Today's meditation is based on Romans 8 from the Passion Translation

The case is closed. There remains no accusing voice of condemnation against me because I am joined in life-union with Jesus, the Anointed One. For the “law” of the Spirit of life flowing through the anointing of Jesus has liberated me from the “law” of sin and death. God achieved what the law was unable to accomplish, because the law was limited by the weakness of human nature.

Yet God sent me his Son in human form to identify with my human weakness. Clothed with humanity, God’s Son gave his body to be the sin-offering so that God could once and for all condemn the guilt and power of sin. So now every righteous requirement of the law can be fulfilled through the Anointed One living his life in me. And I am free to live, not according to my flesh, but by the dynamic power of the Holy Spirit!

I am no longer motivated by the flesh to pursue whatever seems to benefit me. I now live by the impulses of the Holy Spirit and am motivated to pursue spiritual realities. For the sense and reason of the flesh is death, but the mind-set controlled by the Spirit finds life and peace.

In fact, the mind-set focused on the flesh fights God’s plan and refuses to submit to his direction, because it cannot! No matter how hard I might try, if I am controlled by the flesh, God finds no pleasure with me. So I allow the Spirit of Christ to empower my life. I am not dominated by the flesh but by the Spirit. I am of the Spirit and joined to the Spirit of the Anointed One.

Christ lives his life in me. And even though my body may be dead because of the effects of sin, his life-giving Spirit imparts life to me because I am fully accepted by God. God raised Jesus to life! And since God’s Spirit of Resurrection lives in me, he will also raise my dying body to life by the same Spirit that breathes life into me!

The flesh has no claims on me at all, and I have no further obligation to live in obedience to it. When I lived controlled by the flesh, I was about to die. But the life of the Spirit put to death the corrupt ways of the flesh, and I have tasted his abundant life.

I am a mature child of God, moved by the impulses of the Holy Spirit. I did not receive the “spirit of religious duty,” leading me back into the fear of never being good enough. But I have received the “Spirit of full acceptance,” enfolding me into the family of God. I will never feel orphaned, for as he rises up within me, my spirit joins him in saying the words of tender affection, “Beloved Abba Father!” For the Holy Spirit makes God’s fatherhood real to me as he whispers into my innermost being, “You are God’s beloved child!”

And since I am his true child, I qualify to share all his treasures, for indeed, I am an heir of God himself. And since I am joined to Christ, I also inherit all that he is and all that he has. I will experience being co-glorified with him because I have accepted his suffferings as my own.

I am convinced that any suffering I endure is less than nothing compared to the magnitude of glory that is about to be unveiled within me. The entire universe is standing on tiptoe, yearning to see the unveiling of God’s glorious sons and daughters! For against its will the universe itself has had to endure the empty futility resulting from the consequences of human sin. But now, with eager expectation, all creation longs for freedom from its slavery to decay and to experience with us the wonderful freedom coming to God’s children. I am aware of the universal agony and groaning of creation, as if it were in the contractions of labor for childbirth. And it’s not just creation. Having already experienced the firstfruits of the Spirit, I also inwardly groan as I passionately long to experience my full status as God’s child—including my physical body being transformed. For this is the hope of my salvation.

But hope means that I must trust and wait for what is still unseen. For why would I need to hope for s