If there is “one thing” you embrace and believe that is outside of God’s ability to work “ALL things work together for good” that is the moment you confess you are WISER THAN GOD, that His Word cannot be trusted, He is a liar and is impotent to do as He says when He says, “ALL Things” it doesn’t mean “ALL THINGS” because you believe you have the ONE THING outside of His claim!
Think about it… as devastating as that present thing you are going through and the evil one whispering lies be it a sin issue, failure, yours or another, a great loss, bankruptcy, divorce, illness, hurt of various types, Suffering as a result of being a follower of Christ… the evil one is a liar. For GOD is ABLE to incorporate it “ALL” under His authority and compassionate care and weave it ALL into the working it out for “good,” not only the eternal Good .. but the temporal good of conforming us to Christlikeness-(Read Roman’s 8:29)
What He PROMISES He delivers on every time ALL the time!
So often we wrongly think the “good,” is what we want when it ultimately is to conform us to the image of Christ in our thinking, doing our character!
I know it can be hard at times because it is! “But God…” can’t lie, won’t lie to us. He gave His Son for us … He will work “ALL THINGS together for GOOD to those who love God and are the called…”-( Romans 8:28-29)
A PLAN TO APPLY;
1.- RECOGNIZE the lie which is ultimately an attack on the character of God to you. Slandering Him to your mind with lies!
2.- REJECT the lies that come to mind or through the mouths of others to us such as “nothing good” can come out of it, and that God cannot be trusted. He is partial, in that He favors some but certainly not you. He may do it for others but not for you, why would He do so for you, besides- look at your sin, and your failures, how could He ever help you? You don’t deserve His help! Note how the evil one temps to turn us INWARD and ultimately spiral downward as it leaves us looking to self and not to the Sovereign Sufficient Savior who sacrificed on our behalf is sufficient to make us right with God and who continually loves and is for us! The Spirit of God turns us UPWARD to the LORD Jesus! REJECT the lies and …
3.- REPLACE them with the TRUTH and fall back on Roman’s 8:28 “ALL THINGS” means “ ALL THINGS” and there is nothing outside of ALL things can He not and will He not work together for good.
4. -REPLAY the truth of Romans 8:28 again and again by speaking it to yourself and not listening to the lies and slander against God!
Romans 8:28-28 is His EXCLUSIVE Promise for those who are His who are characterized by “…Love For God, the Called…”. And that’s for you who are HIS!
WHAT WE DO “KNOW!”
“ALL.”- The word speaks of without exclusions…no, not one! Things in themselves don’t work out for good, “BUT God” is the Source of providentially taking all of them and weaving them under His Sovereign care to produce what He desires for HIS goals and purposes. It is God alone who can and does cause “all things,” without exception to work out for our spiritual benefit, and indeed temporal good, as He sees fit!
In the darkened times we look by faith to Him who is true to fulfill His Promise… and this is something Paul says “And we KNOW” this truth for we know this God who is faithful, trustworthy to fulfill His purposes in our lives in ultimately conforming us to the image of Christ! We may not “KNOW” a lot in this life, but we do KNOW this… God causes ALL THINGS to work together for Good… to those who love Him and are the called…”
“WORK TOGETHER.”- {sunergeo}- We get our English word, “synergism” from this Greek word. Taking various elements and combining them all to achieve a goal,
Co-operate together, God’s providential power and will at work, co-laboring to bring about His intended purpose. We don’t always know the “why” of something but we do know the WHO will cause “ALL things to WORK TOGETHER for good….”
“GOOD.”– The word “agathos” means that which is good, beneficial, profitable, or useful. God uses it all for our spiritual benefit!
“KNOW”- Grammatically is in the perfect tense, we know and always know. This is what the Spirit of God places in the heart of each follower of the LORD Jesus. We “KNOW,” not because of what we see or circumstances, or the events of life but because we KNOW HIM because He has made Himself known to us. We know because we know His Word is true, We Know because the Holy Spirit assures and continually works in us.
WE KNOW because this knowledge is what the Spirit of God places in our hearts that produces a confidence in the truth, and a certainty to such an extent the believer embraces the promise as their own and applies it. Like cashing a legitimate check at a bank. So, the believer takes this promise of God and cashes it at the Bank of the Almighty!
If there is one thing outside the “ALL THINGS” that God cannot use then God is not Sovereign, He is not God, and that one thing outside of the “ALL ” things has more power and authority! And then that “one thing” is “God!” That is the lie presented to your mind! But we “KNOW… ALL THINGS WORK TOGETHER FOR GOOD…TO THOSE WHO LOVE GOD AND ARE THE CALLED!”
“And we know that God causes ALL things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters;”-{Romans 8:28-29}
God bless
Aidan