experience involves a change of heart where God removes a heart of stone and replaces it with a heart of flesh. God plays an important part in the birth and growth process of his children as this change of heart allows you to see things from God’s viewpoint. This role is on going and kept current throughout our spiritual life, God through his spirit molds and shapes the hearts of men to become the image of Christ.
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! 2 Corinthians 5:17
Something dramatic happens to our outlook on life once we accept Jesus into our lives. Our world doesn’t change, but due to the change of heart performed by God we see life as God does. God performs the greatest miracle that the Christian will ever experience. The interest in the earthly things that we formally desired fade away and our desires turn toward the creator. It’s a life-changing event that effects our life to come because the deeds of our former life suddenly became detestable.
Those detestable things are now things we regret and a lifestyle that we have determined to put behind us. Our viewpoint has changed and now we have chosen to make every effort to change for the better. Its like our attitude has been cleaned up, as if it had been washed, the things we once treasured are worthless and you can’t wait to put them aside. We see Jesus in a new light, as someone who loves us an with an unfathomable love.
The rebirth experience is undeniably – miraculous. We are taken out of the kingdom of darkness and placed into the kingdom of God and treated as if we were naturalized citizens of God's kingdom. Even more miraculous Jesus said, the kingdom of God is within you. (Luke 17:21) Yet our new life is an on going process, well after we have become God’s child inwardly. Our worldly thoughts and deeds reflect a need for change and it will take the continued effort to wash the ways of this world away by our loving father. For that reason God poured out his Spirit into our hearts to move us to obey him.
However, no Christian will think and act like a son of God overnight. The process of becoming a son of God is immediate, but the renewal of heart takes a life time. We live in a world where sin has no limits, we see it constantly and worse yet, sin appears to have no consequence. In addition, the opposition better known as Satan is working with a full head of steam to incite men to chase his or her evil desires into further state of corruption.
Overcoming the sin of this world is done through the leading of the Spirit. The Bible tell us, those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God (Romans 8:14). Those who live in according to the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires (Romans 8:5). The most critical part of our Christian live is to find out what pleases the Lord (Ephesians 5:10) and then do the works prepared in advance for the sons of God to do. Let’s remember what Jesus said, now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them (John 13:17).
Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God — this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is — his good, pleasing and perfect will. Romans 12:1-2
Christian life demands a prepared plan that will accomplish knowing God with a desire to live under his grace and protection for the rest of the Christian's life. All successful plans start with an accumulation of information looking for a feasible method to achieve the desired outcome. Renewing the mind is the God given method of changing how you think, as it will affect the choices you make and the deeds you perform when you find out what the lord will is. The outcome of knowing God's good and complete will is the knowledge that provides the way to please God.
Fact-finding allows you to look at how things are done and allows you to see the success or consequences of your actions before you commit to doing any one of them. It allows you to foresee the potential of sin in advance that gives you the ability to avoid the sin altogether. Knowing what to do establishes a path to take with the full knowledge that veering to the right or to the left will hinder you from reaching your goals.
In the process of learning what pleases God you develop a practice of reading the bible regularly over a lifetime. The knowledge about God is inexhaustible as the bible is packed full of information about the way God chooses to live. Some say God’s word is a letter written to the church, in my opinion God’s word is his personal instruction to each of his children. Some people consider the word of God as the wisdom of God. No matter how one looks at the word of God,
All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work (2 Timothy 3:16-17).
Ultimately the renewal through the Spirit develops peace with God. His way of life is good for building the character of man who wants to please his father. Through his spirit, God teaches his children the character worthy of honor and given by the rest of his creation. The final stage of renewal shapes a way of life that encourages and promotes a peaceful and tranquil life in the city God has prepared for those who love him.
3. Why A Spirit Of Truth?
Before anything can be said about the Spirit of Truth we must understand that everything on earth was created by God and owned by God outright. Since God created the heavens and the earth, the foundational truths he used to establish his creation is what he considers to be true. And since mankind is a part of the creation he is also subject to the foundational truths God established. It is only reasonable to consider the truth God established will be the truth we will be judged by. From God's viewpoint, truth is a absolute principle that is eternal and will not change. Ultimately, truth constitutes the reality we live in and the actually of our present life. God is eternal and what is true for our lives today will be true in the ages to come and since God's word has been proven to be true we can place our trust in him.
It’s well known in the Christian community that the Spirit of Truth is an interchangeable name for the Counselor and Holy Spirit. Like every name used of God, the name Spirit of Truth is a description of the character of God. Truth describes the nature of God, as he is known for keeping his word and rewarding our faith by fulfilling his word.
God is not a man, that he should lie, nor a son of man, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill? Numbers 23:19
The difference is that man has exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator himself (Romans 1:25). Man needs the Spirit of Truth, for the truth of life is found in its creator and our faith. In the near future, God will judge the world and on that day the truth will be revealed. God has given us the opportunity to learn and adopt his truth, but judgment day will also reveal whether mankind is willing to live by the truth that agrees with God and his plans.
The bible tells us that the world cannot accept the Spirit of Truth as they neither see nor know him. On the other hand the bible says we will know him and he will be in us. Its sad to know that the majority of people in this world have no set purpose for knowing the truth the way or the life found in Jesus Christ. The majority of people have been deceived for they would live by the truth if they only knew it. Paul said.
They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved.2 Thessalonians 2:10
Jesus said there is a reason why men do not know the spirit of truth.
He who belongs to God hears what God says. The reason you do not hear is that you do not belong to God." John 8:47
Those who refuse the knowledge of God do not belong to him or do they have the desire to know God. Those who live according to the sinful
