Born of Spirit
I heard a song yesterday, and I only heard a few of the verses, it goes like this “born
of Spirit, a child of freedom, a child of promise, a child of God” and as I heard it, I
wondered how many Christians don’t understand the new birth?
When we are born again, we are born of the Spirit. Our first birth was a natural birth
(fleshly, worldly); our new birth is spiritual. Jesus said “verily, verily, I say to you,
except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of
God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is
spirit. Marvel not that I said to you, you must be born again. The wind blows where
it lists, and you hear the sound thereof, but can not tell from where it comes, and
where it goes, so is every one that is born of the Spirit” (John 3:5-8).
We are no more mere men; Psalms 82:6-8 God says “I have said, you are gods, and
all of you are children of the Most High. But you shall die like men, and fall like one
of the princes. Arise, O god, judge the earth, for you shall inherit all nations”.
Paul explains how to walk in it (Ephesians 4:22-24) “that you put off concerning the
former conversation (life manner) the old man, which is corrupt according to the
deceitful lusts. And be renewed in the spirit of your mind. And that you put on the
new man which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness”. Paul warns
in I Corinthians 3:3 “for you are yet carnal, for whereas there is among you envying
and strife, and divisions, are you not carnal and walk as men? We have to start
thinking of ourselves as a new creation; Proverbs 23:7 says “as a man thinks in his
heart, so is he”.
We have to believe as the Bible says in (II Corinthians 5:17) “therefore if any man be
in Christ, he is a new creature, old things are passed away, behold all things are
become new”. We are a new creature, our spirit man is renewed, and we are
reconciled unto God. Reconcile means restored to God’s original plan. Adam in his
original state was alive spiritually, we have to remember, that God is a Spirit and He
breathed His breath into Adam. Before the fall Adam learned from God, there was
no lack in the garden; Romans 4:17b says “even God who makes alive the dead,
and calls those things which be not as though they were”, that’s faith, “God spoke
and God saw” in Genesis chapter 1. The Bible tells us “let the weak say I am strong”
(Joel 3:10).
When Eve was deceived and Adam followed her into disobedience, they died
spiritually that day and all mankind followed because Adam could only reproduce
after his kind and he was a fallen man, being led by the world, the devil is the god of
the world and he calls things as he sees them. That’s walking by sight. We are told
to “walk by faith and not by sight”. But because many don’t understand being born
of Spirit, even after being born again they continue to do things in the same way.
The Bible tells us that we are citizens of heaven, we have been transferred out of
darkness and translated into the kingdom of His dear Son (Colossians 1:13). We
are told to come out from among them and be ye separate. As we renew our mind,
by thinking on things that are of God (Philippians 4:6-8).
Now let’s look back at II Corinthians 5:16, which says “wherefore hereafter know we
no man after the flesh, yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now
hereafter know we Him no more”. As we see ourselves no more according to the
flesh, we will walk in the spirit (Romans 8:1-2,5-11) “there is therefore now no
condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but
after the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from
the law of sin and death. For they that are after the flesh, do mind the times of the
flesh, but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally
minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal
mind is enmity against God, for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can
be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. But you are not in the
flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man
have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His. And if Christ be in you, the body is
dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit
of Him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, He that raised up Christ from
the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by His Spirit that dwells in you”. We
have the same Spirit that raised up Christ from the dead living in us. We have to
wrap our mind around that. The Bible tells us “greater is He that is in you, then he
that is in the world”; and “he that is joined to the Lord is one spirit”.
To live the new creation life, we have to know who we are, we have been adopted by
God Almighty (Romans 8:15-17) “for you have not received the spirit of bondage
again to fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba
Father. The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit, that we the children of God.
And if children, then heirs, heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ”. This may sound
to good to be true, but let’s picture it this way, suppose you were adopted into the
family of Bill Gates, legally you would be entitled to his fortune. So legally we are
entitled to the wealth of God. The battle is in the mind, if the devil can make you
believe you are not entitled, he will steal from you. If he can steal the word of God
from you, he will devour you.
The Bible says “let the redeemed of the Lord say so, whom He has redeemed from
the hand of the enemy” (Psalms 107:2). If you believe you are redeemed, then say
so. The Bible says “I have believed therefore have I spoken”. We are made in the
image of God (Genesis 1:26), and even though Adam fell and lost that image, Jesus
death burial and resurrection, has restored us; and “we are complete in Him”
(Colossians 2:10).
Jesus walked the earth and He would say I am, then He would declare what He was
about to do. He said “I am the resurrection and the life, he that believes in Me
though he were dead, yet shall he live” He told Martha, then He raised Lazarus (John
11:43-44) “and when He thus had spoken, He cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come
forth. And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with grave clothes
and his face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus said to them, loose him, and let
him go”.
