A Net in Time

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Romans

Grace would no longer be grace ….

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Today we are reading from Romans 11:1-10.

I have to admit, after yesterday’s reading I have to wonder… is God rejecting this original chosen people?   Is he turning his back on them or what is going on?  Paul says this:
  I ask, then, has God rejected his people? By no means! 

Consider this: Paul is an Israelite himself!  He hasn’t been rejected by God.  He’s a member of the tribe of Benjamin, a descendant of Abraham himself. 
For I myself am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, a member of the tribe of Benjamin.

God hasn’t rejected any of the people that he foreknew.  God always has a remnant of his chosen people who have been chosen by grace. For instance, when Elijah thought he was the only believer left, God reassured him that he really wasn’t.   Just as he had a remnant saved to himself then, he also has a remnant saved to himself NOW.  
  2 God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew. Do you not know what the Scripture says of Elijah, how he appeals to God against Israel? 3 “Lord, they have killed your prophets, they have demolished your altars, and I alone am left, and they seek my life.” 4 But what is God’s reply to him? “I have kept for myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal.” 5 So too at the present time there is a remnant, chosen by grace.
Do you see it?   It’s not a chosen by works..it’s chosen by grace.  Even in the time of Elijah, these people were chosen by grace!  Grace was at work even in the Old Testament!   

I do love this line: 
  6 But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works; otherwise grace would no longer be grace. 
Makes sense eh?   Grace can’t be grace if it’s based off anything, otherwise it would no longer be grace. 
  
7 What then? Israel failed to obtain what it was seeking. The elect obtained it, but the rest were hardened, 8 as it is written,

“God gave them a spirit of stupor,
    eyes that would not see
    and ears that would not hear,
down to this very day.”
9 And David says,
“Let their table become a snare and a trap,
    a stumbling block and a retribution for them;
10 let their eyes be darkened so that they cannot see,
    and bend their backs forever.”
Again.. it all comes down to God’s choice.  God’s choice alone.  If he has elected them (chosen them ahead of time) they obtain what they are seeking.  IF he hasn’t, their hearts are hardened, and work as they might, they won’t find what they are looking for. 
So what does that mean to me?
God’s choice.
He’s the one who leads us to seek for him.
That seeking is a sign of his grace upon our lives.
Those that are chosen of God will find what they seek… The Lord God himself and his saving work on our behalf.  
So if you are a seeker…know that you are the elect of God.  Destined to become one of his own.  That’s a good thing no?  🙂
What say you?    Click here follow along in my Romans Series.


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©2006-2017 A Net In Time. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. A Net In Time . We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites

Believe in Your Heart

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Today we are learning from Romans 10:5-21


5 For Moses writes about the righteousness that is based on the law, that the person who does the commandments shall live by them.
Moses followed the old testament standard, follow the law, live as a righteous man. 

6 But the righteousness based on faith says, “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’” (that is, to bring Christ down) 7 “or ‘Who will descend into the abyss?’” (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). 8 But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim); 9 because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
There it is.. the crux of the gospel.   That confession, that belief, God raised Christ from the dead.  Belief in that = salvation.    Righteousness of faith doesn’t question about the need to ascend to heaven or descend to hell.  It simply believes that God did what was necessary. 

10 For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. 11 For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.” 12 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. 13 For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
No hesitations, no corrections, no “you are good enough, you aren’t”.   It is simply.. do you believe?  Have you confessed?  That’s it.  You meet those parameters and you will be saved.   How simple is that eh?  Believe it.. not with your head.. believe it in your heart.   Be justified.  Be saved.  Know that in your belief you will not be put to shame. All are equal in their salvation. All receive God’s riches freely. Call upon God’s name… be saved.  

