Romans 8
More Than Conquerors
28And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him,[j] who[k] have been called according to his purpose. 29For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. 30And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.
31What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? 33Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. 34Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. 35Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 36As it is written:
"For your sake we face death all day long;
we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered."[l] 37No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,[m] neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Kenneth Henes
Ravi Zacharias tells in one of his books about a trip he made to Vietnam in 1971 to travel the country and preach.
Wherever he traveled for a month in Vietnam a Vietnamese man who translated for him accompanied him. They were both young, and they saw many things that shocked them, things neither of them had ever thought they would see in their entire lives. Their preaching, though, had good results, and they saw people respond to the Gospel.
After he left Vietnam, Zacharias did not see his translator again for many years. Then, one day, in 1987, sixteen years later, he received a phone call in his office. When he picked up the phone, the voice on the other end asked him if he knew who this was. Ravi immediately recognized the voice of his translator. The man asked Ravi if he had a few minutes for him to tell what had happened to him, and Ravi said he did.
After the Communists took control of the country, his translator was arrested and spent a great deal of time in prison. They tried every possible means to get him to deny his faith, all without success. He had no Bible, except for the verses he had memorized, and that helped sustain him.
Then one day, he was ordered to clean the commandant’s latrine. While he was cleaning, he found a piece of paper with writing on it that had been used for toilet paper. He noticed it was a page from the Bible. He put it in his pocket and took it back to his cell where he cleaned it off and used it for devotions. He found it was this passage from Romans 8, and the verses sustained him. He then volunteered to clean the commandant’s latrine everyday, and discovered that he was tearing pages out of a Bible to use for toilet paper. He would take them back to his cell, carefully clean them off and used them for his devotions.
Sometime later, he and some other prisoners began to plan an escape. One day, four men came to him and told him he had heard they were planning an escape and wanted to know if they could go along. They were reticent at first, after all they could have been sent there by their Communist captors to test them, but then Ravi sensed the Lord telling him they should take the men, and so they did. He said they would not have survived their escape without those men. They escaped by boat to Thailand, and at times the journey was perilous, but those four men were seasoned seamen, and they kept them all alive.
Now Ravi’s friend operates his own business in Los Angeles. He survived because God sent him a reminder that God always works for the good of those who love him and are called according to his purpose.
28And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him,[j] who[k] have been called according to his purpose. 29For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. 30And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.
31What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? 33Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. 34Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. 35Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 36As it is written:
"For your sake we face death all day long;
we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered."[l] 37No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,[m] neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Kenneth Henes
Ravi Zacharias tells in one of his books about a trip he made to Vietnam in 1971 to travel the country and preach.
Wherever he traveled for a month in Vietnam a Vietnamese man who translated for him accompanied him. They were both young, and they saw many things that shocked them, things neither of them had ever thought they would see in their entire lives. Their preaching, though, had good results, and they saw people respond to the Gospel.
After he left Vietnam, Zacharias did not see his translator again for many years. Then, one day, in 1987, sixteen years later, he received a phone call in his office. When he picked up the phone, the voice on the other end asked him if he knew who this was. Ravi immediately recognized the voice of his translator. The man asked Ravi if he had a few minutes for him to tell what had happened to him, and Ravi said he did.
After the Communists took control of the country, his translator was arrested and spent a great deal of time in prison. They tried every possible means to get him to deny his faith, all without success. He had no Bible, except for the verses he had memorized, and that helped sustain him.
Then one day, he was ordered to clean the commandant’s latrine. While he was cleaning, he found a piece of paper with writing on it that had been used for toilet paper. He noticed it was a page from the Bible. He put it in his pocket and took it back to his cell where he cleaned it off and used it for devotions. He found it was this passage from Romans 8, and the verses sustained him. He then volunteered to clean the commandant’s latrine everyday, and discovered that he was tearing pages out of a Bible to use for toilet paper. He would take them back to his cell, carefully clean them off and used them for his devotions.
Sometime later, he and some other prisoners began to plan an escape. One day, four men came to him and told him he had heard they were planning an escape and wanted to know if they could go along. They were reticent at first, after all they could have been sent there by their Communist captors to test them, but then Ravi sensed the Lord telling him they should take the men, and so they did. He said they would not have survived their escape without those men. They escaped by boat to Thailand, and at times the journey was perilous, but those four men were seasoned seamen, and they kept them all alive.
Now Ravi’s friend operates his own business in Los Angeles. He survived because God sent him a reminder that God always works for the good of those who love him and are called according to his purpose.
posted by leb at 4:40 PM
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