3 Day Bible Reading Plan - “Trust His Translation, Not Your Petition”

Written By Gunnar Simonsen

Paul didn’t get the relief he requested, but he got the power he wanted, needed, and that the Holy Spirit asked for. The Holy Spirit translated Paul’s prayer to align with God’s will. The prayers the Holy Spirit makes through us and for us are always answered with a “yes.” A “yes” that we will experience the goodness of being more like Christ and making it to the end. The Holy Spirit prays better than you, therefore trust His translation, not your petition. - Pastor Paul Crandell, 2/8/26

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Day 1

    • When you find yourself overwhelmed or unsure how to pray in a moment of deep weakness or suffering, how does it comfort you to know that the Holy Spirit is actively helping you by interceding with groanings too deep for words?

    • How might recognizing the Spirit's role in your prayer life, interceding even when you have no words, deepen your trust in the Trinity's intimate involvement in your spiritual struggles and growth?

    • When you feel spiritually weak or inarticulate before God, how does this passage challenge you to rely less on your own eloquence or understanding in prayer and more on the Spirit's perfect advocacy on your behalf?

Pause and Reflect: Heavenly Father, in my weakness when words fail me and I don’t even know what to pray, thank You for sending Your Holy Spirit to intercede for me with groanings too deep for words, perfectly aligning my heart with Your will. Search my heart, Lord, and let the Spirit’s prayers on my behalf bring me the peace, strength, and guidance I need today, trusting that You hear and answer according to Your perfect purpose.

“Above all, over all, and through all our praying there must be the Name of Christ, which includes the power of His blood, the energy of His intercession, the fullness of the enthroned Christ. 'Whatsoever ye ask in my name that will I do.' The Holy Spirit reveals them to us perpetually. 'The Spirit himself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.' How burdened these intercessions of the Holy Spirit! How profoundly He feels for us! How deeply He sympathizes with us! How intelligently He prays for us! How divinely He prays for us! How perfectly He prays for us! How prevalently He prays for us!” - E.M. Bounds

Day 2

    • When difficult or painful circumstances come into your life, how does the assurance that God is actively working all things together for your good as someone who loves Him, shift your perspective from despair to trust in His purposeful sovereignty?

    • How does knowing that you have been called according to God's eternal purpose give you confidence that your life is not random or accidental, but part of a divine plan designed specifically for your ultimate benefit?

    • In what ways have you seen or can you imagine God using even the hardest trials in your past to shape you more into the likeness of Christ?

Pause and Reflect: Lord, thank You that in every circumstance, whether joyful or painful, You are sovereignly working all things together for my good because I love You and have been called according to Your eternal purpose. Conform me day by day to the image of Your Son Jesus, my firstborn Brother, so that I grow more like Him and trust Your perfect plan even when I can't see the outcome

“Are believers said to be elect?—it is 'through sanctification of the Spirit.' Are they predestinated?—it is 'to be conformed to the image of God's Son'. Are they chosen?—it is 'that they may be holy'. Are they called?—it is 'with a holy calling.' Are they afflicted?—it is that they may be 'partakers of holiness'. Jesus is a complete Savior. He does not merely take away the guilt of a believer's sin, He does more—He breaks the power (1 Peter 1:2; Romans 8:29; Ephesians 1:4; Hebrews 12:10).” - J.C. Ryle

Day 3

    • When you consider the "golden chain" in Romans 8:30, how does this unbroken sequence give you unshakable confidence that if you are truly in Christ today, your salvation is secure from eternity past to eternity future?

    • Since glorification is spoken of in the past tense ("he also glorified"), even though it awaits the future, how does this certainty change the way you face current struggles, trials, or the reality of death?

    • When life feels uncertain or your spiritual progress seems slow, how might Romans 8:30 remind you that God's purpose for you is not fragile or incomplete?

Pause and Reflect: Lord, thank You that in Your unchanging purpose, if You have predestined me, You have also called me, justified me through Christ, and will certainly glorify me, securing every step of my salvation forever. Strengthen my faith today to rest fully in this golden chain of Your grace, trusting that what You have begun in me You will one day finish in me. Amen.

“But the groaning is not hopeless despair; it is the earnest expectation of the creature waiting for the manifestation of the sons of God. The whole creation groans and travails in pain together until now; and not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body. The apostle Paul, in the passage before us, is speaking of the future glory of the sons of God as a revelation. They are sons now, but their sonship is veiled; it is hidden from the world, and often from themselves. But the day is coming when it shall be revealed in its full splendor. That revelation will be the manifestation of the glory which they already possess in Christ, but which is not yet apparent to the eye of sense.” - Alexander Maclaren

Gunnar Simonsen
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3 Day Bible Reading Plan - “Speak to Your Heart Then Follow It”