14 How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? 15 And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!” 16 But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?” 17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.
18 But I ask, have they not heard? Indeed they have, for

“Their voice has gone out to all the earth,
    and their words to the ends of the world.”
19 But I ask, did Israel not understand? First Moses says,
“I will make you jealous of those who are not a nation;
    with a foolish nation I will make you angry.”
20 Then Isaiah is so bold as to say,
“I have been found by those who did not seek me;
    I have shown myself to those who did not ask for me.”
21 But of Israel he says, “All day long I have held out my hands to a disobedient and contrary people.”
Do you see it?   Do you see how vital it is to preach God’s word?
But even those who never have a chance to hear God’s word proclaimed (from believing souls) have no excuse.    God’s word has gone out throughout the world. It’s always been proclaimed and heard throughout the  world. 
Can you see it?  “I have been found by those who did not seek me;
    I have shown myself to those who did not ask for me.”
God can always make himself known to those he chooses.  ALWAYS.  So there is no excuse for any of us .  We need to proclaim who the Lord is, we might be that method God uses to open someone’s heart to the Lord, but we are not the only means he has to use, you know?   His word is found throughout the world, there are no excuses.  But let me be the words someone hears that brings out the truth of God to listening ears. 

What say you?    Click here follow along in my Romans Series.



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©2006-2017 A Net In Time. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. A Net In Time . We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites

Faith Matters

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Today we are reading from Romans 9:30-10:4.

 30 What shall we say, then? That Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness have attained it, that is, a righteousness that is by faith; 31 but that Israel who pursued a law that would lead to righteousness did not succeed in reaching that law. 32 Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as if it were based on works. They have stumbled over the stumbling stone, 33 as it is written,

“Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense;
    and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.”
Chapter 10:
Brothers, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for them is that they may be saved. 2 For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. 3 For, being ignorant of the righteousness of God, and seeking to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness. 4 For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.

Paul is clearly telling his listeners this: Faith Matters!

Doesn’t matter if you were born part of Israel or not.  Doesn’t matter if you are pursuing God in the things that you do.   Do you believe in Christ and his work on your behalf in saving you?

DO YOU?

If you do, if I do… it’s all good.  See…it’s written right here:
“Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense;
    and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.”

If not, what am I building?   A thing of works?  Do my devotions, be kind to others, go to church, prayer x times per day, do my community service etc?     God cares about that stuff BUT if I don’t have faith all I’m doing is building a house of cards.   It’s like I have this zeal for God… but I don’t have the solid belief behind it to make it worthwhile or meaningful. 

Because we have to end with this truth. 
For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.

Christ is the one who gives it all meaning.  Only Christ!  His action on our behalf, our belief in what his action means for us personally.  

So let us do this, let ME do this… let me not be ignorant of this truth, and stuck on doing things my own way.   For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.  Let me not follow my own path and do my own thing.  Let me see Christ and how he is the source of righteousness, only him.

What say you?

Photo above courtesy of my brother Bill, a good amateur photographer. 

 

This post may contain affiliate links – using affiliate links from A Net in Time helps fuel this blog and our homeschool – thank you!

©2006-2017 A Net In Time. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. A Net In Time . We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites

Anguish and God’s Choice

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Today we are looking at Romans 9:1-29.   I can’t say I’ll get through the whole section as it’s a whole 29 verses.  Let’s see how we do eh?

 I am speaking the truth in Christ—I am not lying; my conscience bears me witness in the Holy Spirit— 2 that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. 3 For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my kinsmen according to the flesh. 4 They are Israelites, and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises. 5 To them belong the patriarchs, and from their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ, who is God over all, blessed forever. Amen.

Paul says a hard thing here.  One that I had to read twice to make sure I understood.  He would rather he be cut off from Christ if only his brothers, the other Israelites, could come to know the Lord God.  Can you imagine?  They have it all, according to the flesh, all the history of being God’s people.   All the law, the worship, the promises.. all theirs. All according the flesh that is.  But he longs, so much, so much that he’d give up his own salvation if they would be more than that.  If they would only become spiritual children of God.    

Why is this hard?
Seriously … I don’t know that I want people to be saved so much that I would be willing to put my own salvation up for grabs.   Do you?  Would you?   Do you have that deep set desire within you that all may come to truly know the Lord God?

THAT is the heart of a true evangelist, the true seeker after God’s own heart, do so want others to know the blessings of being a spiritual child of God.
    
6 But it is not as though the word of God has failed. For not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel, 7 and not all are children of Abraham because they are his offspring, but “Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.” 8 This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as offspring.
Hear this distinction that Paul gives.  The Israelites are children of the flesh. They are, they are part of God’s physically chosen people.  That’s fact.   But here God wants more, he wants his children to be SPIRITUAL CHILDREN.   Children of the promise, Children who have that hope within them of a better future, Christ’s return, eternal rewards, salvation from sin.  THAT’S who God’s true children.   

