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And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. Romans 8:28 (KJVS)

Some things about God we know and other things we believe. I believe in the things I know God can do, things God has done according to His word and I am walking in faith for the physical manifestation. However the things we know are absolute facts seen, heard and known. I know my name, I know my children, I know where I live and I know these things because they are real, they are facts and they exist. Paul wrote a letter to the church in Phillipi from a prison cell in Rome saying his primary pursuit in life was to know Christ (Phil 3:10, ‘that I may know Him). My bible commentary said, “Paul’s desire to know Christ sprang from no other motive but to enjoy Him. He wanted Christ for Christ’s sake, not his own. He was a lover of God, not a user of God. And whether he moved in Christ’s resurrection power or was stretched to his last ounce of endurance, it mattered little. For Paul, it was all a part of the most fulfilling journey of all: truly knowing God.’

So with this heart and persuasion Paul says, ‘we know something.’ We know (not believe) that all things (past, present and future) work together for good. In his letter to the saints in Rome, Paul uses the word ‘know’  eleven times.. Sometime he is questioning saying, know you not; almost in the same way we would say today to someone, don’t you know or how come you don’t know? In this kind of questioning there is an element of surprise that what is being said is not known. For example he says in Romans 6:3, “Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?” The amplified brings out the surprise element using the words, ‘are you ignorant?’ It says, “Are you ignorant of the fact that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death?” However, in five other places he uses the word, ‘know’ as we see it in Romans 8:28, as a positive affirmative statement of fact of something that we all should know. In verse 22 for example he says, “we know that the whole creation groans and travails in pain together until now.”

Paul says, “we know that all things work together for good.” If they knew it then we should also know it today by accepting it as a statement of truth (no matter the circumstances) and allowing it to govern our thoughts and our life.

Paul had some challenging times in Rome but he held on to what he knew and God came through for him. However the verse does not stop there. The next is the qualification criteria. Remember Paul was writing to believers. So who qualifies? 1. Them that love God. 2. Them who are called according to His purpose. Gods purpose is our eternal salvation and if you are saved, born again then you are the them called according to His purpose. So let’s think about the believers that love God because the bible shows us three ways we love God.

1)  By loving with all that you are – Mark 12:30: And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment.

2) By loving your brother (and sister) – 1 John 4:20: If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?

3) By keeping His commandments – 1 John 5:2-3: By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.So another way to say Romans 8:28 is that, ‘as long as we are saved and we love God, we know that all things past, present and future work together for good.’

I encourage you to agree with and declare your knowledge of what the early apostles knew; and to keep loving God everyday by keeping His commandments, loving your brother/sister in the Lord and by loving Him completely with everything that you are. Yes sometimes we will fall short, but quickly readjust and continue loving Him. 1 Corinthians 8:3 Says, “But if any man love God, the same is known of him.”

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