No doubt many Christians are familiar with the Bible passage I just wrote about. What is the new thing you have received? They would ask. What I have received freshly is in the heading. Born of the Holy Spirit is spirit. What does this mean? I shall explain using terms and illustrations familiar to me.
Note the clues Jesus gave in John 3:6 and John 6:63.
Clue One: He said, “That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” (John 3:6)
In God’s eyes, there are two categories of people on earth, those who have life (the life of God) and those who are considered dead (without the life of God). When a person believes in Jesus and comes to Him, Jesus gives him a new birth, in the Holy Spirit. The believer then has a spirit that is from God and this is his identity for entering the kingdom of God.
No one can go to God as flesh. Only as a spirit one can have access to God. Not a dead spirit, but a live spirit. A person may be alive but is considered dead if he has not gone through a re-birth by the Holy Spirit. When he is born again, he has a live spirit (man). This spirit man can align with the Holy Spirit and knows the will of God. This spirit man can access to God through the Holy Spirit (in Jesus’ name).
This spirit man can live the more abundant life that Jesus has come and given to His believers.
Many will ask, “How?” I too used to puzzle over this question. During the past three months of practical Biblical living quest, I have learned the reality of the Holy Spirit beyond my head knowledge.
Clue Two: In John 6:63, Jesus elaborated, “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life.”
The words of God are spirit. They are life. Believers can actually find the reality of the Holy Spirit by reading the words of God. As I read, I learn to discern the meaning and message the Holy Spirit conveys to me. I learn to read in the spirit, not in my head alone.
When this happens, there is something else which tells you the wonder of the Holy Spirit. Jesus said in John 3:8, “The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.”
Fantastic! This means we can actually go where we wish in the spirit, as spirit man, like the wind. There will be no barrier or obstruction a flesh man normally encounters. A spirit man can access places of wonders. A spirit man can see the kingdom of God. The kingdom of God is inside us. As spirit man we can look inside and see it there. We can live it too.
How do we know? We know by the zeal and joy we have in seeking God's presence. We seek His presence in His words, in worship, in prayers, in being still before God, in the quiet little room of our own, in our hearts. No, not by loud music or in the midst of a crowd. Usually it is in your tiny space, just you and God.
That is what happens to those who seek God earnestly and persistently. I pray that you too may seek and find the reality of the kingdom of God by being a living spirit man.
AAA Jack
1 June 2009
No comments:
Post a Comment