Every Detail Worked

²⁶Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. ²⁷And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. ²⁸And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. ²⁹ foreknew he alsoFor those whom he predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. ³⁰And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.

[ESV]

Footnotes:

1. Romans 8:28 Some manuscripts God works all things together for good, or God works in all things for the good
   

Cross references:

1. Romans 8:28 : Ezra 8:22; Eccles 8:12
   
2. Romans 8:28 : Romans 9:24; 1 Cor 1:9; 7:15, 17; Gal 1:15; 5:8; Eph 4:1, 4; 2 Tim 1:9
   
3. Romans 8:29 : Romans 11:2; 1 Pet 1:2
   
4. Romans 8:29 : 1 Cor 2:7; Eph 1:5, 11; Romans 9:23
   
5. Romans 8:29 : Phil 3:21; 1 Cor 15:49; Col 3:10; 1 John 3:2
   
6. Romans 8:29 : Col 1:15, 18; Heb 1:6; Rev 1:5
   
7. Romans 8:30 : 1 Cor 6:11
   
8. Romans 8:30 : John 17:22; Heb 2:10
   

^26-28Meanwhile, the moment we get tired in the waiting, God's Spirit is right alongside helping us along. If we don't know how or what to pray, it doesn't matter. He does our praying in and for us, making prayer out of our wordless sighs, our aching groans. He knows us far better than we know ourselves, knows our pregnant condition, and keeps us present before God. That's why we can be so sure that every detail in our lives of love for God is worked into something good.

^29-30God knew what he was doing from the very beginning. He decided from the outset to shape the lives of those who love him along the same lines as the life of his Son. The Son stands first in the line of humanity he restored. We see the original and intended shape of our lives there in him. After God made that decision of what his children should be like, he followed it up by calling people by name. After he called them by name, he set them on a solid basis with himself. And then, after getting them established, he stayed with them to the end, gloriously completing what he had begun.

[The Message]

Romans 8