I’ve been reading Romans 8, my favorite chapter of the Bible, for the past week or so during my morning devotion time. I was listening to a sermon by Charles Stanley once where he said that sometimes God will direct you to a particular passage and you don’t understand what you’re supposed to get out of it yet, but you stay there until you do.

Romans 8 has been that for me. I know there are beautifully promises there, such as verse 28, “And God works all things together for good…” But tonight the chapter spoke to me in a different way.

In verse 26-27, Paul says “In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God.”

And then later on, in verse 34, he comes back to this theme of intercession, this time with Jesus: “Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.”

I can put a lot of pressure on myself. I expect myself to know and understand everything, in every situation. I am afraid of messing up, of making a mistake, of doing something wrong, of going down the wrong path.

I was journaling about this tendency tonight, and asking the Lord to show me the way out from under this.

He reminded me of these passages from Romans 8, and suddenly, it clicked.

I don’t need to worry about doing everything perfectly, or understanding each situation perfectly, or knowing what the end result is. He is not standing over me condemning me, in fact, He’s fighting FOR me.

When the hurts of life or the uncertainties are so great that my heart feels heavy, His Spirit steps right in. He says to my spirit, “You’re a child of God, Jacklyn,” and then He starts interceding for me, right then, when I don’t even know what to pray for. He says to me that I don’t need to know, don’t need to do the endless striving for certainty, because He knows, and He’s taking it to my Abba. The Holy Spirit looks over all the cares of my heart, even the tiniest details, and just starts praying for God’s will to be done, starts expressing my feelings more eloquently than even I ever could, and starts asking for what I need before I even know what that is. He carries my heart to the Father.

And Jesus? What He said in John 3:17 is true – He didn’t come to condemn, but to save. And He continues to act on my behalf before the throne of His Father. He too takes my heart and pleads on my behalf before the Father, for whatever it is that I need. All of it, the good and the bad, He brings before Him, and intercedes in every issue, every situation, for my good. For my betterment. For my healing and wholeness. For my heart.

And my Father? He says He loves me as He loves His Son. John 17:23 – “Then the world will know that You sent Me and have loved them even as You have loved Me.” And He says He will work all things together for my good, just as He did for His Son.

There is truly no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. He has paid it all so that we can walk this life with Him. Walk in freedom today, because He truly does have it covered.