I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Romans 8-10.

    In today’s passage Paul continues his discussion of following our sinful nature vs following the Spirit. Paul makes a very practical argument here, but because he words it as a theological argument it took me well into my adult years to understand it. If we allow the Holy Spirit to control our actions we will do the things we ought to do and we will not do the things we ought not do. On the other hand, if we allow our sinful nature to control our actions we will do the reverse. The key here is that if we spend our time doing the things which we know God desires us to do, we will quickly find that we do not have time to do the things which our sinful nature wants us to do. It is a decision each and every one of us must make, because the reverse is true as well. If we fill our time with activities which our purely for our own pleasure we will find that we do not have time for those volunteer activities to which God is calling us.

    One of the things I struggle with is prayer. I struggle with spending enough time praying. I struggle with what I should pray. I struggle with my faith that God answers prayer (which is, at least partially, related to my struggle about what I should pray). I know that if I can fully bring myself to understand and practice what Paul says about prayer in this passage God will resolve my struggles with prayer. If we allow Him to do so, the Holy Spirit will guide our prayers and, in some cases, pray for us. In this way the things we do not know how to present to God will be brought before Him and we will see Him answer these prayers we did not even know how to word.
    I was going to start a new section for this when I realized that it is really related to Paul’s message about prayer. Nothing is able to separate us from God’s love. Some people interpret this to mean that once a person has accepted God’s grace. no matter what that person chooses they will be with God forever. But that is not what Paul says. Rather, what Paul is saying is that no matter what we do, God loves us. He loves each and every person. So much so that He will allow those who want nothing to do with Him to experience the suffering which that inevitably entails. On the other hand, if we return God’s love, He manages everything that happens so that it works together for our good. No matter what we do in this life, God offers us the opportunity to be saved by believing in the depths of our being that Jesus was raised from the dead and publicly acknowledging that He is the One whom we obey.