  9 For this is what the promise said: “About this time next year I will return, and Sarah shall have a son.” 10 And not only so, but also when Rebekah had conceived children by one man, our forefather Isaac, 11 though
they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad—in order
that God’s purpose of election might continue, not because of works but
because of him who calls— 12 she was told, “The older will serve the younger.” 13 As it is written, “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”
Do you remember that promise the God made to Abraham..about Sarah having a baby and how Abraham needed to believe that promise?  And then Rebekah needing to believe and understand that the older child would serve the younger even when it didn’t make sense?   How of the two boys Jacob and Esau God chose to love the one and hate the other.
 
14 What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God’s part? By no means! 15 For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” 16 So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy.
Do you not see Paul’s point?  As much as he would give up his salvation if it would turn the Israelite’s into true children of God it’s NOT in Paul’s hands to do so.  It’s all on God.  It’s ALL on God.  Think on that.

I look at my boy and how I see his faith developing, and my prayer is that he will serve God as an adult.  I don’t want to the pain that some many believing parents have in their children not following the Lord God.   But it’s not on me.   Do you see it, that.. it’s not on you.   As long as I am, as long as you are, serving the Lord faithfully, it’s ALL on God.  It’s his choice to whom he shows mercy and compassion to.  His choice who becomes a true spiritual child.

  17 For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “For
this very purpose I have raised you up, that I might show my power in
you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.” 18 So then he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills.
God will harden the hearts of some, and others he won’t.  It’s a hard thing though.  To know that God will harden the hearts of some.  It is.  To know that nothing I can do will change what God has determined in that regard.

19 You will say to me then, “Why does he still find fault? For who can resist his will?” 20 But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, “Why have you made me like this?” 21 Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use? 
So Paul puts it in a practical manner. If a potter molds a piece of clay to be a pipe, and another piece of clay to be a bowl, and other to be a toilet…. is that not the potter’s choice?  It’s his clay and his molding.  So it is with God.  He molds us.  Who are we to complain?  He brought us into being in the first place.  So if he wants me to be a quiet, housewife with bad feet and questioning spirit….why should I be jealous of others?  I’ve no right to be. I NEED to trust my master’s, my builder’s judgement.
 
 22 What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, 23 in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory— 24 even us whom he has called, not from the Jews only but also from the Gentiles? 25 As indeed he says in Hosea,

“Those who were not my people I will call ‘my people,’
    and her who was not beloved I will call ‘beloved.’”
26 “And in the very place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’
    there they will be called ‘sons of the living God.’”

27 And Isaiah cries out concerning Israel: “Though the number of the sons of Israel be as the sand of the sea, only a remnant of them will be saved, 28 for the Lord will carry out his sentence upon the earth fully and without delay.” 29 And as Isaiah predicted,
“If the Lord of hosts had not left us offspring,
    we would have been like Sodom
    and become like Gomorrah.”

I keep reading vs 22-29 and I can’t make my thoughts come out clearly.  It’s all jumbled together in my head. So bear with me here for a bit and if I’m misunderstanding, let me know okay?   So we have God.  Our creator, designer, builder, molder.  This is a God who we’ve seen angry, who we’ve seen exercise his power and show his wrath.  We’ve seen.  Earth swallowing people whole. others dropping down dead etc.   Don’t provoke him.

But suppose this very God wants to make known the riches of his glory and his method for doing so is to choose weak vessels..  And so he chooses people not only the Jews, but also from the Gentiles.  Suppose that’s why he says to come “you are my people” and to others “you are not my people”.    Suppose that eh?

That I am one of his weak vessels and that somehow through me .. God’s glory will be seen.  Oh.. for some reason that thought makes me weep.  (sorry)… God..showcasing his glory through me?   Could it really be?   

I don’t know if I see that.
Do you see it in yourself?   God showcasing his glory in you?
If so how.   What do you think people see when they look at you.  Can they see God at work?  I hope they can when they look at me… but I often don’t really think so.

Hmm…

So .. what say you?   If you want to study Romans with me, here is the rest of the series.

This post may contain affiliate links – using affiliate links from A Net in Time helps fuel this blog and our homeschool – thank you!

