Page 67 - Living Light Spring 2024

Sunday May 19 - Come Holy Spirit
I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the
glory that will be revealed in us. Romans 8:18
It seems fitting that the last instalment of Praying Like Jesus should start on Pentecost Sunday. Later this week, we will go on to consider the somewhat overlooked ministry of the Holy Spirit; namely, ‘interceding for God’s people in accordance with the will of God’ (Romans 8:27).
I will never forget that evening, shortly after coming to faith, when I first experienced the fulness of the Holy Spirit – my personal ‘tongue of fire’! From that moment, I saw things differently; I became filled with inexpressible joy and an insatiable appetite for God’s word. As wonderful as that was, it was but a foretaste – the first instalment of future glory. The Holy Spirit is God’s guarantee of things to come. Paul describes this as ‘the first fruits of the Spirit’ (Romans 8:23).
In our text, Paul is not seeking to minimise suffering but rather to upgrade future glory. Paul was no stranger to suffering; he knew the full measure of hunger, thirst, danger, imprisonment, torture, and persecution (2 Corinthians 11:23-29). I feel sure that the revelation Paul had of paradise, when he ‘heard inexpressible things, things that no one is permitted to tell’ (2 Corinthians 12:4), set his sufferings in a different context, now seen through the vista of future glory. So let’s thank God that this glory is being revealed in us, even today!
Father, thank you that ‘no eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no human mind has conceived, the things God has prepared for those who love him’ (1 Corinthians 2:9). Amen.
Monday May 20 - Coping with frustration
...the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God. Romans 8:21
Romans 8 is my ‘go to’ chapter in the Bible – chock-a-block with amazing truths, so much so that verses like today’s can easily be glossed over. Daily newscasts constantly remind us of creation’s plight – global warming, deforestation, pollution, freak weather, earthquakes, pandemics... and the best mankind can do is perhaps to slow down the process. It’s akin to ageing: I can do my best to slow it down, but I cannot prevent it! In Matthew 24:6-8 Jesus speaks of the end times; it’s not easy reading. Paul describes it as creation’s ‘bondage to decay’.
But, one day!! There is going to be a new heaven and a new earth in which bondage to decay will no longer exist. Eternity paints a radically different picture, but let’s stop for a moment to consider what will happen. Creation will play catch-up and be brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God; a freedom and glory that is available to us today! Romans 8:2 speaks of the spiritual reality for every believer: ‘through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death.’
Dear friend, let’s rejoice in our freedom and eagerly look forward to the new earth, when ‘The wolf and the lamb will feed together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox...’ (Isaiah 65:25).
Thank you, Father, for my freedom purchased by Jesus on the cross, and for the promise and expectation of a new earth. Amen.
PRAYER FOR TODAY
PRAYER FOR TODAY
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