VIDEO He Freely Gives All, No One Can Separate Us

He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?  Romans 8:32

In J. I. Packer’s classic book, Knowing God, he wrote about Romans 8:32, saying, “The meaning of ‘he will give us all things’ can be put thus: one day we shall see that nothing—literally nothing—which could have increased our eternal happiness has been denied us, and that nothing—literally nothing—that could have reduced that happiness has been left with us. What higher assurance do we want than that?”[1]

When we become Christians, God brings joy into our life—the joy of knowing that He has given us His Son, and through Him everything else we need or will ever need.

If Jesus Christ would give His own life for you, will He not also give you everything you need for life, godliness, happiness, joy, and eternal safety? The loss of joy is occasioned by unbelief. But the presence of joy is the natural consequence of knowing that Romans 8:32 is a living reality for us every day. Through Jesus Christ, God has given us everything.

You will never need more than he can supply, and what he supplies, both materially and spiritually, will always be enough. J. I. Packer, Knowing God

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No One Can Separate Us (Romans 8:31-34)

Go-Between Prayer

The Spirit intercedes for God’s people. Romans 8:27

Late one Saturday afternoon, my family and I stopped at a local restaurant for lunch. As the waiter set crispy fries and thick burgers on our table, my husband glanced up and asked his name. Then he said, “We pray as a family before we eat. Is there something we can pray for you today?” Allen, whose name we now knew, looked at us with a mixture of surprise and anxiety. A short silence followed before he told us that he was sleeping on his friend’s couch each night, his car had just quit working, and he was broke.

As my husband quietly asked God to provide for Allen and show him His love, I thought about how our go-between prayer was similar to what happens when the Holy Spirit takes up our cause and connects us with God. In our moments of greatest need—when we realize we’re no match to handle life on our own, when we don’t know what to say to God, “The Spirit intercedes for God’s people” (Romans 8:27). What the Spirit says is a mystery, but we’re assured that it always fits with God’s will for our lives.

The next time you pray for God’s guidance, provision, and protection in someone else’s life, let that act of kindness remind you that your spiritual needs are also being lifted to God who knows your name and cares about your problems.

By:  Jennifer Benson Schuldt

Reflect & Pray

Is there anyone you can pray for today? How might you respond to temptation differently if you knew that the Holy Spirit was praying for you during the struggle?

Jesus, I thank You that temptation has no power to separate me from You. Please give me victory today through the power of Your resurrection from the dead.

Worthy of Our Praise

Revelation 5:1-14

In John’s vision, angels surround the throne in heaven and sing, “Worthy is the Lamb!” From the apostle’s glimpse into the heavenly realm, it was clear that the Lord rules over earthly kings—even over the emperor Domitian, who at the time was set on destroying followers of Christ. Like other Roman emperors, he wanted to be worshipped as god and felt threatened by the believers’ faith. Understandably, early Christians needed to be reminded that Jesus, the Lamb, reigns over all.

Throughout Scripture, the Lord has established that He alone is God. Consider King Nebuchadnezzar, who was warned that he would be humbled in order to recognize that “the Most High is ruler over the realm of mankind” (Dan. 4:17). Indeed, Nebuchadnezzar, who had vast power, in time learned that the King of heaven is worthy, “for all His works are true and His ways just, and He is able to humble those who walk in pride” (Dan. 4:37).

One day, all creation will bow before Jesus and confess that He alone is Lord (Phil. 2:9-11). But we don’t have to wait; we can worship Him now. We can also pray that, like Nebuchadnezzar, those who have been given great power will receive revelation of who Jesus truly is.

Waxing Old

“Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look upon the earth beneath: for the heavens shall vanish away like smoke, and the earth shall wax old like a garment, and they that dwell therein shall die in like manner: but my salvation shall be for ever, and my righteousness shall not be abolished.” (Isaiah 51:6)

This verse is typical of many Scriptures that contrast this present decaying, dying order of things (characterizing a world under God’s curse) with the things that are not dying and that will survive into the new order when the curse is removed (Revelation 22:3). Even the present “heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away,” Jesus said (Matthew 24:35). God, the Creator, who imposed the curse because of man’s sin, is not Himself subject to it. “They shall perish, but thou shalt endure:…as a vesture shalt thou change them, and they shall be changed: But thou art the same, and thy years shall have no end” (Psalm 102:26-27).

