~ Romans 8:28 ~

On August 28^th hurricane Irene swept through the country and on up towards Maine; never actually maintaining her hurricane status into and through our state.  What her winds amounted to here was for most just several days of inconvenience.  We simply lit the house with candles and flashlights but needed to depend on friends for showers and cooking meals.  (We flushed the commode with pool water.)

Praise the Lord we didn’t need any heat. (I will definitely be looking for a deal on a generator before winter.) With a baby in the house I don't want to be without heat.

Some close friends of ours were en route home to Maine from further south and were getting blocked in and detoured from every direction.  They didn’t seem to be in any immediate danger so in a text I said that I would pray and "jokingly" reminded them that the date was 8/28 as in Romans 8:28 and that even this "will work together for their good." 

So often we tritely quote Romans 8:28 which says “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” And we think that it will comfort the troubled and hurting.  Often that alone doesn’t comfort anyone unless it’s considered in the context that it’s written.

Romans 8 also says “the Spirit also helps our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.” (verse 26) Often we do not know what to pray for when we ourselves are going through a dark trial and when others are heavy burdened as well.  But thank God that He makes intercession for us!  Now that’s comforting!

Also God does not want His children to be in bondage.  Not in bondage to fear, not in bondage to doubts, not in bondage to anything.   Rom 8:14-16 says “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.  The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:”

God's Spirit witnesses to us that we belong to Him and (again) He prays with us for us.  We need not be afraid but simply cry out to Him.

In addition we have the further promise that nothing can sever this relationship we have as born-again, adopted children of God.  Paul said Rom 8:38-39 “For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, (simply put, "nothing")shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

  Also, He said that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. (Rom 8:18)  So our unbearable pain is nothing compared with the glory that is "Christ in you":

1st    Placing us into a familial relationship
with God as adopted children.

2nd  Making Intercession with us for us.

(With groanings that cant be uttered.)

3rd   Witnessing with our spirit that
we do in fact belong to God.

4th   Assuring us that nothing will ever,

Ever, ever, ever

seperate us from our Heavenly Father.

5th Preserving us as blameless to
appear in His presence in glory,

that His glory will be revealed in
us at His appearing.

                Are you born-again? Have you been adopted into the family of God through faith in the life, death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ as the only remission for your sin?  Have you trusted in Christ alone?  Then you can rest assured that all things will work together for your good even when we do not understand the reasons why we suffer we can know that our suffering does not go unnoticed by Him.

                He has a purpose for what He allows… (I feel unworthy to say so because I have dear friends who have suffered and are suffering way more than I ever yet have.  But, nevertheless, it is true.) According to Rom 8:29 one of His primary purposes is that we be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.  He accomplishes this purpose through our pain; through the breaking of the self-life so that the life of Christ can be manifest in us.

                As I already stated, He said that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. (Rom 8:18)  So our unbearable pain is nothing compared with the glory that is "Christ in you".

                But it’s important that you maintain your love for the Lord, the promise is to them that love God.  Paul explains (Rom 8:5-8) “For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.”

Even in our most difficult times…

“He must increase, and WE must decrease!”

Especially in those times that are most difficult.

“for when I am weak , then am I strong.”

(2 Cor 12:10)

                Hurricane Irene ruined homes, destroyed lives and took lives… none of this is easy, NOT AT ALL EASY!… but we have the comfort and hope of the scriptures to cling to and we have the Spirit of God in our hearts teaching us the scriptures and crying out Abba, Father even when we don’t know what to say and how to pray.

Garden Variety Choices

I frequently read the "idiots guide to whatever" books; I find them very instructive and I can relate to the titles. :) In these books it seems the various authors make mention of  "garden-variety" things fairly often.  The reference, in the context employed, usually means garden-variety as in "plain, normal, ordinary, commonplace, run-of-the-mill"; average sort of things.  In this post I want to bring to light a different, more exciting kind of "garden-variety".  This post is kind of a continuation of thought from this morning's entitled "Another Legalistic Mental-Block Crumbles".  I hope you enjoy it.

In our lives we are provided with and sometimes confronted with a variety of choices.  So how do we go about making the best of the choices we are given?  Are there really good, better, and best choices or does it really matter in the grand-scheme-of-things what we choose since God is omniscient, He knows the end from the beginning,  and He orders all things after the counsel of His own will?

In a future post I hope discuss the many imperative verbs (commands) given to us believers in this age of grace.  Although now we are no longer required to methodically keep the law (the hand writing of ordinances given to the Old Testament believer) there are nevertheless things that the Lord requires of us.  Actually the heart and attitude with which we are supposed to do things has not changed.

"He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?" (Micah 6:8) These are some of the weightier matters of the Law. Jesus said to the Pharisees, "ye have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, (Matt 23:23) Love is the fulfilling of the Law.

But since in Christ there is no longer a spiritual distinction between the Jew and the gentile, the bond and the free, the man and the woman (from Galatians);  since as a man I no longer am required to have been circumcised nor do I have to keep the other outward motions of the law what do I do, what do we do, with our manifold choices? 

