BORN AGAIN OR NOT?
Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of him. 2 By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments. 3 For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome. 4 For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. 5 Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?
What are the signs in your life that God has caused you to be born again?
Evidences of the New Birth according to 1 John
* Those who are born of God keep his commandments. {1 John 2:3-4, 1 John 3:24}
* Those who are born of God walk as Christ walked. {1 John 2:5-6}
* Those who are born of God don't hate others but love them {1 John 2:9 ,1 John 3:14, 1 John 4:7-8, 1 John 4:20}
* Those who are born of God don't love the world {1 John 2:15}
* Those who are born of God confess the Son and receive (have) him. {1 John 2:23,1 John 4:15,1 John 5:12}
* Those who are born of God practice righteousness. {1 John 2:29}
* Those who are born of God don’t make a practice of sinning. {1 John 3:6, 1 John 3:9-10, 1 John 5:18}
* Those who are born of God possess the Spirit of God.{1 John 3:24, 1 John 4:13}
* Those who are born of God listen submissively to the apostolic Word. {1 John 4:6}
* Those who are born of God believe that Jesus is the Christ.{1 John 5:1}
* Those who are born of God overcome the world. {1 John 5:4}
Nevertheless, mistakenly we tend to make two conclusions based on these verses:
“If you’re born again, you’re perfect. If you’re born again you don’t sin at all. There is no defeat in the Christian life. There is only victory.”
" we can loose our salvation. That is, we can be born again for a while and then begin to fail in these tests and die and lose the spiritual life that we were given in the new birth."
But John knew that his words could be misunderstood, so he explains further that Christians are not sinless, and born-again people cannot lose their spiritual life and be lost.
He says in 1 John 1:8-10, “If we say we have no sin [present tense], we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins [present tense], he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.” So John is at pains to say that “walking in the light” (1:7) does not mean walking flawlessly. It means that, when you stumble, the light of Christ causes you to see it and hate it and confess it and move forward with Christ.
1 John 2:19 says, “They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us.”
Jesus never promised that obeying him would be easy. But the hard work and discipline of serving Christ is no burden to those who love him. And if our load starts to feel heavy, we can always entrust Christ to help us bear it {Matthew 11:28-30}
PRAYING ACCORDING TO GOD'S WILL
1 John 5 vs 14 and 15 teach us about prayer and God's will.
It is only when we know God's will for our lives that we can certainly ask for those things boldly.
In everyday situations when we are unsure whether something will be God's will or not {specially because we don't have a Bible verse to back up our specific petition} we must pray that His will is done and not ours.
Another thing to consider when praying for God's will in our lives is his timing. Many times we can pray for something that is the will of God, but until His timing is right in our lives we will not see the physical manifestation for our answer.
To ponder:
"Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen" (Heb. 11:11) If you have the word of God to back up your requests, stand in faith and persevere in prayer until you see the results. But remember, real faith causes us to enter the rest of God, so waiting on Him should be a pleasant experience, not one of frustration and depression :-)
LET'S PRAY
God, thanks so much for the confidence we have that if we ask anything in Your name, according to Your will and in agreement with Your plan your are always faithful to listen and hear us (1 John 5:14)