The man born blind (John 9:1-7) “and as Jesus passed by, He saw a man which was
blind from his birth. And His disciples asked Him, saying, Master, who did sin, this
man or his parents, that he was born blind? Jesus answered, neither has this man
sinned, nor his parents, but that the works of God should be made manifest in him. I
must work the works of Him that sent Me, while it is day, the night comes, when no
man can work. As long, as I am in the world, I am the light of the world. When He
had thus spoken, He spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and He
anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay. And said to him, go wash in the
pool of Saloam (which is by interpretation, Sent). He went his way therefore, and
washed, and came seeing”.
We the redeemed of the Lord have to say what we are redeemed from. As we pray
the Lord’s prayer, we were told to say “thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth
as it is in heaven”; to establish what we are redeemed from compare what’s not
heaven. There are no sickness in heaven, there is no curse in heaven, there is no
darkness in heaven, there is no poverty in heaven (Revelation 22:3-5).
Jesus showed the will of God (Matthew 8:1-3) “when He was come down from the
mountain, great multitudes followed Him. And behold, there came a leper, and
worshiped Him, saying, Lord, if You will, You can make me clean. And Jesus put
forth His hand, and touched him, saying I will, be you clean, and immediately his
leprosy was cleaned”. In Acts 10:38 the Bible says “how God anointed Jesus of
Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good, and
healing all that were oppressed of the devil, for God was with Him”.
Jesus told us in John 14:12 “verily, verily, I say to you, he that believes on Me, the
works that I do, shall he do also and greater works than these shall he do, because I
go to My Father”. As we understand our being born of Spirit, when we were born in
the natural, we had the dna of our father, when we are born of Spirit, we have the
dna of God. We have to see ourselves as God sees us. It is He that has made us
and not we ourselves. We are the head and not the tail, above and not beneath, we
are more than conquerors, we are the righteousness of God in Christ.
Let us arise as God says in Psalms 82 for the Bible says “the heavens even the
heavens are the Lord Yahweh’s, but He has given the earth to the sons of men”.
Our fight is not in the natural, it is in the Spirit. We have to speak to the mountains
(problems) in our lives and tell them where to go.
Study by: Harriet Bond
Date:August 19, 2008
I heard a song yesterday, and I only heard a few of the verses, it goes like this “born
of Spirit, a child of freedom, a child of promise, a child of God” and as I heard it, I
wondered how many Christians don’t understand the new birth?
When we are born again, we are born of the Spirit. Our first birth was a natural birth
(fleshly, worldly); our new birth is spiritual. Jesus said “verily, verily, I say to you,
except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of
God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is
spirit. Marvel not that I said to you, you must be born again. The wind blows where
it lists, and you hear the sound thereof, but can not tell from where it comes, and
where it goes, so is every one that is born of the Spirit” (John 3:5-8).
We are no more mere men; Psalms 82:6-8 God says “I have said, you are gods, and
all of you are children of the Most High. But you shall die like men, and fall like one
of the princes. Arise, O god, judge the earth, for you shall inherit all nations”.
Paul explains how to walk in it (Ephesians 4:22-24) “that you put off concerning the
former conversation (life manner) the old man, which is corrupt according to the
deceitful lusts. And be renewed in the spirit of your mind. And that you put on the
new man which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness”. Paul warns
in I Corinthians 3:3 “for you are yet carnal, for whereas there is among you envying
and strife, and divisions, are you not carnal and walk as men? We have to start
thinking of ourselves as a new creation; Proverbs 23:7 says “as a man thinks in his
heart, so is he”.
We have to believe as the Bible says in (II Corinthians 5:17) “therefore if any man be
in Christ, he is a new creature, old things are passed away, behold all things are
become new”. We are a new creature, our spirit man is renewed, and we are
reconciled unto God. Reconcile means restored to God’s original plan. Adam in his
original state was alive spiritually, we have to remember, that God is a Spirit and He
breathed His breath into Adam. Before the fall Adam learned from God, there was
no lack in the garden; Romans 4:17b says “even God who makes alive the dead,
and calls those things which be not as though they were”, that’s faith, “God spoke
and God saw” in Genesis chapter 1. The Bible tells us “let the weak say I am strong”
(Joel 3:10).
When Eve was deceived and Adam followed her into disobedience, they died
spiritually that day and all mankind followed because Adam could only reproduce
after his kind and he was a fallen man, being led by the world, the devil is the god of
the world and he calls things as he sees them. That’s walking by sight. We are told
to “walk by faith and not by sight”. But because many don’t understand being born
of Spirit, even after being born again they continue to do things in the same way.
