FBC Daily Devotional – February 15, 2022

Well, a good Tuesday morning to you.

Hope your day has gotten off to a good start, and I hope you were able to read today's reading selection

in our Bible reading schedule.

If not, I'd encourage you to go to Romans chapter 8 and read verses 22 through 39.

Even if you're already following another plan, I just encourage you to read that passage.

It's a tremendous blessing to God's people.

So, for example, this is the passage that contains what's called the golden

chain of salvation.

It begins in verse 28 and goes through verse 30.

And verse 28 is a verse we often rest in when we're

going through difficult times.

This is a verse that says, We know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who

are the called according to His purpose.

And it's talking about the fact that those whom God has called, He is working in our lives in such a way

to lead toward a predetermined purpose and destination.

And what is that destination?

Well, it leads Paul into the next section of this passage to say,

So, that foreknowledge has to do with God's eternal

knowledge and purpose.

Even before the foundation of the world, He knew whom He was going to call to Himself.

And those whom He knew, He predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son.

That's the ultimate goal.

If you come to faith in Christ, what this passage is telling you is that before the foundation of the world, God

foreknew you, and He predestined that you would be conformed to the image of His

Son.

But here's the question.

How do you get from where you are, a sinner, lost and undone, dead in

trespasses and sins?

How do you get from that condition of death, spiritual death, to being

conformed to the image of His Son?

Paul goes on to tell you.

He says, For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son.

Moreover, whom He predestined to that end, to be conformed to the image of His Son, He called.

He called to Himself.

And whom He called, He also justified.

That tells you everyone whom He called, He also justified.

That calling is not simply a general invitation, but is a

specific effectual call.

He calls to Himself.

Everyone whom He calls to Himself, He justifies.

And whom He justifies, He glorifies.

And that glorification is that final destination, if you will,

of conformity to the image of Christ.

So this is a wonderful passage that tells us about that chain of, that golden chain of

salvation.

But then from there, it gets even more blessed, if you

will, more exciting.

Because he goes on to say that if you're justified in Christ Jesus, you're secure in that

justification.

Because he goes on to say, if God is for us, who can be against us?

He who didn't spare His own Son, will He not also freely give us all things?

And then he asks, what can separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus?

What?

And at the end of the passage of this chapter, he says, I'm persuaded that neither death

nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,

nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the

love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

There's a security in the love of God when you are the ones whom

He has called, justified, and has the plan of glorification, who's been predestined to

conform to the image of Christ.

This is a tremendously encouraging passage to the child of God.

But before all of that, Paul also reveals a little tidbit of information that can be

very encouraging in our prayer life.

Have you prayed for anything today that you really didn't know how to pray for?

Prayed for someone that you really didn't know how to pray?

Happens all the time, doesn't it?

Someone gets very sick, terminally ill even.

How do you pray for such a one?

I know that our inclination, our desire, is to pray for that God in His

grace would heal that person, heal him completely.

But is that God's will?

We know that when we pray according to God's will, He answers.

He hears us, He answers it, and He will respond.

He will answer that prayer in the way that we pray it.

But what if I'm not sure exactly what God's will is?

Can I pray with confidence that someone who's been diagnosed with a terminal illness,

can I pray for God to heal them with the confidence that that's His will?

If I could do that, then could I not pray for every believer that I love

and I care about not to die and that they would not die?

No, obviously we can't know that that's God's will.

This is where our passage comes in.

He says in verse 26 that the Holy Spirit

works with us, helps us in our weaknesses.

What kind of weaknesses?

It goes on, For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought.

So he's talking about our prayer life, a weakness in our prayer life.

We don't know.

So many times we don't know what exactly the will of God is.

But we do have the Holy Spirit dwelling within us.

So what do we do in those cases where we don't know exactly what the will of God is?

Do we just give up and not pray?

Oh, no.

No, we pray.

We express to God the desire of our heart.

We ask God, but we always ask God this request with the caveat

that we want your will to be done, not our own.

Even as Jesus in the garden prayed, Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me, but not my will.

May your will be done.

And so when we pray like that, what this verse tells us is the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness, and he

makes intercessions for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.

The Holy Spirit dwelling within us is groaning with us in our prayer,

but his groanings are groanings that we don't hear, and they don't come out of our mouths.

In fact, it goes on to say, He who searches the heart knows what the mind of the Spirit

is.

So God knows what the mind of the Spirit is because the Spirit makes intercession for the saints

according to the will of God.

So I'm burdened about this loved one who has

just gotten a terribly distressing diagnosis,

and my desire is that God would please, in his mercy and grace,

heal that person completely.

But is that what God wants?

Would God's will rather be that this person face the imminent

death with grace, with patience, with endurance,

with faith?

How should I pray?

What should I pray?

Sometimes I just don't know.

But the Holy Spirit does, because the Holy Spirit knows what the will of God is in this specific

situation.

So as I unburden my heart in prayer for this person or this situation,

the Holy Spirit perfects that prayer, shapes it into exactly what

the will of God is, and then I can be confident that God will answer that

prayer according to his will.

So you see what I mean when I said this passage of Scripture is incredibly

precious, and it's a blessed passage of Scripture, an encouraging passage for God's people.

I hope it's encouraging to you today, and I trust maybe you'll go back to this passage and meditate on

some of these great truths for the believer.

So Father in Heaven, thank you for your encouraging word.

Thank you for this which you've given us today.

May it truly be a blessing to our heart.

This we pray in Jesus' name, amen.

All right, have a good rest of your Tuesday, and may God bless you in it.