Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead 1 peter 1:3
Apostle Peter is thanking and blessing the name of the Lord for the very born again experience that God has granted to believers n Asia. Apostle peter continue to say that it is the great mercy of God that He has caused us to be born again. What does scripture speak about being born again?
Being born again means becoming new creation, a new creation in Christ. It means our old self have been ripped off and has put on a new self which is being renewed by the knowledge of Christ. New life in Christ is altogether a new experience where, we become the living temple of God and we must revere Christ as Lord in our hearts (1 Peter 3:15).
How does a person being born again?
Apostle Peter has clearly established this fact that God has caused us to be born again and it is by the great mercy of God. Ephesians 2:8-9 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. Jesus said to Nikodemus unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
God’s word and the spirit of God are the active force behind the regeneration of a person. We get better picture of this from the prophetic word of Ezekiel chapter 36:24-32 in which prophet speaks about how God would bring about the transformation in the life of Israelites. there God says I will sprinkle clean water on you and cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols. 26 I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you , your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. So the true heart transformation is a supernatural work of God not something can be produced by the human efforts because we are not just speaking about the outward deeds but the transformation about the very thoughts of the hearts. What would we do when we struggle with sin?
Its surely a question every believer has asked in their lives and also seeking an answer for? Apostle Paul had faced up with the same situation in his life and he has described that in his letters. In book of romans Paul says that the law is good (Commandment is good) and spiritual but an unspiritual person cannot do good even if he knows the law. We must look deep into our life then we know the problem is not outside but inside. Law is helpless to rescue us from the sin. For the law only informs us of our duties, but it does not give us the ability to fulfil those duties. In Romans 7:25 Paul thank God who delivers him through Jesus Christ and in chapter 8 verse 1 and 2 he continues to say that it is by the power of the Spirt we would be victorious. Now when we struggle with the sin we must stop trying to obey the God’s law by the flesh rather we must surrender ourselves completely to God and ask Him to strengthen us by His spirit. Because It is by only spirit we could put to death the deeds of the flesh.
