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Memesplanation Shorts – Romans Road 7

by admin memesplanation, Spirituality & Tech

Memesplanation Short - Romans 1:1-2

Romans 1:1-2

Paul, a loving and loyal servant of the Anointed One, Jesus. He called me to be his apostle and set me apart with a mission to reveal God’s wonderful gospel. I write to all his beloved chosen ones in Rome, for you are also called as holy ones. May his joyous grace and total well-being, flowing from our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, rest upon you.

My commission is to preach the good news. Yet it is not entirely new, but the fulfillment of the hope promised to us through his prophets in the sacred Scriptures.

Today, we start Romans fresh, in chapter 1, and walk through, a 1-4 verses at a time, except for chapter 8, which we just finished. I couldn’t help myself. I love that chapter. This is Paul’s introduction to the ekklesia at Rome, which he did not plant, and had never visited before. This is who Paul sees himself to be, a loving and loyal servant of Jesus. He is an apostle, but that comes after relationship. Then he greets them in grace and full shalom in Jesus. Get your relationship with Him first, just as Paul did. Don’t get mixed up, as so many do.

Memesplanation Short - Romans 1:3-4

Romans 1:3-4

For the gospel is all about God’s Son. As a man he descended from David’s royal lineage, but as the mighty Son of God he was raised from the dead and miraculously set apart with a display of triumphant power supplied by the Spirit of Holiness. And now Jesus is our Lord and our Messiah.

Who is this Jesus, anyway? He is writing to a group of Jesus followers, but wants to be sure that they don’t get it confused. The gospel is all about Him. This is almost Paul saying, you can trust me, I know Jesus, too. This is the foundation of why I am writing to you, that being our shared faith. Jesus is man and God. He is our savior, and the one who has reshaped our very lives. He is our anointed Lord. I do not know most of you, but it feels apt to say something like that to you, now.

Memesplanation Short - Romans 1:5-6

Romans 1:5-6

Through him grace cascaded into us, empowering us with the gift of apostleship, so that we can win people from every nation into the obedience that comes from faith, to bring honor to his name. And you are among the chosen ones who are called to belong to Jesus, the Anointed One.

Jesus is the source of all of this grace and life-changing reality. He has sent out some, like me, that some from every nation might be won into faithful obedience to God. You have already made the commitment to Jesus, and I recognize that. I have heard many good things about you and your lives, your faithfulness to the Lord in the face of persecution, and your love for the rest of the Body of Christ. Find your all in Him, today.

Romans Road 7 – Back to the Beginning

by admin Devotions, Spirituality & Tech

Romans Road 7 - Back to the Beginning

Father, as we return to the beginning of this letter after starting in the middle, I ask that you would help us to draw something useful from this introduction from Paul to the ekklesia at Rome. Help us to have our identity formed correctly, to understand who we are more as a function of our relationship with You than it is based on what we do. In Jesus’ name,

Amen

Romans 1:1-6

My commission is to preach the good news. Yet it is not entirely new, but the fulfillment of the hope promised to us through his prophets in the sacred Scriptures. For the gospel is all about God’s Son. As a man he descended from David’s royal lineage, but as the mighty Son of God he was raised from the dead and miraculously set apart with a display of triumphant power supplied by the Spirit of Holiness. And now Jesus is our Lord and our Messiah. Through him grace cascaded into us, empowering us with the gift of apostleship, so that we can win people from every nation into the obedience that comes from faith, to bring honor to his name. And you are among the chosen ones who are called to belong to Jesus, the Anointed One.

Paraphrase:
Hi, my name is Paul. I am writing to you as an introduction, as I desire to come to you on my way to Spain to spread the gospel. First things first, you should know that I am a loving servant of Jesus. Then I want you to know that I am an apostle, sent, along with others, to spread the gospel of God. I want you to be well, and to sense and live in His grace and complete peace and wholeness. The good news (gospel) is not entirely new, in fact, it is a fulfillment of the Jewish scriptures. This is why, I, as a trained pharisee, am comfortable following Jesus, who appeared to me as one who is untimely born. Jesus descended from King David in the flesh, but is the very son of God and was raised from the dead after people whom I once considered to be authorities put him to death. Jesus was raised to life by the power of the Holy Spirit, the very same Spirit who you have in your hearts, who gives you life each moment. The one who heals you from the inside and shows you how to live. This risen Jesus is why I know I am an apostle, why I face danger every day, all day. I am sent as a herald to proclaim His ascent to the throne (this is what a gospel was in the Ancient Near East, a proclamation that there is a new Caesar, a new lord over you people, and it is a good thing).

