Born of the Spirit

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Scripture: John 3:4-8 (NKJV)

4 Nicodemus said to Him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?”

5 Jesus answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ 8 The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

Devotion:

            In yesterday’s blog post, Jesus posed an answer to a question that had not been asked. Asserting that no one may enter the kingdom of God unless they are born again (or from above). To which Nicodemus comes back with a truly natural question, How? In what way can a human be born again? The idea of being born again sounds like foolishness to the fleshly mind. Jesus has his answer ready.

            Being born again is necessary for entrance into the kingdom of God. The new birth can only be accomplished through the work and by the power of the Holy Spirit. If we live for the flesh, we will die in the flesh. If we live by and for the Spirit, we will live forever in the spirit. It would take until the Pentecost encounter in the upper room to make this illustration to truly come alive for the believers.

            The Holy Spirit is our ticket to entrance into the kingdom of God. With him dwelling within us we can walk in spiritual power. We can minister the love of God to a hurting, divided, anxious, and godless world. The world needs Jesus’s people to stand in the power of the Spirit and declare to the world that there is another kingdom beside the corrupt and dying world to which, they belong. God had declared even from the very beginning that all things he made were good, even very good. Humankind, under the influence of the evil one, has done its level best to mess things up ever since.

            God was ready from the beginning with a plan not just to rescue, but to transform his creation into the good and holy place he designed it to be. A new kingdom with Jesus as its savior and the Holy Spirit its life blood. The winds of change are beginning to blow.

Prayer:

            Holy God almighty, we come to you as weary and tired travelers in the kingdom of flesh this world has built. Help us to rebuild your kingdom by the blood of Jesus for salvation and the life giving Spirit for power. May we live as agents of change wherever you have been placed. Let the world come to us as they see us ministering your love and healing kingdom even amid the ruin of this world’s diseased and dying kingdom. Amen.

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