Are you weary from life's unrelenting challenges? Do you find yourself groaning inwardly, longing for relief and redemption? Join us as we delve into Romans 8:18-25 and uncover the profound hope that anchors us in the midst of suffering. Discover how the promise of future glory far outweighs our present pain and how even creation itself longs for this liberation. We will explore the powerful role of the Holy Spirit as our comforter and guide, helping us navigate our trials with patience and expectation. Be inspired by seeing your struggles through the lens of God's grand redemption plan and leave with a renewed sense of hope and purpose. Let your faith be deepened and your spirit uplifted through the promises of God, the empowerment of the Spirit, and the hope that goes beyond this life.

Romans 8:17-18 – But if we are to share his glory, we must also share his suffering. Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory he will reveal to us later. 

2 Corinthians 4:17-18 – For our present troubles are small and won’t last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever! So we don’t look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever.

1 Peter 4:13 – Instead, be very glad—for these trials make you partners with Christ in his suffering, so that you will have the wonderful joy of seeing his glory when it is revealed to all the world.

“Christianity teaches that, contra fatalism, suffering is overwhelming; contra Buddhism, suffering is real; contra karma, suffering is often unfair; but contra secularism, suffering is meaningful. There is a purpose to it, and if faced rightly, it can drive us like a nail deep into the love of God and into more stability and spiritual power than you can imagine.” –Timothy Keller

“Suffering can refine us rather than destroy us because God himself walks with us in the fire.” –Timothy Keller

“While other worldviews lead us to sit in the midst of life’s joys, foreseeing the coming sorrows, Christianity empowers its people to sit in the midst of this world’s sorrows, tasting the coming joy.” –Timothy Keller

Romans 8:20-21 – But with eager hope, the creation looks forward to the day when it will join God’s children in glorious freedom from death and decay.

Genesis 3:17-18 – The ground is cursed because of you. All your life you will struggle to scratch a living from it. It will grow thorns and thistles for you, though you will eat of its grains.

Isaiah 65:17-18 – Look! I am creating new heavens and a new earth, and no one will even think about the old ones anymore. Be glad; rejoice forever in my creation!

Isaiah 11:6-9 – In that day the wolf and the lamb will live together; the leopard will lie down with the baby goat. The calf and the yearling will be safe with the lion…the lion will eat hay like a cow. The baby will play safely near the hole of a cobra. Yes, a little child will put its hand in a nest of deadly snakes without harm. Nothing will hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain, for as the waters fill the sea, so the earth will be filled with people who know the Lord.

Matthew 6:10 – May your Kingdom come soon. May your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.

Romans 8:23 – And we believers also groan, even though we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory, for we long for our bodies to be released from sin and suffering. We, too, wait with eager hope for the day when God will give us our full rights as his adopted children, including the new bodies he has promised us.

2 Corinthians 5:4 – While we live in these earthly bodies, we groan and sigh, but it’s not that we want to die and get rid of these bodies that clothe us. Rather, we want to put on our new bodies so that these dying bodies will be swallowed up by life. 

Revelation 21:3-5 – Look, God’s home is now among his people! He will live with them, and they will be his people. God himself will be with them. He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever. And the one sitting on the throne said, “Look, I am making everything new!”

Hebrews 10:35-37 – So do not throw away this confident trust in the Lord. Remember the great reward it brings you! Patient endurance is what you need now, so that you will continue to do God’s will. Then you will receive all that he has promised. For in just a little while, the Coming One will come and not delay.

Romans 8:24-25 – We were given this hope when we were saved. (If we already have something, we don’t need to hope for it. But if we look forward to something we don’t yet have, we must wait patiently and confidently.)

Romans 5:3-5 – We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love.

Hebrews 6:18-19 – This hope is a strong and trustworthy anchor for our souls. It leads us through the curtain into God’s inner sanctuary. Jesus has already gone in there for us. 

Romans 15:4 – And the Scriptures give us hope and encouragement as we wait patiently for God’s promises to be fulfilled.

“If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world." -C.S. Lewis