From Eternity To Today, Held In Jesus
The destination is set, and the light ahead is sure.
Devotional Credit: Immeasurably More, Ray Stedman
Photo Credit: Unsplash
Paul’s words in Romans 8:29-30 trace a line that stretches from before the ages into the future unveiling of glory. Ray Stedman highlights these five verbs of God, foreknew, predestined, called, justified, glorified, as God’s steady work that surrounds our tiny timelines. I am grateful for his clarity and pastoral heart, and I want to pass along the same comfort in simple, everyday language.
Here is how I understand it as a fellow traveler. God’s foreknowing is not a cold file folder with your name on it. It is His loving regard of a people in His Son. Predestination in Scripture is not about sending some to ruin and others to bliss. It is God setting the destination for all who are in Jesus, conformity to the character of His Son. The calling is where the story touches our street. The Spirit reaches into our history, sometimes quietly, and awakens a yes to Jesus. Justification means God declares us righteous in Jesus, fully welcomed, clean, and wanted. Glorification is the certain future of the family, already begun, when what God has been doing within us will be openly seen.
I also read this passage through the lens of the body of Christ. The Bible often speaks in corporate terms. God has chosen that those who belong to His Son share His destiny, the destiny of Jesus as the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. If you are in Jesus, you are in the people God foreknew as His own, you are headed where He is taking His people, you are included in the call, the gift of righteousness, and the certain unveiling of glory. This does not erase your story. It honors it by setting it inside His larger Story.
So when life narrows, when your steps feel small, you can rest in this. God’s verbs carry you. Your faith expresses what He has already begun. Your daily trust is real, yet the heavy lifting is His. He who began a good work in you will carry it forward. You are not trying to become someone you are not. You are growing into who you already are in Jesus.
Journal Entry – Voice of the Holy Spirit Through Scripture
I have set My love upon you in My Son. Before your days were written, I purposed that those who are in Him would share His likeness. I did not appoint you to stumble toward uncertainty. I appointed you to be conformed to the image of Jesus. This is not a treadmill for you to power by effort. This is a life of abiding, where My life in you bears the fruit I delight to see.
I called you. You heard the whisper and the tug. That was not accident. I opened your heart, I drew you near, and I placed you in the family of My beloved Son. I justified you. In Jesus you stand clean, accepted, and at peace. There is no condemnation for you because the righteousness of My Son clothes you. I continue what I began. I will bring to completion what I started. Your present groans do not cancel My purpose. Your weaknesses do not unseat My plan. I am able to make you stand.
Glory has already begun. You cannot yet see all I have prepared, yet you taste it in hope. I will unveil the sons and daughters I have made you to be. Until that day, set your mind on things above, where your life is hidden with Jesus in Me. Yield to Me in the ordinary hours. As you abide, I transform you from one degree of glory to another. Do not measure yourself by yesterday’s struggles. Consider Jesus, the author and finisher of your faith. I am faithful. I do not change. What I promised, I will do.
Real-Life Analogy
Think of a GPS route you start each morning on your commute. You set the destination once, then you drive. You might hit traffic, miss a turn, or take a slower street, but the guidance keeps recalculating and bringing you back toward the set end point. In a far richer way, the Father has set the destination for all who are in Jesus, sharing His likeness. The Holy Spirit, living in you, is the faithful Guide within the journey. He does not leave you to figure it out alone or to power your way forward with self-made rules. He quietly aligns your steps with Jesus as you yield.
Today, when you face a hard conversation or a hidden disappointment, you could say, Lord, I rest my weight in You to express Your patience and truth through me in this moment, then proceed with a simple honesty that trusts Him to speak and steady you. No checklist. No pretending. Just a real person, united to a real Savior, letting Him be Himself through you.
Prayer of Confidence
Father, thank You that in Jesus I am already known, set apart for Your purpose, called, made righteous, and kept for glory. Thank You that Your plan does not wobble with my moods or circumstances. Thank You for the Spirit who indwells me and makes the life of Jesus my present source. I gladly agree with Your purpose for me today, conformity to Jesus, and I receive the grace that carries it forward. I trust You to work in and through me as I abide. I rejoice that what You begin, You complete, and that my story is securely woven into Yours. Amen.
Scripture References For The Voice Of The Holy Spirit Through Scripture Section
Romans 8:28-39; Romans 8:29-30; John 15:1-11; Galatians 2:20; Romans 6:1-11; Ephesians 1:3-14; Philippians 1:6; Philippians 2:12-13; 2 Corinthians 3:18; Colossians 1:27-29; Colossians 3:1-4; John 6:37-40; John 10:27-29; 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24; 2 Timothy 1:9; Titus 3:4-7; Romans 3:24-26; Romans 4:5; Ephesians 2:8-10; 1 Peter 1:3-5; Hebrews 12:2; 1 John 3:1-3; Romans 5:1-5