Certainly there are bad choices, we are told to redeem the time because the days we live in are evil.  So we don't want to choose wrong things, we don't want to choose sin that will bring us into bondage, but what do we do with equally good options?

Well, consider this;

 In the beginning God created the Heaven and the Earth and every living species.  He made the world to be inhabited and then He made the inhabitants.

(If you're a Deist or a Theist you're okay with this line of reasoning... If you're an Agnostic or Atheist probably not so much okay with it.  I'm a Theist who happens to be also a Biblicist in case you haven't guessed where I'm coming from.)

In the beginning God created the Heaven and the Earth and every living species.  He made the world to be inhabited and then He made the inhabitants.  When He was done the Word says He saw that it was good, In fact the only thing that wasn't good was that man was alone so He took care of that too. (Thank You LORD!)  Then it says, "And God saw everything that he had made, and, behold, it was very good." (Gen 1:31)

     Then He only gave them one rule. Don't eat of the tree in the midst of the garden.  The tree of the knowledge of good and evil.  Simple enough right? (If you know yourself well, you would agree, we would have probably done the same thing they did.)

     As New Testament believers we have freedom to choose from a garden-variety of choices.  We really only have one rule also.  Love the LORD thy God with all your heart, soul, mind, and might. And your neighbor as yourself. You say, "that's two rules." Not really because if you love God you will be loving others also.

    When Adam and Eve sinned they died spiritually and they were put out of the garden.  Unlike them when we sin we do not die spiritually if we have been born again to new life. But much like them when we sin we cannot walk with God in the cool of the day.  If we want to walk with an awareness that we are walking with Almighty God then we need to keep from sin.  (Read ‘Walk the Line’ for more on walking with an awareness that we are walking in His presence.)…  If we want to walk with an awareness that we are walking with Almighty God then we need to keep from sin.  How do we keep from sin? Love God!  Jesus said, “You can love me by keeping my commandments.”

Now the New Testament certainly does define sin but I have used up too much of your time already.  Look up the words "is sin" in a concordance if you want to do a profitable study of the subject.

    One last thought though; I want to make decisions consistent with my spiritual gifts, in accordance with the great commission, and things whereby I may edify others.  I want Him to increase in my life while I decrease.  So while I have a liberty to make garden-variety decisions, I purposely choose to serve others; my family, my co-workers, and my church. I try to do this consistently and while I do I "walk with God in the cool, and sometimes the heat, of the day."

“He must increase, WE must decrease!”

Another Legalistic Mental-Block Crumbles

Early one morning, as in most mornings, I purposely awoke early enough to prepare mentally to prepare for the day, I wrestled with a choice.  I had just thirty-five minutes or so to "kill" before I had to actually start getting ready to head out the door for work.


    The first five minutes or so of that time was wasted "wrestling" in my mind with a choice between prayer, reading my Bible, reading one of several books I have started reading, or working on the novel that I have begun to write.


    Normally, I would go through this process of "wrestling" then have a compulsory bent toward my Bible and start each day there.  It was not something I did out of my genuine "hunger and thirst" for God but rather it was usually something I did because I felt it was "required" of God.  If I would read a verse or two, possibly not even giving it all that much thought, then I could conscience doing the other things I wanted to or that I felt God wanted me to do.


    It occurred to me that the very act of wrestling with the decision had become a form of prayer.  I was weighing my options, considering the time (or in this case the lack of time), and "talking" with the LORD about what He would like me to do.  The verse that says, "therefore whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do ALL to the Glory of God" kept coming to mind.  It also occurred to me that the novel I was writing was something I believed strongly that He wanted me to write.


    So that morning I chose to work on the novel.  Since I have started the novel "project", I have had wonderful times with the LORD brooding over the pages, meditating on scripture, and thinking about how He would have me communicate what was on my mind, changing, editing, and adding text.


    The liberty that God had given me to choose what I wanted to do had turned into a beautiful time of worship, praise, and creativity.  At times tears of joy almost whelmed up within me. 


Now, I more strongly than ever do not want to do anything out of a "have to" mentality,  I now have the confidence that I as a believer have the liberty to do whatever I want to do as long as I do it "as unto the Lord" and am comfortable "knowing He is aware of the decision". (See the Post entitled - Garden Variety Choices) -- Although I have known that "where the Spirit of the Lord is there is liberty" I have not always "felt" that I had this kind of freedom.


    As it turned out, mostly everything I did that particular day, did not seem like a chore, rather it all became a powerful time to commune with the LORD; to love Him with all of my heart, soul, mind, and strength.  This is abundant living, as He is exalted in my thinking; I am "mounting up on wings as an eagle".  This is how I want to live every moment...


"He must increase, WE must decrease!"... 

                                            

And by the way, I did have time later that morning for time in the Word; it too was a wonderful time of fellowship with my God.