There are three distinctly different levels of salvation of which becoming 'Born Again' is the first! This article explains in detail exactly what the born again process is using a practical illustration for easy understanding.
There are three distinctly different levels of salvation of which becoming 'Born Again' is the first!
Becoming born again means you have your spirit regenerated or recreated by the power of Almighty God. It means having your very nature changed from mere human to incorporate the divine!
The following verses from the Bible help substantiate the concept of men sharing in God's divinity.
"I, the Most High God, say that all of you are gods and also my own children." (Psalms 82:6)
"Jesus replied: In your Scriptures doesn't God say, "You are gods"? (John 10:34). (CEV)
The purpose of becoming 'Born Again' is to regain something that was lost to the Human Race in the beginning of time.
Man was originally made in the image and likeness of God and connected to God through his spirit but when Adam sinned against his Creator the result was disconnection from God and a loss of identity.
This disconnection is called spiritual death, which is a separation from the life of God and a corruption of the nature of God.
Now, because of God's unchanging love for His children He created a way for us to be once more reconnected to Him and receive His divine nature. This happens through the process of becoming 'Born again.'
How exactly is a person 'Born Again'?
It happens like this. First, you hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ!
What is the Gospel?
It's the good news that even though you were born spiritually separated from God and on your way to becoming permanently separated from Him in Hell, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, took the judgment of Adam's sin upon Himself and died in the place of every human being. He then rose from the dead three days later so that we could receive His righteousness in place of our guilt and be reconciled and reconnected to God, thus receiving His divine nature in order to live with Him forever in Paradise.
That's the Gospel in a nutshell!
You hear it and when you do, God grants you the grace to receive it! You receive the message and it becomes a Seed planted in your spirit.
That Seed is the word you heard.
This Word-Seed contains the very nature of God because God and His Word are one; they cannot be separated. They are identical in nature. The bible says, "...The word was God." (John 1:1)
Now, because the nature of God is inherent in His Word this means that His Word shares in His omnipotence; in other words, the Word of God has the power to create something out of nothing. This is confirmed in the first chapter of Genesis when God was present and the Holy Spirit was moving upon the face of the waters but nothing happened until God spoke! The divine power inherent in God's Word created everything we see.
So, the nature of God in the form of a Seed is planted in your spirit!
Now, God gives you the faith to act upon that Seed.
You act in faith by confessing out of your mouth the very thing He promised to do, believing He will do it, while you totally submit to His will!
This is the application of your faith! Your confession (prayer) might go like this:
Prayer of Salvation:
Lord Jesus, you said in Revelation 3:20 that you're standing outside the door of my heart, my life, and knocking for me to let you in. I now make a decision to open the door of my heart, my life and let you in. Please come in Lord Jesus and take complete control, forgive me and cleanse me from my sin and make me a child of God! I am sorry for every sin that I have ever committed. I believe in you and accept you alone as my Lord and Savior! Amen!
When you say these words from your heart totally believing they are true, it acts as a catalyst, germinating the Word-Seed or God-Seed if you will, releasing the life of God within you.
This process is such that the faith you apply acts on the God-Seed cracking it open, allowing the life of God to flow out into your spirit. The same thing happens when you plant a grain of corn into the ground. The heat and moisture of the earth creates an environment that causes the corn seed to burst open releasing the life of the corn within and you have a brand new creation - A corn plant
In this case your spirit is the earth and your faith and words are the heat and moisture, which creates the environment for the God-Seed to crack open releasing the life of God within you.
As this new life flows out, it completely pervades and engulfs your spirit transforming it. Where there was death there's now life. Where there was old, now there's new. "...When this has taken place, then that which was said in the Writings will come true, Death is overcome by life," 1Cor 15:54. (BBE)
"Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new," 2Co 5:17.
Your old spirit ceases to exist and your new spirit lives! You have become a new creation!
Now, the life of God is synonymous with the nature of God, so as His life flows into you His nature is released. Receiving the life of God therefore, is the same as receiving the nature of God!
So, you now have a new nature. "...He has given to us the greatest and precious promises, that through these ye may become partakers of [the] divine nature," 2 Pet 1:4 (Darby Translation)
The nature of God is Holiness, which means to be unique, other than everything else, sanctified, consecrated and set a part as extremely special. This is what God is and this is what you have become when you share in His nature.
You have become a different type of human being; one of God's new creation!
You are unique, different, changed from natural to spiritual, from death to life... You are Born Again!
Now, here's the key to this whole experience, if you miss this, YOU MISS EVERYTHING!
The catalyst that activates the power of God to work in you to bring to pass this miracle is faith but the Bible says faith without works is dead. (James 2:20) So what are the works, which accompanies this faith to make it alive?
In one word, it is REPENTANCE!
If you repeat that prayer of salvation above without giving up something there's no power released... They're just empty words.
You must surrender something in order to receive this precious gift from God. This doesn't mean that you earn or buy your salvation - You cannot - but the concept is this: If your hands are already filled with something then you cannot grasp anything else can you? Even if that new thing is absolutely free you've still got to let go of whatever's in your hands before you can grasp what's being offered to you.
This is what repentance is; it is a letting go of one thing to receive something else or a turning away from one thing to embrace something new.
In my case 20 years ago it was a belief in reincarnation, my belief in reincarnation was my spiritual support, it was the thing that gave me a sense of security, order and structure in my life.
So, when the Gospel of Jesus Christ was explained to me and the truth of it dawned on me, I found myself having a decision to make. Was I going to continue holding on to what I felt comfortable with or was I going to let go of that false doctrine and embrace the truth?
This is what every one of us MUST face sooner or later. Whenever we're presented with the truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ we must choose whether we're going to let go of whatever we're holding on to for spiritual support and fully embrace Jesus Christ or continue in the same direction we're going, holding on to whatever spiritual crutch we're holding on to.
So, to sum this up, the power of God to effect miraculous change is activated only when we act in faith and acting in faith to receive salvation means turning your back on whatever you've been holding on to for spiritual support and embracing Jesus Christ Himself as your total means of salvation. This, my friends is what activates the power of God and causes a person to become 'Born Again.'
As I said at the beginning, this is only the first level in a three-phased process but certainly the most important for it provides the foundation upon which the entire Christian experience is built.
This is why Jesus said, "You must be born again." (John 3:7).
Article Tags: Becoming Born Again, Becoming Born, Born Again, Divine Nature, Jesus Christ, Have Become, Spiritual Support
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