You must be born again to enter the Kingdom of God

When I was in my teens, my father pastored a small church out in the country in south-central Michigan. Many different people came to our church over the course of time and I heard a lot of different ideas that people had about salvation.

Looking back, I think lots of times people thought they were Christians because their grandparents, parents or themselves attended church most of their lives. Works won’t get us to heaven, Jesus said to Nicodemus in John 3:3: “Unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

Nicodemus was looking at the natural man when he said, ‘‘How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?’’

Of course, Jesus was speaking of the spiritual nature of man.

To be born again — saved — is God’s will for every person. That is why he sent Jesus Christ, his son, to redeem the whole world from sin. All we must do is believe in Jesus.

I do not believe I understood the significance of what Jesus was trying to tell Nicodemus until a man of God, a teacher of the Word, showed me in Hebrews 4:12 the division of spirit and soul, which says: ‘’For the Word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.’’

Seeing the light of this Scripture and others helped me in my Christian walk, to understand God is a spirit, we are a spirit, we have a soul and we live in this body. When we are born again, the nature of God comes to abide in us.

When I was young I always heard preaching about saving the soul. Of course that is correct, but our spirit is what is born again.

In Romans 10:9-10 it says: “That if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God raised him from the, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.’’

We believe with our heart, our innermost being, our spirit.

Studying the division of spirit and soul helped me to understand why we miss it sometimes and possibly become carnal Christians or flesh-ruled, because we have not taken up the Word of God and fed our soul which is our mind, our intellect and our will. Yes, we are born again, but we can be flesh-ruled, not allowing our spiritual nature to rule. If we take the Word of God, study it, meditate on it and let it change our way of thinking, then our spirit and our soul will help us overcome those fleshy unwanted outbursts and we can be spirit led and walk in love.

I remember what one minister said: ‘’We feed our bodies three hot meals a day and our spirit one cold snack a week.’’

It is imperative as Christians that we take time to study God’s Word, to take that quiet time in fellowshipping with the father in prayer and meditating upon the Word. Too many times we let the cares of life, which we all have, draw us away from that fullness of that personal relationship with God. God shows us in his Word that he cares for us, His love is so deep that without a close relationship with the father we many not see the depth of that love. However, if we practice his love that abides in us and he shows us in his Word, we can walk in the spirit and be victorious on this earth through Jesus Christ.

Lavon Barve works with Cup of Life Ministry in Wasilla.

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