Thursday September 11th, 2014: Romans 8: 31-39 Nothing Can Separate Us From God’s Love

Devotions

Today is the fourth and final post of the Romans 8 series :(. If you missed the first three they are here, here, and here! I hope you guys have enjoyed this series as much as I have! Happy Thursday.

“What shall we say about such wonderful things as these? If God is for us, who can ever be against us?Since he did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won’t he also give us everything else?Who dares accuse us whom God has chosen for his own? No one—for God himself has given us right standing with himself. Who then will condemn us? No one—for Christ Jesus died for us and was raised to life for us, and he is sitting in the place of honor at God’s right hand, pleading for us.” Romans 8:31-34

If God is for us, who can be against us? Some days I feel like everyone is against me, my parents, my teachers, strangers, even my friends. Then I’m reminded of this verse… God is for me! Those other people don’t matter because the highest king is for me! He spared His one and only Son for me! His son became my advocate with the Father. Jesus made me blameless. My debt has been paid!

“Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death?(As the Scriptures say, “For your sake we are killed every day; we are being slaughtered like sheep.”) No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us.” Romans 8:35-37

His love has no exceptions. It doesn’t leave us when we’re in trouble. It doesn’t leave is when we’re in tribulations. It doesn’t leave is when we’re in danger. It never leaves us. His love is our victory.

“And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8:38-39

What can separate us from Christ’s love? Nothing. Not life or death, not angels or demons, not fears or worries. Not even the powers of hell or powers of the sky above or in the earth below. Nothing can separate us from the love of Christ.

As always, thanks for reading!

Tuesday September 9th, 2014: Romans 8:18-30 The Future Glory

Devotions

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 🙂

Thursday September 4th, 2014: Romans 8:5-17

Devotions

Today we are continuing to unpack Romans 8! Happy Thursday 🙂

“Those who are dominated by the sinful nature think about sinful things, but those who are controlled by the Holy Spirit think about things that please the Spirit. So letting your sinful nature control your mind leads to death. But letting the Spirit control your mind leads to life and peace. For the sinful nature is always hostile to God. It never did obey God’s laws, and it never will. That’s why those who are still under the control of their sinful nature can never please God.” Romans 8:5-8

Are you dominated by sinful nature thinking about sinful things or are you controlled by the Spirit thinking about things that please the Spirit? Your thoughts control you. If you let the Spirit control your thought you will have peace but if you let sin control your thoughts you’ll be at war. Sin is everything God’s not. It cannot follow the law. It cannot follow God. If sin controls your life you CANNOT please God.

“But you are not controlled by your sinful nature. You are controlled by the Spirit if you have the Spirit of God living in you. (And remember that those who do not have the Spirit of Christ living in them do not belong to him at all.) And Christ lives within you, so even though your body will die because of sin, the Spirit gives you life because you have been made right with God. The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you. And just as God raised Christ Jesus from the dead, he will give life to your mortal bodies by this same Spirit living within you.” Romans 8:6-11

If you belong to Christ, you should not be control by your sinful nature! You should be controlled by the Spirit of God that lives inside of you (the Holy Spirit)! The spirit gives you life. It justifies you. It makes you right with God. The same spirit that lives in you raised Christ from the dead… WOW.

“Therefore, dear brothers and sisters, you have no obligation to do what your sinful nature urges you to do. For if you live by its dictates, you will die. But if through the power of the Spirit you put to death the deeds of your sinful nature, you will live. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God.” Romans 8:12-14

Because the Spirit lives inside of you, you have no commitment to follow your sinful nature. When you received the Holy Spirit you stopped having an excuse to sin. The spirit, which gives life, urges you to do the things the things of God but when you sin you chose your sinful nature. If you are a child of God it’s time to be led by the spirit instead of your sinful nature.

“So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God’s Spirit when he adopted you as his own children. Now we call him, “Abba, Father.”For his Spirit joins with our spirit to affirm that we are God’s children. And since we are his children, we are his heirs. In fact, together with Christ we are heirs of God’s glory. But if we are to share his glory, we must also share his suffering.” Romans 8:15-17

The spirit of God is so sweet… It’s full of love. It calls you His. His spirit joins with our spirit to affirm that we are truly His children. Because we are His children we are heirs to the greatest glory in the entire world… Heaven.