Mulling it Over - Romans 8:14-17

We have been working our way through the 8th chapter of the book of Romans in the New Testament. Paul’s letter to the Jewish Christians at Rome is full of doctrine relevant to the Christian faith including the infamous “Roman Road”, a miniature gospel in just a few verses (Romans 3:23, 5:8, 6:23, 10:9-10, and 10:13). It also gives plenty of teaching on how to conduct ourselves with relation to others.

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Today we are looking at the following verses:

“14 For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.
15 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!”
16 The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God,
17 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 ”

— Romans 8:14-17 (NASB 1995)

These verses are essential to understanding our position in God’s kingdom. When we receive Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we are instantly received into God’s family. What does this really mean, especially in light of the dysfunction of so many families in the world around us. Today it seems we know more broken families than whole ones; blended families than original families; families filled with struggles and heartbreak. Why would I want to be part of that? As we dissect these verses we will gain a better understanding of the beauty of being part of the family of God.

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For all who are being led by the Spirit of God…

These verses are meant to describe those who are believers in Christ. Not just belief that He existed, and was a great teacher, but that His purpose was to live, die and rise again so that we might be able to be part of His family. If we are part of this family we are led by His Spirit. Yes, we can quench and grieve the Holy Spirit, but if we are growing in our relationship with Him and becoming more Christ like, we will respond to His leading.

…these are the sons of God.

Right away in this first verse we receive our positional attribute. We are “the sons (and daughters, of course), of God.” Paul will spend the next few verses putting an exclamation point on this position.

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For you have not receive a spirit of slavery, leading to fear again…

This is an important sentence, so read it again! If you are a child of God, a daughter of God, you are not enslaved, no matter how you might feel; no matter your struggles, fears, addictions, bad habits, failures, or worries. When you begin feeling enslaved, know right away, that spirit is not from God. God does not want us to be fearful. Everything He has done for us was to raise us out of the valley of fear, so that we might wander freely on the mountaintops of peace.

The reason Paul wrote these words, by the inspiration and leading of the Holy Spirit, was in part to confirm to the Christians in the church at Rome that they were not enslaved to anyone or anything. Rome may be the governing entity, a believer might even by a slave in their socioeconomic standing, but they were not to be enslaved to any teaching or doctrine that tried to add to the gospel. Christ, and Christ alone.

Any time we add to the gospel of Jesus Christ we bring ourselves under the enslavement of ideas, thoughts and teachings that are not accurate. In turn this thinking leads to enslavement and that leads to fear. We will never be good enough. We will never do enough. Our purpose, worth and standing is given to us by God through our relationship with Jesus. To do anything else will find us never able to be that person, or attain that level of “goodness”. We will be enslaved, and that will leave us always feeling fearful.

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…but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons, by which we cry out, “Abba! Father!”

Again, Paul reminds us we have been received into the family of God. He makes it legal by using the term, adoption. God didn’t just invite us to come dwell with Him, eating His food, using His resources, and in turn benefiting from His limitless wealth and love. He went so far as to actually adopt us. That adoption is both a binding legal act, and a practice is interesting. Not only do we legally belong to the family of God, but we can take on the characteristic of children belonging to their biological parent by calling God in the familial and familiar sense, “Abba! Father!” Calling God Abba is an intimate term and acknowledges Him as the one who knows us best.

But how can we be sure of all of this?

The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit, that we are children of God…

The Holy Spirit who dwells in you when you call upon the name of Jesus; when you believe in what He did on the cross and that He rose again; that Spirit testifies with our own spirit that we are children of God. There is a deep, solid confirmation within us when we turn off the noise and really allow God to speak to us that we are one with Him. We are His kin, His children, His daughters and sons.

…and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs of Christ…

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If the last few verses didn’t convince you, then this should. Adoption means we are not only children of God, but children of the King. We are fellow heirs with our brother, Christ. We will inherit, as He will inherit the glory and riches of His Father’s heavenly kingdom. This inheritance is not without cost.

…if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified.

Living life as a Christ follower in this fallen world means we suffer. But our suffering is not in vain. We suffer, as Christ suffered, for a great a mighty purpose, the glorification of our God and King, our Abba, Father. The beauty is found in the last phrase, “…that we may also be glorified.” You see, just as God the Father will glorify His Son, Jesus, He will also glorify us. What a glorious day that will be!

