Day 38 is ready, and today’s lesson takes one of the most familiar verses in Scripture and opens it up in a way that may genuinely surprise you.

Romans 8:28 is often quoted as comfort in hard times, and rightly so. But have you ever stopped to ask what Paul actually means by “good?”

Today’s lesson answers that question, and the answer changes how you interpret suffering, failure, loss, and even the consequences of your own mistakes and sins.

Joseph said it plainly after everything his brothers put him through: “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good.” Today you will see why that statement is not just biography. It is your story too.

If you are new here, welcome. We are in the final two days of our 40-day journey through Romans 6, 7, and 8. We will be offering this study again and would love for you to join us from the beginning. All previous lessons are available in the archive.

The Day 38 study guide is here: https://forms.gle/2f4BkXdVhdLZXuPw7

Here is that link once more when you are ready: https://forms.gle/2f4BkXdVhdLZXuPw7

Jody and I are grateful for every one of you pressing forward with us to the end.

Mike

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit mikecleveland.substack.com/subscribe

Day 37 is ready.

Have you ever found yourself in a situation so overwhelming that you could not form a coherent prayer? You knew you needed God. You knew you should pray. But the words would not come.

Romans 8:26-27 speaks directly into that moment, and what Paul reveals there has the power to change the way you approach prayer for the rest of your life. Today’s lesson uncovers a staggering reality about what is happening on your behalf right now, at this very moment, whether you are praying well or barely managing a whisper.

If you are new here, welcome. We are in the final three days of our 40-day journey through Romans 6, 7, and 8. We will be offering this study again and would love for you to join us from the beginning next time. All previous lessons are available in the archive.

The Day 37 study guide is here: https://forms.gle/BgaHqXqzjcU6broH7

As usual, I really look forward to getting your answers. I learn a lot from you in them.

Here is that link once more: https://forms.gle/BgaHqXqzjcU6broH7

Jody and I are grateful for every one of you!

Mike

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit mikecleveland.substack.com/subscribe

Day 36 is ready, and today’s lesson gives every honest believer something they may not have known they needed: permission.

Permission to acknowledge the ache of living in a broken world without concluding that something has gone spiritually wrong. Romans 8:18-25 shows us that Paul himself carried this inner weight, and that the Spirit dwelling in him did not remove it. What the Spirit gave him instead was perspective, hope, and the confident assurance that what God has promised through Jesus Christ will absolutely be delivered.

If you are new to this Substack, welcome. We are in the final stretch of a 40-day journey through Romans 6, 7, and 8, and there are just four days remaining. We will be offering this study again in the future, and we would love for you to join us from the very beginning next time. In the meantime, all previous lessons are available in the archive.

The Day 36 study guide is here: https://forms.gle/RXSJyqBaVU2AjYCx5

As always, earlier lessons are available in the archive if you are catching up. And when you are ready for today, here is that link once more:

https://forms.gle/RXSJyqBaVU2AjYCx5

Jody and I are grateful for every one of you, new and longtime alike.

Mike

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit mikecleveland.substack.com/subscribe

Day 35 is ready, and today’s lesson is among the most tender and gospel-rich we have covered in this entire study.

Romans 8:14-17 takes us into territory that many believers know about in their heads but might not have fully inhabited in their hearts. Paul draws a sharp contrast between two ways of living in God’s house, one marked by performance and fear, the other by intimacy and security. And then he points us to something in the gospel that changes everything: the very word we are given to cry out to God, Abba, Father, is the word Jesus surrendered at the cross so that we could have it forever.

If you are new to this Substack, welcome. We are currently on Day 35 of a 40-day journey through Romans 6, 7, and 8. We will be wrapping up in just a few days, and we plan to run this study again in the future. We would love for you to be part of it from the beginning next time. In the meantime, all previous lessons are available in the archive if you would like to catch up or simply explore what we have been studying together.

The Day 35 study guide is here: https://forms.gle/L15PpeyUS9k2GAzW9

And here is that link once more for those ready to begin: https://forms.gle/L15PpeyUS9k2GAzW9

Jody and I are grateful for each one of you on this journey with us.

Mike

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit mikecleveland.substack.com/subscribe

Day 34 is ready, and today’s lesson may be the most practically confrontational we have covered in all of Romans 8.

Paul has established that the Spirit lives in you and resurrection power is at work within you. Now he draws the conclusion that changes everything about how you engage with sin: you do not owe it anything. Not a moment of your time. Not a response to its demands. Not a compromise with its insistence.

And more than that, Paul shows us that the goal is never to simply knock sin back. The goal is to put it to death entirely, by the Spirit’s power, following the model of the cross itself.

The Day 34 study guide is here: https://forms.gle/R4QvRYL3ZYVPoeU4A

The questions today follow Romans 8:12-13 carefully and build toward the gospel heart of the lesson, that everything Christ endured on the cross, He endured for you, and that changes both the motivation and the method for dealing with sin.

