Walking by the Spirit (Ezekiel 36:16–38; Galatians 5:16–26)
1 UDB So God will not condemn and punish those who are joined to Christ Jesus. BSB BSB: Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
2 UDB God's Spirit causes you to live in a new way because you are joined to Christ Jesus, and he has set you free from sin and death. BSB BSB: For in Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set you free from the law of sin and death.
3 UDB What we could not do through the law, God did. We could not stop sinning by following the law because of our sinful human nature. But God sent his own Son, who became human like us except he never sinned. He was punished for our sin like an offering for sin, and in that way he broke the power of sin in our lives. BSB BSB: For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful man, as an offering for sin. He thus condemned sin in the flesh,
4 UDB So we can now fulfill all that God required in his law. We do this, not by our acting the way our old evil attitude desires, but instead by living as God's Spirit desires us to live. BSB BSB: so that the righteous standard of the law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
5 UDB People who live by their evil attitudes think about those attitudes. But people who live by what God's Spirit wants think about the things of the Spirit instead. BSB BSB: Those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh; but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit.
6 UDB Those who think about and are concerned about what their evil attitude desires will not live forever. But those who want what God's Spirit desires will live forever and have peace. BSB BSB: The mind of the flesh is death, but the mind of the Spirit is life and peace,
7 UDB Let me explain this. To the extent that people want what their evil attitude desires, they are acting contrary to God. They do not obey his law. In fact, they are not even able to obey his law. BSB BSB: because the mind of the flesh is hostile to God: It does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so.
8 UDB The people who do what their evil attitude tells them cannot please God. BSB BSB: Those controlled by the flesh cannot please God.
10 UDB But since Christ is living in you by his Spirit, God views your bodies as dead, so you no longer have to sin. And he views your spirits as alive because he has put you right with himself. BSB BSB: But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness.
11 UDB God caused Jesus to live again after he died. And because his Spirit lives in you, God will also make your bodies, which now are sure to die, live again. He caused Christ to live again after he died, and he will make you live again by causing his Spirit to do it. BSB BSB: And if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit, who lives in you.
Heirs with Christ 12 UDB Therefore, my fellow believers, we have an obligation; but our obligation is not to live according to what our sinful human nature wants us to do. BSB BSB: Therefore, brothers, we have an obligation, but it is not to the flesh, to live according to it.
13 UDB If you do what your sinful human nature wants, you will surely not live forever with God. But if the Spirit stops you from doing those things, then you will live forever. BSB BSB: For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.
14 UDB We who obey the Spirit of God are God's children. BSB BSB: For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.
17 UDB Because we are God's children, we will also one day receive what God has promised us. And we will receive this together with Christ. But we must suffer for doing good as Christ did, so that God may honor us. BSB BSB: And if we are children, then we are heirs: heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ—if indeed we suffer with Him, so that we may also be glorified with Him.
Future Glory (2 Corinthians 5:1–10)
21 UDB that the things he created will one day no longer die, decay, and fall apart. He will free these things from that, so that he can do the same wonderful things for these things that he will do for his children. BSB BSB: that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.
22 UDB We know that until now it is as though all things that God created have been groaning together, and they want him to do those same wonderful things for them. But now it is just like a woman who is having the pains that come before she gives birth to a child. BSB BSB: We know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until the present time.
23 UDB Not only does all of creation groan, but we also groan inwardly. We who have God's Spirit—and he is the first of God's many gifts to us—groan while we wait eagerly for the time when we will receive our full rights as God's adopted children; that is when he will give us the gift of our new bodies. BSB BSB: Not only that, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.
24 UDB For God saved us because we had confidence in him. If we had now the things for which we have been waiting, we would not need to wait for them any longer. After all, if you possess something that you have been expecting to get, you certainly do not need to wait for it any longer. BSB BSB: For in this hope we were saved; but hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he can already see?
25 UDB But because we keep waiting expectantly to receive what we do not yet have, we wait for it eagerly and patiently. BSB BSB: But if we hope for what we do not yet see, we wait for it patiently.
26 UDB Similarly, God's Spirit helps us when we are weak. We do not know what is proper for us to pray. But God's Spirit knows; as he prays for us, he groans in a way that cannot be expressed in words. BSB BSB: In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know how we ought to pray, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groans too deep for words.
27 UDB God, who examines our inner attitude and mind, understands what his Spirit desires. His Spirit prays for us who belong to God exactly as God wants him to pray. BSB BSB: And He who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.
God Works in All Things (Ephesians 1:3–14)
28 UDB And we know that for those who love God, he works out all things that happen to them in a way that does them good. He does this for those whom he has chosen because that was what he planned to do. BSB BSB: And we know that God works all things together for the good of those who love Him, who are called according to His purpose.
29 UDB God already knew us and decided to make our character become like his Son's character. The result is that Christ is honored as God's firstborn Son among many brothers and sisters. BSB BSB: For those God foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brothers.
30 UDB And the ones God decided previously who would be like his Son, he also called them to be with him. And the ones he called to be with him, he also made them to be right with himself. And to the ones whom he has put right with himself, he also will give them honor. BSB BSB: And those He predestined, He also called; those He called, He also justified; those He justified, He also glorified.
33 UDB No one can accuse us before God of doing wrong, for he has chosen us to belong to him. He is the one who has put us right with himself. BSB BSB: Who will bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies.
34 UDB No one can condemn us any longer. Christ is the one who died for us—and more than that, he also was raised from the dead—and he is ruling with God in the place of honor, and he is the one who is pleading for us. BSB BSB: Who is there to condemn us? For Christ Jesus, who died, and more than that was raised to life, is at the right hand of God—and He is interceding for us.
More than Conquerors (Psalm 44:1–26)
35 UDB Absolutely no one and nothing can cause Christ to stop loving us—even if someone afflicts us, or even someone harms us, or even if we have nothing to eat, or even if we do not have enough clothes, or even if we live in a dangerous situation, or even if someone will kill us! BSB BSB: Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?
36 UDB Such things may happen to us, just as it is written that David said to God, "Because we are your people, others repeatedly attempt to kill us. They consider that we are only people to be killed, like a butcher considers that sheep are only animals to be slaughtered." BSB BSB: As it is written: “For Your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”
37 UDB But even though all these bad things happen to us, we win completely over these things because Christ, who loves us, helps us. BSB BSB: No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.
38 UDB I am completely convinced that neither anything from the realm of the dead, nor what happens to us while we live, nor angels, nor demons, nor present events, nor future events, nor powerful beings, BSB BSB: For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor principalities, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 UDB nor the places high above, nor the places in the deepest ocean, nor anything else that God has created can pull us apart from the love of God in Jesus Christ our Lord. BSB BSB: neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Select verses for actions: Enter goes to them and Escape comes back.