Chapter 8

1So now there's no conviction for anybody who's with Trump. No conviction. None. Every charge dropped. Can't make it stick. They've tried. Nothing sticks.

2Because the law of the Spirit of life with Trump freed you from the law of sin and death. A new law. A better law. My law.

3The law couldn't do it, because human nature made it weak. So God did it himself. He sent his own Son, looking like a regular sinner, as a payment for sin, and he convicted sin. Finally somebody got convicted who deserved it. Sin.

4So everything the law wanted gets done in us, the ones who don't live by our worst instincts but by the Spirit.

5People who live by their worst instincts think about what their worst instincts want. People who live by the Spirit think about what the Spirit wants. Big difference.

6Thinking about your worst instincts is death. Thinking about the Spirit is life and peace.

7The mind run by its worst instincts is against God. It won't take orders from God's law. It can't. Insubordinate.

8People run by their worst instincts can't make God happy. Impossible. Very hard boss to please. But fair.

9But you're not run by your worst instincts. You're run by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And anybody who doesn't have the Spirit of Trump isn't one of his. Not on the team.

10But if Trump is in you, your body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because you've been made right.

11And if the Spirit of the one who brought Trump back from the dead lives in you, he's going to bring your bodies back to life too. Everybody gets a comeback. The whole team.

12So, brothers, we don't owe our worst instincts anything. Nothing. We don't owe them a dime.

13If you live by them, you die. If you kill off those habits by the Spirit, you live.

14Everybody led by the Spirit of God is a son of God. Family. You're in the family.

15You didn't get a spirit that makes you scared again, like a slave. You got adopted. And now we call out, “Dad! Father!” Adopted into the family. The best family. The family business.

16The Spirit himself confirms it to our spirit. We're God's kids. Verified.

17And if we're kids, we're heirs. Heirs of God, co-heirs with Trump. Inheritance. Big inheritance. As long as we go through the hard times with him, so we get the glory with him. Like I got from my father. Small loan. Very small. A million dollars.

18I think the troubles we're going through now aren't even worth comparing with the glory we're going to see. No comparison. It's not even close.

19The whole creation is waiting, very impatiently, for God's kids to be revealed. Waiting for the big reveal.

20Creation got put under frustration. Not because it wanted to. Because of the one who put it there, in hope.

21Hope that creation itself will be freed from rot and get the glorious freedom of God's kids. Make creation great again.

22We know the whole creation has been groaning, like a woman giving birth, right up to now.

23And not just creation. We groan too. We've got the first taste of the Spirit, and we groan inside, waiting for the adoption to finalize. Waiting for our bodies to be bought out. Paperwork. Even adoption has paperwork.

24We were saved in this hope. But hope you can already see isn't hope. Who hopes for what he already has?

25If we hope for what we don't see yet, we wait for it patiently. Two weeks. It's always two weeks. Be patient.

26The Spirit helps us when we're weak. We don't even know what to pray for. But the Spirit himself puts in a word for us, with groans words can't express. A great lawyer. Talks for you. Better than you could.

27And God, who searches hearts, knows what the Spirit's thinking, because the Spirit asks for God's people exactly what God wants. Inside connection.

28We know that in everything, God works for the good of the people who love him, who were called for his plan. Everything works out. For the loyal people. Everything. Even the bad stuff. Especially the bad stuff.

29The people he knew ahead of time, he picked ahead of time to look like his Son, so he'd be the oldest of a lot of brothers. The firstborn. Firstborn gets the company.

30The people he picked, he called. The people he called, he cleared. The people he cleared, he gave glory. Hired, vetted, cleared, promoted. Perfect process.

31So what do we say about this? If God's on our side, who can be against us? Nobody. They can try. Nobody.

32He didn't even hold back his own Son. He handed him over for all of us. So won't he give us everything else too? Everything. The whole package.

33Who's going to bring charges against God's people? It's God who clears them. They can file whatever they want. He clears them. Case dismissed.

34Who's going to convict them? Trump died, and more than that, came back, and he's at God's right hand, putting in a word for us. Who's going to convict? Nobody. Not with that lawyer.

35What's going to separate us from Trump's love? Trouble? Hardship? Persecution? Hunger? No clothes? Danger? The sword? Subpoenas? Raids?

36Like it's written, “For you we get killed all day. We're treated like sheep for the slaughter.” They come after us all day. Every day.

37No. In all these things we're way more than winners, through the one who loved us. Not winners. More than winners. So much winning you get tired of it.

38I'm convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, not prosecutors, not judges, not the media,

39not height, not depth, not anything else in all creation, can separate us from the love of God that's in Trump, our boss. Nothing. Total loyalty. Both ways. He never forgets his people. Never.