Page 3 - Microsoft Word - New Believer Devotional (3)

2 Corinthians 5:21

Part of His Family
Salvation is an act and decision of God whereby He interrupts the life of a person separated from God by
sin, walking in darkness and lost. Psalm 65:4 proclaims, “Blessed is the man You choose, and cause to
approach You, that he may dwell in your courts.” Being saved and having our names written in the
lamb’s book of Life is not something we can boast about because our salvation is something given to us
from God; however, we do receive all of His benefits. The Giver of all good Gifts receives the glory for
the story of our lives merging with His. We accepted Jesus, we finally decided to stop resisting His love
and running from His call by a simple act of our will in surrendering to Jesus Christ, yes – and He made
our decision possible by His grace, His relentless pursuit of us with His love and tender kindness, and by
revealing Himself to us in an unmistakable fashion. Who can resist the Father when He is pursuing His
lost sheep? Who would want to? God will never stop pursuing you with His love – He is a good Father.
Regeneration

Through the sovereign decision of God, by the action of His Spirit, and because of the sacrifice of the Son
Jesus Christ on the cross and His constant intercession for you night and day as He sits at the right hand
of God, you have the “washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit” (Titus 3:5) poured out on
your life. This is what causes you to proceed through regeneration. As Christians, we are always being
regenerated and propelled to new levels of glory in Him. There is always a new level of work He is doing
in us and through us. When we are resurrected, we will be like Him. (See 1 John 3:2-3).
Until that time, you’ll be regenerated and renewed continually by the Word of God and by the power of
the Holy Spirit. If you’re faithfully studying His Word, this process is smoother and clearer to you. God
will use events and circumstances in our lives to mold us into His image. As we read His Word, He (by
the illumination of His Spirit) will reveal to us what He is perfecting within us, what is to come, and give
us instructions on what to do. As this happens, God gives us new hearts and puts a new spirit within us
(Ezekiel 36:26). God removes our sin-hardened hearts of stone, replaces them with tender hearts of flesh
and fills them with the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit which causes us to walk in obedience to His
Word.

When we have been regenerated by the Holy Spirit and experienced the “washing and regeneration of the
Holy Spirit,” our lives will demonstrate that by the change He has enacted. The way we live and our
works of obedience to God will be evident to those around us. Change within us caused by the presence
of Jesus Christ and the indwelling Spirit of God will be evident by the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22)
in our lives. We will feel a desire to please God, stay close to Him in obedience and joy of knowing
we’ve pleased Him, and without really trying through our own efforts but by obedience to the Holy Spirit,
live a life that glorifies Him. We, as Christians, belong to Christ and as His sheep, we hear His voice and
we follow Him through every valley of trial and on every mountain of victory (John 10:26-30). You’ve
been adopted!

During regeneration, which is continuous as you grow in Christ, God gives you new spiritual life within.
Through adoption, God makes us members of His family. The biblical teaching on adoption focuses
much more on the personal relationships that salvation gives us with God – the intimate relationship that
He has longed to have with His people from the beginning! God wanted a family, so He sowed a son.
Adoption is membership into God’s family. When we were separated from Him because of our sin, we
were “by nature children of wrath” (Eph. 2:3). The Bible says that we were cut off from the promises of