03/10/2011 - BEGOTTEN AGAIN

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Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.

I Peter 1:3

In the Old Testament, the Almighty was invoked as the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. At that time, by addressing Him that way people remembered the promise that the Almighty had made to the patriarchs of the Hebrews. In the New Testament, however, we see no such designation for the Lord, who is called God and Father of Jesus Christ (II Corinthians 1:3; Ephesians 1:3).

By invoking the Lord as God and Father of Jesus, we refer to the promises He made to His Son as well as to the blessings He told Jesus He would give to each one of us. But memorizing biblical verses is not enough. What really matters is to know what is freely given to us through His Son and then when we pray we will remember all that He has assured us in His Word. As the Father of Christ, He receives us as His children, not as servants, as occurred in the Old Testament.

In the passage we read in I Peter, we observe that when speaking of the abundant divine mercy, the apostle reminds us what was done for us: it was because of the Lord’s mercy that we became the object of His love. The fall of Adam had led us astray from God, so in order to get us close to Him, the Almighty had to use His abundant mercy, because otherwise we would not have been begotten again to a living hope.

With this gesture, the Father has begotten us again. My brother, the new birth is more than necessary for man to become, once again, God\’s dream. However, after having been begotten again many people do not try to understand what the Lord has in store for them, thus frustrating the divine plan. Those who do so forget that the enemy is real and is always trying to lead the children of God into sinning. By the way, one of the most successful onslaughts of Satan is to get Christians to stop seeing with the eyes of faith.

What God had in mind when He called us to be part of His people must be fully understood because it was something great: we have been begotten again to a living hope, not to suffering. Now, the Lord will never pay such an exceedingly high price for something of minor importance. We are very valuable to him, so instead of disregarding this divine feeling, we should call to mind the reasons that led us to be Christians.

One of the most outstanding events of our faith was the resurrection of Jesus; after all, if He had not risen from the dead, we would have been lost forever. With His resurrection, however, our sins were justified and, therefore, there is no condemnation to those who are in Christ (II Corinthians 5:17)!

In Christ with love,

R. R. Soares

 

 

07/04/2011 - Begotten again

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“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead” (I Peter 1: 3)
We’ve got to fully understand the meaning of God’s great mercy which was paramount in the work of salvation to recreate our spirit. Our true being was separated from God with Adam’s sin and that means that we died spiritually. We’d never be able to have contact with our Creator when that happened because sin cut the link we had with Him and that made us vulnerable for the enemy to oppress our lives and also use us.
Yet, the great mercy of the Lord began operating and the work of recreation was done. Now, when we accept Jesus as the Saviour of our lives we aren’t only forgiven, but recreated; we’re remade without any flaw. It’s a thorough work and then we can restore that contact with our Father.
I think the work of recreation isn’t less important than that of creation. Perhaps it’s even more significant; our filthy spirit, full of sins is now fully rebuilt as though we had never made any error – and all that was carried out by the Lord for a living hope. It’s good to seek the revelations found in the Scriptures on our spiritual stand, and it’s wise never to frustrate our wonderful God and Father whose plans for us are about our not being miserable forgiven sinners any longer but being His true image and likeness in this life.
My brother, don’t live in the past! Our faith would be in vain had Christ not risen (I Corinthians 15: 14, 17), unproductive, but now it’s not like that any more. We can do all things through faith (Philippians 4: 13), our only limit is the Word of the Lord. So, you’ll be rejoicing our Father’s heart when you assume what God did for you and also when you take possession of your ownership in Jesus. Everything you know
and those things you’ll get to know in the future become possible through the resurrection of Christ. He overcame all the forces that used to make us suffer when He got out of His grave. That’s the reason why we mustn’t live in the past, but in the present. We’re more than winners over all things in God (Romans 8: 37), and the very thing we determine in His Name will surely be done.
Our Father’s heart will rejoice with your achievements. You’ll be recreated for a fully successful life. Don’t let the enemy enslave you any longer; you must rather get rid of the temptation that comes to defeat you. Take possession of those things you need and give a shout of victory! God’s looking at your heart and He’s ready to make of you a winner. So, be that kind of person made by the Lord when you were recreated in Jesus!
In Christ, with love,
R. R. Soares