Who can be against us?
What then shall we say about these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? Indeed, he who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, freely give us all things? Who will bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is the one who will condemn? Christ is the one who died (and more than that, he was raised), who is at the right hand of God, and who also is interceding for us. -Romans 8:31-34
A few verses back in Romans Paul tells us that the Holy Spirit prays through us making intercession for the will of God in our lives. He seems to echo that thought here when he says that Christ is also interceding for us. The thought of this sort of advocacy so comforts me. It is like a parent in the stands cheering their child on as they run towards the goal line. Despite what our heads say to us at times, God is for us. He wants the best for us in everything that we do.
In light of this advocacy, how can we ever accept a condemnation or an accusation regarding God's love for us. In a sense we make ourselves vulnerable to such attacks when we are not secure in God's love for us. In truth, a healthy self image comes from knowing that we are divinely and unconditionally loved. Knowing this, there is no accusation against us that can stick. We are fully and unconditionally loved by the God "who did not spare his own Son".
Teach us Lord to fight off feelings of inadequacy and self hatred. Help us to accept your love.
To become like his Son ...
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. 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. -Romans 8:27-29 NLT
Ever wonder what the will of God is for your life? Perhaps you think of His will in terms of jobs, places and life choices? I have had these thoughts too. Yet in these few sentences Paul seems to express a different way of thinking about God's will. He begins by telling us that the Holy Spirit is interceding for us with regards to this divine will. He goes on to say that God works everything in our lives together to achieve that purpose or will. He then tells us what this will is.
The phrase "to become like his Son" specifies what the will of God is for the believer. I am blown away when I think about how God is working the good, the bad and the ugly things of my life together that I might be like Jesus. It puts everything in focus. No longer is suffering a path to sadness but now is a way that God can be glorified in my life. Each time I say no to temptation I am becoming more like Jesus. To become like the Son of God gives meaning to my life.
Open our eyes Lord ... open my eyes ... to see the ways that you are making us like your Son.
The Holy Spirit helps us ...
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 NLT
What do you think Paul means when he says "the Holy Spirit prays for us"? Is he saying that God is praying to himself or is he saying that the Spirit is praying through us. I believe that it is the latter. Writing in the context of spiritual gifts the apostle tells the Corinthians "I will pray in the spirit, and I will also pray in words I understand." The sentiments in both passages seem to indicate that there are times that words are inadequate when we approach God in prayer.
I resonate with such groanings in prayer. There have been times that, in deep anguish of soul, I have prayed in unintelligible words. On many of those times I have experienced a deep peace as I prayed in that manner. There is something about releasing our concerns to God in prayer that has the ability to quiet our hearts. Knowing that the Holy Spirit is there in those times comforts me. When our words fail us He rises up with groanings from deep within us.
Come Holy Spirit. Help us to know how to pray. Pray through us with words known and unknown.
A foretaste of future glory ...
if we are to share his glory, we must also share his suffering. Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory he will reveal to us later. ... 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.
-Romans 8:17-18,23 NLT
King Solomon once wrote that God "has planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God's work from beginning to end" In a very real sense human beings somehow understand that there is more to life than this fleshly existence on planet earth. Life can be so hard and suffering can hit us so deeply. We all groan for something better. We long for a time when our tears will be dried and our pain will be a thing of the past.
In this passage Paul writes about a foretaste of heaven. He tells us that the Holy Spirit within speaks to us of something greater than this life we are now living. It reminds me of the many times that I have heard the Spirit speak to the deepest part of me. In times of pain He speaks with such a comforting and reassuring voice. And in worship I am often brought into His beautiful presence. These things remind me that I do not hope in vain for that future glory.
Come Holy Spirit. Please comfort those who suffer. For those who are desperate I ask you to give them hope.
We cry out, “Abba! Father!”
For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, “Abba! Father!” The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him. -Romans 8:15-17 NLT
Jesus Christ changed mankind's view of God when he gave us a prayer to pray that began with the words "Our Father". Before that time people were all about lineage and ancestry. A few of the gospels even begin with the ancestral lineage of the Son of God. Jews embraced Abraham as not only their father in the flesh but a spiritual parent as well. So this idea of a Father God was an alien one at best. People could relate to a God they feared but not so much a father.
I think that this perception of God as our loving father has the power to change everything. Unlike earthly fathers our heavenly father embraces and loves us unconditionally. Unlike many fathers, God never leaves us and is always there, through prayer, when we need him. The Greek word Abba denotes a sense of intimacy and closeness - it is sometimes translated papa or daddy. It is an appropriate word for one of God's children and fellow heirs with Jesus Christ.
Abba! Father! Dispel any pain we have concerning our earthly fathers. Open our hearts to your father heart.
Give life to your mortal bodies ...
you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him. If Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you. So then, brethren, we are under obligation, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh — for if you are living according to the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. -Romans 8:9-15 NLT
There is a practical mysticism woven in this passage as Paul speaks of the way that Christ gives life to our mortality. Before we were born spiritually (i.e. born again) we lived without a compass and were spiritually weak. This radically changed when the Holy Spirit came and gave us new hearts. No longer would we be spiritually and morally adrift. We experienced a new power when the Holy Spirit came into our lives. We are no longer alone when we are tempted.
The issue for us is now one of strength and power. Will we follow the Spirit's lead and do the things that strengthens our heart or will we follow the rationalizations of our brain and continue to strengthen our flesh? I liken it to preparing for a battle. Each time we follow our innermost being we pump spiritual iron. Every time we love an enemy we cause power to flow to our hearts. When we pray and embrace the scriptures we do the things that give life to our mortality.
Teach us Lord to do the things that strengthen our innermost being and give life to our mortal bodies.
There is now no condemnation ...
Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. ... For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. ... However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him. -Romans 8:1-2,5,9 NLT
Paul has spent much of his this epistle so far speaking about how the Mosaic Law cannot defeat sinful actions and behaviors. Halfway thru his letter he makes this glorious pivot saying that condemnation is no more for those who are in Christ Jesus. He elaborates the meaning of this sentiment by speaking of a different kind of law. In contrast to laws that define sinful behavior this new law speaks to the things that bring spiritual life and set us free from sin and death.
I love the definitive way that the apostle says that we who believe "are not in the flesh but in the Spirit". It reminds me how Jesus once spoke to the Pharisee Nicodemus about being "born of the Spirit". In the same way that one must be physically born to experience physical life one must be spiritually born to experience spiritual life. We who are born again set our minds on spiritual things. It is not an issue of religious preference but one of spiritual transformation.
Thank you Father for giving your Spirit to us that we might truly be free from sin and death.
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