God causes all things to work for our good! (Romans 8:28) How many times have you heard that verse proclaimed? It is a wonderful promise, but do we really understand what it means? Let’s take a look at the whole context of the verse.
And we know that God causes all things to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to His purpose for them.
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.
For God knew His people in advance, and He chose them to become like His Son, so that His Son would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. And having chosen them, He called them to come to Him. And having called them, He gave them right standing with Himself. And having given them right standing, He gave them His glory.
– Romans 8:26-30 NLT
Here are three things this passage of Scripture tells us:
- Sometimes we don’t know what God wants us to pray for! We want the will of God to play out in our lives, but sometimes we have no idea what the will of God is for a particular situation. Thankfully, God has graciously given us His Spirit and the pleading of the Spirit is always in harmony with God’s will. That means even when we are struggling with how to pray, the Holy Spirit has us covered!
- God does promise to cause all things to work together for good, but not just across the board for everyone. This is a promise that is only for His children. For those who love God and are called according to His plan and purpose. It is only once we’ve surrendered our life to Jesus that we get in on this promise.
- Why is God working all things in our lives together for our ultimate good? Because He chose us in advance to become like Jesus! He chose us and then He called us. He called us and then He justified us. He justified us and then He placed on us His glory. His ultimate purpose for our lives is to make us more and more like Jesus until He brings us home. That’s the end game! That is the ultimate good that God is always working out in our lives.
Next time you’re not sure about how something is going to turn out, remind yourself of this promise. You may not have any idea what to pray for, but you can trust that the Holy Spirit is right there with you pleading with God in concert with His will. God will cause everything to work together for your ultimate good because you’ve been called according to His purpose.
Hello my name is Robin answer me this ,what does John3:16 say if you believe whosoever believes we have got to believe before we surrender we should allow a newcomer to know what it is to believe first the seed is planted now , now we can in love help it grow not in a religious way but in a loving way this is how the Lord wants us to be there for a brother and sister in Christ Jesus
This is the first time I’ve read past v. 28, and it was quite sobering! I understood my acceptance of Christ as God’s salvation and payment for my sins. I’ve understood my job is to share my testimony with others. I’ve understood that I am a joint heir with Christ as a child of God myself. But to hear that “He gave them His glory” and that Jesus was the firstborn and as other children of God, we are to be “others like Jesus”, was humbling and convicting! I think religion has turned us into people who simply think being a Christian means that we should be nice and try to not cuss. To see ourselves as having the same expectations from God as he had for his one and only Son is quite the game changer! Thank you so much for sharing this!