As I’ve said before, I love Romans 8 so I’ve loved getting to study it deeper and write about it on the blog. Since Romans 8 is a large passage I broke it down into 4 posts! If you missed the first two posts they’re here and here. I’m going to continue with Romans 8 today by picking up with verse 18. Happy Tuesday! 🙂

“Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory he will reveal to us later. For all creation is waiting eagerly for that future day when God will reveal who his children really are. Against its will, all creation was subjected to God’s curse. But with eager hope, the creation looks forward to the day when it will join God’s children in glorious freedom from death and decay.” Romans 8:18-21

So if you’re feeling like you can’t get your head above water, remember this passage. What we suffer now is NOTHING compared to His glory. Christian or non-Christian, you don’t have to look far to see there’s wrong or sin in the world. Everywhere you look you can see hurting people. As a Christian, it breaks my heart to see hurting people but I hold on to the hope of my savior… He promises that we will join Him in heaven in GLORIOUS FREEDOM! How beautiful! I long for the day that I get to join Him in that glorious freedom.

“For we know that all creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.  And we believers also groan, even though we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory, for we long for our bodies to be released from sin and suffering. We, too, wait with eager hope for the day when God will give us our full rights as his adopted children, including the new bodies he has promised us.  We were given this hope when we were saved. (If we already have something, we don’t need to hope for it.  But if we look forward to something we don’t yet have, we must wait patiently and confidently.)” Romans 8:22-25

Even though as believers the Holy Spirit dwells inside of us, and gives us a glimpse of future glory, we still long for Heaven. I long for the day that pain, sin, and sickness no longer dwell in my body.

“And the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example, we don’t know what God wants us to pray for. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words.  And the Father who knows all hearts knows what the Spirit is saying, for the Spirit pleads for us believers in harmony with God’s own will.” Romans 8:26-27

The Holy Spirit is our helper. He gives us words when we don’t have any. I was talking to my friend Lydia the other day about this verse and she was telling me that when we were in New York City on a missions trip over the summer she had the opportunity to pray with a man in Harlem. Lydia and this man didn’t have much in common and Lydia honestly didn’t know how to pray for this man. As she began to pray, the Holy Spirit began to give her the words she needed. Lydia doesn’t know what she said but when she looked up the man had a face full of tears. The man said that those were the words he needed to be encouraged. The Holy Spirit is one of our greatest tools on earth. The Holy Spirit also “pleads for us believers in harmony with God’s own will.” The Holy Spirit guides us along God’s will for our life.

“And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.  For God knew his people in advance, and he chose them to become like his Son, so that his Son would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.  And having chosen them, he called them to come to him. And having called them, he gave them right standing with himself. And having given them right standing, he gave them his glory.” Romans 8:28-30

Verse 28 is my favorite verse… He causes EVERYTHING to work together for those who love Him. Not like sometimes, or never, but always! He works everything out according to his purpose for them. Sometimes our plans aren’t the same as God’s. So don’t get me wrong, you are still going to have hardships and challenges, but He ALWAYS works them out! What a relief!

 

Stay tuned for the last post in this series on Thursday! Thanks for reading 🙂