There is only one way of becoming a born-again child of God. It doesn’t really matter how you may want to describe your personal relationship with Christ Jesus. There is no shortcut to the supernatural encounter of the new birth.
Let us take a good look at it together, you are not a Christian just because you were born into a Christian home. Neither are you a Christian because you do have Christian names. These are some of the distortions of the enemy, in deceiving people about their faith in God. But the Bible states it clearly that:
“Having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever,”
I Peter 1:23 NKJV
You can only get born again of the incorruptible seed through the word of God. This is the true encounter of the new birth. The corruptible seed through the words of the people of this world, cannot bring salvation to the lost souls of sinful men. It’s God’s incorruptible holy word alone which lives and abides in our hearts, that secures our eternal salvation with the Father in Heaven.
To be born again therefore is not something, that comes out of our own personal opinion or the opinions of men. Nor are we saved through our own self-righteous works (Ephesians 2:8-9).
Salvation is the free gift of God’s grace. It’s never seasonal, but yet it’s forever bringing God’s own changes to the lost world. God’s word is constant, unchangeable and reliable (Hebrews 13:8).
His word can be trusted to bring to come to pass what it says. But everything else from this corrupt and evil world is not reliable. They will always fail and disappoint you. That’s why you don’t have to put your trust in them.
God’s word that brings us salvation never changes (Matthew 24:35). We did nothing to deserve the grace of God into our lives to be saved. Jesus did the perfect and complete work of our salvation for us.
The miracle of salvation is something that’s forever baffling to the angels in heaven (Hebrews 2:5-8). They are wondering about how the Righteous God who created the heavens, and the earth could had come so low to the earth, so as to shower His grace on sinful men.
It’s therefore a great blessing to be called a child of God. The blessing itself is what separates us from the works of the devil, and the curses that goes with them.
This grace of salvation is meant to be making God’s people to be rejoicing. If a Christian can’t rejoice in the grace of God, it’s then appropriate to question the genuineness of that person’s salvation.
God will never get anyone saved, so as to make them sad. It’s the devil who brings sadness to the souls of men. God is always glad to see His children rejoicing before Him. He is glad to see His children joyful at all times.
The blessing is therefore real, just as the curse is real also. But to be identified with the blessing is a marvelous privilege of the children of God. All that one needs to do so as to be saved, is to just receive the wonderful gift of faith, grace and love.
To be more specific even Church attendance or denominational affiliation can’t get anyone saved. Your friendly relationship with the Pastor or the Evangelist is not the prerequisite for being a Christian. Neither are you born again just because you do have a blood relative, who is serving the Lord in the Ministry of the gospel of Jesus Christ to the lost.
In fact, the scripture says that we:
“Who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.”
John 1:13 NKJV
The Apostle Paul puts it in another way by saying:
“Therefore, from now on, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him thus no longer.”
II Corinthians 5:16 NKJV
When we got born of the Holy Spirit in our hearts, our minds and physical bodies however still remains the same; because these are the only parts of our being, that are in contact with this corrupt and evil world.
That’s why Paul was able to reiterate his point about the miracle of salvation, by saying again that:
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.”
II Corinthians 5:17 NKJV
A new life then begins for the person, who is born of the incorruptible seed of the word of God. He becomes a new creation in Christ Jesus. This new creation experience begins with the entrance of God’s word into the heart. God’s word has to be fully embraced with your heart.
We do need God’s word to make it to the end of life on this earth. And when we will get translated into eternity with God, we will still be marveling about the depth, width, length and height of the power in God’s word.
Delight in God’s word for spiritual growth.
The same word of God that brings salvation, is the word that brings spiritual growth also.
As the children of God we do need God’s word, to nourish us into spiritual maturity. No baby is ever abandoned after birth by the mother to care for himself. The baby has to be weaned into maturity by the mother.
This is exactly what God does always for His children. And that is why the Bible says we should:
“As newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby,”
I Peter 2:2 NKJV
It’s not everyone however who is reading the Bible, that really is doing so willingly. To some it has become a struggle between the old sinful life within them and the new life in Christ Jesus.
There has to be a sincere desire in the heart for the pure milk of the word of God, before spiritual growth can take place in the life of a Christian.
