October 25                                     Ps 73 - 75

SPIRITUAL BIRTH

MEMORISE: ' "That which is born of the flesh is flesh; And that which is born of the spirit is spirit." ' (John 3:6)
READ: John 3:1 -8

'That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit' (John 3:6). Nicodemus, a Jewish ruler, once met the Lord at night to ask about salvation. Jesus told him he must be born again. Nicodemus asked how it was possible for a full-grown man to ask his mother to stoop down for him to re-enter her womb and be born again. Jesus told him that even if it were possible, it would still be a fleshly, physical or biological birth.

In verse 6, Jesus says there is another type of birth that every man who has been physical born into this earth needs to experience. This is a spiritual birth. You have to be born of the spirit. That means you have to be conceived in the womb of the spirit and be delivered in his kind - as spirit. It is this spiritual birth that makes it possible for you to live a spiritual life. By this special birth, you will inherit the character and spiritual likeness of the Holy Spirit, just as a child inherits certain things, like facial resemblance and behavioural patterns, from his parents.

Some people say they are born again just because it is in vogue. They claim to be born again because they want to belong. They fail to realize that this spiritual birth is not something you deceive yourself over. A goat is a goat any day. If you feed a goat salad, macaroni and the best of continental dishes, that does not change its goatness. It remains a goat. Do you claim to be born again, yet you still enjoy fornication, stealing, drunkenness, malice or gossiping? Then you have not undergone this new birth. When you do, these things will automatically drop away and you will carry the nature of the Holy Spirit, who will cause you to detest these evils. Check out your salvation today.

ACTION POINT
Make sure that you really have been conceived and born of the Holy Spirit.
Being baptized does not mean that you have been born again.