MARCH 11, 2015
Shocking
Accessibility
You
received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.” —Romans 8:15
Read:
Romans
8:14-17,24-26
When John F.
Kennedy was president of the US, photographers sometimes captured a winsome
scene. Seated around the president’s desk in the Oval Office, cabinet members
are debating matters of world consequence. Meanwhile, a toddler, the 2-year-old
John-John, crawls around and inside the huge presidential desk, oblivious to
White House protocol and the weighty matters of state. He is simply visiting
his daddy.
That is the
kind of shocking accessibility conveyed in the word Abba when
Jesus said, “Abba, Father, all things are possible for You” (Mark 14:36). God
may be the sovereign Lord of the universe, but through His Son, God became as
approachable as any doting human father. In Romans 8, Paul brings the image of
intimacy even closer. God’s Spirit lives inside us, he says, and when we do not
know what we ought to pray “the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with
groanings which cannot be uttered” (v.26).
Jesus came
to demonstrate that a perfect and holy God welcomes pleas for help from a widow
with two mites and a Roman centurion and a miserable publican and a thief on a
cross. We need only call out “Abba” or, failing that, simply groan. God has
come that close to us.
We want to talk to God, but it
can be difficult to find words to express the emotions of our heart. The
Discovery Series booklet Let’s Pray may help. Read it online at www.discoveryseries.org/hp135
Prayer is an intimate conversation with our
God.
INSIGHT: The indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit
in our lives is the evidence that we are saved. The Holy Spirit is also called
“the Spirit of God” and the “Spirit of Christ” (Rom. 8:9). Paul taught that the
Spirit is the deposit that guarantees our salvation (Eph 1:13-14) and the
source of our new life (Rom. 8:11). Assuring us that we are God’s children, the
Holy Spirit enables us to affectionately call out to God, “Abba, Father” (v.
15). As “the Spirit of adoption” (v.15), the Spirit changes our status from slaves
to sons (Gal. 4:6), giving us the full privileges of sonship—making us heirs of
God and joint heirs with Christ (Rom. 8:17). The indwelling Spirit helps us to
pray by interceding for us and with us (v. 26).
Source: Our Daily Bread 2012
