Romans 8-Part 6

Part 6 Romans 8: 18-22

Please see the Introduction/Prayer/Foundation in Part 1. Thank you.

I understand that this Bible engagement is different. While praying before typing this I heard, ‘Flow’.  If it helps, you can think of engagement as ‘flow’. Sometimes when things are different from what we are accustomed to it can cause us to feel discomfort or resistance. (In the past I thought if I felt resistance it couldn’t be God—I was wrong). We all have our individual ways of doing things. I have discovered that part of being obedient to Holy Spirit involves being yanked out of your comfort zone. Sometimes the purpose is to stretch you, to enlarge your capacity for more. More of whatever God wants to do in your life or those you are connected to or assigned to.

I am being challenged to think outside of myself, my way of doing things. If I were writing a paper say for school, my writing style is a smooth steady flow of connecting all the dots. This current piece is very much out of my league, because it’s all over the place. I get it however; I have repented for not following Holy Spirit promptings in the past and doing it on His schedule. I have been delivered from fear of self and fear of the opinion of man. It’s better to obey God and let the chips fall where they may.  This process is personally encouraging me to return to spending more time in the Bible with God. I pray that it does the same with you.

I know we spend time in the Bible with each other, in various classes/Bible study, as we should; it’s important and necessary. In addition to that we need alone time with God. Intimate relationships require time alone with one another. Strong friendships need time together as well. But when you become intimate your desire for one another grows. Your desire to be alone together grows. You can love on each other and build one another up in a way you can’t publicly or in a corporate setting.

Intimacy results in longing for more. Holy Spirit is teaching us how to flow in intimacy. Where our connection to God, specifically through His Word, is so strong that we just flow together. We connect with God in many ways but here I am referring to engaging on an intimate level in the Bible. Even our worship aligns with Bible. Where the Spirit of Truth unfolds the Word to us. I am not negating all the different ways God deals with us however, my assignment here is with emphasis on Scripture, Bible, Written Word. Jesus is the Word. It’s a time of fortifying ourselves. We need strength and endurance to build; we must be fortified in the Word.

Fortify:

• to give physical strength, courage, or endurance to
• to add mental or moral strength to : ENCOURAGE
• to strengthen or enhance by the addition of some substance or ingredient:
• to protect or strengthen against attack; surround or provide with defensive military works.
• to make something stronger, especially in order to protect it:

All the members of the team must be fortified by the same play book.

*** But He (Jesus) answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’ ”Matthew 4:4 NKJV

I want to encourage you to invest in a physical Bible, a hard copy. As I am typing this, I’m using my Bible that was inside my car engulfed in flames.  For some reason that morning I felt the need to have it on the front passenger seat. By the grace of God I escaped by the leading of Holy Spirit. No warning, no signs. Holy Spirit told me to run and opened up an escape route for me to cross over safely. I was surrounded by heavy rush hour traffic with really no where to run except into oncoming speeding traffic. When I crossed over and turned around to look, I saw the flames the entire vehicle was full of orange fire. The firefighters arrived and eventually extinguished the flames. They assured me that everything in the vehicle was completely destroyed; a total loss. I was overwhelmed with intense emotions about my Bible that was on the front seat. They asked did I have any valuables in the vehicle, I said yes my Bible. (Not the thousands of dollars in nursing school books and materials). My Bible. They thought I was in shock but escorted me over to look and see for myself that nothing could survive that kind of fire. The driver’s door was still open from my narrow escape. I looked inside and there it was, sitting there on the front seat just as I had placed it. It was smoky and wet but not a page was burned, not even singed just the smell of smoke. They all pulled out their phones and started recording. I was flipping through the pages—thanking God; we all gasped., we were all in awe of God. Untouched. Kept by God.

It was a typical morning but in retrospect, I prayed in the Spirit the entire 90-minute drive. I had never done that before. Another miracle! I am so grateful to God. Father thank you. Jesus I thank you so much. Thank you Lord. Thank you Holy Spirit.

Reference: www.gotquestions.org

The phrase “word of God” appears often in the Bible and can have a slightly different meaning depending on context and the Hebrew or Greek word used. John 1:1-2 says, “In the beginning was the Word. And the Word was with God and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God.” Here, Word is a title of the Lord Jesus. The term translated “Word” is logos, which basically means “the expression of a thought.” Logos can be thought of as the total message of God to man (Acts 11:1; 1 Thessalonians 2:13). Jesus embodied that total message, and that is why He is called the “Logos,” or “Word,” of God (Colossians 1:19; 2:9).

Logos is also used many times when referring to the written message of God (John 17:17; 1 Timothy 4:5; Revelation 1:2; Colossians 1:25). Hebrews 4:12 says, “The word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.” Jesus showed a link between the written Word of God and Himself, in that He is the subject of the written Word: “You study the Scriptures diligently because you think that in them you have eternal life. These are the very Scriptures that testify about me” (John 5:39).

Another Greek word used for “word” is rhema. Rhema refers to the actual spoken/written words of God (Hebrews 6:5). When Jesus was being tempted by Satan, He answered, “Man does not live by bread alone, but by every word [rhema] that proceeds from the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4). We are told in Ephesians 6:17 to “take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word [rhema] of God.” Jesus demonstrated we need the actual recorded words of God to overcome Satan’s attacks.

