The Everyday Prayer

Re:Verse passage – Romans 8:31-39  (day five)

Do you think about our Christian brothers and sisters suffering for the sake of Christ? For a couple years now, I’ve been reading from a Daily Bible that has a story and a prayer for the persecuted. This keeps my perspective in the right place. More specifically, it humbles me that I’m not experiencing tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, or having a sword pointed at me daily. Yet other Believers are being put to death like sheep being sacrificed as an offering to the Lord. In 2026, the number of Christians killed for their faith worldwide rose to 4,849, with 93% of those deaths occurring in sub-Saharan Africa. Approximately one in seven Christians worldwide, which translates to about 14%, face persecution for their faith. This includes various forms of persecution, such as discrimination, violence, and the risk of death.

I love sharing my faith and witnessing. It’s what brings me the most JOY. If it meant I would be threatened with death and my family would be tortured in front of my eyes, then I don’t know how this would change my outlook. Would I still find joy in sharing the Gospel? James says, “Consider it a great JOY, my brothers, whenever you experience various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. But endurance must do its complete work, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking nothing.” James 1:2-4 HCSB

I think persecuted Christians take courage in verses like these and the ones we have in Romans chapter 8. Look at verse 32, “He did not even spare His own Son but offered Him up for us all; how will He not also with Him grant us everything?”

They risk losing their jobs, homes, families, and their lives because they know their Father God will graciously give them all things. They refuse to listen to Satan’s lies that tell them to give in and renounce Jesus. They remember Jesus was offered up for them and that the Father didn’t hold back from sending His own son to the slaughter. Holding onto this truth is where their JOY comes from. Even through the most painful of experiences.

When our brothers and sisters are persecuted for their Christian witness in countries like Iran, Nigeria and India, we can let them know they are cared for and loved by the global body of Christ. November 1st is the International Day of Prayer for Persecuted Christians. Take time to remember them in prayer. www.persecution.com/response

Re:Verse passage – Romans 8:31-39  (day four)

“Who then will condemn us? No one—for Christ Jesus died for us and was raised to life for us, and he is sitting in the place of honor at God’s right hand, pleading for us.” V. 34

For those in Tuesday Morning Women’s Bible Study, this verse should feel familiar. Hebrews 1 also tells where Jesus is – at the right hand of the Father.

Jesus doesn’t simply disappear off the scene once he ascends to heaven. After his life of intimate connection with people on earth, he doesn’t suddenly become distant or removed. He sends his very Spirit to live inside of us; and he is also currently, as we speak, sitting at the right hand of the Father interceding for us. Though we don’t physically see him with us as the disciples did, he’s very much still actively engaged with his people.

Romans chapter 8 is filled with language of intimacy: we’re invited to call God “Abba, Father.” The Spirit works in our very being to free us from bondage, and we become inseparable from God’s love. Just as intimately, our Savior sits at the right hand of that God of love, interceding for us. Viewing Jesus in this way has always struck a chord with me, especially when God feels far off. We don’t serve a distant God, but one who is constantly in intimate connection with us, even when we’re not aware of it.

Re:Verse passage – Romans 8:31-39  (day three)

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.

These verses in Romans 8 are a calling and reminder for us to be bold in our faith and in sharing the gospel. Paul’s words rang true then to those that would hear them and die for their faith, and they still ring true for us today. There is nothing that can stand in the way of God’s love for us. We may suffer or die on this side of glory, but there is nothing that can affect the other side where we get to see our Creator.

Paul’s words remind us that God is faithful in His promises and that He will do what He promised long ago. When we become believers and belong to Him, there is no condemnation for us (8:1) and no separation (8:38-39) for us. This should embolden us to get up and go out to do whatever it takes to proclaim His name to the nations! If nothing can separate us, then why should we worry? If nothing can stand in the way of His love and promises, then why should we fear or question what He is doing? These verses are freedom for us to live boldly for Him, holding nothing back.

I have felt convicted by this study in Romans, and I pray that you have been, too. May you be emboldened and encouraged to go and share today. The Lord, strong and mighty, is with you and nothing can separate you from His love!

Re:Verse passage – Romans 8:31-39 (day two)

 For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. vv. 38-39

Ok, once more for the kid in the back…NOTHING can separate us from the love of God. Read it again, and again, and again. Do you struggle with this truth? Perhaps you feel as though there is a limit to God’s patience. Maybe you feel such guilt, shame, or fear which limits your understanding of God’s compassion. YOU ARE NOT ALONE. Paul is writing this to an audience that needed to hear this reassurance. If these words are written in scripture, you can bet it is because they needed to be heard, and still need to be heard. We struggle against this never-ending love because we don’t have that capacity in our own hearts, and we are being convinced that God uses the same yardstick as we do. That is a lie straight from the deceiver. God’s ways are not your ways. He does not measure as we measure. Look at that list that Paul gives us in this passage. There are some pretty weighty forces, but none are stronger than the love of God. Take a deep breath, and let the love of your eternal father bring you peace.

