Romans 8:4-9

⁴If we listen to his spirit in us and do whatever he says we will not listen any more to that old part of us that tells us to do bad. We will do good things, like the things in his law.

⁵Some people just think about themselves so they only do whatever makes them feel good. They let that bad part inside them be their boss and they do whatever it tells them to do. But other people think about God and his spirit and they do whatever the Holy Spirit tells them to do.

⁶If we let that bad part inside us be our boss and only do whatever makes us feel good, we will die. But if we do the things the Holy Spirit tells us, and let him control us, we will live happy, and calm and settled inside ourselves.

⁷That bad part inside us fights against God, so if we do whatever it says we don’t do the things that God says. If we are like that we can never follow God’s laws. If we live like that we can never make God happy.

⁹But I know that you aren’t like that any more. You haven’t let that bad part of you be your boss, but you have joined up with the Holy Spirit and now he lives inside you. That’s right. If people don’t have the spirit of Jesus Christ in them, they don’t belong to him.