morgan Cryer

 

 

© 2022 Lynn Lacher

www.lynnlacher.com/2022/04/what-sin.html

 

 

Spirit and Life

 

 

However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you. All things that the Father has are Mine. Therefore I said that He will take of Mine and declare it to you.

—John 16:13-15 (NKJV).

 

The Spirit of Truth has come. I want nothing more than to understand and believe.

 

 

It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life.

—John 6:63 (NKJV)

 

He is life. Without the Holy Spirit teaching and guiding me, my life is controlled by what I sense—not by His Words which are spirit and life.

 

 

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.

—John 1:17 (NKJV)

 

Jesus, the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth, became flesh so that I might have His spirit and life. 

 

 

 Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth.

—John 17:17 (NKJV)

 

Teach me your Word, Holy Spirit. You are grace and truth. Your words are spirit, and they are life. I pray that you would give me wisdom and revelation in my knowledge of the Father—that I would understand and know what is the hope of His calling, the glory that I have inherited, and the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe.

 

Ephesians 1:17-19

 

 

www.lynnlacher.com/2022/04/spirit-and-life.html

 

Christ in Me

 

 

Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law; for by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified.

—Galatians 2:16

 

Nothing that I do to be good enough makes God accept me. Nothing I do ever earns God’s love. God already loved me enough to send His own Son to die for me. Only Christ makes me right and justifies my imperfections to God. Only Christ, living in me, makes me unblemished and righteous. When I believe in Christ, He lives in me. 

 

I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. 

—Galatians 2:20

 

I don’t crucify my sin. I don’t perfect myself. I no longer live. It is Christ living in me who has made me worthy. And the life I live—the things I do—the decisions I make—the thoughts I allow, I don’t control on my own. I live by the faith of Christ which He has given me.

 

For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith.

—Romans 12:3

 

God wants me to take the measure of faith He has given to me seriously. I decide to exercise the faith of Christ I have received. I decide to believe God’s truth over what my flesh dictates. I choose to live by the truth of who Christ is within me.

 

So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

—Romans 10:17

 

To build my faith, I am continually renewed by the hearing of the Word.

 

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

—Romans 12:2

 

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

 

When I am renewed by the Word, my mind conforms to the spirit of Christ living in me. I choose to put on the new nature that He has given me. I can’t earn what He has already earned. I choose His righteousness and holiness. 

 

I walk by faith and not by sight.

—2 Corinthians 5:7

 

For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain.

—Philippians 1:21

 

Christ lives in me. The flesh is defeated by grace. I have gained Christ, the hope of glory (Colossians 1:27).

 

 

© 2022 Lynn Lacher

www.lynnlacher.com/2022/03/christ-in-me.html

 

Your Healing

 

Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.

—1 Peter 2:24 (KJV)

 

 

My son, 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 (NKJV)

 

 

Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits: 

Who forgives all your iniquities, 

Who heals all your diseases, 

Who redeems your life from destruction, 

Who crowns you with lovingkindness and tender mercies,

Who satisfies your mouth with good things, 

So that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.

—Psalm 103:2-5 (NKJV)

 

 

He sent out his word and healed them, snatching them from the door of death.

—Psalm 107:20 (NLT)

 

 

He shall call upon Me, and I will answer him;

I will be with him in trouble;

I will deliver him and honor him.

With long life I will satisfy him,

And show him My salvation.

—Psalm 91:15-16 (NKJN)

 

 

And when He had come into the house, the blind men came to Him. And Jesus said to them, “Do you believe that I am able to do this?”

 

They said to Him, “Yes, Lord.”

 

Then He touched their eyes, saying, “According to your faith let it be to you.”

—Matthew 9:29-29 (NKJV)

 

 

Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him.

—1 John 5:14-15 (NKJV)

 

 

Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.

—Hebrews 10:23 (NKJV)

 

 

I am the Lord who heals you.

—Exodus 15:26, NKJV)

 

 

Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us.

—Ephesians 3:20 (NKJV)

 

 

www.lynnlacher.com/2022/03/your-healing_30.html

Behold What Manner of Love

1 John 3:1 (NKJV)

 

Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God!

 

2 Corinthians 5:17, 21 (AMPC)

 

17.  Therefore if any person is [ingrafted] in Christ (the Messiah) he is a new creation (a new creature altogether); the old [previous moral and spiritual condition] has passed away. Behold, the fresh and new has come!

 

21.  For our sake He made Christ [virtually] to be sin who knew no sin, so that in and through Him we might become [endued with, viewed as being in, and examples of] the righteousness of God [what we ought to be, approved and acceptable and in right relationship with Him, by His goodness].

 

 

Ephesians 1:3-8 (NLT)

 

3.  All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ.

 

4.  Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. 

 

5.  God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure.

 

6.  So we praise God for the glorious grace he has poured out on us who belong to his dear Son. He is so rich in kindness and grace that he purchased our freedom with the blood of his Son and forgave our sins. He has showered his kindness on us, along with all wisdom and understanding.

 

 

John 8:36 (NKJV)

 

Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.

 

He is More

 

 

Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.

