one step: Romans 8.3

For we know that the whole creation has been groaning… but we ourselves… groan… but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings…

Have you ever groaned? I don’t mean the kind of whining and complaining that kids do (never us, just kids). I’m talking about the guttural sounds that emerge in response to pain or despair. I can think of only two occasions when I groaned. The pain was so great, it’s hard to think back on.

Paul identifies three groanings in Romans 8: 1) that of creation, 2) that of the believer, and 3) that of the Spirit.*

The groaning for us exists because we live in the already-not yet tension of those who are already children but wait to see Him face to face. We are already heirs of the King but still await the full inheritance. We are already glorified but have not yet been given the final glory. In this tension, we struggle with the suffering and sacrifice of the present.*

The longing that creation awaits refers to a “straining of the neck.”* Creation wants the future hope of restoration so badly that it reaches out toward it. The word Paul uses for awaits also refers to “confident expectation.” Creation doesn’t put hope in what might be, but creation puts its hope in what will certainly be.*

If it’s any consolation, we are not alone in our suffering. Creation too struggles because of the sin in this world. Creation groans in agony because of the pain of decay.* Creation, unable to realize its God-intended potential, experiences the pain of lost purpose.*

Maybe you have felt this kind of pain? Perhaps you have lost your purpose or feel that you never found it. Maybe you groan regularly. There is another who groans: the Spirit.

While the groaning of creation may be outward, and the groaning of humanity may be inward, the Spirit groans toward God.* The Spirit groans with us as expressions of His deep love and concern for us.* When we do not even know what to pray, the Spirit prays with us and for us, praying more deeply for us than we can for ourselves.*

We may experience suffering that is the direct result of sinning. We may experience suffering for the sake of Christ. But, we may experience suffering just because we are in this imperfect world.*

Whatever the case, Paul does not ignore the reality of suffering, and neither does God. The Holy Spirit comes next to us and helps us during these times.

Here is reality: if we share the groaning of creation, we even more intensely share its hope.* This hope is certain.

Today, take a step.

Maybe today the one step God wants you to take is to groan. Perhaps the one step God wants you to take is to let out to Him all of the pain and despair. Maybe God wants you to rest in Him in the tension between the already-not yet.

Whatever the step, ask God to direct it. Take a moment to take that step. Invite Him to speak. He will.

Life is a long road. Walk it with Jesus.

Feel free to comment at the bottom of this page! We would love to hear from you!

*Kruse, C. G. (2012). Paul’s Letter to the Romans (D. A. Carson, Ed.; p. 341, 351–352). William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company; Apollos.
Osborne, G. R. (2004). Romans (pp. 209–218). InterVarsity Press;
Morris, L. (1988). The Epistle to the Romans (p. 318-328). W.B. Eerdmans; Inter-Varsity Press.
Moo, D. J. (2000). Romans (p. 266). Zondervan Publishing House.

one step: Romans 8.2

For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!”

Sometimes I wonder if along with the forever chemicals that they are finding in our drinking water they might find a heavy dose of fear. Every day we have the opportunity to drink in fear. Sure, we don’t drink it in through our kitchen faucet, but the faucets of our phones and tv’s rarely turn off and rarely stop offering fear. Fear of tomorrow, fear of war, fear of disease, fear of political unrest, fear of the fall of our heroes… these are just a few that we experience.

These fears produce insecurities inside of us that make the world feel that it might fall from underneath our feet at any moment.

Despite this reality, no greater insecurity may exist inside of a human heart than the insecurity that comes when one discovers the power and strength of God and His justice. The fear of the punishment of God leaves many frozen in insecurity, afraid to move forward in life. Even when we accept Christ, we must understand what this means for us or we can stumble back into slavery to the law. The Spirit does not lead us back here.*

When we receive Christ, we become lead by the Spirit. The Holy Spirit does not lead us to become slaves to sin or slaves to the law any longer. Having lead us away, He does not lead us back to it. In fact, if you find yourself being afraid of the punishment of God, it’s not because the Spirit has lead you there. He leads us to a place of security that no one can fabricate: adopted children.* The fear that Paul refers to is the fear of a harsh master.* Christ opens the door for the healthy fear of God to exist alongside the intimate love of the Father.*

Within the context of the Romans (who Paul is writing to), adoption allowed a child from the outside of the family to step into the family and enjoy the full benefits of one born into the family.* This is true for you and I. Because of the work of Jesus, we come from outside of the family of God and are brought in with full benefits of sonship. The place of adoption that we enjoy is so intimate that we now call God Abba.*

This use of Abba puts us in the same place of intimacy that Jesus enjoys with the Father.* Imagine… if you believe in Jesus, you are as close to God as Jesus.

