Physical vs Spiritual Birth

As I pull myself together after weeks of sleep deprivation I realize I have neglected the prayer blog.  As I think about prayer and as I think about new life, and startling thought has entered my mind.

 

The amount of excitement over a new life is indescribable: people visit from all over, gifts flood into our house, cards fill up our mail box, phone calls are made, pictures are requested...and it keeps going from there.  Before the baby is here, people can hardly stand it they are so excited for his arrival, and once born the excitement level is through the roof! 

 

Bringing a new life into this world is an incredible thing.  Something that has often brought tears to my eyes.  But I feel that many of us have lost perspective.  We get more excited about a new physical life than a new spiritual one.  Jesus tells Nicodemus (John 3): "that which is born of flesh is flesh and that which is born of Spirit is spirit."  In other words, being born physically is being born into sin, yet being born spiritually is being born into eternal life.  In saying this I am not trying to lessen the excitement of physical birth, rather I am trying to heighten the excitement of spiritual birth. 

 

Our excitement level for new disciples should exceed that of physical birth.  For when someone accepts Christ they are passing from death to life.  We are talking about eternity here!  I believe that a major reason we don't evangelize and share our faith is that we don't find making disciplines all that exciting.  So today, think about the idea that a sinful man can be reconciled to a Holy God.  Think about what that took!  Elevate spiritual birth in your mind to the place it should be.  And maybe if we did that, the excitement we have towards evangelism would be similar to the excitement of a pregnant mom.  And maybe the celebration we have towards a new believer might be similar to the excitement of a baby being born.  And taking this analogy further, maybe the way we nurture and raise up new believers could be done with the same care and concern that parents and grandparents do for the new life that has been brought into the world.

 

 

 

                

The World

Sometimes we get so focused on our specific mission that we forget God's greater mission: To make disciples of ALL nations. So take a few minutes to pray for that mission. Pray that God would call people to Himself from all around the world. Also, pray that the Bible would be spread to new areas and new languages. Currently there are 2300 languages that don't have any part of the Bible in their own language.

Grace

"Grace will teach you that you are much less than you thought, while it assures you that you can be far more than you ever imagined." -Paul Tripp

 

Dwell on this truth.  Let the beauty of grace soak into your being and let it change you.  We cannot be who God wants us to be until we realize how desperate and needy we truly are.  It is then we can find strength and courage to live for Him, but only by his strength and power.      

First Allegiance

"My first allegiance is not to a flag, a country, or a man,
My first allegiance is not to democracy or blood, 
It's to a king & a kingdom" - Derek Webb

 

Is this true of us?  Is your first and primary pursuit God and His purposes?  If your allegiance was as it should be...how would this change things?      

Rescue

 

"We need more than love and encouragement, information and insight.  We need rescue.  Anything less will not address what is really wrong with us."  -Paul Tripp

 

We have to understand that what people truly need is rescue.  People need God to save them from their sinful state to reconcile them back to Himself through Christ.  This helps bring things in proper perspective.  At the end of the day, the best thing we can do for others is to beg God to rescue.  Yes, it will help as we love and encourage people.  Yes, it will help as we teach about who Jesus is and what the gospel is.  But at the end of the day God must do His saving work...so pray that He would! 

One person

Think of one person you know in the area that does not believe in Christ.  Take a few minutes and pray for them.  Plead for them, intercede for them, and believe that God can answer that prayer. 

Humble and Broken

"It is not long discourses nor eloquent tongues, that are the things which are pleasing in the ears of the Lord, but a humble, broken, and contrite heart (Ps 51:17, Is 57:15)" -John Bunyan on Prayer

 

Humble: humble prayer is prayer that brought with submission to the Father, knowing that we are far inferior and in desperate need of Him. 

Broken: A broken heart in prayer is a heart that realizes how incomplete it is.  A heart that knows it can only be fixed by the Lord.  All of us are broken, but a broken heart in prayer is one that realizes its state. 

Contrite: A contrite heart feels the weight and agony of its sins.  It is heart that sees sin and God rightly, desiring to be cleansed of all iniquity.  A contrite heart is a desperate heart.  A heart that is in need of a savior and calls out to God in agony to forgive.

 

Is this how you come to the Lord?