Holy Spirit

Verse

For the Kingdom of God is not a matter of what we eat or drink, but of living a life of goodness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. If you serve Christ with this attitude, you will please God, and others will approve of you, too.

— Romans 14:17-18 nlt

Thought

Who can argue with goodness, peace, and joy? These three virtues are not obtained by human effort. Yes, a passion to possess these godly qualities is necessary, but the source of these qualities is the Holy Spirit...

 

Verse

I speak the truth in Christ — I am not lying, my conscience confirms it through the Holy Spirit ...

— Romans 9:1 tniv

Thought

We often use hyperbole to make an emphatic point about something that is important to us. It is an overstatement meant to shock others as we try to get their attention as we say something important to us. Paul is about to make an incredibly shocking statement about being willing to be cut off from God if it would mean that his own people, the Jews...

 

Verse

And the Father who knows all hearts knows what the Spirit is saying, for the Spirit pleads for us believers in harmony with God's own will.

— Romans 8:27 nlt

Thought

After the incredible promise of the previous verse and the Spirit's intercession for us (Rom. 8:26), Paul adds promise upon promise. The Spirit of the One True and Living God pleads for us "with sighs too deep for words" in harmony with the Father's will. Like trying to explain how Jesus was fully God and fully...

 

Verse

Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.

— Romans 8:26 esv

Thought

Nearly all of us have been there — that moment when our souls are brittle and dry. This is when it seems as if all our prayers bounce off the ceiling and come to rest at our feet as bitter reminders of our failure and spiritual impotence. But prayer, like every other great blessing...

 

Verse
For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.

— Romans 8:22-23 esv

Thought
At first glance, this may sound a little sexist — "adoption as sons" — but exactly the opposite is true. In many places in Paul's day, women didn't have the same rights of...

 

Verse
The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children.

— Romans 8:16 tniv

Thought
We can believe it. We can think it. We can want it. We can pray for it. But, the real validation happens when the Holy Spirit — one of the great gifts we receive when we are saved — speaks in stereo with our spirit to God, the Father of all grace. The Spirit's words are simple, "O Abba Father, hear this one, he or she is your child!" God the Spirit living inside us, interceding...

 

Verse

So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God's Spirit when he adopted you as his own children. Now we call him, "Abba, Father."

— Romans 8:15 nlt

Thought

Abba! The first syllables most babies utter. The name for Father in the language Jesus grew up speaking. Abba is a term of endearment, dependency, intimacy, tenderness, and respect. Because of the Holy Spirit's presence within us, we call out to God and address him in this...

 

Verse
For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God.

— Romans 8:14 tniv

Thought
Parents lead their children till they are ready for life on their own. As we cry out to God as our Abba Father (Rom. 8:15), God leads us. We are his young children and he leads and guides us through the influence and work of the Holy Spirit. This is why Jesus told his closest followers that he would not leave them as orphans when he went back to the Father. Instead, he would send them...

 

Verse

Therefore, dear brothers and sisters, you have no obligation to do what your sinful nature urges you to do. For if you live by its dictates, you will die. But if through the power of the Spirit you put to death the deeds of your sinful nature, you will live.

— Romans 8:12-13 nlt

Thought

We have no obligation to succumb to temptation. Those of us with a past entrapment to sinful addictions, with current struggles, with sinfully rebellious co-workers and friends surrounding...

 

Verse

If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.

— Romans 8:11 esv

Thought

The Holy Spirit brings life to our mortal bodies in two ways. First, the life of Jesus comes alive in us despite the fact that we live in mortal bodies of decay. We display the fruit of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22) as we are conformed to Christ (2 Cor. 3:18). Second, the...