Pray:
Ask God to orient or reorient you to Himself. Confess any known sin. Thank Him for His forgiveness. Be still and reflect on Jesus and His sacrifice for you. Ask the Holy Spirit to open your heart and mind to God’s Word. Pray for others in your life that they, too, would know and love God today.
Read:
Romans 8:14-16,
“14 Because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. 15 For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by Him we cry, ‘Abba, Father.’ 16 The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children.”
Understand:
Verse 16 says that the Spirit testifies with our spirit. To testify means “to give evidence as a witness, to give one’s testimony.” Its synonyms are: confirm, prove, corroborate, substantiate or bear out.
Questions that come to my mind are: What does the Spirit give evidence to? What does He confirm, prove and corroborate? Whom does He witness to? He gives testimony to us—all believers! The witness of the Spirit gives us an assurance that we are God’s children.
He does this by testifying to our inner being about the objective reality of our position in Christ. This isn’t something magical or mystical. The good news is that He does it primarily through the word of God. Think about that for a minute; this is great news for you and me.
Because we have access to His Word, it’s not something unsearchable or unknowable. All we have to do is simply open His word where all that we need to know is contained in the pages of scripture. As we read the Bible, the Spirit confirms the truth that, because we have trusted in Christ Jesus, we are now children of God. In doing so, He confirms the truth that we have moved from being slaves to sin to being children of God. He substantiates the fact of our new status as belonging to God as His dearly loved children. He proves that our adoption is permanent. Nothing can change that; nothing and nobody can keep us from enjoying God’s favor and blessing forever. That, my friends, is the Gospel!
Apply:
The truth is that you and I can do things to hinder hearing the Spirit. One of the biggest things we can do is not get in His Word consistently. Bible intake is essential for the believer. How’s your Bible intake? Is there anything that needs to change? If so, what could you do to narrow that gap from where you are to where you want to be?
One last thing: If you need help getting started, ask friends to help you. Remember “Two are better than one because they have a good return for their labor. For if either of them falls, the one will lift up his companion (Ecc. 4:9-10).”
*From what you have just read and considered, what is a personal implication/application for your life today?
Live:
(Personalize this prayer today; make it specific to the circumstances that face you.)
Ask God to lead you through His Spirit as you go through your day. Ask Him to bring to mind the truth of the Gospel and its implications for what you will encounter today. Tell Him “Yes” to His will and ask Him for His power and protection to live out this “yes.” Ask God to create and reveal opportunities to proclaim the Good News today. KEEP PRAYING THROUGHOUT YOUR DAY.
Inspiration and insight for the devotionals came from the following books: Reading Romans with John Stott; The Message of Romans: God’s Good News for the World (The Bible Speaks Today Series), Stott, John; Romans (The NIV Application Commentary Book 6) Moo, Douglas J.; Encountering the Book of Romans: A Theological Survey (Encountering Biblical Studies) Moo, Douglas J.; Believers Bible Commentary; The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, with the New International Version, Romans through Galatians; NIV Application Study Bible. The Cambridge Bible Commentary, Romans, Best, Ernest.