THE PLAN FOR THE MONTH OF AUGUST WILL BE TO READ ROMANS CHAPTER 8 EACH DAY!
THANK YOU, dear friends, for reading these daily devotionals I’ve been posting month-by-month this year. It has not always been easy to keep up with my writing, but I’m blessed in being privileged to share with you. I would much appreciate your prayers that I might be, and remain, Spirit-motivated and led in the endeavor.
In recent weeks, I’ve struggled to formulate a plan and theme for the month of August. I was toying with a daily reading of Galatians 5:16-26 with the theme of “walking by the spirit.” Then I thought to focus on heaven for the month, and correspondingly write daily devotionals drawn from the many Scripture passages related to that. I had other thoughts to do something related to “triumphing through trials” or a reading plan through the book of Philippians. But none of those plans seemed to fit.
These are exceptional times in which we live, unlike any that we older folks have ever witnessed before. Things are changing fast and there is a lot of uncertainty in our world. But there is no uncertainty with God or with His plan and purpose for His creation or for His children. That being said, for the month of August, the focus will be on Romans chapter eight. It’s a chapter that is all about certainty-and assurance and security and triumph in the Lord Jesus! It deals with several of the themes that I was already considering.
Let me otherwise try to encourage you in this plan. Martin Luther once said of this chapter, “If the Bible were a ring, then Romans would be the gem that enhanced the ring… and Romans 8 would be the brilliant splendor that emanated from that ring.”
As many of you know, I wrote a little book for our Ugandan friends entitled “First Steps with Jesus.” Having been translated into Lugandan, we distributed hundreds of copies in the region in which we have ministered. Because of the way the book was printed, there were to be a couple of blank pages in that back of the book. So, rather than leave them blank, I added Romans Chapter 8 (in Lugandan) to the last pages. I chose this chapter because of its ability to instruct and encourage us in so many wonderful truths. Unsurprisingly, it includes several of the most memorized of Scripture passages.
Finally, Charles G. Trumbull surveyed the chapter this way: “The eight of Romans has become peculiarly precious to me, beginning with ‘no condemnation,’ ending with ‘no separation,’ and in between, ‘no defeat.’ This wondrous chapter sets forth the gospel and plan of salvation; the life of freedom and victory; the hopelessness of the natural man and the righteousness of the born again; the indwelling of Christ and the Holy Spirit; the resurrection of the body and blessed hope of Christ’s return; the working together of all things for our good; every tense of the Christian life, past, present, and future; and the glorious, climactic song of triumph, no separation in time or eternity ‘from the love of God which is in Jesus Christ our Lord’.”
As you are reading this, would you now please take a moment to pray for me? Thank you so much for your help and your partnership in this! May God work to lead and encourage us all in these needy, yet opportune, times.
LookingtoJesus 