New LIfe

When talking about ‘New Life’ it may bring up images in your mind of a young exuberant person who has encountered Jesus for the first time and has a zeal for the Lord without many boundaries.   That is one possible image.  Or another image might be a man or woman who have been totally transformed by the regenerative power of  Jesus Christ, either from alcohol, drugs or some other habitually life stealing proclivity.

New Life has been described by Jesus as being “born again”, a turning away from an old way of doing life to a new way of being connected to life through Him.  Another way of saying it is the forfeiture of our old life, and the adoption of a new one, or the trading in of one for the other.

John 3:1-4 (NKJV)

¹ There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. ² This man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, “Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him.”

³ Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

⁴ Nicodemus said to Him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?”

New life is mysterious and hidden, it is not obvious with an outward show.  It happens on the inside of man.  Jesus described New Life as a function of the Spirit of God working within the hearts and minds of man.  Not just the result of something we do by our thoughts or actions alone, like cause and effect, but of inspiration and impartation that is energized by the moving of the Holy Spirit working through us.

John 3:5-8 (NKJV)

⁵ Jesus answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. ⁶ That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. ⁷ Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’

⁸ The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

We also tend to look at the Kingdom of God as something we enter into when we die. This is actually a true statement.  I believe that Jesus was saying that the Kingdom of God is what we can enter into now. This is the gift Jesus died to give us, by receiving New Life, we are now spiritually new, but also positionally new...we are now co-heirs with Christ.  As we allow the Holy Spirit to move us and inspire us to not only bring change to our lives, but also change to others and our sphere of influence around us,  
New Life is transferrable and repeatable. 

John 3:9-12 (NKJV)

⁹ Nicodemus answered and said to Him, “How can these things be?”

¹⁰ Jesus answered and said to him, “Are you the teacher of Israel, and do not know these things? ¹¹ Most assuredly, I say to you, We speak what We know and testify what We have seen, and you do not receive Our witness. ¹² If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things?

Is it possible to pursue God without New Life?  Of course it is!  It is like Nicodemus in the scripture above who did not have the concept or understanding of what New Life was all about, however, upon meeting Jesus he began considering all he had learned from his rabbinical training and studies from a different perspective.  New Life had begun to penetrate his psyche to reveal the Kingdom of God to Nicodemus in a living and vital way through Jesus.

John 3:13-15 (NKJV)

¹³ No one has ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of Man who is in heaven. ¹⁴ And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, ¹⁵ that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.

New Life only comes from Jesus who is God in the flesh.  Jesus was lifted up on a cross to be seen by anyone who was afflicted. This display on the cross was done not as a defeat, but for the healing of anyone afflicted by sin or discouragement.  
See: Numbers 21:4-9.  
This was God’s method for demonstrating that only He could heal and save from the fiery attacks.  Also, see how this physically works out in our daily lives. 
Read Ephesians 6:13-17... this shows us how to put on Christ!

John 3:16-17 (NKJV)

¹⁶ For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. ¹⁷ For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.

This method for saving His people is not complicated; all that is required is for us to believe.  However, to believe has lost some of it’s meaning since the bible was written.  The Greek word for believe is pisteuō. 

Vine's Expository Dictionary defines pisteuō (or believe) like this:

"to believe," also "to be persuaded of," and hence, "to place confidence in, to trust," signifies, in this sense of the word, reliance upon, not mere credence.

The meaning of the word believe is to “rely on”, “put confidence in”, “to trust in”, beyond all doubt.  That is the confidence we place in believing in Jesus.  Jesus’ response is to give us New Life which never fades or passes away with time.  New Life with Jesus is eternal.

John 3:18-25 (NKJV)

¹⁸ “He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. ¹⁹ And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. ²⁰ For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. ²¹ But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God.”

Reliance upon Jesus isn’t just a cop-out for avoiding personal responsibility; in fact it is a buy-in for taking on even greater responsibility for the things which God loves.        

You may be wondering “why did God do it this way?” The answer is simple, as stated in verse 21 above.  God wants and desires a testimony of Himself in the earth.  People who would willingly reflect His nature and His purposes, but "done in God".  
He desires to declare Himself in us and through us.

We are saved not only spiritually, but we are being changed daily in our own physical nature.  This is being worked out within us daily by our position in Him. This is the process of New Life.

John chapter 3 has many good spiritual nuggets which describe New Life in detail, but like a miner, you have to dig for the nuggets and allow the Holy Spirit to apply them to you, or they do you no good other than just being mere words.

May you find New Life through your relationship with Jesus, and may that New Life reveal to you the position you have in Christ as a son and an heir, where you are empowered to stand:

Philippians 1:6 (NKJV)

⁶ being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.

My hope is that this has been beneficial to you and encourages you in your walk with the Lord.

God is good all the time—all the time God is good!

Stephen Barnett

I Love Your Presence

By: Darren Clarke, Jessie (Lane) Clarke

In the glory….of your presence….

I find rest….….for my soul….

In the depths…of your love….

I find peace…..makes me whole…

     Chorus:

I love I love… I love your presence

I love I love… I love your presence

I love I love… I love you Jesus

I love I love… I love your presence

     Bridge:

If you want it come and get it for crying out loud

The love that I have given you was never a doubt

Let go of your heart

Let go of your head and feel it now

CCLI# 2678085

© 1999 Mercy / Vineyard Publishing (Admin. by Vineyard Music USA).  
The lyrics presented above are copyrighted by the respective artists and are presented here for educational purposes only and not for profit.