Ok, so I have paraphrased the text and added some extra tidbits from around the rest of the New Testament, so what? What can we draw from this text? Paul had his identity straight. He put his place in Jesus first, then explained what he had been called to do. Never put your doings before your beings. I am tempted to go on a rant about that, but I don’t think that I will right now. Then, he blesses them with peace and wholeness through Jesus, from the Father, but the Holy Spirit. It is not quite his standard greeting, but then you have to remember that Paul was writing this as an introduction before he expected to meet them in person. He did not plant these congregations. He knew a handful of the prominent leaders, but not the majority of the Jesus followers in Rome. Why was he writing this letter? He hoped to prepare them to support him on his mission to the Iberian Peninsula. Jesus is real, His coming was foretold, and He fulfilled the Torah and Prophets. I serve Him, as you all do. You can trust that I am a good man, and that I am a genuine servant of Jesus, an apostle to the nations.

Memesplanations Shorts: Romans Road 6

by admin memesplanation, Spirituality & Tech

Memesplanation Short - Romans 8:34-35

Romans 8:35-36

Who could ever divorce us from the endless love of God’s Anointed One? Absolutely no one! For nothing in the universe has the power to diminish his love toward us. Troubles, pressures, and problems are unable to come between us and heaven’s love. What about persecutions, deprivations, dangers, and death threats? No, for they are all impotent to hinder omnipotent love, even though it is written:

All day long we face death threats for your sake, God.

We are considered to be nothing more than sheep to be slaughtered!

Whoooooo boy! The first verse is so triumphant, isn’t it? Then Paul sites from the Psalms, as he is wont to do, often. This quote is from the LXX version of Psalm 44:22. No matter what happens, NOTHING external can separate you from God’s love. That is what you need to keep in mind, today. You are the only one, your beliefs are the only things that can separate you from God’s love which is yours, in Christ Jesus. No amount of external pressure, trials, persecution, starvation, destitution, or anything else outside of you can keep you from receiving that love. Even if we may be the target of death threats on the daily, that is nothing in comparison with the Father’s love. Rest in that today.

Memesplanation Short - Romans 8:37

Romans 8:37

Yet even in the midst of all these things, we triumph over them all, for God has made us to be more than conquerors, and his demonstrated love is our glorious victory over everything!

No matter what, though, we are more than conquerors, because we are in Christ. He won these battles already, for us. We simply have to appropriate His strength and His victory on our behalf. We cannot bow to circumstances or situations that we see here and now in the natural. Hold fast to the Truth, not what circumstances would suggest to you about yourself. You are not a failure. You do not suck at life. You are more than a conqueror, but you may need to redirect your energy, rather than walking out the definition of insanity.

Memesplanation Short - Romans 8:38-39

Romans 8:38-39

So now I live with the confidence that there is nothing in the universe with the power to separate us from God’s love. I’m convinced that his love will triumph over death, life’s troubles, fallen angels, or dark rulers in the heavens. There is nothing in our present or future circumstances that can weaken his love. There is no power above us or beneath us—no power that could ever be found in the universe that can distance us from God’s passionate love, which is lavished upon us through our Lord Jesus, the Anointed One!

Here, Paul restates his case from vs 35, only adding that there is no power in the heavens or on earth, no shame from your past, no fear of things to come, or hardship in the present (no matter who or what is really behind those circumstances), and no power anywhere in the created realms which could divide us from the love of God (and God is love). Jesus’ work on the cross and empty grave made that a concrete reality. If you are having a hellish week or a horrible life, cling to this truth. You can have peace and solace in this truth, no matter what happens to or around you.

Romans Road 6

by admin Devotions, Spirituality & Tech

Romans Road 6 - Romans 8:35-39

Papa,

Thank you that nothing can separate us from You. Thank you that your love is ALL-powerful. Thank you that no created thing, outside of us, can remove us from your love. Jesus, thank you that you made it possible for us to experience and live in this love. Help us to never peel ourselves away for any reason. In Your name,

Amen.

Romans 8:35-39

All day long we face death threats for your sake, God.

We are considered to be nothing more

than sheep to be slaughtered!

Yet even in the midst of all these things, we triumph over them all, for God has made us to be more than conquerors, and his demonstrated love is our glorious victory over everything!

