Do you remember what happened with Mary, the mother of Jesus?
The angel Gabriel came to her and gave her this message, "You will give birth to the son of God."
Mary asked, "How can this happen? It is physically impossible because I have never had sex with a man?"
Gabriel told her that the Holy Spirit would come upon her, and by His power the son of God would be placed in her womb.
What could Mary do at this point?
She couldn't bring it about by her own efforts.
She could either accept what Gabriel said, or reject it.
Mary accepted the word of God. She yielded her body to the will of God, and Jesus was born, in her and from her.
"I am the Lord's servant," Mary answered. "May your word to me be fulfilled." Then the angel left her. Luke 1:38
The same is true for you and me as Christians.
God promises us that if we accept Jesus, we will be reborn, and the Spirit of Jesus will be in us, filling us just as Jesus filled Mary.
We can't bring this about by our efforts any more than Mary could.
But we can accept Jesus and His Spirit, yielding our bodies to God just as Mary did.
When we do this, we are reborn by the word, will, and Spirit of God.
After this, we thank God, and we do what children naturally do when they are born.
If you are born again, a child of God, you naturally want to cling to God just as you naturally wanted to cling to your mother and father when you were a child.
What is making you read my words? Where does your interest in the knowledge and likeness of God come from? If you were not born again, you wouldn't want to read my words or think these thoughts. Keep doing what you're doing right now. Keep seeking God. Keep being who you are and what you are: a child of God. Know that when people see you, they are in fact seeing Jesus.
Say to God what Mary said to Him:
"Lord, I am your servant. May your word to me be fulfilled"
Monday, January 25, 2016
The truth about what you are (Part 1)
"You see, the Lord Jesus is not only the truth about God, he is the truth about man. He was the truth about God because he was the truth about man--because...man was (supposed) to be the truth about God." Major Ian W. Thomas
To see Jesus is to see God. But to see Adam before he sinned would also have been to see God. In fact, before Adam sinned, every man and woman would have been a picture of God, a portrait of what God is like. He wanted each man and woman to be the earth creatures that look and act like him. Because of this, the very definition of sin is for the creature to not be like the creator. But Jesus came so we could all be reborn, so we all could look and act like God. In the same way that Jesus could say, "If you have seen me, you have seen the father," we should be able to confidently say, "If you have seen us, you have seen the Lord Jesus." The Lord said, "As the Father sent me, so I send you." We are now in this world as Jesus was when He was here.
How do we experience this?
The same way Jesus did.
Click here for part 2.
To see Jesus is to see God. But to see Adam before he sinned would also have been to see God. In fact, before Adam sinned, every man and woman would have been a picture of God, a portrait of what God is like. He wanted each man and woman to be the earth creatures that look and act like him. Because of this, the very definition of sin is for the creature to not be like the creator. But Jesus came so we could all be reborn, so we all could look and act like God. In the same way that Jesus could say, "If you have seen me, you have seen the father," we should be able to confidently say, "If you have seen us, you have seen the Lord Jesus." The Lord said, "As the Father sent me, so I send you." We are now in this world as Jesus was when He was here.
How do we experience this?
The same way Jesus did.
Click here for part 2.
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