The phrase “word of God” means more than the printed words on a page. God is a communicator and has been speaking into the human realm since the beginning. He speaks through His creation (Psalm 19:1), through ancient prophets (Hosea 12:10; Hebrews 1:1), through the Holy Spirit (John 16:13; Acts 16:6), through Scripture (Hebrews 4:12), and through the Person of His Son, Jesus Christ (John 14:9). We can learn to know God better by seeking to hear Him in every way that He speaks.

Romans 8: 18-22

The Future Glory

A Glorious Destiny

Present Suffering and Future Glory

From Groans to Glory

A Wonderful Future for God’s People

The Coming Glory

God’s Spirit Helps Us

18 For I reckon (consider) that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.

Hope leaps off the page.

References to verse 18:

2 Cor 4:17 For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; KJV

• For our momentary, light distress [this passing trouble] is producing for us an eternal weight of glory [a fullness] beyond all measure [surpassing all comparisons, a transcendent splendor and an endless blessedness]! AMPC

Col 3:4 When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.

• When the Messiah, who is your life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory. HCSB

1 Peter 1:6-7 Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations: That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:

• 6. This makes you very happy, even though now for a short time different kinds of troubles may make you sad. 7. These troubles come to prove that your faith is pure. This purity of faith is worth more than gold, which can be proved to be pure by fire but will ruin. But the purity of your faith will bring you praise and glory and honor when Jesus Christ is shown to you. NCV

19 For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God. 20 For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope, 21 Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. 22 For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.

Notes:

• Sin has caused all creation (‘the creature’) to fall from the perfect state in which God created it. It is subject to futility (vanity) and bondage so that it cannot fulfill its intended purpose.
• One day all creation will be transformed. Until that time, it looks forward to the resurrection of God’s children (the manifestation of the sons of God).
• Christians see the world as it is-physically decaying and spiritually infected with sin. But we do not need to be pessimistic, for we have hope for future glory.
• We look forward to the new heaven and new earth God has promised, and wait for God’s new order that will free the world from sin, sickness, and evil.
• In the meantime, we go with Christ into the world where we heal people’s bodies and souls and fight the evil effects of sin in the world.

Our Future Glory

18 The sufferings we have now are nothing compared to the great glory that will be shown to us. 19 Everything God made is waiting with excitement for God to show his children’s glory completely. 20 Everything God made was changed to become useless, not by its own wish but because God wanted it and because all along there was this hope: 21 that everything God made would be set free from ruin to have the freedom and glory that belong to God’s children. 22 We know that everything God made has been waiting until now in pain, like a woman ready to give birth. NCV

18 [But what of that?] For I consider that the sufferings of this present time (this present life) are not worth being compared with the glory that is about to be revealed to us and in us and for us and conferred on us! 19 For [even the whole] creation (all nature) waits expectantly and longs earnestly for God’s sons to be made known [waits for the revealing, the disclosing of their sonship]. 20 For the creation (nature) was subjected to frailty (to futility, condemned to frustration), not because of some intentional fault on its part, but by the will of Him Who so subjected it—[yet] with the hope. 21 That nature (creation) itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and corruption [and gain an entrance] into the glorious freedom of God’s children. 22 We know that the whole creation [of irrational creatures] has been moaning together in the pains of labor until now. AMPC

18 We have sufferings now. But the sufferings we have now are nothing compared to the great glory that will be given to us. 19 Everything that God made is waiting with excitement for the time when God will show the world who his children are. The whole world wants very much for that to happen. 20 Everything that God made was changed to become useless. This was not by its own wish. It happened because God wanted it. But there was this hope: 21 that everything God made would be set free from ruin. There was hope that everything God made would have the freedom and glory that belong to God’s children. 22 We know that everything God made has been waiting until now in pain, like a woman ready to give birth. ICB

I am convinced that any suffering we endure is less than nothing compared to the magnitude of glory that is about to be unveiled within us. The entire universe is standing on tiptoe, yearning to see the unveiling of God’s glorious sons and daughters! For against its will the universe itself has had to endure the empty futility resulting from the consequences of human sin. But now, with eager expectation, all creation longs for freedom from its slavery to decay and to experience with us the wonderful freedom coming to God’s children. To this day we are aware of the universal agony and groaning of creation, as if it were in the contractions of labor for childbirth. TPT Romans 8:18-22

Closing with The Message 18-25

18-21 That’s why I don’t think there’s any comparison between the present hard times and the coming good times. The created world itself can hardly wait for what’s coming next. Everything in creation is being more or less held back. God reins it in until both creation and all the creatures are ready and can be released at the same moment into the glorious times ahead. Meanwhile, the joyful anticipation deepens.

22-25 All around us we observe a pregnant creation. The difficult times of pain throughout the world are simply birth pangs. But it’s not only around us; it’s within us. The Spirit of God is arousing us within. We’re also feeling the birth pangs. These sterile and barren bodies of ours are yearning for full deliverance. That is why waiting does not diminish us, any more than waiting diminishes a pregnant mother. We are enlarged in the waiting. We, of course, don’t see what is enlarging us. But the longer we wait, the larger we become, and the more joyful our expectancy.