Many churches throughout the world use a Bible reading schedule called a "lectionary." It's just a fancy word meaning "selected readings." Posts like this reflect on the readings for an upcoming Sunday or other Church holiday, as found in the historic one-year lectionary.
There's a pretty big branch of modern American Christianity that seems obsessed with the Holy Spirit. They want to have the victory of God in the Spirit, to walk by the Spirit, and to do great things in the power of the Holy Spirit. Often they look for powerful and, frankly, noisy demonstrations of the spiritual ife.
In Romans 8:12-17 Paul pictures life by the Spirit as something which isn't as showy. It's more like life in a family, where you call out to your father with your needs. You trust that your troubles can be cared for.
When I had small children, they would show their parents things that they wouldn't reveal to anyone else. They would tell about their cares, their fears, their little victories, their hurts. They would take their parents into their confidence.
This is the spirit of adoption Paul is talking about. We can turn to the loving care of the Holy Spirit when we are afraid, when we are disappointed, when we are in doubt. We can bring our joys and our trials before God. And we can know that by the Holy Spirit everything will be all right. We know that the Holy Spirit is always going to be watching over us. He will always be guarding us. He will care for our treasure. He will pick us up when we fall, and it's a good thing, since we fall all the time. He will provide for our needs, since we aren't able to do for ourselves.
Rather than depending on ourselves, walking by the flesh, which leads to death, we depend on the Holy Spirit, walking by the Spirit, on the path that leads not only to eternal life, but to being heirs of God's promises.
Would you like the riches of God? They are yours. You don't have to be shouting about it. Just ask. The Lord will give you all you need, as you live in his household as his child.
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