I must apologize for making you read all of Romans 8 (not a sincere apology, you should cherish diving into God's word) but I just couldn't pick one verse to focus in on! It's like those old Ruffles potato chip commercials, "Betcha can't eat just one." I just can't pick one promise from this chapter in Romans.
This week is all about victory. We might spend a few weeks on this topic, because victory happens to be something that God promises us a lot of! I am very thankful for that! I won't go through every verse of Romans 8 here - you are all more than capable of reading it on your own - but I will highlight a few of the verses that really moved me.
First, the very beginning of Romans 8, verses 1 and 2. "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." Your end of the bargain = you must be in Christ Jesus. His end = He will free you from sin and death. We win on that deal. It's not just freedom from the act of sin and things that lead to death either. It's freedom from the entire mindset of sin and death.
I can testify to this personally with my addiction to tobacco products. When I finally gave that garbage to Jesus and let Him have His way with it, He didn't just get rid of the tobacco from my life, He got rid of the entire mind control it had over me. The urges, the desires all went out the window. Verse 5 says, "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." So it's not just freedom from the sin that God is offering here, it's freedom from the entire lifestyle of sin!
Verse 11 might be my favorite in the chapter because, to be honest, I don't think there is any better promise out there than this: "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." Hillsong does a song called "You Are Here" in which the bridge says, "The same power that conquered the grave lives in me."
You wanna talk about something that will give you a little Holy Spirit swagger! The Spirit that raised Christ from death to life is in YOU! The Spirit that performed all of those miracles, that healed all of those people, that defeated all of those demons IS IN YOU!! I don't even need to go on. We'll just stop the promises group right here (kidding...still tune in next week)!
I love verses 15-17. Paul describes the relationship that we have been called into with God. Not a relationship of slaves to a master, driven by fear; but instead of children and heirs to our Abba, Father, Daddy.
Verse 18 - "For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us." Without God, this life is as good as it gets. With Him though, this life is a bad as it gets. The suffering we experience on this earth won't even be a blip on the radar when we finally enter fully into God's Holy Presence.
Verse 26-27 - "In the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words; and He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God." We have the promise of our own personal prayer "helper" in the Holy Spirit. Like a prayer instruction manual. The Holy Spirit knows the mind and will of God and will pray for us, through us, through groanings too deep for words.
Verse 28 - "And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose." Great promise, just remember, it has to be HIS purpose.
And then we hit the pièce de résistance, in Romans 8:31-39 (I'm going to freely go bananas bolding my favorites):
What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things? Who will bring a charge against God's elect? God is the one who justifies; who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us. Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, of nakedness, or peril, or sword? Just as it is written, "For Your sake we are being put to death all day long; we were considered as sheep to be slaughtered." BUT IN ALL THESE THINGS WE OVERWHELMINGLY CONQUER THROUGH HIM WHO LOVED US. For I am convinced that neither death, not life, nor angel, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.Ok, so maybe I should have just bolded the whole thing. You get the point though. It is impossible not to be completely on fire when you grasp the victory God has PROMISED US! This isn't a 50/50 chance you'll have victory. Not 60/40, 90/10 or 99.999999999999999999999999999/0.000000000000000000000001. It's God's promise. It's as good as gold. It's DONE! Just like when the whole universe was created, He spoke and it happened. God's Word is not idle. It MOVES!!! So what are we waiting for? Let's move with it!
Be victorious brothers and sisters in Christ!
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