—1 Peter 5:6-7 NLT

 

God’s grace is received in humility. The greatest understanding of His grace is received in humility. When you are teachable, you are open to the revealed truth of the Holy Spirit in the Word. You grow to understand that the things you battle in your mind are defeated in Christ. It is His power within you. Not yours. Selfishness is more easily defeated. Pride’s power to control your emotions and feelings becomes less as God’s truth becomes more. When your life is about Him, what you spiritually see, hear, and understand is not yours to own. Your life is His, and there is nothing more for you to gain. You rest in the peace of His grace. He is enough. There is nothing to prove. There is nothing to declare that God hasn’t already called into existence. 

 

When you cast your cares upon Him, you lay everything down. He takes care of all the questions. He takes care of all the concerns and problems. When you humble yourself under His hand, what others think of you becomes less because He is more. You become an instrument to use as He wills. His power is greatest when revealed in humbleness of heart. 

 

Humble yourself before Him with nothing to prove and nothing but to live who He is. Let the truth of the Word teach you who He is in you. Receive spiritual understanding in the wisdom and knowledge of Him. Experience His Spirit—alive in you—setting you free from all that your natural mind has declared as true. Discover that your greatest purpose is His to direct and His to own. You are ready for His overflowing abundance when you lay down all that has claimed your allegiance—all you believe He has imparted—all your mind has perceived as truth—and just allow Jesus to wash your feet—to teach you.

 

Stripped of all that stands in the way of His Hand upon you, you are unhindered by need or perception or anything at all. He, who became less for you, now has become everything in you. You are His, and you realize that He has brought you to a place of victory that you had never imagined. At His feet, you learn what it means to be crowned with victory because He was willing to humble himself for you. You know His joy that no word can express. 

 

His presence is enough. Jesus, the hope of glory, is yours. He is in you, and you are in Him.

 

© 2022 Lynn Lacher

www.lynnlacher.com/2022/03/he-is-more.html

 

 

 

Filled with His Fullness

 

That He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height—to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

—Ephesians 3:16-19 (NKJV)

 

 

The untouchable God of the Old Testament— the God of holiness—the God of infinite power—the God of forgiveness and healing——became freely and entirely accessible through the love of Jesus Christ. When we choose to receive His unconditional love, we were born again in our spirits (John 3:6). We became new in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17). We were forgiven of all our sins—healed of all our diseases—made whole and complete in all the fullness of God (Psalm 103:2-3). When we chose to believe in Christ’s finished work of Grace, we became one with Him in spirit (1 Corinthians 6:17).

 

Our human reasoning cannot discern the fullness of this love. We can only discern God's love, spiritually (Romans 8:6). When we allow the Word to mold us, it conforms us to His image (Romans 12:2) and convinces us of His love. We receive spiritual understanding and believe it in our hearts. His eternal love dwells in our hearts through faith. And when we grasp the revelation of God’s love in our inner man, we are strengthened and rooted in His love and are filled with all the fullness of God (Ephesians 3:16-19).

 

Do you believe this in your heart—in your inner man? That God gives you His love at no cost to you? Jesus paid the price for you to receive God’s love. The source for everything with which God loves you is His riches in glory. And that is the widest—the longest—the deepest—the highest source of all! God abundantly strengthens you with all His power! He lavishly forgives you with all the forgiveness His Son purchased for you. God generously heals you with all the healing Christ won on your behalf. He liberally provides from with His riches in glory. The Holy Spirit reveals to you the unending depth and length and height and width of the love of God that Jesus Christ gave His life for you to have.

 

“When God our Savior revealed his kindness and love, he saved us, not because of the righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He washed away our sins, giving us a new birth and new life through the Holy Spirit. He generously poured out the Spirit upon us through Jesus Christ our Savior. Because of his grace, he made us right in his sight and gave us confidence that we will inherit eternal life” (Titus 3:4-7, NLT).

 

The love of God is made known to us in the gift of His Son. To understand the depth of this unconditional love, we need a divine revelation of it. If we ask for that revelation and seek it, we shall find it. He never withholds the truth of His love! God desires us to have a supernatural understanding of His love because He desires a Spirit-to-spirit relationship with us (Ephesians 1:1-11).

 

God's love is not because of anything we have done. He is passionate about us because of His great mercy. Jesus washed away our sins and gave us new birth and life. The grace of Jesus forgives us and makes us right in God’s sight. It gives confident trust in our relationship with Jesus. Forgiven. Healed. His mercy has purchased new life for us. And God liberally pours His Spirit into our hearts.

 

We have the promise of everlasting life. But the overwhelming love of God is not just for heaven.  We have an eternal relationship with God that is real. The abundant and overwhelming love of God is for us right now (John 10:10). 

 

When we are rooted and grounded in spiritual understanding of God’s love, we believe we have received His love in all its fullness. We don’t doubt it. Human reasoning and feelings are overcome by spiritual truth. We rest and have peace in God’s love for us. Filled with all the fullness of God, we live the joy of His abundant life. We believe that our God shall provide everything we need according to His riches in glory (Philippians 4:19).

 

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ” (Ephesians 1:3, NKJV).

 

When we are rooted and grounded in spiritual understanding of God’s love, we comprehend the width and length and depth and height of that love. We know the love of Christ which passes human knowledge and that we are filled with all the fullness of God.

 

“Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us” (Ephesians 3:20)!

© 2022 Lynn Lacher

www.lynnlacher.com/2022/03/filled-with-his-fullness.html