Use this devo as you are able, in whole or in part. Don’t feel compelled to read it all. Simply read and meditate upon whatever catches your attention. The goal is enjoying time with God through His Word and in prayer. Questions about the devotional elements?

Call to Prayer

Prayer of Confession

Electing God, I’d like to think I had the good sense to choose you, but in reality it was your sheer grace that sought me out. In my salvation, I felt like I was turning to you, only to realize that you were already watching and calling out to me. Today help me to hear the whisper from beyond time—your voice calling my name, reminding me I am chosen and loved in Christ, saved to serve him. Amen. (Prayer based on the Canons of Dort, Question 1.7)

*Prayer borrowed from Philip Reinders’ Seeking God’s Face: Praying with the Bible through the Year

Reading Plan

This reading plan will help you to develop the habit of being in God’s Word each morning and evening. Come to this time with expectation. Expect God to reveal himself to you. Expect that he delights in you being there, even when you’ve wandered away. Growing a spiritual habit is a slow, patient process. So be kind to yourself as you grow! 

Readings are hyperlinked. Simply hover over the passage or click Morning/Evening Reading (email version).

Morning Readings:

Pray Psalm 81 | Read 2 Corinthians 6

• Praying the Psalms: Read slowly. Take note of words and phrases. Bring them before the Lord in prayer and personalize the passage as you pray.
• NT Context: “Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians is a classic of pastoral response: affectionate, firm, clear, and unswerving in the conviction that God among them, revealed in Jesus and present in his Holy Spirit, continued to be the central issue in their lives, regardless of how much of a mess they had made of things.” Meditate on the passage, noting a few words or a phrase that stood out. Take them to God in prayer.

Evening Readings:

Pray Psalm 82 | Read Ezra 8

• OT Context: “Ezra led God’s people into an obedient listening to the text of Scripture. Listening and following God’s revelation are the primary ways in which we keep attentively obedient to the living presence of God among us. Ezra made his mark: Worship and Text continue to be foundational for recovering and maintaining identity as the People of God. Reflect on the passage. Who was the original audience, and what was their situation? How is that relevant to you today?

Sermon Devo

We are in our Spring series in Romans 8. Each day we will dig into a different aspect of this incomparable chapter and see how it alters the way we live “in Christ!”

Read: Romans 8:18-25

“…all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, ‘Abba, Father!’ The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ…”

The end of our passage from last week sets the tone for our passage this week. It’s a bit of an If/Then scenario. If this is who God has made you in Christ by his Spirit, then “the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.” So we’re destined for glory. Now the question is: What is this “glory that is to be revealed to us”? 

Whatever it is we know that all of God’s creation is going to be looking forward to this revelation or unveiling and that all of God creation is in need of this unveiling to be restored from the effects of the Fall. 

“For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God

For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God.”

Deep down inside every human heart is the desire for glory. We want something more. We are disappointed by what has been and what is. To paraphrase C.S. Lewis’ we find within ourselves a longing for glory that cannot be found or contained by this world, and so we must ask ourselves if, perhaps, were are made for another kind of world altogether. Ray Ortlund puts it this way, “This life is not meant to satisfy us but to arouse us, to kindle in us a passion for the solid joys and lasting treasures in God’s presence.” 

This future glory is the decisive turning point for God’s creation, for us. What Paul is about to describe is the inheritance that God has promised us as his heirs (v.16-17). But what I want us to notice today is the cosmic anticipation for us to get our inheritance from our heavenly Father. 

Note well the words:

v.18: Our present sufferings don’t even belong in the same category as the goodness of our inheritance. The glory that is going to be unveiled is unlike anything we’ve ever seen before in this Creation. 

v.19: Creation waits with eager longing. Not only are we excited about our inheritance because no human has ever seen anything like it but no-thing, no-one has ever seen anything like the glory that is going to be seen when God unveils us as his children! 

v. 20: Creation has experienced futility (but not willingly!) because of the Fall. Paul says, Creation cannot wait until it gets to fully be all that God designed it to be!

It is a truth universally recognized that wherever there are people, there is bound to be suffering. Paul is telling us two things: (1) All of Creation recognizes this suffering is not as it should be; (2) All Creation knows that God is doing something about this futility.

One more picture before we conclude for today: The Fall marred God’s good Creation like a pair of glasses with a scratches on them. You can use them to see still but they are not functioning optimally. This passage is about the decisive future restoration of those glasses, of the form and functioning of God’s good Creation. More tomorrow.

REFLECT: Our inheritance is part of God’s plan to reconcile all Creation to himself (Colossians 1:15-20). Have you considered this? If so, what do you imagine this reconciled Creation will be like? 

Evening Prayer of Examen

• Where did you move with or feel close to Jesus today?
• Where did you resist or feel far from Jesus today?
• Where is Jesus leading you tomorrow? Ask for joy as you follow him.

Benediction