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Suppose a person never learns about the sealing and intercession of the Spirit. This individual thinks that salvation security resides in self, not in God. That prayer power depends on the person, not the Spirit. What kind of life will this person lead? A parched and prayer-less one.

But what about the person who believes in the work of the Spirit? Suppose you let the Spirit saturate you with this assurance. After all, “we can’t round up enough containers to hold everything God generously pours into our lives through the Holy Spirit!” (Romans 5:5). Your shoulders will lift as you release the buckling weight of self-salvation. Your knees will bend as you discover the buoyant power of praying in the Spirit. New beginnings, higher walk, deeper prayers. And, most of all, a quiet confidence that comes from knowing it’s not up to you.

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Romans 8:26–27 says, “The Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words. And the Father who knows all hearts knows what the Spirit is saying, for the Spirit pleads for us believers in harmony with God’s own will.”

The impoverished orphan of Russia, the distraught widow of the battlefield, the aging saint in the convalescent home. They may think they have no voice, no clout, no influence, but they have a friend. They have a counselor, a comforter—the blessed Spirit of God, who speaks the language of heaven in heaven.

None of us pray as much as we should, but all of us pray more than we think because the Holy Spirit turns our sighs into petitions and tears into entreaties. He speaks for you and he protects you. And he makes sure you are heard, he makes sure you get home.

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“The love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us” (Romans 5:5). Note the preposition of. The Holy Spirit pours the love of God into our hearts, not love for God. God hands a bucket of love to the Spirit and instructs, “Douse their hearts.”

There are moments when the Spirit enchants us with sweet rhapsody. You belong to the Father. Signed, sealed, and soon-to-be delivered. Been a while since you heard him whisper words of assurance? Then tell him. He’s listening to you, and he’s speaking for you. Romans 8:26 says, “The Spirit comes to the aid of our weakness” Weak bodies, weak wills, weakened resolves. Whether we are feeble of the soul or body or both, how good to know it’s not up to us. Verse 26 of Romans 8 says, “The Spirit himself is pleading for us.”

Listen to Today’s Devotion

Your Father has no intention of letting you fall. You can’t see him, but he is present. He is “able to keep you from falling and to present you before his glory without fault and with unspeakable joy” (Jude 24). Drink deeply from this truth. Does God want you living in fear? No! Just the opposite. “The Spirit we received,” according to Romans 8:15-16 “does not make us slaves again to fear; it makes us children of God. With that Spirit we cry out, ‘Father.’ And the Spirit himself joins with our spirits to say we are God’s children.”

What an intriguing statement. Deep within you God’s Spirit confirms with your spirit that you belong to him. Beneath the vitals of the heart, God’s Spirit whispers, “You’re mine. I bought you, and I sealed you, and no one can take you.” Isn’t that great news!

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God never promises the absence of distress on your new-beginning journey, but he does promise the assuring presence of his Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit invisibly, yet indispensably, serves as a rudder for the ship of your soul, keeping you afloat and on track. This is no solo journey that you’re on. The Spirit seals you. To protect a letter, you seal the envelope. Sealing declares ownership and secures contents.

When you accepted Christ, God sealed you with the Spirit. Ephesians 1:13 says, “When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit.” When hell’s interlopers come seeking you to snatch you from God, the seal turns them away. He bought you, he owns you, he protects you. God paid too high a price to leave you unguarded. You have the promise and presence of the Holy Spirit.

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If you underline any passage in the book of Job, underline this verse: “I had heard about you before, but now I have seen you” (Job 42:5). Job sees God—and that is enough. But it isn’t enough for God. The years to come find Job with his health restored. His lap is once again full of children and grandchildren. A new beginning indeed.

If Job ever wonders why God doesn’t bring back the children he has taken away, he doesn’t ask. Maybe he knows that his children could never be happier than they are in the presence of this One he has seen so briefly. Something tells me that Job would do it all again if that’s what it would take to hear God’s voice and stand in his presence. For God gave Job more than Job ever dreamed. God gave Job himself.

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Listen to Today’s Devotion

Consider the words Job said to God: “I had heard about you before, but now I have seen you (Job 42:5).

You can use the book of Job as evidence that God gives us questions and no answers. But to do so, you need to cut out the rest of the book of Job, for that’s not how Job heard it. All his life Job had been a good man. All his life he had believed in God, but in the storm Job saw God.

He saw hope, lover, destroyer, giver, taker, dreamer, deliverer. Job saw the tender anger of a God whose unending love is often received with a peculiar mistrust. Job stood as a blade of grass against the consuming fire of God’s splendor. Job’s demands melted like wax as God pulled back the curtain and heaven’s light fell uneclipsed across the earth.

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