As the text for the day assures us, God’s salvation and righteousness shall never be changed, even when Earth and heaven flee away. The same contrasts exist in the biological realm. “The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever” (Isaiah 40:8).

Human nature exhibits a similar phenomenon. “Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall: But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength;…they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint” (Isaiah 40:30-31).

This principle, in fact, applies to the entire creation. “Because the creation itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption [literally ‘decay’] into the glorious liberty of the children of God” (Romans 8:21). HMM

A Sense of Total Inadequacy

But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.

—2 Corinthians 4:7

 

I believe I had anticipated that it was going to be a pleasure to expound this beautiful and high soaring Gospel of John. However, I must confess that in my preparation and study a sense of inadequacy has come over me—a feeling of inadequacy so stunning, so almost paralyzing that I am not at this juncture able to call it a pleasure to preach.

Perhaps this will be God’s way of reducing the flesh to a minimum and giving the Holy Spirit the best possible opportunity to do His eternal work. I fear that sometimes our own eloquence and our own concepts may get in the way, for the unlimited ability to talk endlessly about religion is a questionable blessing….

None of us can approach a serious study and consideration of the eternal nature and person of Jesus Christ without sensing and confessing our complete inadequacy in the face of the divine revelation.   CES003, 009

Lord, I’ve so often been at that place of total inadequacy. I’ve learned that that is so healthy because then I step aside, I quit relying on my own “eloquence” and I allow the Holy Spirit to take over and do what only He can do anyway! Use me today in my weakness. Amen.

 

The Mysterious Presence

My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest.

—Exodus 33:14

 

Serious, honest persons have turned away from the whole idea of holiness because of those who have claimed it and then lived selfish and conceited lives.

But, brethren, we are still under the holy authority of the apostolic command. Men of God have reminded us in the Word that God does ask us and expect us to be holy men and women of God, because we are the children of God, who is holy. The doctrine of holiness may have been badly and often wounded—but the provision of God by His pure and gentle and loving Spirit is still the positive answer for those who hunger and thirst for a life and spirit well-pleasing to God.

When a good man with this special quality and mysterious Presence is morally right and walking in all the holy ways of God and carries upon himself without even knowing it the fragrance of a kingdom that is supreme above the kingdoms of this world, I am ready to accept that as being of God and from God! ICH067-068

This is the true divine order: first, reconciliation, then holiness….[I]t is required of those who have been redeemed at such cost and brought into this place of privilege, that they should be holy even as He is holy. CTBC, Vol. 1/199

 

Watching Daily

Proverbs 8:34

 

We worship the true and living God, and Jesus His Son, but how many of us are as devout as people who pray five times a day? Their prayers can be intense with voices rising in a kind of wail.

The privilege of prayer should be one of life’s most cherished experiences. I am convinced that God does hear our prayers of faith and answers as He wills for our good. Sometimes the answer is yes, sometimes no, but whether He gives or withholds, He knows best.

What a blessed release it is to be able to take our needs to our Lord. There are times when pain or illness afflict the human frame; even death has to be faced. What confidence comes to those who hear His voice and know that He hears their cry.

Once following a powerful prayer meeting we entered the waiting elevator. The door that should have closed automatically remained ajar and nothing happened. Quickly, someone stooped down, picked up a handkerchief that was against the door, and exclaimed, “That cuts the beam!” He then went on to explain how the electric beam from both sides had to meet to produce the power to close the doors.

How often the power of prayer in a life is cut by some obstruction. There are occasions when you sincerely enter into the attitude of prayer, you want to be lifted to higher heights in your spiritual experience, but something enters and cuts the beam, bringing prayer to a standstill.

The prophet Isaiah tells of the people offering prayers and sacrifices, but God was not pleased. Their evil ways made Him exclaim, “I will hide My eyes from you, when you make prayers I will not hear.” The beam of power was cut, for their own greed came between them and God.

Prayer is vital to spiritual health. “Blessed is the man who listens to Me, watching daily at My doors” (Proverbs 8:34).

Janet Wiseman, Watching Daily