The Plumbline

And the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example, we don’t know what God wants us to pray for. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words. And the Father who knows all hearts knows what the Spirit is saying, for the Spirit pleads for us believers in harmony with God’s own will. And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them. (Romans 8:26-28 NLT) We frequently hear the verse reminding us that God works all things out for our good. We seldom quote what comes before that verse, overlooking the fact that we will have moments when we are weak, when we don't know how to pray, and when our heart will be hurting so much that we don't even want to pray. The more we 'don't know' what our heart is trying to express, the more we need the Spirit within us to express it for us. The 'good' God will bring forth from experiences where ...

In view of all this, make every effort to respond to God’s promises. Supplement your faith with a generous provision of moral excellence, and moral excellence with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with patient endurance, and patient endurance with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love for everyone. (2 Peter 1:5-7 NLT) In view of what? "God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence." (vs.3) We have been given everything (not some things and not the others), but everything we need in order to live godly and upright lives. In view of being given so much (all we will ever need), we are called to respond to God in a positive and 'actionable' manner. Faith is good, but it should lead to moral excellence, increasing knowledge, self-control in increasing me...