“Born Again” – a new state of being
It begins with a personal decision with a commitment to that which will allow me to apprehend it.
I must come to the truth that there is no ME apart from my actual life.
I am not separate from my life – I can’t say “I believe” – and then act in a totally opposite manner.
Being Born Again can’t remain just a concept.
It must translate into what I actually do in my daily interactions IF it is to be meaningful.
Because – if I don’t LIVE it, I will never EXPERIENCE the benefits of what it tangibly means for my life
Without experiencing God’s goodness, it will be hard to believe His promises and plans for me.
Experiencing the goodness that following Jesus affords is foundational to attaining the “Life More Abundant” that He spoke about.
When we receive Jesus as our Lord, we receive LIBERTY.
But without Experiencing His goodness, Liberty can soon devolve into License.
This is because there is a constant conflict within each of us—a battle for control of our minds.
Romans 8:7-9 – “The carnal mind is enmity with the Spirit.”
The solution lies in yielding to the Spirit of God.
Galatians 5:16-17(TPT) – ”As you yield freely and fully to the dynamic life and power of the Holy Spirit, you will abandon the cravings of your self-life.
“For your self-life craves the things that offend the Holy Spirit and hinder Him from living free within you! And the Holy Spirit’s intense cravings hinder your old self-life from dominating you. So then, the two incompatible and conflicting forces within you are your self-life of the flesh and the new creation life of the Spirit.”
It is important to understand and acknowledge that the battle we’re engaged in is not with some overpowering cosmic force from without; the battle is WITHIN.
We have to “see” that what seems invincible has ALREADY been defeated by Jesus’ cross. – and act as such.
If not, we will continue to convince ourselves that we are just helpless victims and not Victorious Conquerors. [see Romans 8:32-39(TPT)]
If we believe we are helpless, we won’t continue to wrestle – we’ll just ‘let it happen to us” – We’re Only Human – right?
Ironically, these patterns of wrong thoughts that lead to wrong actions are not the invincible forces they masquerade as – they’re instead fragile!
They are a simple matter of old habits, feelings, and perceptions we carry about certain things and people.
They are remnants of the “Old Man” and the “Shadow Nature.”
They are typically activated without any reflection.
We probably would not have let them influence us if we had thought things through.
Often these actions of sin are actually contrary to who we really are.
They are rarely the result of deliberation and careful calculations.
Left unchecked, our routine unconscious behavior will manage to keep our deliberate will and conscious mind off-balance and on the defensive.
This causes us to do more wrong through denial, rationalization, the use of misleading words, or outright lies.
Romans 14:17 – “The Kingdom of God is Righteousness, Peace, and Joy in the Holy Spirit.” – Right?
These are INNER conditions of being.
Luke 17:21 – “…for indeed, the Kingdom of God is WITHIN you.”
This is why the battle is fought within:
It’s a matter of what’s IN us that will make the difference in the type of life we’ll live.
John 14:30 – Jesus told them, “…the ruler of this world is coming, but he has NOTHING IN ME.”
The struggle in the Garden of Gethsemane was a matter of Jesus’ inner man – His mind and emotions – being hammered, trying to get Him to Distrust the Father.
But it was what was NOT in Jesus that kept Him impervious to the attack of the enemy; ultimately, the ruler of this world had nothing in Him! – and He was aware of that!
Yielding to the Spirit and becoming Born Again allows the Spirit’s power to keep us from being deceived.
We are able to realize that nothing has the power to lead us into wrong thoughts or actions except that which we have given power by permitting it to remain in us.
And the most dangerous ones are the “little things” that we leave unattended to because we regard them as “normal.”
But we are no longer normal if we’re “Born Again.” We are a new species(new creation) that hold heavenly characteristics.
Experiencing it will seal it as our “New Normal.”
Fortunately, God has equipped us for victory in the battle.
2 Corinthians 10:4-6(TPT) “…our spiritual weapons are energized with divine power to effectively dismantle the defenses behind which people hide. We can demolish every deceptive fantasy that opposes God and break through every arrogant attitude raised in defiance of God’s true knowledge. Like prisoners of war, we capture every thought and insist that it bow in obedience to the Anointed One.
Since we are armed with such dynamic weaponry, we stand ready to punish any trace of rebellion as soon as you CHOOSE COMPLETE OBEDIENCE.”
We will have victory when we choose, fully and freely, to surrender the old stuff to the Spirit.
It can be as simple as, “Yes, Lord, I want to be Born Again.”