Born of the Spirit

"Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves" (2 Corinthians 13:5)

A Christian is what he is not by ecclesiastical manipulation but by the new birth. He is a Christian because of a Spirit which dwells in him.

Only that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. The flesh can never be converted into spirit, no matter how many church dignitaries work on it.

Confirmation, baptism, holy communion, confession of faith - none of these nor all of them together can turn flesh into spirit nor make a son of Adam a son of God.

"Because ye are sons," wrote Paul to the Galatians, "God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, "Abba, Father" (Galatians 4:6). And to the Romans: "But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his" (Romans 8:9).

A sinner cannot grow into repentance. God's power puts him there, and being there, then he grows in grace.

~A. W. Tozer~

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On Removing the Doubts

"He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water" (John 7:38)

That every Christian can be and should be filled with the Holy Spirit would hardly seem to be a matter for debate among Christians. Yet some will argue that the Holy Spirit is not for plain Christians.

I want here boldly to assert that it is my happy belief that every Christian can have a copious outpouring of the Holy Spirit in a measure far beyond that received at conversion, and I might also say, far beyond that enjoyed by the rank and file of orthodox believers today.

It is important that we get this straight, for until doubts are removed faith is impossible. God will not surprise a doubting heart with an effusion of the Holy Spirit, nor will He fill anyone who had doctrinal questions about the possibility of being filled.

Doubt opens the door to satan and he rushes in to sow tares in the wheat. But faith keeps the door of the heart; faith retains the grace and presence of God and so the just not only shall, but do, live by faith.

~A. W. Tozer~