Opening Prayer
Lord God, heavenly Father, give us the Spirit of truth, the Spirit of adoption in our hearts as Your children. Amen.
Text: Romans 8:12–17
Therefore, brethren, we are debtors – not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs – heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.
Devotion
Glorious state of grace: Children of God, free from the guilt of sin, free from the dominion of fleshly lusts, free from death, – everywhere embraced by God’s love; heirs of eternal salvation! But let no one deceive himself and think that he is a child of God when he is not! Let no one think he is a child of God when he still lives according to the flesh! How can he be a child of God if he lives in anger and enmity, impurity and its works? Whoever is freed from sin and dead to it, should he live in it any longer? But just as no one may dream of rights as children and inheritance as a child with God without true and living faith in our Lord Jesus, so on the other hand believers should be fully assured that they are children of the heavenly Father. How is this to be known? In our new heavenly childlike attitude and in the testimony of God’s own Spirit with our spirit. If I were not born of God, then I would not have the attitude and spirit of a child of God at all; for of myself I am carnal, sold under sin. This attitude of the child of God expresses itself in a determined struggle against the lusts of the flesh, in sorrow and sighing, and victory over them, – and then in unanimous and bold prayer to God, calling Him “Abba, Father” within the soul, and praying the Lord’s Prayer from the bottom of the heart. I do not pray to God out of coercion, but gladly. (Here I am talking with the inner man, not about the flesh, not according to “law [of sin] in my members, warring against the law of my mind.”)(Rom 7:23) I do not tremble with an evil conscience before the Righteous One; but with comfort and joy in Christ I speak with Him about the spreading of His kingdom and about my sin and need and all my concerns and I praise Him for His incredible grace. In accord with the testimony of the Spirit in me the Spirit Himself testifies in the Word and Sacraments for me. God’s Word confirms itself as true and living for my heart, and I find my inmost being reflected in the Word; or in other words, the Spirit in the Word with its demand and its promises is one with the Spirit in my new life. The Spirit within me is the Spirit of faith and love and hope, and that is exactly the Spirit in the Word and Sacraments. The Spirit in my heart is the Spirit of purity and adoption as children,, struggling against the flesh and victory and crying “Abba, Father,” and this is exactly the same Spirit of the Word. Yes, it is precisely from the Word and the Sacraments I have received the Spirit; He has pervaded and sanctified my spirit and given it His divine nature, so that it is the very Spirit of God who testifies in me and with me, that I am a child of God. Blessed adoption as children with access to the Father! Blessed hope of life with heavenly glory waiting!
Closing Prayer
Give us grace, then, dear heavenly Father, that we may live holy lives and suffer patiently in fellowship with our Lord Jesus. Let Your Spirit testify with us in life and death that we are Your children, and let our life and our death testify to all the world that Your Spirit lives in us and assure ourselves that we have a heavenly inheritance of glory in store. Amen.
Hymn
Come, Comforter, and make me whole!
Come, Fire with warmth life-giving!
Come, heav’nly Dew, refresh my soul!
Come, bind my spirit’s grieving!
Come, Spirit, at this hour!
Come, Earnest, grant me pow’r!
True Fountain, grace impart!
True Unction, heal my heart!
Finger of God, descend now.
O Holy Spirit, mighty God,
Come from Your heav’nly dwelling,
Grant me true faith by Jesus’ blood,
Your constant sure indwelling!
A new heart give to me,
Repentance true and free!
Be now my place of rest,
My joy in all distress.
Your pure ways make me follow.
Sacr/Jonæsøn: Den Idræt Gud er tækkelig L 439:3-4 tr. DeGarmeaux;
tune: Ein feste Burg (ELH 251); alternate hymn: O Holy Ghost, Thou gift divine ELH 26:1