From Dream to Deliverance
Tuesday, October 5, 2004
My Prayer Today
Heavenly Father, thank You for a new day of life! I pray that You will use me to share the Good News of Jesus’ salvation with others I meet today. Fill me with Your Holy Spirit that my I may be a bold and faithful witness in every situation. Thank You for loving me enough to send Jesus to teach the truth, to live the truth, to die so that I may receive the truth, and to rise again that I may truly know that Jesus and His truth is the only thing that sets us free. This I pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.
God's Word For Me Today
John 3:1-21
1After dark one evening, a Jewish religious leader named Nicodemus, a Pharisee, 2came to speak with Jesus. “Teacher,” he said, “we all know that God has sent you to teach us. Your miraculous signs are proof enough that God is with you.”
3Jesus replied, “I assure you, unless you are born again, you can never see the Kingdom of God.”
4“What do you mean?” exclaimed Nicodemus. “How can an old man go back into his mother’s womb and be born again?”
5Jesus replied, “The truth is, no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit. 6Humans can reproduce only human life, but the Holy Spirit gives new life from heaven. 7So don’t be surprised at my statement that you must be born again. 8Just as you can hear the wind but can’t tell where it comes from or where it is going, so you can’t explain how people are born of the Spirit.”
9“What do you mean?” Nicodemus asked.
10Jesus replied, “You are a respected Jewish teacher, and yet you don’t understand these things? 11I assure you, I am telling you what we know and have seen, and yet you won’t believe us. 12But if you don’t even believe me when I tell you about things that happen here on earth, how can you possibly believe if I tell you what is going on in heaven? 13For only I, the Son of Man, have come to earth and will return to heaven again. 14And as Moses lifted up the bronze snake on a pole in the wilderness, so I, the Son of Man, must be lifted up on a pole, 15so that everyone who believes in me will have eternal life.
16“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. 17God did not send his Son into the world to condemn it, but to save it.
18“There is no judgment awaiting those who trust him. But those who do not trust him have already been judged for not believing in the only Son of God. 19Their judgment is based on this fact: The light from heaven came into the world, but they loved the darkness more than the light, for their actions were evil. 20They hate the light because they want to sin in the darkness. They stay away from the light for fear their sins will be exposed and they will be punished. 21But those who do what is right come to the light gladly, so everyone can see that they are doing what God wants.”
Reflecting on God’s Word
What is the most confusing thing about the Holy Spirit to you?
A Deeper Exploration of God’s Word
How does Jesus compare the Holy Spirit to “wind”? (3:8)
Does Jesus tell us “how” a person is born of the Spirit? (3:8)
Understanding God’s Word
Why do you suppose that Jesus didn’t offer a “formula” for how a person is born of the Holy Spirit or born again?
Applying God’s Word to Our Lives
What do you need to do as a result of reading today’s focus Scripture?
Thoughts..."Beyond Description"...
Jesus told Nicodemus that in order for anyone to gain eternal life that person MUST be born again. When Nicodemus expressed his confusion, because he took Jesus stone, cold literally, Jesus went on to point out the differences between the physical and the spiritual realms of life. Jesus told us in John 3:8 that we cannot explain HOW a person is born again or born of the Spirit. This is a crucial point. There is no “formula” for being born again. Each of us receives the salvation Jesus offers in a unique way. The Holy Spirit treats all of us as individuals. The key is that we trust Jesus for the gift of eternal life, that we receive the salvation He offers, and the Spirit does the rest!