Read Romans 8:1-39 (amplified version)
Coming into this new year, there are 4 things worth taking in...
God likes us
God sees the potential in us
God sees us as being holy
God believes we can make it!
Eph1:6; Gen 6:8; Eph2:10; Psalm 139 Eph 4:1; 2 Sam 9 ; John 15:15;16; John 14:1; 2 Cor 5:17; Eph 1:4; 2 Cor 5:21; Romans 4:22-5:1; Colossians 1:2, Philippians 1:6; Jude 24; Rom 8:37
The following takes this one step further and looks at how God sees us through the lens of Romans Chapter 8. This is how God sees all those who have come to faith in Jesus and have made Him thier Lord. If you like, coming to Chirst is like being transfered to a premiership league football club, being given the teams strip to wear and being given the qualities to play like the best!
Knowing how God sees us changes everything.
For the old man Noah (Gen 6 v8) it was the beginning of his destiny.
So, how does God see us through the lens of Romans 8?
i) He sees me as not guilty - acquitted and free! (v1)
ii) He sees me living and walking after the dictates of the Holy Spirit. (v1)
iii) Under the new management of the Holy Spirit He sees me as being free from the mastery of sin and death. (v2)
iv) He knows through Jesus He has done something incredibly powerful for us (v3)
- Jesus had come into the realm where sin had taken a foothold, namely, humanity, and as one of us, he overcome the influence and dictates of sin on our behalf.
- And through His sacrifice at the cross- has deprived it of its power. - So that; Righteousness brings life. Sin Brings death.
v) Resulting from this, He sees in me the new heart and new spirit that He has given me to follow up, given for me to able to live at a new God level. (v4)
vi) He sees me alive through Christ, living now under the governance of the Holy Spirit, being flown by the Holy Spirit (Kite)and following His dictates. (v4)
vii) He sees me as having the potential to live a lifestyle and attitude style that pleases and brings pleasure to the Holy Spirit and not myself. (v5)
viii) He knows that when I live in step with the Holy Spirit that there is going to be an explosion of LIFE in my inner being and that I will have a soul peace that goes beyond understanding! (v6)
ix) As I am living this new life of the Spirit, I am pleasing to God and acceptable to Him (v9)
x) He sees the Spirit of Jesus – whom He raised from the dead – living & dwelling in me and restoring life to my mortal body (v10-11)
xi) As this butterfly struggles to free itself from the crysalis He sees me as someone who is daily overcoming, making extinct and deadening the evil deeds that are being thrown up from my body – someone who is becoming freer in life by the very power of His Spirit at work within me. (v13)
xii) Because I am being lead by the Spirit He sees me as a son. (To be a true son is to be lead by the Holy Spirit (v14).)
xiii) He sees me as a son whom He has personally adopted back into His family and from whom He eagerly awaits the cry of ‘ Daddy; Abba!’ (v15-16)
He sees me as an heir – with Christ – coming into an inheritance of Jesus glory (17)
something like the prodigal son! What was rightfully Jesus’ is now mine by grace. the full right of what Jesus has done for me.
xiv) Whilst there is gain, there is pain. He sees the suffering with Him - there is pain and conflict to be embraced with the glory. (v17-18).
Infact glory is produced through trial and adversity
xv) And yet He sees me as being one of His sons who will arise in these last days to be an agent of His kingdom. The sons of God that the very earth has been waiting for! (19-25)
xvi) He sees me as an agent of prayer through the Holy Spirit. (v26-27).
xvii) Amidst the trial and struggle, God knows that because I love Him and I am His, all things are going to work together into a plan. A plan for good. A plan that is according to His purpose. (v28)
xviii) This is assured because He had me in mind from the beginning of time, He was aware of me and loved me beforehand. (v29)
xix) He has the end in view as He is moulding me inwardly into the image of Jesus and is putting on me a special heavenly dignity and heavenly state of being.(v30)
There is an echo here from Eden when God said ‘Let us make man in our image, after our likeness’ & the glory that bestowed Adam. This is the restoring of what was lost!!
“Sanctification is glory begun; Glory is sanctification consummated.”
xx) What can be concluded from this cosmic plan of restoration?
GOD IS COMPLETELY FOR US and if He is so completely for me then – nothing or no one can be against me! (v31)
If God invested everything – put His most treasured asset on the line for us – If He has done this already, and gone so far already, will He surely therefore not GIVE US ALL THINGS to complete His plan at work in us? (v32)
? No accusing inner voice is allowed to accuse me of what He has forgiven.
? Nothing or no one shall separate us from His love
? Suffering, calamity, distress, affliction, tribulation, destitution…
Amidst all these things – We are MORE THAN CONQUERERS!! (v37)
Because God has invested so much into us, WHO or WHAT CAN BE AGAINST !
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