Soak in this scripture today. Let it seep into and infuse your very bones with liquid love from God. It does not matter what you face in this life, once you are in Christ, there is NOTHING outside of you which can remove or separate you from the love of God in Christ Jesus. Absolutely nothing. This passage has been latched onto by many who forget the rest of the chapter, so let me remind you that there are conditions on experiencing these things: we must be 100% surrendered to the Way of the Spirit. I’m not saying that God’s love is withheld from any of us who He knew would desire Him, even in the split seconds before death. What I am saying is that we can separate ourselves, if we make habits of walking in other ways, of living as we might if we hadn’t ever come to the Lord. I do not want to get into the once saved, always saved argument, here. All I wish to say about that is, if we choose to walk away from God after coming to Him, it is our choice. No thing outside of you can force you to make that decision, though. No thing can wedge itself between you and God, unless you allow it to do so. Shame has no place in the presence of perfect love. Fear is banished. If we bring it in, and choose to listen to it over the voice of God, then that is our choice. It did not separate us, we removed ourselves from that place of perfect love and peace. We can choose wrongly, and I have seen some do that. There was a guy who was a youth leader when I was in high school who admittedly had issues (who doesn’t, though, right?) and within a year of when I graduated from high school, left the church and became a militant atheist. He knows the truth, has (probably) experienced the love of God, and yet allowed the circumstances of his life, which were rough, even to the point of being brutal, and allowed his feelings about those things to separate him from God. Those things did not do it, his reaction to them did. That is an old story. A sad one, nonetheless, but a tired, old story. Choose well, today. Choose to stay in His love for you, no matter what your life presents to you.

Romans Road 5

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Romans Road 5: Romans 8:30-34

Papa,

Thank you that You and all of Heaven are pulling for those of us who you knew would choose to become one with You once again. Thank you that You do not accuse us. Thank You that You have chosen to cover our sins with the blood of Jesus. Jesus, thank You that You shed Your blood for us. Thank You that You constantly intercede on our behalf, along with the Holy Spirit. Help us to learn to ask for the help we need and to recognize when it comes. In Jesus’ name,

Amen

Romans 8:30-34

Having determined our destiny ahead of time, he called us to himself and transferred his perfect righteousness to everyone he called. And those who possess his perfect righteousness he co-glorified with his Son!

So, what does all this mean? If God has determined to stand with us, tell me, who then could ever stand against us? For God has proved his love by giving us his greatest treasure, the gift of his Son. And since God freely offered him up as the sacrifice for us all, he certainly won’t withhold from us anything else he has to give.

Who then would dare to accuse those whom God has chosen in love to be his? God himself is the judge who has issued his final verdict over them—“Not guilty!”

Who then is left to condemn us? Certainly not Jesus, the Anointed One! For he gave his life for us, and even more than that, he has conquered death and is now risen, exalted, and enthroned by God at his right hand. So how could he possibly condemn us since he is continually praying for our triumph?

Ok, so what does that mean? We are righteous because God called us righteous in Jesus, and He is in the process of producing righteousness in us, now. God, and all of heaven is for us. There is no one who currently belongs in heaven to accuse us of being unworthy or sinful. The enemy exists, don’t miss that point, but He is no match for Jesus (as we saw on the cross and in the empty tomb). God is so far in our corner that He gave us Jesus. Let that sink in, God’s own son came and gave Himself for us. If God didn’t hold Jesus back in order to bring us into alignment with His original design for us, then how could we think that He might hold anything else back from us that we need? That is futile thinking, straight from the enemy, who is the accuser. Do not heed it. He isn’t worth listening to. Why does he seek to waylay us? It is the job that fell to him, since he hates God and we bear His image, so the enemy does his best to hurt God the only way he can, by preventing His children and image bearers from reuniting with Him. What do you think about that? Tell me that isn’t wild. Does the Father leave us without help? No, or as Paul would say “me genita” or “hell no”. We have all of Heaven on our side and in our corner. We simply need to learn how to ask for help, then receive it.

Memesplanation Shorts – Romans Road 5

by admin memesplanation, Spirituality & Tech

Memesplanation Short - Romans 8:30

Romans 8:30
Having determined our destiny ahead of time, he called us to himself and transferred his perfect righteousness to everyone he called. And those who possess his perfect righteousness he co-glorified with his Son!
Since He is working all things out for the best, and knew that we would choose to be with Him, then He called us whom He knew would accept the call and imputed righteousness to us. We get to be glorified with Jesus, changed into Him, provided we choose to live empty of ourselves rather than full of ourselves.

Memesplanation Short - Romans 8:31-32

Romans 8:31-32

Since we are being reformed into Jesus, God does not abandon His son, so will not abandon us. If God never loses a fight, then how can we? If God loved us so much that He did not keep Jesus back from us, then why would He withhold anything else we need in order to be more fully a part of Him, if that is the goal of salvation in the first place? Paul says that He will not. I believe it, so if we are in need of something, then all we need do is ask. He will provide it freely.

