Born Again... and Growing!: How-To Steps to Beginning and Pursuing a Relationship with God

By Rosie Justus

What are the real priorities in your life? Author Rosie Justus will help you to discover what is truly important in her book Born Again...and Growing! Life can be over whelming and it is only human to not lead to most God-centered life possible. Born Again...and Growing! shows us how to live a life with Jesus as our priority while being more of a t

• Language: English
• Publisher: Rosemarie I Justus
• Release date: Dec 11, 2007
• ISBN: 9780999595213

Book preview

Introduction

Several experiences led me to write this book. The first was early one morning during my time of fellowshipping with the Lord, He said, So many of My children are born into My Kingdom, but they never grow up. The sadness in His voice began me on a search through Scripture to discover what being born into the Kingdom of God and growing up in the Kingdom involved.

My search opened up so many Bible verses referring to the Kingdom of God, life in the Spirit, and maturing into the full stature of Christ. Secondly, the Holy Spirit led me to write down the verses that I read as He took me on my journey through the Bible. My notes began to take shape into a series of Bible studies on life in the Spirit. Through prayer, I was prompted to organize my notes into book form of which Born Again … and Growing! is the first book of a Life in the Spirit series of books.

It is my prayer that these books will stir a hunger in many of God’s children to seek after and become established in the Kingdom of God in their daily walk. Born Again … and Growing! lays the foundation for life in the Spirit and the pursuit of the Kingdom of God. The format of the book is laid out with Bible references followed by application of the biblical principles through prayer, praise, and life application keys.

Chapter Previews

Born of the Spirit: Everyone is born in the flesh, but we must choose to be born of the Spirit. Through Adam’s disobedience, sin and death were passed to all mankind. All have sinned and fallen short of God’s standard, and as a result are separated from God and spiritually dead to the kingdom of God. We remain spiritually dead to God unless we receive Jesus as our Savior. Jesus is the only way to be made spiritually alive to God. It was God’s plan from before the foundation of the world to send Jesus to reconcile mankind. The promise of eternal life is to whosoever will. God gives the power to become His child to all who accept Jesus. It is necessary to believe in our heart and confess with our mouth that God raised Jesus from the dead to receive salvation. When we accept Jesus, we receive a new beginning. Our spirit passes from death to life. ( John 5:24) All of our sins are forgiven, cleansed, and forgotten. We can know we have eternal life. (I John 5:13)

Spiritual Food- Essentials of Growth: Accepting Jesus as our Savior is the beginning of our spiritual life. We should view every area of our life with new eyes. As we mature in the manifestation of all that God has accomplished for us through Christ, we need to learn how to apply the principles of God to our daily life. The Holy Spirit will be our Teacher. We should ask the Holy Spirit to search our hearts and lead us as we apply God’s principles from the Bible to our life. We renew our minds by reading, studying and meditating on the Word of God. Prayer is our spiritual breathing. We must learn to pray in the Spirit. We receive God’s provision when we pray in faith. We become the home of God. ( John 14:23) God desires that we be in unity with Him, just as God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are in unity. As we abide in God, and as His Word abides in us, our prayers will be effective. Prayer and Bible study are essential to spiritual growth, but we must always remember that our salvation is not dependent on our daily spiritual accomplishments.

Learning to Walk: As a newborn Christian it is necessary to learn how to walk in the Spirit. We must learn to keep our flesh in submission to our spirit and to submit our spirit to the Holy Spirit. We must learn what desires, motivations and actions are of the flesh and which are of the spirit. There is a battle between our flesh and our spirit. When we renew our minds with God’s Word, our walk will be transformed from a carnal walk to a spiritual walk. We must set our minds to pursue God’s spiritual kingdom rather than the kingdom of this temporal world. Jesus is the author and finisher of our faith.

Learning to Talk: Our words should be pleasing to God. The fruit of the Spirit should be evident in our speech. The power of life and death is in our tongue. When we are born of the Spirit, we can worship God, because the highest form of worship is from our spirit.

Relationships: Our primary relationship is with God. Through Christ, we are justified (Romans 5:1). We are redeemed (Titus 2:14). We are free of condemnation (Romans 8:1). We become sons and daughters of God. (Romans 8:14,15). We should grow in our understanding of the height and depth of God’s love for us (Ephesians 3:17). Nothing can separate us from God’s love (Romans 8:37,38). Loving others should be an outgrowth of our relationship with God. Our spiritual maturity will affect our relationships with others. How we view and relate to others will change as we mature. It is our responsibility to be a witness to those who have not yet accepted Jesus as their Savior. The final area of relationship is how we deal with the devil. It is important to recognize the devil is our opponent. Jesus gives us victory over the devil.

God’s Plan and Purpose: God has a daily purpose, a life purpose, and an eternal purpose for each individual. God’s daily purpose is that we walk in submission to and led by the Holy Spirit. God has a unique life purpose for each individual. God’s eternal purpose for us is that we grow to the full stature of Christ, and thereby be ready to fulfill our function in His eternal kingdom. He is the Master Designer. He does not give up when we fall short of His purpose, but He continues to draw us to repentance. Someday we shall see Him and we shall be as He is (I John 3:1).

Spiritual Kingdom Principles: Once we are born again, we should no longer guide our life primarily by natural principles. We need to learn God’s supernatural principals. Jesus in us is our hope of glory. We are in the world but not of it. We should view everything in light of eternity. The weapons of our warfare are not carnal weapons (II Corinthians 10:3). The Christian walk is a walk of faith, not sight (Hebrews 10:38). Jesus has given us the keys of the kingdom. What we bind and release on earth are bound and released in heaven (Matthew 16:19). We are joint heirs with Christ (Romans 8:17).

Moving on to Maturity: Receiving Jesus as our Savior is the door to the kingdom of God. We need to continue the work that Jesus began while He was on earth. We each have a place to serve in the body of Christ. When Jesus returned to the Father, He sent the Holy Spirit to be our Helper. He lives within us and enables us to perform God’s purpose for us.

Accountability/ Stewardship: Everyone who has not accepted Jesus as their Savior will appear before God to be judged at the Great White Throne. They will be thrown into the lake of fire because their name is not written in the Book of Life. Everyone who has accepted Jesus, as their Savior, will not be judged at the Great White Throne, because their name is in the Book of Life. They will instead stand before Jesus to determine their rewards for service.

How Should We Then Live?: We are citizens of another kingdom looking for the city built by God. The Bible is the vital element to live a victorious Christian life. Our daily focus should be eternity. Our Christian walk is a daily walk. Jesus warned us in the book of Revelation of the things we should beware of. We need to be self disciplined to walk a consistent daily walk. Jesus is returning for those who are watching for Him as they work for Him.

Bible Truths to Meditate: Romans 12:2 tells us to renew our mind, so that we will not be conformed to this world system. We will instead be transformed to the mind of Christ. As Christians, we must replace our pre-conversion thoughts, attitudes and beliefs with the principles of God’s Kingdom. The Bible is the source of God’s principles.

Prayer for Understanding

God, I believe the Bible is Your infallible, inerrant Word. I believe Your Word is eternal. I believe there is treasure to be found in Your Word. Help me to seek and find the treasure within it. Give me diligence and perseverance to pursue and become established in Your principles. Give me understanding of Your Word. Enlighten my eyes to see and quicken my heart to obey Your laws. In Jesus name I pray, Amen.

What does it mean to be born again?

Several terms are used in Christian circles referring to salvation. Being saved, redeemed, becoming a Christian, accepting Jesus as our personal Savior, and being born again all