That is a place of security that cannot be shaken.

Today, take a step.

Maybe today the one step God wants you to take is to release your insecurities for the security of your place of adoption. Perhaps God wants you to reject the opportunity to step back into slavery to the law. Maybe God wants you to consider who you have been allowing to lead you. Perhaps God wants you to follow the Spirit today.

Whatever the step, ask God to direct it. Take a moment to take that step. Invite Him to speak. He will.

Life is a long road. Walk it with Jesus.

Feel free to comment at the bottom of this page! We would love to hear from you!

*Kruse, C. G. (2012). Paul’s Letter to the Romans (D. A. Carson, Ed.; p. 337–338). William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company; Apollos.
Osborne, G. R. (2004). Romans (pp. 205-206). InterVarsity Press;
Morris, L. (1988). The Epistle to the Romans (p. 312–316). W.B. Eerdmans; Inter-Varsity Press.
Moo, D. J. (2000). Romans (p. 260–261). Zondervan Publishing House.

one step: Romans 8.1

For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit.

The law shows us what we are missing. The law shows us the standard. The law helps us see how we are failing. The law cannot save us.* The law cannot do what we need: to be set free from the power of sin.* As one theologian puts it, the law shows the way to life, but it does not bring those running headlong into death back to it.*

So what is there to be done? God sent His own Son to accomplish what the law could not. God sent His Son in the likeness of sinful flesh. What does this mean? It means that Jesus was fully flesh, but He was fully free of sin. Unlike us who are fully flesh and fully sinful, He was not tied to the sin that Adam and Eve introduced to the world, for Jesus was born of the Spirit.*

As one scholar puts it, “Christ became what we are so that we could become what He is. By condemning sin in Christ as our sacrifice, God can now justly avoid condemning us who are in Christ.”

God sent HIs son to set us free in 5 ways:*

1. A freedom from slavery to sin (6:16–22)

2. A freedom from being taken prisoner (7:23)

3. A freedom from condemnation (8:1)

4. A freedom from the power of sin and death (8:2)

5. A final liberation of both creation and the individual at the the end of time (8:21, 23).

Arguably, this is not just a “set free from” also a “set free for.”* For what? To live for Christ.*

The freedom that Christ came to bring humanity will not come any other means. We cannot escape the sickness of sin by drinking the deadening agents of this world. We cannot liberate ourselves from the justice of God by any offering lifted up to Him. We cannot outrun the strength of death and sin. Nor can we ensure our freedom at the end of all things. Only Christ can do this for us. In light of this, we must trust Him to do this work for us.

I find it interesting that God made us in His image to walk with Him and be like Him, and then Christ had to come in the likeness of sinful flesh to break the power of sin so that once again we could walk with Him and be like Him.

Today, take a step.

Maybe today the one step God wants you to take is to receive His gift of Jesus by trusting what Jesus did. Perhaps the freedom you have been given is one that God would have you receive today. Maybe today God would have you set down the mechanisms you’ve been using to feel free so that you can embrace Him and really be free. Perhaps God wants you to go on a walk with Him today.

Whatever the step, ask God to direct it. Take a moment to take that step. Invite Him to speak. He will.

Life is a long road. Walk it with Jesus.

Feel free to comment at the bottom of this page! We would love to hear from you!

*Kruse, C. G. (2012). Paul’s Letter to the Romans (D. A. Carson, Ed.; p. 325–330). William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company; Apollos.
Osborne, G. R. (2004). Romans (pp. 182–185). InterVarsity Press;
Morris, L. (1988). The Epistle to the Romans (p. 301–303). W.B. Eerdmans; Inter-Varsity Press.
Moo, D. J. (2000). Romans (p. 249). Zondervan Publishing House.

one step: Romans 7.2

For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.

