L3~Finishing up Romans!

So, last night I finished the L3 journey through Romans, with reading Romans 16. I love Romans, and although at some points I got frustrated with myself. For example, there was a week in which I did not write in the journal for a solid 5 days. :( And I think my excuse was that "I've read these chapters over & over again." Well, why did I not take the time to let God teach me new things from His word, which is, as Hebrews 4:12 says, "Living and active"? I'll tell you why. I'm human--I admit it!

Awhile back in Romans 7, we read about Paul, another one of us humans. And he spoke of His struggle. We read this in Pinelake's journey class, with our wonderful middle & high school girls. I absolutely love spending time in the Word with them. If it were up to me, we'd have journey class everyday! Anyway, so we learned A LOT that day. About how we belong to Christ Jesus, like our second marriage (sin was our first marriage & he was defeated by Christ, our knight in shining armor). But then the other girls began to talk...and it was really eye-opening. And as I wrote the first paragraph of this post, downing on myself & my humanity--well, God brought the thoughts that we all shared that day on Romans 7. I'll share one, from Portia. Verse 21, "So I find it a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand." Wow. Satan loves loves loves to go after the ones who are trying so hard to get it write. And he'll use excuses like: "Well, I've read this passage before." My senior year, my high school Sunday school class went through Romans. But this month, going through Romans has taught me so many new things--straight from the get go, in chapter 1, I learned about apostleship--which is one of my spiritual gifts that I never quite understood (check it out here). So, now I'm sad we are wrapping it up--Until next year!

But here are my thoughts from the very last chapter of Romans 16, a great note of victory to end on! :)

"The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus be with you." (verse 20)

(just had a new thought about this verse...it definitely will be added!)

Seems a bit backwards calling God the God of peace, and then saying that He will crush Satan. But I don't think that is what Paul is trying to say. I think this is the same peace that Paul mentions in Philippians 4:7--a peace that comes from God, passing all human understanding, when we place our entire heart & trust in His hands. This peace comes from knowing the victory--also mentioned in Philippians 4:4, we can REJOICE in the Lord. The victory is won. Satan is defeated, and soon will be absolutely no more!

(the new thought God gave!) So, it also seems a bit backwards saying "your feet" instead of say God's feet. But go back to Romans 10:14-15,

"How then will they cal on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in Him whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? ANd how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, "How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!"

Beautiful as well as strong enough, through the power of God to crush Satan!

Grace be with you. Almost sounds like a greeting to be constantly aware of the fact that we are a new creation in Chrst. Satan and sin have been dethroned, and God reigns rightfully within our hearts!

A final thought. Romans 16:20 alludes back to Gensis 3:15, where God first fortold the coming of a Messiah, who would crush Satan's head under His feet. A beautiful way to end the most theological book in the NT...with the Beginning in mind. :)