ROMANS 8:31-32

What can we say about such wonderful things as these? If God be for us, who can be against us?  Since God did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all, won’t God who gave us Christ, also give us everything else?

TO PONDER

In today’s reading, we are told that God is on the side of believers. With Him, walking closely with us, who can be against us?  We just have to follow Him to wherever He leads.  We are encouraged to not waste time looking back to where we’ve come from or what we did. Look forward to where He is taking us.  Just a little reminder “remember Lot’s wife”.  

We are also told of God’s ultimate sacrifice.  He did not spare his Son; He allowed him to be sacrificed for you and me.  Jesus didn’t deserve to be treated like this, he did no wrong, but He stood in for us, for our sins!    These verses should encourage us to seek Him.  He has promised never to leave us or forsake us.  It’s an opportunity to let go of our doubts, insecurities and the complacency we walk in daily, and make a real conviction, to follow Him wherever he leads us.  After all, He gave His life, willingly, for us.  What are we willing to give up to serve God?

Often, during my time overseas, I called on this scripture … lots. This was because, where I was and who I was associating with were those in the underground church in Vietnam, who were continually being watched and persecuted.   I was warned to tread carefully.  Just before I arrived, the Superintendent of the AOG, had been put under house arrest, yet again.  I worked alongside them to help set up our first English Learning Centre. 

Once we started enrolments and officially opened the school for classes, I learnt that there would be ‘plants’ sent along to the classes to ‘see’ what was going on. You could usually tell who they were by their ‘attitude’ and the khaki socks they wore (no joke). So along with “if God be for me who can be against me” and a smile on my face, I’d march into that room, do the roll call, noticing those that could be one of the ‘visitors’, and trusted and believed that God had it all under control.  It became a standard joke around the centre with my Vietnamese staff and myself … only two today!  

Always under surveillance, even whilst attending an expat church (which kept getting shut down and moving), or where I was volunteering each morning at an orphanage for special needs children run by Nuns … the Sisters’ would give me a thumbs up every now and then to say someone had come to question.  “If God be for me, who could be against me?”  This was my daily mantra, along with many other scriptures.   

I claimed the promise that God had made before I had left Australia, that He would never leave me, nor forsake me.  Have you ever known, once you had taken the first step, that you were on the right path?  Well, I just knew that He was with me every step of that journey and I was exactly where he wanted me.   We truly are a blessed people.

PRAYER: Precious God, thank you for giving your Son to stand in for us all.  Thank you for giving me the wisdom to know that you were walking every step of that journey with me, and for that I am eternally grateful, just knowing you would never let me down. Thank you that you gave me the strength to step out in faith to take that first step to go and do the job you had for me to do. AMEN

Today's devotion written by Noeline Brock, LifeWay Online