There are Christians who often read and study the Bible as a religious duty. They see nothing about it that is exciting to them.
And because of their approach to the reading and studying of the word of God, they are not growing up spiritually. Their spiritual life is just as it was when they got saved. These people see nothing spiritually beneficial at all from reading and studying the Bible on a daily basis.
But there are however other Christians, who are approaching the reading and studying of the word of God, with great delight in their hearts. They are taking joy in reading and studying the Bible every day. They love God’s word more than even the physical food for their bodies (Matthew 4:4).
Of such was David when he said:
“My passion and delight are in your word, for I love what you say to me!”
Psalms 119:47 TPT
David’s passion and delight for God’s word can easily be seen from the Psalms, that he wrote by himself. He was a man who delighted in the word of God with great passion. And he passed this passion for God’s word to his son (Solomon) also. His reign as King over Israel was a great success, because of the love that he had for God’s word.
If you’re not falling in love with the reading and studying of the holy scriptures daily, then your spiritual life is static. There is no life of Christ in you. You definitely are not growing in your daily walk with Jesus.
That’s the reason why your prayers are not getting into God’s presence. God will always honor His word that is returned back to Him in prayer (Isaiah 55:10-13).
You may be religious, but religion without the life of Christ is spiritual death. God’s written word is what gives the real life of Christ to you. Real Christian life does not come from the desires and passions of the world. Real Christian life comes from the reading, studying and meditating on God’s word day and night.
Jesus said:
“It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life.”
John 6:63 NKJV
How then does one know, if he is falling in love with God’s word?
You will know that you are falling in love with God’s word, when His word starts rebuking you. You will love it when it’s correcting you. And you will be glad when it’s approving of your ways in this life.
That’s how our Father in Heaven deals and fellowships with His children on the earth – through His word. And because you are delighting in God’s word daily, your spiritual growth will become evident to all.
No mother on earth ever gives birth to a baby without feeding and nourishing the baby into adult life. As the children of God His word is the spiritual food, that nourishes our spirit man into maturity.
It is what is necessary for the renewal of our minds. And to have the mind of Christ you will need to be reading and studying His word daily.
God’s word is what nourishes us, until we are able to start discerning the will of God for our lives. The Christians who are not committed to looking intently at the word of God with great delight, until that word starts speaking into their lives, may end up being undisciplined in their practice of Christianity.
Just because someone is a Christian does not mean that, the person is disciplined in the way he approaches his commitment to God’s word.
An undisciplined Christian will still struggle, because he has not disassociated himself from the sins of his past. He may be attending every church meeting in town, but he is still going back to the spiritual vomits of his life.
A person like that is spiritually immature, unskillful and undisciplined in the word of God. And as Paul once said concerning the Christians like these in Galatia:
“My little children, for whom I labor in birth again until Christ is formed in you,”
Galatians 4:19 NKJV
An immature, unskillful and undisciplined Christian does not yet have the Spirit of Christ formed in him. Such a Christian may be reading the scriptures to fulfill the desires of his flesh.
He is born again, but without Christ being the center of his life. He knows what the word of God says about many things, but the word of God is not living and abiding in his heart. He is always eager to fulfill the lust of his flesh, rather than obeying the teachings of the Bible.
He obviously is not being renewed in the spirit of his mind, by the word of God. And oftentimes it’s because he is not focusing on the solution to his problem, as revealed to him from the word of God.
He however is more focused on the world and his sinful old lifestyle pattern, in resolving his problem as a Christian. The flesh is yet to be crucified in him.
We must understand that prayer is fellowshipping with God. And a child of God who is disciplined, will seek to fellowship with God in prayer.
But prayer is not our only act of fellowshipping with the Father in Heaven. When we are praising and worshipping God, we are fellowshipping with Him also. In fact, praise and worship is a form of prayer also, just as prayer is fellowshipping with the Father.
When we are focusing more on fellowshipping with the Father through praise and worship, we are able to develop an intimacy with Him, that will ignite a hunger in our lives for His word. God’s word is His voice to us, as we are fellowshipping at the Throne with Him.