As always, earlier lessons are available in the archive if you are catching up. And when you are ready for today, here is that link once more:

https://forms.gle/R4QvRYL3ZYVPoeU4A

Jody and I are grateful for each of you pressing forward with us.

Mike

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit mikecleveland.substack.com/subscribe

You cannot see electricity. You cannot touch it or hold it.

But flip a light switch and you know instantly whether power is flowing through the wires. The room either floods with light or it stays dark. No ambiguity. No guessing.

The Holy Spirit works the same way. Romans 8:9-11 gives us specific, biblical ways to look for the evidence, and then closes with something that should stop every believer in their tracks: the Spirit living in you right now is the same Spirit who raised Jesus Christ from the dead. Not a similar spirit. Not a lesser version. The same one.

Today’s study guide is here: https://forms.gle/nN4gsmTT995bFphV6

The questions today follow the passage carefully and build toward that stunning truth. Give them the attention they deserve.

If you are catching up, all previous lessons are in the archive. And here is the link one more time:

https://forms.gle/nN4gsmTT995bFphV6

Jody and I are thankful for each of you.

Mike

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit mikecleveland.substack.com/subscribe

Day 32 is ready, and today’s lesson is among the most practically useful we have covered in this entire study.

Romans 8:5-8 gets down to something very specific: your thought life. Where your mind habitually goes shapes everything about how you experience your days, your relationships, your struggles, and your relationship with God.

Paul is not speaking in abstractions here. He is describing something you can observe in yourself today, right now, by paying attention to where your mind naturally drifts when nothing is demanding your attention. Today’s lesson names what that reveals and shows you what to do about it.

The Day 32 study guide is here: https://forms.gle/wpSSsPvpUSpybAzD8

Take your time with each question today, particularly the final one, which asks you to think concretely about what this passage looks like in the ordinary moments of your daily life.

As always, earlier lessons are available in the archive if you are catching up. And when you are ready for today, here is that link once more:

https://forms.gle/wpSSsPvpUSpybAzD8

Jody and I are grateful you are pressing in with us.

Mike

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit mikecleveland.substack.com/subscribe

Day 31 is ready, and today we step into new territory.

Romans 8 has arrived, and with it a shift that changes everything about how you understand your daily walk with God.

We have spent considerable time in Romans 7 learning what the law reveals, what sin exploits, and what the flesh cannot produce.

Today Paul turns the corner and shows us what God did in response to all of that, and the answer is not a better system or a more demanding standard. It is a Person, a sacrifice, and a power that works from the inside out. Today’s study guide follows the flow of Romans 8:1-4 carefully.

The Day 31 study guide is here: https://forms.gle/zbSWtsg1pnJQrAKJ9

As always, earlier lessons are available in the archive if you are catching up. And when you are ready for today, here is that link once more:

https://forms.gle/zbSWtsg1pnJQrAKJ9

Jody and I are grateful you are pressing into this with us. The gospel truth, and its application, only gets richer from here.

Mike

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit mikecleveland.substack.com/subscribe

Day 30 is ready, and today we stand at one of the most significant turning points in Paul’s entire letter to the Romans.

We have traveled through some of the most searching territory in all of Scripture, and today the landscape changes. Paul has brought us through the inner conflict, the desperate cry, the rescue, and the remaining tension of unredeemed flesh.

And now, with one opening word of Romans 8, everything changes. Today’s lesson looks back at where we have been and forward at where we are going, and the study guide reflects that two-part movement in a format you have not seen before in this study.

The Day 30 study guide is here: https://forms.gle/xp3rH2zdo8M4Lbj19

Take your time with both sections today. The looking back questions are worth thinking about carefully, and the looking forward questions open up ground that will carry you through everything that remains in this journey.

As always, earlier lessons are available in the archive if you are catching up. And when you are ready for today, here is that link once more:

https://forms.gle/xp3rH2zdo8M4Lbj19

Jody and I are grateful you are in this with us. Thirty days in, and the richest truth is just ahead.

Mike

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit mikecleveland.substack.com/subscribe

Day 29 is ready, and today’s lesson answers a question that troubles a great many sincere believers.

Paul has just shouted his great celebration, “Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!” and then in the very next breath adds something that stops most readers in their tracks. He describes himself as simultaneously serving God’s law with his mind and experiencing the pull of sin in his flesh.

Has the rescue failed? Is something wrong with him? Is something wrong with you? With me? Today’s lesson answers that question directly, honestly, and with a great deal of pastoral care. If you have ever wondered why genuine rescue and genuine struggle seem to coexist in your daily experience, this is the lesson for you.

The Day 29 study guide is here: https://forms.gle/X6rV6c1pFimcfGdBA

Take your time with each question today. They move through some important distinctions that are worth considering carefully before you write.

As always, earlier lessons are available in the archive if you are catching up. And when you are ready for today, here is that link once more:

https://forms.gle/X6rV6c1pFimcfGdBA

Jody and I are grateful you are pressing in with us.

Mike

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit mikecleveland.substack.com/subscribe