Praying Through Romans 8Sýnishorn

Take a moment to stop and breathe. As you turned on this podcast, there were certainly many things on your mind, vying for your attention and stealing your focus away. Responsibilities, to-do lists, and anxieties can overwhelm us. We forget that pausing and praying for God to work in our lives is far more effective than rushing ahead and trying to do all of the work ourselves. Whatever those troublesome things may be, stop for just a moment and tell the Lord what they are.

Now, ask the Lord to go before you in those things. Ask Him to be your provision and your strength today. Cast your anxieties on Him, because He cares for you.

Thank the Lord for His active presence in your life today. Ask Him to increase your awareness, sensitivity, and obedience to the Holy Spirit as you go through your day.

Yesterday, we read the ending of Romans chapter 7, where Paul expresses the anguish he feels over his own disability to abide with Christ and walk according to the Spirit. We prayed to God and confessed our own continual, unwanted behaviors. Then we looked ahead, as the beginning of Romans 8 reminded us that we need not despair because there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ. We do not work for God’s love, we do not strive for salvation; God’s love and salvation are already ours in Christ. Pray now, and thank God for His grace toward you in Christ Jesus.

Consider the glorious fact that God holds no condemnation for you. Ask God to help your unbelief, that you might be able to comprehend and believe the depth of love He has for you today.

Yesterday, we finished our reading with Romans 8, verses 3 and 4. Listen to those verses again, and hear what Paul says about our new position in Christ.

“3For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, 4in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.”

Romans 8:3-4

Our battle against the flesh is won by walking according to the Spirit. Today, Paul will expound on this idea. We will begin now by reading today’s passage–Romans 8, verses 5 through 11–you will hear, over and over, the words Flesh and Spirit repeated. As you listen, pay attention to the way Paul juxtaposes the two.

“5For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. 6For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. 7For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. 8Those who are in the flesh cannot please God."

"9You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. 10But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. 11If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.”

As you listened, what parts of the passage stood out to you? Take a moment to pray and share your thoughts with the Lord.

In the first half of today’s passage, Paul focuses on the negative; those who live according to the flesh. Listen again to verses 5 through 8 and consider what it means to “live in the flesh”.

“5For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. 6For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. 7For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. 8Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.”

Romans 8:5-8

It is clear that the Spirit brings life, and the Flesh brings death. You may have specific “things of the flesh” that you are tempted to set your mind on. Specific sinful desires, lusts, passions, or even anxieties and worries that you keep from God. Pray now and confess to God what those “things of the flesh” are.

Now, surrender those to the Lord and ask Him to guard your mind from the things of the Flesh.

Now, consider what it means for you to set your mind on the “things of the Spirit”. What are the “things of the Spirit” that God would have you set your mind on today?

Ask God to help you continually renew your mind and set your mind on the “things of the Spirit” today.

We need not fear the “things of the Flesh”. God has promised us that by His Spirit, He can keep our hearts and minds aligned with him. Listen again to the latter half of today’s passage, verses 9 through 11.

"9You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact, the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. 10But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. 11If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.”

Take a moment to pray and ask God to make you more aware of the presence of His Holy Spirit in you today.

Ask God to increase your yieldedness to the Spirit today.

Give thanks to God for the gift of the Spirit, and the assurance of salvation we have in Him.

Throughout your day, take some moments to stop and recognize the presence of the Holy Spirit with you. You won’t always feel like God is present, but Romans 8 assures us that He always is. Ask God now to help you believe more deeply in the fact that He is always with you.

This week, we will continue to read through the book of Romans, as Paul expounds on what it looks like to live our lives in the Spirit and thereby find real, tangible freedom from our flesh. Tomorrow, we will see that not only have we been given the Spirit as a gift, but we have been adopted as God’s very own children.