"Born Again" Series - Part 2

Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.
2 Corinthians 5:17

In series 1, we have learned that it is essential to be "born again". George Whitefield in one of his final sermons said, "I am now fifty-five years of age and I tell you that I am more than ever convinced that the truth of the new birth is a revelation from God Himself, and that without it you can never be saved by Jesus Christ.”

Now, we as humans must be taught practical doable steps in order to learn or accomplish something. To be born again, is not like getting a degree in university. There is no "fixed" steps to reach spiritual rebirth. But! know that EVERYONE CAN BE "REBORN". When I say "everyone", it means ALL. You do not have to be Christians to be reborn. I think calling ourselves a Christians have become meaningless, because I have seen many "Christians" who are not living as Christians. But that will be a different exhortation topics altogether.

I am going to attempt to come up with "doable" steps that will lead to your spiritual rebirth. Once again, there is no way that we can know when you will be reborn, it is purely up to God. The followings steps are based on my personal experience. These were the things that I did leading to the Spiritual Rebirth or Spiritual Revival.

"The wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it, but do not know where it comes from and where it is going; so is everyone who is born of the Spirit."                                              John 3:8

1. PASS GOD'S TEST
After you received Christ, you will need to make an effort to pray, read your Bible, go to Church, attend your cell group, try your best to love people, try your best to forgive others, try your very best to be a Christian. All the "Christian rules" that you need to follow, you will need to follow it with your humanly strength. It is tiring, taxing, demanding, exhausting. But God wants to see whether you are willing to do all this for Him. Rest assured, after the spiritual rebirth, desire to pray, read the Bible, go to Church, go to cell group meetings and other "Christian" stuffs will requires tiny effort because it will be no longer you who do those, but your "new spirit". It is hard to understand the Bible, because when the Holy Spirit is not in us, we can't understand the Bible. But don't worry! Before you open your Bible, it is important to invite the Holy Spirit to open your Spiritual eyes that you can see God's Laws. 
  • DO THE BIBLE. When you read the Bible, don't just read it. Pick one instructions and do it! Example: if you come across Colossians 3:13 "Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.", text or call the person in your heart that you have grievance to, and make up with that person.
  • AVOID TEMPTATION. Temptations temptations temptations... Oh.. how wicked you are!! (I am talking to the temptations) Avoid them at all costs. It is hard to not fall into temptations especially if God's Spirit is not in us. So, when you wake up in the morning, invite the Holy Spirit to empower you to reject Satan's temptations!
2. RENOUNCE YOUR IDOLATRY
Idolatry is not those statues that you worship. Idolatry is something that you hold in high value and that if it is taken away, it affects your self-worth. For me, there were a couple of things. But the biggest "idolatry" in my life was obsession over money. I think 99% of us are obsessed with money. Well, of course, if we have no money, how are we going to live. Money is like the third important things in life. First is AIR, second is WI-Fi (I hope you know this is a joke >.<), third is MONEY. 
You can start renouncing "Obsessions of Money". Here goes:
"Dear Lord, I want to renounce my obsessions of money today! I no longer want to accumulate money, instead I want to accumulate treasures of Heaven from today onwards. Lord, take away my worries over money. I want to believe that You are my provider and that You promised us that you will provide us with food, shelter and clothes and everything that we need if we rely on You. I want to live for you, O Lord. I do not want to live for myself anymore. Teach me to rely on You. Empower me to leave my financial burden behind. I am going to trust You from today onwards that You will give me enough or maybe more, for me to survive in this world. I want to focus on living my life as a Christians who is worthy of my calling. In Jesus Name I pray. Amen!"

That's about it. It is really nothing in particular that we can do to be reborn. But trust that God will not forsake you, He will not leave you "dangling", He will not ignore you. If you seek Him, you will find Him. He is actually standing if front all of us waiting for us to look at Him and start a personal relationship with Him. 

Today's the day!

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