Memesplanation Short - Romans 8:33-34

Romans 8:33-34

Who then would dare to accuse those whom God has chosen in love to be his? God himself is the judge who has issued his final verdict over them—“Not guilty!” Who then is left to condemn us? Certainly not Jesus, the Anointed One! For he gave his life for us, and even more than that, he has conquered death and is now risen, exalted, and enthroned by God at his right hand. So how could he possibly condemn us since he is continually praying for our triumph?

Who, then accuses us? Does God? Does Jesus? No. There is an enemy, whom we must be daily prepared to do battle with. This passage does not name him, though. Jesus is constantly pulling for us, interceding for us along with the Holy Spirit before the Father. All of heaven is for you. Grab that today.

Memesplanation Shorts – Romans Road 4

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Memesplanation Short - Romans 8:24-25

Romans 8:24-25

For this is the hope of our salvation.

But hope means that we must trust and wait for what is still unseen. For why would we need to hope for something we already have? So because our hope is set on what is yet to be seen, we patiently keep on waiting for its fulfillment.

Hope. What is our hope? Our hope is to realize being the full glory of being mature children of God. We get a taste of it now, but if we do not do our part and die to ourselves, then we will never achieve our hope. Hope can fuel us and spur us on to overcome fear and do our part. That is not to say that “God helps those who help themselves” either. God enables us to trust Him, He strengthens our willingness to die to ourselves and obey Him. We simply have to do as directed, and we will see our hope fulfilled.

Memesplanation Short - Romans 8:26-27

Romans 8:26-27

And in a similar way, the Holy Spirit takes hold of us in our human frailty to empower us in our weakness. For example, at times we don’t even know how to pray, or know the best things to ask for. But the Holy Spirit rises up within us to super-intercede on our behalf, pleading to God with emotional sighs too deep for words.

God, the searcher of the heart, knows fully our longings, yet he also understands the desires of the Spirit, because the Holy Spirit passionately pleads before God for us, his holy ones, in perfect harmony with God’s plan and our destiny.

The Holy Spirit will pray through us when we lack the words or understanding to pray for ourselves, this is part of what Pentecostals and charismatics call a prayer language, or praying in tongues. God knows what each of us desire, and also what God desires for us and has planned for us, so we can trust Him to pray on our behalf in those moments when words fail us. He is The Intercessor. He constantly brings our requests before the Father and harmonizes them with the will of God.

Memesplanation Short - Romans 8:28-29

Romans 8:28-29

So we are convinced that every detail of our lives is continually woven together for good, for we are his lovers who have been called to fulfill his designed purpose. For he knew all about us before we were born and he destined us from the beginning to share the likeness of his Son. This means the Son is the oldest among a vast family of brothers and sisters who will become just like him.

For this reason, we can trust and be convinced that EVERYTHING in our lives will work together for our good. This seems like something of an allusion to Jeremiah 29:11 to me… Remember, though, it hinges on our being conformed into the likeness of Jesus through faith and obedience to the will of God, rather than trying to force our own way. When we give our way up, God will give us His way, His desires, and His plan for us, and fulfill it all in His way. That is what this whole chapter has been about so far.

Memesplanation Shorts – Romans Road 3

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Memesplanation Short - Romans 8:17

Romans 8:17

And since we are his true children, we qualify to share all his treasures, for indeed, we are heirs of God himself. And since we are joined to Christ, we also inherit all that he is and all that he has. We will experience being co-glorified with him provided that we accept his sufferings as our own.

I know too well how broken fathers can be. That makes it hard to believe that the Father would actually fully accept us, but He does, in Christ. There is a condition on receiving all His treasures, though. We have to die to ourselves and allow Jesus to remake and rule us. Those are the sufferings we must accept.

Memesplanation Short - Romans 8:18-21

Romans 8:18-21

Do you want to see the glorious revelation of the fully mature children of God? Is there a part of you that wants to see what this really means on a personal level? Let’s see what this glory is, what will happen to and in those of us who take this journey and go through this process of refinement through suffering as Jesus did. Not an easy thing, but also not a call to seek physical suffering, either.

Memesplanation Short - Romans 8:22-23

Romans 8:22-23

To this day we are aware of the universal agony and groaning of creation, as if it were in the contractions of labor for childbirth. And it’s not just creation. We who have already experienced the firstfruits of the Spirit also inwardly groan as we passionately long to experience our full status as God’s sons and daughters—including our physical bodies being transformed.