Re:Verse passage – Romans 6:1-14  (day seven)

What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase? May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it? Romans 6:1-2

“I can commit this sin because God will forgive me anyways.” Whether someone willfully thinks this or not, this tends to be the way sin is approached by many in the church. If we are honest, we have probably been down this train of thought too. What makes this so much worse than involuntary sins or sins of omission is that there is a blatant abuse of the grace of God. Knowingly taking advantage of what God will do for you is an abuse of His grace and power. However, it is not without consequence:

For if we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins. Hebrews 10:26

Though I do not believe this passage is saying that we will lose our salvation when we deliberately sin one time, I do believe it shows us that there is a weight on this decision to choose sin after having received the knowledge of the truth. Grace is dangerous. We can live in tension by abusing its power, or we can lean on the Holy Spirit to help us live in freedom by receiving the power of grace and extending it to others.

Re:Verse passage – Romans 6:1-14  (day six)

“The truth will set you free.” —Jesus, John 8:32

Freedom is at the heart of Paul’s hope for the churches in Rome: freedom from sin’s oppressive rule and freedom to walk in new life with God.

That is why Paul uses the imagery of baptism. As we are lowered beneath the water, we identify with Jesus’ death and burial. As we rise, we identify with his resurrection and new life. Baptism tells the truth about us: our former master no longer owns us, and our old life no longer defines us. We now belong to Jesus.

This freedom has both a present and a future reality. We await the day when God will raise us bodily from the dead, just as he raised Jesus. Yet Christ’s resurrection life has already begun within us through the Holy Spirit.

Paul’s call is to live now into what we will one day fully become: people liberated from sin, alive to God, and restored to the life for which God created us.

In Christ, freedom is both our present calling and our promised future.

Re:Verse passage – Romans 6:1-14  (day five)

As a believer, do I ever get to do what I want?  Maybe that means my wants and desires are the same selfish and morally destructive preferences and priorities that are indicative of sin and rebellion. My rules. My wisdom. Maybe that means I am declaring myself righteous. Then, NO. Notice the “logic” (or rationalization) in 6:1 – I can still act and think like I want to (pre-salvation) because that will bring even more grace from God to me. Makes God seem like a genie at our disposal. We become the sovereign.

But, if in this new life (verse 4) of having been justified and made righteous, my thoughts, desires, preferences, and priorities are transformed into the same ones that Jesus had, and that I choose them in order to glorify God (declare Him to be the sovereign), then the answer changes to Yes. That’s the work of grace. We are free to live like that- to live united with Christ and to live free from sin and “do what we (now) want to do” (what we were created and designed to do- trust, obey, serve, follow, and glorify Him).

Re:Verse passage – Romans 6:1-14  (day four)

Death no longer has any power over us. Of course, we will all experience death one day. But because of Christ’s death and resurrection, death no longer has the final word. This means something for our eternal life, in that we know an eternity spent in the presence of God awaits us when we experience bodily death on earth.

It also means something for our life now, that the reality of death, sin, and decay no longer have the final word even in our current days. Christ’s death broke the power of sin once and for all. We are “dead to the power of sin and alive to God through Christ Jesus.” The sin that seems to have its claws stuck in you doesn’t have the final word, Jesus does. The propensity you have toward pride, anger, lust, fill-in-the-blank does not determine your identity, Jesus does. Your worst day doesn’t define you any more than your best day, Jesus does. While we surely continue to dig up and throw out the sin in our lives, our current stage in that process does not define us. Because of Christ, the power of sin and death no longer have control over us. Our identity is caught up in the grace and mercy of Jesus. This gives us hope for our days now and for eternity.

Re:Verse passage – Romans 6:1-14  (day three)

¹¹So you also should consider yourselves to be dead to the power of sin and alive to God through Christ Jesus. (NLT)

There is a finality here to what Paul is saying about sin in our lives. As Aaron said yesterday, we will always confront our bent nature, but the power of sin over us is broken through Jesus Christ. This encourages me and comforts me to know that the same power that defeated sin and death already lives in me! This should change our outlook on sin and Satan. Rather than being timid and fearful about our enemy, the devil, prowling around to devour, we can be strong and courageous knowing that the power of the Holy Spirit is living in us and makes us alive to God through Jesus.

So, while we fight temptation and our bent nature, we can know that “the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. (1 John 4:4)” God reminds us through Paul that there is no ground for the power of sin over us once we become His children. Be encouraged, today, to stand in the power of Jesus and be used as an instrument of His grace!