Holy Spirit have your way in us!
Joy in the Lord is our strength. Thank God for His salvation every day, in every way, give Him thanks
Scripture tells us "he chose us in him before the foundation of the world" (Ephesians 1:4), and He sends us to make disciples in His name (Matthew 28:19). Jesus promises, "Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father" (John 14:12). Because the Holy Spirit resides within us as believers in the death and resurrection of Jesus, we, too, are sent to share the Good News of Jesus and the miracles He has done in our lives. First 5
There is no doubt that we do walk by moments of wonder and delight, moments that ground us. To be here now. To let life in. And, gratitude and thanksgiving grows out of the soil of grace and presence. Sabbath Moments
“If the only prayer you ever say in your entire life is Thank You that will be enough.” Meister Eckhart
God is sovereign. He reveals to us what He wills.
Deuteronomy 29:29 “The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but those things which are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.
God turned to the Apostle Paul to reveal the mystery of the grace of God in Christ Jesus to the Gentiles.
Romans 8:18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. 19 For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God. 20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope; 21 because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. 22 For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now. 23 Not only that, but we also who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body. 24 For we were saved in this hope, but hope that is seen is not hope; for why does one still hope for what he sees? 25 But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with perseverance. 26 Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. 27 Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God. 28 And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. 29 For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. 30 Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified. 31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? 33 Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. 34 Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 36 As it is written: “For Your sake we are killed all day long; We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.” 37 Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. 38 For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, 39 nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. The New King James Version
Paul addresses the tension between present suffering and the hope of future glory, explaining why the redemption of the children of God and creation itself is only partially fulfilled.
Paul asserts that even creation has been subjected to pain and suffering through the presence of sin. The one cause for hope in present circumstances is the certainty of future glory. The created order will one day be liberated from death and decay.
Paul ends this chapter by emphasizing how believers can look forward to Christ’s ultimate victory over earthly suffering and supernatural oppression. God’s plan of salvation has resulted in total victory. Nothing on heaven or earth can separate believers from the love of God in Christ.
Faithlife Study Bible
The firstfruits of the Spirit may refer to the first workings of the Holy Spirit which is a pledge of more work to come, like the redemption of our body. Otherwise, the expression firstfruits may be in apposition to the word Spirit; thus firstfruits is the Spirit.
The firstfruits of a harvest was a foretaste of the harvest to come. So the Spirit, or His work, is God’s assurance of the greater blessings to come. Elsewhere the Spirit is called a “guarantee of our inheritance”.
Hope is a constant expectation of an unseen reality. We are saved by faith, but our hope is in the return of Christ in all His glory and our complete deliverance from our sinful natures. If we are expecting something unseen, we wait with perseverance; that is, we are willing to endure the present.
The contrast offered by Paul in this verse is between our inability to know how to pray and the effective prayers of the Spirit Himself. The emphasis indicates that the Spirit Himself prays for us. He intercedes on our behalf before the throne of God. But His intercession cannot be uttered, which means it is “unexpressed, unspoken.” As children of God, we do not always know what to pray for or how best to pray, but we can know the purpose of God which the Holy Spirit desires to accomplish.
The primary reference of all things is the “sufferings of this present time”. All circumstances will work together in cooperation for the believer’s good—that is, the believer will be conformed to Jesus Christ. Those who love God are in fact those who are the called by God. Our love is our response to the work of the Holy Spirit in us. We are called according to His purpose.
God does everything, including redemption, in order to accomplish His overarching plan. God foreknew, which means simply “to know beforehand.” In His wisdom, God knew beforehand those who would respond to Him in faith.
Only God saves; people never earn salvation through any work.
God not only foreknew and predestined, He also called believers through the preaching of the gospel message. Those who are called by God have been foreknown, predestined, and justified. This call refers to the internal work of the Spirit in the hearts of God’s elect to bring them to belief in Christ. Being justified means being “declared righteous.”
If God has done everything from foreknowledge to glorification for us, all adversaries are powerless. Since God has done the greatest thing, giving His own Son, will He not also freely give us all things? This is a rhetorical question equivalent to an emphatic denial. Elect recalls God’s eternal program. If God, the Supreme Judge, justifies, then who is going to successfully bring a charge against us? Since Christ had fully justified us and is presently interceding for us, then no one can possibly condemn us. If no one can successfully oppose us, charge us, or condemn us with regard to our personal relationship with God, then it follows that no one can separate us from Christ’s love for us. Trials and difficulties not only do not separate us from Christ’s love, they make us more than conquerors by forcing us to depend even more on God.
Absolutely nothing can separate believers from God’s love. The apostle struggles for words to describe the absolute certainty of God’s love for believers. Nothing hard or dangerous, neither death nor life, can separate us. If God, the uncreated One, is for us, and no created thing can separate us, then our security in Him is absolute. The NKJV Study Bible
Romans 5:8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Romans 8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.
Romans 9:23 and that He might make known the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy, which He had prepared beforehand for glory,
Ephesians 1:5 having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will,
Ephesians 1:11 In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will,
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