The Everyday Prayer

Re:Verse passage – Romans 8:26-27 (day four)

I am a planner/organizer…I like to ‘fix’ things.  When I am confronted with a task or challenge, my mind immediately goes to a step-by-step solution to the problem.  It is a gift, but like every other spiritual gift, it can be used in the Spirit or out of the Spirit.  The danger for me is when I immediately go to my own solution and never seek counsel from the Holy Spirit.

Sometimes, the challenge is just too great!  It is so overwhelming that I cannot even see a way to fix it!  (Think…major health issue, global pandemic, or close friend that just will not turn to Christ!) It is then that I understand the ‘groaning too deep for words’.  My ‘need’ happens more often than I care to admit, but it is in these major events that I am confronted more clearly with my failure to follow the Spirit.

The Spirit is constantly at work in our lives.  Learning to walk in the Spirit is one of the key elements of becoming more like Christ.  How do we live every day, completely surrendered to the direction of the Holy Spirit?  Sounds like a question that needs ‘fixing’…in the Spirit!

Re:Verse passage – Romans 8:26-27 (day three)

“We do not know how to pray as we should.”

Perhaps the last thing you want to encounter is one more “should” in your life. How long is your list of “shoulds” already? Yeah. Same. This “should” is different, though. No, really. It isn’t announcing, “You’re doing it wrong.” Paul is simply saying that God is perfectly aware of how hard it is for you to speak of things that are painful to acknowledge even to yourself. It’s much easier to say, “Help me learn contentment” than to blurt out “I am grieving the loss of that dream I’ve had for so long.” It’s much easier to utter, “Help me know which way to go,” than to express, “Why have you left me here without any direction?” That’s why God’s Spirit groans. Each groan declares, “There’s more this soul must say.”

Re:Verse passage – Romans 8:26-27 (day two)

In the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words; and He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.

There is so much to consider when discussing the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives. The disciples at Pentecost were filled with the Spirit and able to boldly proclaim the truth of Jesus in every language. It was monumental in the establishment of the early church. Boldness is one of the characteristics that we often associate with the Spirit’s work. The disciples were already accustomed to telling others about Jesus’ life and work, but the Spirit enabled them to proclaim with a newfound authority.

The Spirit also works in our weaknesses. Areas of our lives where we are not confident, or even where our brokenness is most pronounced. A life lived in the Spirit is one that accepts that those areas can be used to glorify God. If you are redeemed, you are fully redeemed, even those areas where the only way you can grow is by the work of the Holy Spirit. Jesus knows our every weakness (by the Holy Spirit) take it to the Lord in prayer.

Re:Verse passage – Romans 8:5-11 (day seven)

“However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him.” vs 9

Notice what Paul does here. He interchangeably uses Spirit of God and Spirit of Christ to describe the Holy Spirit. He is helping shape the theology of a young church who may not fully understand a triune concept of God.  Two thousand years later, it still seems like a foreign concept sometimes, so it makes sense that Paul would emphasize this teaching. He is saying that Jesus is God, the Spirit is God, and the Father is God. No, the Bible never uses the exact word “Trinity”, but it is passages like this that help us shape Trinitarian theology.

So what does this mean for us in light of the passage? God loves you so much that He Himself became flesh and dwelt among us, and He Himself now dwells in you. As a Christian, you no longer belong to the flesh, you belong to Him!

Re:Verse passage – Romans 8:5-11 (day six)

“I am the way, the truth, and the life…”-Jesus

New faith inaugurates a new journey, a new way. Just like Jesus, we are led by the Spirit of life into the desert of the world. With new ways of beholding and rejoicing in truth, and loving, and living, a new identity emerges, or should I say is realized.

Up until the moment Jesus returns, when even our bodies are made new and glorious in freedom, that’s our journey this side of eternity. Walking, even running at times, but not on our own, the Spirit seals, and prompts, and gifts; shaping new thoughts, rejoicing in new things, fulfilling new purpose.

We are the children of God, clothed in the very righteousness of Jesus, that’s for certain, but with every Spirit led step and thought, the more of His righteousness we will actually see take shape.

That’s journey; that’s the way. By the Spirit, let’s walk in it.

Re:Verse passage – Romans 8:5-11 (day five)

“For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace, because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God;”
Paul makes it clear where the struggle and battle between the flesh and the Spirit are first waged-  in the mind. Our thoughts are an on-ramp to holiness or destruction. Proverbs 23:7 “For as he thinks within himself, so he is.”  Later in Romans 12 “Be transformed by the renewing of your mind.”  Tim Keller sheds more light on this.  “The mind is not neutral ground and cannot love one preoccupation without rejecting the other.”  This why Paul calls the mind set on the flesh, an enemy of God. Can you think of anything worse than being an enemy of God?  So we must set our minds on the Spirit (become focused and preoccupied with the things that preoccupy the Spirit). Let us constantly ask the Spirit to teach and lead us to discover and understand the Spirit’s priorities, principles, and practices.

Re:Verse passage – Romans 8:5-11 (day four)

I worked for a summer at DFW Airport for Eastern Airlines.  I never tired of watching the planes take off.  Working on the baggage crew, I knew how much weight we loaded on the planes.  Add to that the fuel, the passengers and the actual weight of the aircraft…there was significant weight to lift.  Every time I would watch a jumbo 747 lumber down the runway, I would say, “It will never fly!”  Gravity was always at work but the thrust of the engines was a greater force…it always lifted off.  (Thanks to Dr. Wayne Barber for the analogy.)

The law of sin is always at work in our lives.  It can seem to be overwhelming and strong at times.  When we are in Christ, the Holy Spirit is a greater force in our lives than the gravity of sin.  The Holy Spirit supersedes the power of sin and death.  No longer are we confined by the law of sin, but, in Christ, we live for eternity under the power of a new law…the law of the Spirit.

Re:Verse passage – Romans 8:5-11 (day three)

“…life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.”

Later in Romans, Paul will say that one of the most spiritual things you can do is to move your body in ways that serve others and stand with them: a hand opening in generosity, an ear listening to stories of suffering, a voice lifting in solidarity with those who face oppression. The Lord said that if you want to find a person’s heart, follow the treasure. Paul relates a similar sentiment: If you want to take an honest look at what you’re devoted to, notice what you do with your body. The Holy Spirit is exhaling onto your body the ability to move like Jesus in the world.

Re:Verse passage – Romans 8:5-11 (day two) For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. vs. 5

In the next verse Paul will go on to describe a life lived in the Spirit is evidenced by abundant life and peace. If this were the only time that Paul spoke about a Spirit-filled life, it would be enough, but in his letter to the church in Galatia he provides further evidence of someone whose mind is set on the Spirit. He says that their life will be filled with things like love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control (Gal. 5:22-23). There is no law against such things. How cool is that? Stop and take stock of your walk with Christ right now. Can you sense those spiritual fruit in your life? Are other thoughts or actions crowding out the ability for you to walk with a Spirit-filled focus? God has promised us these things as another barometer of our faith journey. Continue to ask for the Spirit to remove all other things that take away from His perfect plan for you.