Romans 8 - Wonderful read for this election day...

A dear sister in Christ, emailed me this morning with these words of encouragement from God's Word. I pray they bless you as they have blessed me.

This election morning for my devotions I was drawn to read Romans 8.

I thought you, too, might be encouraged by some of these wonderful

truths.  (It may sound a bit different to you than usual -- I've been

reading some from the New Living Translation, which my sister gave me,

because sometimes I pay better attention to the words if the

translation is slightly different than I'm used to.)

Romans 8

So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus.

And because you belong to him, the power of the life-giving Spirit has

freed you from the power of sin that leads to death. . . .

So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves.

Instead, you received God's Spirit when he adopted you as his own

children.  Now we call him, "Abba, Father."  . . .  And since we are

his children, we are his heirs.  In fact, together with Christ we are

heirs of God's glory.  But if we are to share his glory, we must also

share his suffering.

Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory he will reveal

to us later. . . .

And the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness.  For example, we don't

know what Gd wants us to pray for.  But the Holy Spirit prays for us

with groanings that cannot be expressed in words.  And the Father who

knows all hearts knows what the Spirit is saying, for the Spirit

pleads for us believers in harmony with God's own will.  And we know

that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who

love God and are called according to his purpose for them. . . .

What shall we say about such wonderful things as these?  If God is for

us, who can ever be against us?  Since he did not spare his own Son

but gave him up for us all, won't he also give us everything else?

Who dares accuse us whom God has chosen for his own?:  No one -- for

God himself has given us right standing with himself. . . .

Can anything ever separate us form Christ's love?  Does it mean he no

longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or

hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death?  . . .

No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours though

Christ, who loved us.

And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God's love.

Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears

for today nor our worries about tomorrow -- not even the powers of

hell can separate us from God's love.  No power in the sky above or in

the earth below -- indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able

to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus

our Lord.

A dear sister in Christ, emailed me this morning with these words of encouragement from God's Word. I pray they bless you as they have blessed me.

This election morning for my devotions I was drawn to read Romans 8.

I thought you, too, might be encouraged by some of these wonderful

truths.  (It may sound a bit different to you than usual -- I've been

reading some from the New Living Translation, which my sister gave me,

because sometimes I pay better attention to the words if the

translation is slightly different than I'm used to.)

Romans 8

So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus.

And because you belong to him, the power of the life-giving Spirit has

freed you from the power of sin that leads to death. . . .

So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves.

Instead, you received God's Spirit when he adopted you as his own

children.  Now we call him, "Abba, Father."  . . .  And since we are

his children, we are his heirs.  In fact, together with Christ we are

heirs of God's glory.  But if we are to share his glory, we must also

share his suffering.

Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory he will reveal

to us later. . . .

And the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness.  For example, we don't

know what Gd wants us to pray for.  But the Holy Spirit prays for us

with groanings that cannot be expressed in words.  And the Father who

knows all hearts knows what the Spirit is saying, for the Spirit

pleads for us believers in harmony with God's own will.  And we know

that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who

love God and are called according to his purpose for them. . . .

What shall we say about such wonderful things as these?  If God is for

us, who can ever be against us?  Since he did not spare his own Son

but gave him up for us all, won't he also give us everything else?

Who dares accuse us whom God has chosen for his own?:  No one -- for

God himself has given us right standing with himself. . . .

Can anything ever separate us form Christ's love?  Does it mean he no

longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or

hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death?  . . .

No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours though

Christ, who loved us.

And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God's love.

Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears

for today nor our worries about tomorrow -- not even the powers of

hell can separate us from God's love.  No power in the sky above or in

the earth below -- indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able

to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus

our Lord.