In Romans 7, we felt the frustration of failing at the Christian life. Now here\u2019s the victory.<\/p>\n
Romans 8 is the high-water mark in Romans. Many call it the greatest chapter in the Bible. No other chapter more deeply and fully describes the hope and tender mercies we have in God\u2019s love or the full Trinity of God working for us. All these truths linked together give us a great sense of security and the opportunity for a life like God intends for us. We must come to this study like Moses standing at the burning bush, with our feet unshod and our heads uncovered, not fully realizing or recognizing the glory and wonder.<\/p>\n
Romans 8 promises power for an exhausted, frustrated, defeated Christian. How? God\u2019s Spirit does it in us! A life that pleases God must be lived in His power. The Holy Spirit\u2019s job is to deliver us from frustration and failure.<\/p>\n
Once sin controlled us and, even as Christians, it cut off our fellowship with God. Only a higher authority and power can put us back in fellowship with God\u2014only the Holy Spirit, who is our new life, can connect us to the living Christ Jesus. He sets us free from sin\u2019s control and death\u2019s power.<\/p>\n
This ongoing relationship with God is because His Spirit lives in us. He offers us a life full of satisfaction and the exercise of our total God-given abilities. Many people think they are living today, but it is a cheap substitute for the life God wants to provide.<\/p>\n
To \u201chope to do better\u201d misses the whole point, too. If you are in Christ, you have God\u2019s Spirit, and only when He moves through you can you accomplish that lifestyle you hear about in His Word. Stop believing in yourself, and believe instead that the Spirit of God can enable you through your new nature to live for God\u2014today.<\/p>\n
If you\u2019re discouraged, that means you don\u2019t believe God. He has a purpose, plan, and blessing for you. Trust Him and lay hold of life His way. By the way, nothing you get from God comes from how devoted you are to Him. You don\u2019t need to dedicate yourself to Him\u2014you need to\u00a0believe\u00a0Him. You can\u2019t do anything, but God can do it all.<\/p>\n
Are you willing to turn the control over to the Holy Spirit and quit trusting your weak, sinful nature? Tell Him,\u00a0\u201cI can\u2019t do it, Lord, but You can do it through me.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Holy Spirit will help you deal with your struggle if you confess it to Him. Only Christ can remove the burden\u2014\u201dCome to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden,\u201d\u00a0Jesus said,\u201cand I will rest you.\u201d\u00a0(see Matthew11:28). You will know what it feels like to have sins forgiven.<\/p>\n
When you have a new relationship with God, He leads you in paths of righteousness (Psalm 23), and you can leave your insecurity behind. You don\u2019t doubt anymore if you are saved. Instead, you\u2019ve got His joy down in your heart, and His Spirit wells up within you, saying, \u201cAbba, Father.\u201d<\/p>\n
Abba\u00a0is an untranslated Aramaic word; its closest meaning is \u201cMy Daddy\u201d\u2014a heart cry for when you\u2019re in trouble. Picture a young child with arms wide, begging for comfort. The Spirit confirms that you have that kind of access to God in your spirit.<\/p>\n
This sweet Father relationship continues from child to heir, to joint-heirs with Christ. We\u2019re in the family. Whatever it is that\u2019s hard for you today, you can be sure that as a joint heir, Christ will redeem it someday. It will someday seem light compared to the \u201ceternal weight of glory\u201d (2 Corinthians 4:17) we will be enjoying with Him.<\/p>\n
All this is ours in Christ when the Spirit of God is in control. And there\u2019s even more to come.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In Romans 7, we felt the frustration of failing at the Christian life. Now here\u2019s the victory. Romans 8 is the high-water mark in Romans. Many call it the greatest chapter in the Bible. No other chapter more deeply and fully describes the hope and tender mercies we have in God\u2019s love or the full […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":81,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tld_youtube_id":"","tld_audio":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-209","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-go-to-scriptures"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mylegacyden.com\/joedifalco\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mylegacyden.com\/joedifalco\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mylegacyden.com\/joedifalco\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mylegacyden.com\/joedifalco\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/81"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mylegacyden.com\/joedifalco\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=209"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mylegacyden.com\/joedifalco\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mylegacyden.com\/joedifalco\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=209"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mylegacyden.com\/joedifalco\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=209"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mylegacyden.com\/joedifalco\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=209"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}