The Bible tells us that we are citizens of heaven, we have been transferred out of
darkness and translated into the kingdom of His dear Son (Colossians 1:13). We
are told to come out from among them and be ye separate. As we renew our mind,
by thinking on things that are of God (Philippians 4:6-8).
Now let’s look back at II Corinthians 5:16, which says “wherefore hereafter know we
no man after the flesh, yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now
hereafter know we Him no more”. As we see ourselves no more according to the
flesh, we will walk in the spirit (Romans 8:1-2,5-11) “there is therefore now no
condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but
after the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from
the law of sin and death. For they that are after the flesh, do mind the times of the
flesh, but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally
minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal
mind is enmity against God, for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can
be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. But you are not in the
flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man
have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His. And if Christ be in you, the body is
dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit
of Him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, He that raised up Christ from
the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by His Spirit that dwells in you”. We
have the same Spirit that raised up Christ from the dead living in us. We have to
wrap our mind around that. The Bible tells us “greater is He that is in you, then he
that is in the world”; and “he that is joined to the Lord is one spirit”.
To live the new creation life, we have to know who we are, we have been adopted by
God Almighty (Romans 8:15-17) “for you have not received the spirit of bondage
again to fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba
Father. The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit, that we the children of God.
And if children, then heirs, heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ”. This may sound
to good to be true, but let’s picture it this way, suppose you were adopted into the
family of Bill Gates, legally you would be entitled to his fortune. So legally we are
entitled to the wealth of God. The battle is in the mind, if the devil can make you
believe you are not entitled, he will steal from you. If he can steal the word of God
from you, he will devour you.
The Bible says “let the redeemed of the Lord say so, whom He has redeemed from
the hand of the enemy” (Psalms 107:2). If you believe you are redeemed, then say
so. The Bible says “I have believed therefore have I spoken”. We are made in the
image of God (Genesis 1:26), and even though Adam fell and lost that image, Jesus
death burial and resurrection, has restored us; and “we are complete in Him”
(Colossians 2:10).
Jesus walked the earth and He would say I am, then He would declare what He was
about to do. He said “I am the resurrection and the life, he that believes in Me
though he were dead, yet shall he live” He told Martha, then He raised Lazarus (John
11:43-44) “and when He thus had spoken, He cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come
forth. And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with grave clothes
and his face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus said to them, loose him, and let
him go”.
The man born blind (John 9:1-7) “and as Jesus passed by, He saw a man which was
blind from his birth. And His disciples asked Him, saying, Master, who did sin, this
man or his parents, that he was born blind? Jesus answered, neither has this man
sinned, nor his parents, but that the works of God should be made manifest in him. I
must work the works of Him that sent Me, while it is day, the night comes, when no
man can work. As long, as I am in the world, I am the light of the world. When He
had thus spoken, He spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and He
anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay. And said to him, go wash in the
pool of Saloam (which is by interpretation, Sent). He went his way therefore, and
washed, and came seeing”.
We the redeemed of the Lord have to say what we are redeemed from. As we pray
the Lord’s prayer, we were told to say “thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth
as it is in heaven”; to establish what we are redeemed from compare what’s not
heaven. There are no sickness in heaven, there is no curse in heaven, there is no
darkness in heaven, there is no poverty in heaven (Revelation 22:3-5).
Jesus showed the will of God (Matthew 8:1-3) “when He was come down from the
mountain, great multitudes followed Him. And behold, there came a leper, and
worshiped Him, saying, Lord, if You will, You can make me clean. And Jesus put
forth His hand, and touched him, saying I will, be you clean, and immediately his
leprosy was cleaned”. In Acts 10:38 the Bible says “how God anointed Jesus of
Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good, and
healing all that were oppressed of the devil, for God was with Him”.
Jesus told us in John 14:12 “verily, verily, I say to you, he that believes on Me, the
works that I do, shall he do also and greater works than these shall he do, because I
go to My Father”. As we understand our being born of Spirit, when we were born in
the natural, we had the dna of our father, when we are born of Spirit, we have the
dna of God. We have to see ourselves as God sees us. It is He that has made us
and not we ourselves. We are the head and not the tail, above and not beneath, we
are more than conquerors, we are the righteousness of God in Christ.
Let us arise as God says in Psalms 82 for the Bible says “the heavens even the
heavens are the Lord Yahweh’s, but He has given the earth to the sons of men”.
Our fight is not in the natural, it is in the Spirit. We have to speak to the mountains
(problems) in our lives and tell them where to go.
Study by: Harriet Bond
Date:August 19, 2008