©2006-2017 A Net In Time. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. A Net In Time . We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites

Completely Protected

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Today we are looking at Romans 8:31-39.

Do you remember that future hope that we need to wait for patiently?  How God has foreknown us, called us, justified us and glorified us?

romans 8

 

So Paul has this question for us… What do you say to these things?

 31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?
 If God is for us (and he is otherwise why do all these things for us?)   So God, the greatest being in the universe, he is for us.   Therefore.. think about this for a moment or three… WHO possibly could be against us?   WHO?
 
  32 He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?
God didn’t spare his own son, he willingly gave him up for all of us.  So do you not think that he will ever so graciously give us all things?   Don’t you think he would do that?

I read these words and I feel so humbled, so shamed by my lack in seeing God’s goodness to me.  So brought low by my questionings and my doubts and my fears.   God is ever so gracious… why can’t I see that more clearly all the time?

Check out these comparisons eh? 

33 Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. 
34 Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. 
35 Who
shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or
distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? 36 As it is written,

“For your sake we are being killed all the day long;
    we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”
Do you see it?   Do you see how fully protected we are?  No charges can be brought against God’s own people.  God has us covered.  No one can condemn us.  Christ’s death has us covered.  Can we be separated from God?  NO!  Not hardship, no sadness, no persecution, no hunger, no nakedness, no danger and no warfare.. NOTHING can separate us from God.  We are his own.. always.

Ah.. this is comfort and a reality.  See this, hear these words, know it to be so. We are so entwined with God that we are just so safe within his love and his graciousness toward us.
 

37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor
height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to
separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Can you see how that makes us conquerors?  If we have nothing to fear.. no judges, rulers, condemnation, hunger, warfare, danger, sadness, persecution, hardship.. if we don’t need to fear any of that… then we are conquerors in whatever situation we find ourselves in.   Consider what that means.   We should then have boldness in proclaiming who the Lord God is to us eh?   To find the words and not worry on what people think of us.Just to say what the Lord is doing in our lives and how that matters to us.  Trying, just trying to give a glimpse of the hope we have within us.  Think on it.  (I know it’s making me think!)

Because we have to remember this stated promise that Paul gives us: 
  38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor
height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to
separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
 
NOTHING!  Not one single thing can separate us from the love of God that is Christ Jesus our Lord.  NOT ONE SINGLE THING. Isn’t that just the single coolest thing you have read today?  Imagine how very safe that makes you.

So safe you probably can’t even put it into words if you are like me.  Just overwhelmed by the magnitude of God’s care and protection of me, his child.   Not even death can separate me.   I am his… tell me.. are you?  Don’t you want that extreme care and protection that will last forever?   Remember.. death can’t separate us from God.  It just can’t.  It doesn’t have the power to do so.   

If you want to know how you can have this eternal protection and care extended toward, drop me a line, I’d be happy to talk with you. 
 

What say you? 

To follow along with the rest of this devotional series in Romans Click Here.

This post may contain affiliate links – using affiliate links from A Net in Time helps fuel this blog and our homeschool – thank you!

©2006-2017 A Net In Time. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. A Net In Time . We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites

Can we wait patiently for that future glory?

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Today we are reading from Romans 8:18-30.

This morning on facebook I read about a young lady who is going through a hard time medically speaking, and today (or I suppose rather yesterday) it was an emotionally tough one.  One of the commenters mentioned that surgery scars are a sign of a battle fought and shouldn’t be seen as ugly but as a sign of victory.  Mourn the need of them us, but truly see them as they are.  With that in mind.. when I read the first verse of this section it makes sense you know?


  For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. 
The suffering, the mourning for now is temporary.  Look what faces us in the future?  A future glory awaits!!
 
 19 For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. 20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. 22 For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. 23 And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.
Can you see how ALL of creation is waiting for this new future?  The groaning and complaining and the mourning that we all do.  We have a future hope!  One day we will be set free from this world plagued by sin.   One day, one day there will be a complete victory over sin, and until then, until then we’ll have the battle scars to prove the battle we are in until we attain that future glory.

