NOT MAGIC

I have had some kickback through the years by my insistence that one has to be born again in order to belong to God.

I haven’t changed in that, but I have grown in my understanding of the process.

If I can’t come to God unless He first draws me to Him…if I can’t see Him unless He reveals Himself to me…if the only thing I can do is accept or reject the Life He offers me…then, the “being born again” part happens when I say “Yes” to Him.

Jesus told his disciples that he would send the Comforter (the Holy Spirit) to them to guide them into all truth.

Without the Holy Spirit, one remains dead, as he was before he accepted God and His offer of a new Life…he cannot even perceive of God or the things of God.

Before Jesus left his disciples the last time, he told them to go into the whole world to make more disciples, to show these new believers this new way of living.

Now, here’s the thing…you can’t be a disciple unless you are not dead. You have to be a believer, one who has the Life that only God can give. The Life He plants in you when you say, “Yes” to Him.

This Life isn’t magic, but there is power…the ability to “see” and “hear” God, and to understand things written in His Book.

This Life starts out as a tiny seed, and it can sit “dormant” for a while, sometimes for years, waiting to be watered, nearly invisible, except to the One who planted it …

Until a disciple comes along to “make disciples”, to show you some of the marvelous gifts that are waiting for you if you are ready to “believe God” … to trust Him and to follow Him into a new way of living.

When I became a disciple, everything changed.

Everything!