How many of us can relate to this? How many times as a follower of Christ have you tried really hard to control your anger, kill lustful desires, or tame your tongue and failed? How many times of failure did it take before you gave up and uttered these words: well, this must be who I am? Or this must be my struggle.

According to Paul, the struggle is not with a particular sin, but with the power of sin that tempts all of us.* The power of sin that tempts coupled with the fleshly nature inside of us (that succumbs all too willingly to sin) leaves us all in the same frustrating place as Paul. Think about that.

You and I, the very normal humans that we are, sit in the same position of Paul the Apostle?! Wow!! That’s some good company we have!

Paul lacks the power to do what is right and lacks the resistance to keep from doing what is wrong.* His flesh rises up and agrees with the draw of sin toward temptation far too easily.

Who are you? You aren’t defined by your sin or your failing.

Paul goes on to say,

Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!

Jesus came to deliver us from the power of sin! You are a delivered one! You are bought with a price! You are not defined by your sin or failing. You are who He says you are.

The struggle may continue, but you are no failure. You are human, and Christ came that you may overcome. Do not give up hope.

Today, take a step.

Maybe today the one step God wants you to take is to forgive yourself for being human. Perhaps today God wants you to lean on Jesus for salvation from the power of sin in an area of your life. Maybe today God wants you to lean into His law to subject your flesh to His rule. Perhaps today God wants you to just keep going with Him.

Whatever the step, ask God to direct it. Take a moment to take that step. Invite Him to speak. He will.

Life is a long road. Walk it with Jesus.

Feel free to comment at the bottom of this page! We would love to hear from you!

*Kruse, C. G. (2012). Paul’s Letter to the Romans (D. A. Carson, Ed.; p. 306–308). William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company; Apollos.
Osborne, G. R. (2004). Romans (pp. 182–185). InterVarsity Press;
Morris, L. (1988). The Epistle to the Romans (p. 291–294). W.B. Eerdmans; Inter-Varsity Press.
Moo, D. J. (2000). Romans (p. 236–237). Zondervan Publishing House.

one step: water break

And Joseph remembered the dreams that he had dreamed of them.
Genesis 24:9

The One Step Daily Devotional is intended to provide just one step each day for your journey with God. Every journey requires water breaks. Here is a water break for you.

Have you ever had a dream? I don’t just mean a dream that you get when you sleep, but a dream for something to happen in the future?

If you recall from the story of Joseph, he had two dreams of his brothers bowing before him (Genesis 37). Joseph shared the dream with his brothers, and it did not turn out well for him (he ended up at the bottom of a hole and then enslaved, falsely accused, and imprisoned).

Genesis 24:9 is one of my favorite verses. It says, Joseph remembered the dreams. To remember something, you have to forget it. Joseph forgot his dreams! This is astonishing to me!

How could you forget a dream that a) landed you on a path toward what some would consider a ruined life, and b) must have been an exciting prospect for him to share it with his brothers in the first place.

I’ve had dreams in my life. I went through much difficulty and heartache in pursuit of those dreams. They served as an anchor and fuel to keep going. I did not forget them, though my dreams came to nothing.

The difference between Joseph’s dreams and my dreams is that Joseph’s dreams were a part of God’s will for his life. My dreams were a part of my will for my life. Sometimes there is a difference between God’s dream for your life and your own.

When a dream you have is God’s, it may have less to do with you and your effort than you think. Joseph didn’t even remember his dreams until they came true! Somewhere along the way he had either given them to God or he had given up on them. Joseph’s part was to just remain faithful to God (Genesis 39).

Today, take a step.

Maybe today the one step God wants you to take is to trust God with His dream for your life. Perhaps God wants you to ask Him for His dream for your life. Maybe God wants you to set down some of the responsibility that you have picked up to try to “make things happen.”

Whatever the step, ask God to direct it. Take a moment to take that step. Invite Him to speak. He will.

Life is a long road. Walk it with Jesus. Take a water break… we all get thirsty.

Feel free to comment at the bottom of this page! We would love to hear from you!