Multiple Choice

I've been progressing very slowly in my "You ~ Yes, You ~ Can Read The Whole Bible In A Year" schedule.   More accurately, I haven't moved for days.  I've tried.  I sit down, and open the Bible and check the schedule to see where I'm supposed to read next, and then I go right back to where I was the day before ~ Romans chapter 8.  I just keep reading that chapter over and over again.

Do you have any passages of the Bible that you just love?  Chapters that are full of verses that lift you up, instruct you, and remind you what you need to know?

So I've settled down for a good long rest in Chapter 8.  I shared earlier in the month of the power of the first verse:  "There is therefore now no condemnation..." but it does not go downhill after that.

So for today, I have pulled a few of these amazing verses, so you can choose the one that means the most to you!

I feel very instructed ~ warned, even ~ by verses 5-7.  Notice the theme in the following:

"those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh..."

"the mind governed by the flesh is death..."

"the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace..."

"the mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God..."

Obviously, I've emphasized what stands out to me; it's the word "mind".  Never forget the battle that goes on in and for your mind.  Verse 6 says that being spiritually minded is life and peace, which means anything else is a mind governed by the flesh.  Depression, discouragement, anxiety, unhappiness, fear... none of these are from God.  If that's what we are feeling, then at that point we are losing the battle.  Pray for your mind.  Ask God to protect your mind, your thoughts and your memory.

Romans 8 is also the location of two of the sweetest words in Scripture:  "Abba, Father" (verse 15).  I love this reminder that although He is sovereign, majestic, Creator and Judge, He invites us to call on Him with a term of intimacy.  It is the equivalent of calling Him, "Daddy".  Could anything be more reassuring as we face the day in this world of uncertainty?

Verse 17 is both a warning and hope in difficult times:  "indeed we share in His sufferings... that we may also share in His glory."  And further:  "I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us."  Yes, there will be a reward for your suffering. Please remember that.

Verse 24 is an encouragement to me in times when it seems like the end, the solution, the reward, will never come:  "Hope that is seen is no hope at all.  Who hopes for what he already has?  But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently."  Wait patiently, but never stop hoping!

Verse 28 is one most Christians know by heart, but it's just one of the verses that makes Romans 8 so powerful!  "We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose."

As overwhelming as that verse is, the chapter raises the bar even higher, concluding with promise after promise.

Verse 31 ~ "If God be for us, who can be against us?"

Verse 35 ~ "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?  Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?"

Verse 37 ~ "No!  In all these things we are more than conquerors {more than conquerors!} through Him who loved us."

Verse 38 ~ "Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers; neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation {nothing!} will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord."

Are you celebrating yet??  Amen!  Praise God!   Hallelujah!