Are You Born Again?

This is not some esoteric, theological, uninterpretable question with some ulterior meaning.
Are you born again? Yes or no, that is all that needs to be said. If the answer is yes, then a confident smile should be seen on your face. If the answer is full of explanations such as, 'I go to this church', or 'My family history has been in a certain denomination', or 'I believe there is a God', or 'I have a bible' ..... and so on; then the need to get this eternal question answered is of high priority. 2 Corinthians 6:2 says, '...behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.' Praise the Lord! There is good news in the third chapter of the book of John for you today.

In the gospel of John 3:1-21, Jesus is having a conversation with a Pharisee leader named Nicodemus. In John 3:3 Jesus says, 'Verily, verily, I say unto you, except a man be born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God.'  The Kingdom of God does not make sense to our five natural senses or to our mind. Being born again is what happens to our spirit on the inside. In the miracle of the new birth, the Holy Spirit recreates your spirit (the real you) into a new creation. 2 Corinthians 5:17 says, 'Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creation: old things are past away; behold, all things are become new.' That is not just made over, but made totally brand new. You are not just a old sinner saved by grace. You are saved by grace through faith, and now you are more than a over-comer in Christ. Now you have the very life and nature of God in you.

Nicodemus could not understand this truth with his highly trained religious mind. Nicodemus's spirit was not reborn, or made new. If it had been, then the reality of the kingdom of God would not have been a mystery to him. We could say that he did not have his radio (or spirit) tuned to the God station. In John 3:6 Jesus says, 'That which is born of the flesh is flesh: and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.'  You cannot contact God in fellowship using your mind only. God is a spirit, not a state of mind or a feeling. In John 4:24 Jesus says, 'God is a spirit; and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth.'  Remember that we are created in the image and likeness of God (Genesis 1:26). God is spirit, and so are we. We are either spiritually dead or spiritually alive in Christ.

You may be asking, how do I become born again? Romans 10:9-10 says, 'That if you shall confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, and shall believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved. For with the heart, man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.'  Think of your relationship with God like a partnership. We do the natural and God does the supernatural. In the new birth, we believe with our heart, and confess with our mouth Jesus is Lord and then we receive righteousness and salvation from God. Second Corinthians 5:21 says, 'For he has made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.'  You have to believe the Word of God in your heart by faith, and believe that it is the truth. Then you confess with our mouth: "Father God, I come to You in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ. I repent and ask You to forgive me of my sin and to cleanse me from all unrighteousness. Come into my heart and be my Savior and Lord. And by the power of the Holy Spirit, I will live my life for you, forever! Amen and Amen! Now you immediately inherit eternal life and your spirit is reborn. 1 Peter 2:9 says, '{He}...who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.'

Now Jesus shows Nicodemus the heart of God. In John 3:16 Jesus says, 'For God so loved the world, that He gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.'  This everlasting life does not just mean some day, way up in heaven, but it's for you today. That means zoe life - the God kind of life, right here and right now for you. What a new birth! What an amazing love! What a new life! Stay saturated with the Word of God daily. Keep as much of this world's words, thoughts and beliefs far from you. In John 6:63 Jesus says, '...the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are life.'

Can I get a witness?
Hallelujah!