Romans 8

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my favorite chapter in the bible,

Romans 8

4,5
in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit. Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires.

What these verses are telling us is straight forward. IF we live according to the sinful nature our minds are set on, we will do stupid things and only do what nature desires. But if we are to live according to the Spirit, we will desire to do what the Spirit wants which in any case, is the better choice to stand by. If you are to go through the sinful ways, many things may happen some good some bad. But if you are to follow in accordance to the Spirit, you will be led in the right direction and know what to do in life and make the absolute positive decisions.


8
This verse connects to my above verses. "Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God.

This also means that if you are to follow your sinful ways and continue to go according to YOUR plans then you will NOT please God. The best decision is to follow according to GODS ways because it is always the greater way and smarter choice.

17 And since we are his children, we are his heirs. In fact, together with Christ we are heirs of God’s glory. But if we are to share his glory, we must also share his suffering.

This verse really stuck out to me. Like a son receives the inheritance of the father, we too receive God's inheritance. In this case, it's the everlasting love and internal life with our God. But the last part of the verse really spoke to me and made me think, do we only share pleasant times with God? Is it only the easy things? It truly made me realize, we are happy together, we suffer together. When one part of the body is hurting, the WHOLE body is also hurting. When we are going through hard times and are hurting, hands down, God is hurting with us. But when we disappoint God, and he is hurting, do we hurt with him as well? I thought about it and came to conclude, we don't hurt with God as much as we really should or if anything, as much as he does for us. But that's not a fair relationship, God shouldn't be the only one hurting, especially if we are the ones causing the hurt. I remember hearing quite often, in the praise team that if one of us is hurting, it really brings the whole team down. We should always be there for each other. We should also always to keep in mind, that not only do we share God's glory, we also share the hard times.

26 And the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example, we don’t know what God wants us to pray for. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words

I read this verse and it hit me like a brick. Everytime I pray, I pray for what i THINK is best for us. I pray for our team, our church and what I want from God. But to be honest, now that I read this verse, I really question myself, what does God want me to pray for? I think that's one of my big weaknesses. The fact that I don't know what God wants exactly from me. I really hope that God will work inside of us and that we'll know what to pray for and what's best.

I had a good day today haha got lots of sleep, no homework and went to wild wings with some friends LOL
hope everyone had a good day too

I loveeeee this chapter , and I got so much, but I'm just goin to get to the point :p

I was reminded of the song I Am Free by New life worship
because it says that through Christ we were set free from sin
and since we were set free, why turn back? We need to live by God's rules and not our sinful desires.

Also I thought of Hebrews 1:5 and Jeremiah 29:11
I live by these verses, keeps me motivated and helps me through a lot of tough times~ pretty sure I mention it a lot... But I loved how In this chapter it talks about how God has great plans and a magnificent future for His people! Why worry about the future? I'm always comforted to know that God is watching over my life and that He blesses me with amazing days that I'm meant to live and love. I should really stop complaining when something is a little dull because each moment is a blessing and we're needed to carry out God's ways~
In order to have an abundant future, and to live in his kingdom, all God asks for is your love and to try your best to live by his laws and do what pleases him.

Kay well imma sleep.
Night everyoneeee <3

Life through the spirit, eh? It sounds like a great topic...

My devo might not be as long as usual but I'll try... I will need to get some rest for tomorrow, since I'm pretty stoked for fellowship! I might talk a little after, hahahahaha...

There are many points the chapter points out. One of them is that if you live according to someone or to something, you have your mind set on what it desires. From Paul's perspective, it has to either be God or sin. Neither should be together, even though we fail at doing so - but when we worship, really, our attention should be given all for God.

If anyone does not have God's spirit, that person doesn't belong to God. This really interested me as well. Undoubtedly, I'm certain that God made us all for a particular reason, and him wanting our respect for such an awesome thing is not so big to ask - that's why it's an honour to serve. But there are people who don't belong to God simply because they don't have his presence. It really relates to my life, considering many of my friends are actually either Atheist or Wiccan.

I might continue to write a ittle more tomorrow. Sorry if it seems half-assed, but I think I need a little more QT for leading tomorrow's fellowship. I WILL gather my full thoughts today. I just feel... different today. :S

- Julian.

Sorry for being so late... Had a lot of hw.
31 What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all- how will he not also, along with him graciously give us all things?

I really like this verse because it tells me how much God gave up so that I can live in Christ and so that my soul can be in righteousness. God gave his son so that we can live and that since he is with us, no one can oppose us in the name of Christ. I also think it is very true to what I have to do as a Christian. Since God gave us all his love through his son Jesus Christ, I should give up all I have for God and give my undivided love to God.

12 Therefore, brothers and sisters, we have an obligation—but it is not to the flesh, to live according to it. 13 For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live. 14 For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God.
These verses really spoke out to me about the obligation we have to live towards God and move away from sin. Not really obligation, but to have an urge to do that. This verse is saying that even if we die bodily or physically, we will always be children of god living through spirit. These verses stuck out to me to tell me that I must not only think about my physical self which will die and be dead, but also look towards being adopted by Christ through the holy spirit.

Good night guys!

Whew, I smell like Burger King and Chlorine right now it's disgusting. My face feels soo greasy also from filtering the fryer...

11 And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you.

I can't even express how important this verse is. I love how God uses connections to get closer to us. Altho he may not be able to directly talk to us or help us, he gives in that extra effort and does whatever it takes to reach us. Because Jesus was raised from the dead that God will raise us from our deaths. God makes these relations to keep in touch with us and help us. The only reason Jesus came down on a form of a human is because if he didn't come down as a human, we will have no connections. It's not like God wanted to turn Jesus into a human being but he did it because that was the only way he can keep in connection with us since we are SO skeptical. Jesus put himself lower so that we may be able to relate with him and learn from him. Jesus was a being sooo much higher than human beings but because he loved us so much, he lowered himself to help us. I think that is soo important.

26 In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans.

This verse basically tells us how God knows us really well, if not a lot better than we know ourselves. God know when we're going through hard times and even tho we may not know what our problems might be, he takes to the time to watch over us and even searches through our hearts. When we are going through something very difficult and complicated, we will always be there to say, "It'll get better, don't worry."
And this verse just makes me think that we are not taking enough time to get to know him. We pray and just finishes talking to him. We don't take the time to listen, and he took the time to get to know us better than ourselves but we don't even take the time to listen to him. I honestly recommend take the time to listen. It's honestly one of the hardest things to do and you often feel stupid and seems pointless but you guys don't know what God might be saying to you. So take some time to just quiet down and listen.

38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

no explanations needed for these verses. this is an AWESOME verse.