Romans 8:16-26

16For his Spirit joins with our spirit to affirm that we are God’s children.

17And since we are his children, we are his heirs. In fact, together with Christ we are heirs of God’s glory. But if we are to share his glory, we must also share his suffering.

18Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory he will reveal to us later.

19For all creation is waiting eagerly for that future day when God will reveal who his children really are.

20Against its will, all creation was subjected to God’s curse. But with eager hope,

21the creation looks forward to the day when it will join God’s children in glorious freedom from death and decay.

22For we know that all creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.

23And we believers also groan, even though we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory, for we long for our bodies to be released from sin and suffering. We, too, wait with eager hope for the day when God will give us our full rights as his adopted children, including the new bodies he has promised us.

24We were given this hope when we were saved. (If we already have something, we don’t need to hope for it.

25But if we look forward to something we don’t yet have, we must wait patiently and confidently.)

26And the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example, we don’t know what God wants us to pray for. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words.