Quite the vivid image if you are a parent or have ever witnessed a birth in person. The crazy part is that this is still true. The universe has been in labor to deliver the children of God for 2,000 years. Physical transformation to match the interior and spiritual side of things which we are already beginning to sense and experience. What does that mean? How might we be transformed?

Romans Road 4

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Romans Road 4: Romans 8:24-29

Papa,

Thank you that we have this hope. This hope that we will be made one with You as we walk out submission to Your will and ways, just as Jesus did when He was walking the dusty roads and paths of the Middle East, 2,000 years ago. Help us to be the generation that sees that hope fulfilled because we shed the religious trappings of the past and clung to the Truth of our relationship with You. Jesus, help us to walk as You did. Holy Spirit, guide us and help us to grow in trust with the Father, that we might get to the point where we become mature children of God. In Jesus’ name,

Amen

Romans 8:24-29

For this is the hope of our salvation.

This week, this was the section of Romans 8 we discussed. Becoming the fully realized children of God, resplendent in His Glory is the hope which Paul is referring to here. When we have achieved the fullness of that hope, then we will be changed. We will have been fully saved. We will be perfect image-bearers of Jesus Christ. We will be so identified with Him that people will have trouble seeing where we start and He ends, and vice-versa. Even as humans, we often don’t have the words to pray, so the Holy Spirit, knowing that, our situations, and God’s good, pleasing, and perfect will, will intercede with and for us through sighs and groans too deep for words. he takes our requests, our feelings, and desires to the Father for us, and harmonizes them with the Father’s will for us. Let that sink in for just a moment. Because of that, we can cling to the fact that God is always working all aspects of our lives together for the best in keeping with His plans for us. Because He knows all things, He knew which of us would choose to be with Him by becoming like Jesus, taking on His very way of life, His very image. This makes Jesus our older brother, our savior, and our exemplar. That is huge. Far bigger than I have time to unpack in this brief devotion. That is what it means to be a child of God, to live as Jesus showed us to live, in loving abandon to the will of the Father. It is not simply asking God to “bless our mess”, but submitting ourselves and our mess to Him, and letting Him guide us through sorting the mess out.

Romans Road 3

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Romans Road 3: Romans 8:17-23

Romans Road 3

Papa,

Thank you that you are so good. Thank you that you know what is best for us, and that you give us your glory, but simply ask for loving obedience in return. Holy Spirit, help us to trust the Father to do what He says He will do. Help us to die to ourselves today.

In Jesus’ Name,

Amen

Romans 8:17-23

I am convinced that any suffering we endure is less than nothing compared to the magnitude of glory that is about to be unveiled within us. The entire universe is standing on tiptoe, yearning to see the unveiling of God’s glorious sons and daughters! For against its will the universe itself has had to endure the empty futility resulting from the consequences of human sin. But now, with eager expectation, all creation longs for freedom from its slavery to decay and to experience with us the wonderful freedom coming to God’s children. To this day we are aware of the universal agony and groaning of creation, as if it were in the contractions of labor for childbirth. And it’s not just creation. We who have already experienced the firstfruits of the Spirit also inwardly groan as we passionately long to experience our full status as God’s sons and daughters—including our physical bodies being transformed.

In our brief thoughts about vs 17, we learned more about how as beloved children, we get access to all that God has. Even at that, though, there is something in the way on that path. We must accept the suffering of Jesus. To me this means that the suffering is that of giving up our ways, desires, and ambitions in order to obey God. We must allow the Lord to refill and rebuild us. Once He does, then we must obey Him. On the other side of that, we will receive all His treasures. It can be hard to trust that God will follow through for us, I know this because I know too well how broken fathers can be. However, we have to learn to trust Him if we want all he has.

Next, in verses 18-21, we asked ourselves a question: Do you want to see the glorious revelation of the fully mature children of God? Is there a part of you that wants to see what this really means on a personal level? Let’s see what this glory is, what will happen to and in those of us who take this journey and go through this process of refinement through suffering as Jesus did. Jesus submitted Himself fully to the Father’s will, and now He has been glorified, raised up to the Father’s right hand. He has shown us the way to join Him. All of creation, including our own souls, have been standing on tiptoe to see what will come to bring freedom from the fallout of human sin. It is well worth becoming what Jesus paved the way for us to be. This suffering could be physical, but this is not a call to some sort of asceticism, as I said earlier, it is really about dying to ourselves.

Finally, we talked briefly about vs 22-23. Quite the vivid image if you are a parent or have ever witnessed a birth in person. The crazy part is that this is still true. The universe has been in labor to deliver the children of God for 2,000 years. Physical transformation to match the interior and spiritual side of things which we are already beginning to sense and experience. What does that mean? How might we be transformed?