A lot of people are not making good use of their time daily, to fellowship with their Father in Heaven. They have more time to fellowship with their television sets and videos, than they are doing with God, the Father.
Their expectation of the Lord is going to come from what they are doing, because that’s the center and focus of their lives. They will have themselves to blame for God’s word, not being able to work in their lives.
God’s word has the answer to every prayer.
When we get our spiritual lives rooted in the love and the word of God, our prayer life and fellowship with the Father will become more fruitful. We will begin to hear Him more clearly, than when we got born again.
The word of God that abides in our lives bears witness to the voice of the Lord to us. We’ll begin to recognize His voice leading and guiding our lives, as His word speaks directly to our hearts.
And as long as our prayer life is being guided and based on the word of God, we don’t ever need to be worried about being in the will of God again, because God’s word is His will.
That’s why our lives as God’s children must be enriched by His written word, which lives and abides in us. God’s written word is the answer to our prayers. When we are speaking God’s word in prayers, we are bringing His will into the situations of our lives.
It’s therefore important to learn how to stand steadfastly on His written word, as the answer to our prayers. There is no way any Christian can stand on His word, without faith in the written word of God itself bringing life to what it’s saying to us.
From the moment when we are standing by faith, after praying on the basis of the word of God, our personal opinions or feelings has to be irrelevant. They must be gotten rid of completely, so that God’s word will be able to work in renewing the mind, to get realigned with what is written in the scriptures.
That’s when the written word of God will begin manifesting what it says for us.
It’s the work of the Holy Spirit to bring the answer of God’s word to us in our prayers. That’s why Jesus said:
“But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.”
John 14:26 NKJV
Whether we are praying in our understanding or even in other tongues; God’s word will always come as the answer to our prayers. The Holy Spirit will always bring to our remembrance what God’s word says about our prayers.
Also, while we are singing in the spirit or in other tongues, and making melodies to the Lord in our hearts, the Holy Spirit will bring God’s word to our hearts, as the answer to what we need.
The Holy Spirit will always cause the answers to all our prayers to come to us. And in this way God’s word will guide us in fulfilling every need of our lives.
Any form of entanglement to the system of this world, will keep the believer in Christ Jesus alienated from living in accordance with the word of God. There is no answer to your prayers outside of God’s written word.
The world doesn’t have the answer to your prayers either. His written word has the answer to every prayer need of the believers in Christ Jesus.
When we are delighting ourselves daily in the word of God, our prayer life will become enriched, resourceful and very fruitful.
We will begin to declare the mind of Christ on the earth through prayer. We will begin to make His glory to fill the earth, as the waters covers the oceans. God’s word through your prayer life will begin to bring heaven’s solutions to the problems of your world.
Have you ever noticed that the people who are taking the reading and studying of God’s word, as a religious form of duty can’t really pray effectively?
Prayer for them is just like a lot of work, just as the reading and studying of God’s word is to them. But you will often see them delighting themselves more in the things of the world, because that’s where their heart’s expectation in prayer is stayed on. They may say that they are believing in God for the answers, but their heart is not focused or stayed on meditating His word day and night (Joshua 1:8).
In most cases they can only recite the Lord’s Prayer, whenever they are praying. This is because they’ve not been delighting themselves in God’s word.
Our prayer life is transformed as we delight in God’s word daily. When the people of the world need someone to pray for them, they don’t go to someone who can only recite the Lord’s Prayer. They will always go to the person who can apply God’s word, as the solution to their problems in prayer.
And oftentimes they will hear the voice of God speaking to them, as prayer is being made for those needs. They will therefore be moved by faith in their hearts to ask the Lord to save and help them.
This is how you can become that Christian with the answer to the problems around you.
People are looking up to you for the answers to their problems, as you are delighting yourself in God’s word. God will use you as His battle ax in prayer, so as to transform your world.
And because you are delighting yourself in His word, God will delight Himself in you also. He will take great delight in blessing you, because He knows that He can trust you with His mysteries.
He had said:
“You are My battle-ax and weapons of war: For with you I will break the nation in pieces; With you I will destroy kingdoms;”
Jeremiah 51:20 NKJV
That’s who you really are as you are delighting yourself in His word daily. You are a world changer.