  24 For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? 25 But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.
Now mind this.   We CANNOT SEE IT yet.  It’s not hope if it’s already here.  We can catch glimpses of it.. but until it is actually here we only have that hope that we cling to with patience (and admittedly at times with not so much patience).

Sometimes I see what sin does in the world and I just want it gone.  A friend’s child dealing with anxiety, a friend in hospital with cancer, another friend’s daughter suffering with medical stuff, teens falling into sinful behaviour of wanton destruction of other people’s property, cops in hospital, fires in British Columbia and so much more, sometimes I just want it to end, to see that hope that awaits us when sin can no longer affect the world we live in.   Won’t that be a good thing???
  
26 Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. 27 And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.
 This
is a passage I have to admit I don’t always really understand at a heart/spirit level.  I
understand that the Holy Spirit helps me pray when I just don’t have the
words, and that he truly knows my heart and mind as he intercedes on my
behalf with God the Father.  I get that intellectually.  I just struggle with it I guess.  I never had an issue that has me groaning under the weight of it I suppose.  But maybe, I don’t know, maybe when I am weighed down with the cares of others, maybe that weight is what the Spirit takes before the Lord when I just don’t know what to do or think?   Or maybe when I get frustrated with myself because I know that I love God but so often I feel like I am deluding myself and everyone else and then the Spirit calls out to God for me because I just don’t have it in me to face that continual fear.  And so the Spirit then calls out to the Lord for me and I find myself reassured again in ways I don’t always anticipate. I don’t know….
 
  28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. 29 For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. 30 And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.
My sweetheart says often that this verse (28) is often misunderstood and misused.  That people fail to see the “for those who are called according to his purpose”.   They just see “God works all things for good”.  They sometimes fail to see the WORK TOGETHER part as well.  It’s a whole package deal you know?  God calls a people who love him together.  A people that he foreknows.  A people that he is conforming to the image of his Son.  An adopted people into his family, those people, those that he predestined, called, justified and glorified.  THIS people God will works all things TOGETHER for good. 
 
 And in this knowing… we wait!  We wait for that future glory, the hope that rests inside of all who believe, knowing something better is coming. Can you wait for that hope?
 
  What say you? 

To follow along with the rest of this devotional series in Romans Click Here. 

This post may contain affiliate links – using affiliate links from A Net in Time helps fuel this blog and our homeschool – thank you!

©2006-2017 A Net In Time. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. A Net In Time . We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites

We are Heirs of God.

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Today we are reading from Romans 8:12-17.

12 So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. 13 For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. 14 For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. 15 For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” 16 The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.


I read these words and you know what my first thought was…would I rather be a slave or a debtor?  Then I wondered where that thought came from.

Cause I got to thinking about some cultures if you save a person’s life they are indebted to you and must serve you.   I wonder if that came from the seed that God plants in our hearts about him?

But Christ died for us.  Freeing us from the bond we had, the having to follow the path of sin.  So he in essence saved our lives.

ERGO we owe him a great debt. 

Since we owe him a great debt, should we therefore continue in the path of the flesh?  Of course not!  We owe him a debt, we should live to the life that he has brought us to.

The life we are brought to was that of being a child of God.  An heir of God in essence and reality.  To be a CHILD to God.  That’s what happened when he saved us.  

Should a child of God himself fall back into slavery?

Hold to that.  Believe it.  Listen to the Spirit of God as he whispers it in  your heart.  YOU ARE A CHILD OF GOD.   An adopted, for real, child of God.  

These words caught my eye:
and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.
You know how good families stick together through thick and thin? Minding each other, watching each other’s back, going through the good and the bad with each other?   This happens in God’s family too.  Hard things will happen.. times of suffering and pain.  Don’t run away from it.  Stick through it. 

When our brothers and sisters in Islamic countries suffer… pray for them, care about what happens to them. When Christian business owners are attacked, send them letters of encouragement.  We are family regardless of where we live, what colour our skin is, our size, shape, national dialect.   So if we know that one of us is suffering, we suffer to along with them.  So be an encouragement and help!

Together, let us be glorified with Christ!
 
 What say you? 

To follow along with the rest of this devotional series in Romans Click Here. 

The image I used for the graphic was originally this, and came from my brothers’ portfolio.  You can see more of his images here.   I just love the bird looking out of the hole looking for protected and safe and yet curious about what’s going on outside.

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