Faith Inspiration - The Prayers of Paul

After the death of my father-in-law back in December, a good friend sent me a paper filled with handwritten paragraphs that a friend of hers, had given her when she was going through a difficult time. At the top of the page it says, Paul’s Prayers.

These are some of Paul’s prayers for the body of believers; those he had met on his journeys through out Syria, Asia, Macedonia and finally Italy, where he was imprisoned and later killed in Rome. All throughout his ministry, Paul was never concerned for himself. His concerns lay in lifting up of the name of Jesus, preaching the Gospel, and in the unity and building up of the Christ Ones.

I have read these prayers many times as I am typically reading and rereading the letters of Paul, but I don’t always focus on the prayers. More often I am focusing on the parts that show me what I should be doing. This is an unfortunate habit that most of us as Christians get into. We concentrate on the doing, rather than the Being - the person of the Lord Jesus Christ - and all that He has done and wants to do for us.

As you can see from the highlighting on the paper, I decided to really look and mull over these prayers of the Apostle Paul. We all know how important the words of Jesus are, and the high priestly prayer (John 17) that He prays for those who were following, and who would be following Him in the future. Paul’s prayers are important too, and are so adept at reminding us of who Christ is, and who we are in His sight.

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I want to share one of these prayers with you today as not only a source of encouragement, but a source of inspiration to remember whose we are.

“9 For this reason also, since the day we heard of it, we have not ceased to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding,
10 so that you will walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God;
11 strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might, for the attaining of all steadfastness and patience; joyously
12 giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in Light.”

— Colossians 1:9-12 (NASB 1995)

What I have been doing with each of these prayers of Paul is to write them out, but write them as though praying for myself. We need to pray for ourselves. Why do we think that is something that is selfish, or unreasonable? Yes, God commands us to pray for others, but He also commands us to pray without ceasing. I am sure some of that time can and should be used to pray for ourselves. This is my prayer:

I pray this according to Colossians 1:9-12 - I pray that you would fill me with the knowledge of Your will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding. I pray this in order that I may live a life that is worthy of You, and may please You in every way, bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of You; strengthened with all power according to Your glorious might so I might have GREAT endurance (all steadfastness) and patience; joyfully giving thanks to You who has qualified me to share in the inheritance of the saints in (the Kingdom of ) Light. (This last phrase was handwritten including the Kingdom of - we can assume from other knowledge of the scriptures the saints are not just in the Light, but in the Kingdom of God also known as the Kingdom of Light).

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Using these four Scriptures to pray over myself had an incredible affect on me. It made something, that I might have otherwise glossed over, come alive. It reminded me of several key points:

1 - God gives us knowledge of His will through spiritual wisdom and understanding. One thing I often heard when I was a younger Christian was, how do I know God’s will for my life. Simply put, God reveals His will as we grow in our spiritual wisdom and understanding. We aren’t going to learn His will from reading novels or watching our favorite shows. We learn his will as we gain spiritual wisdom and understanding.

2 - In having this spiritual wisdom and understanding we A) Walk in a manner worthy of Him, B) Bear fruit in every good work, and C) Increase in our knowledge of God. This makes sense and hopefully doesn’t need to be explained.

3 - God strengthens us with all power according to His glorious might. He gives us strength with all power, not just a tiny bit of power, but all of it. God doesn’t do things half way! Not only does He strengthen us with all power, He does it according to His glorious might. This is the same might we see that raises Jesus from the dead. (Ephesians 1:18-23)

4 - God gives us this power so that we might be able to endure, and have patience. Wow! How cool is that? We have His power, all of His power, so we can keep going through the difficulties and do it with patience. This really speaks to me. With all the issues I have been having over the last two years, I can say it has only been His power that has given me the ability to patiently endure. Is it easy? No! Not at all, but it is truth, and His truth is all that matters.

5 - We can joyfully give thanks, because of what follows this phrase - He has qualified me to share in the inheritance of the saints in (the Kingdom of) light. There is no denying this spiritual and scriptural truth: we are children of the King. Being a child of royalty means I have all the resources of the Kingdom at my fingertips. I partake of those resources as I clasp my hands together in humility and thank Him for them.

I hope you are inspired by Paul’s prayers as much as I am. Have a great week!