THE FLESH, THE SPIRIT AND
THE WATER
‘There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews: the same came to Jesus by night and said unto him, rabbi; we know that thou art teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles which thou doest, except God be with him. Jesus answered and said unto him, verily, verily I say unto thee, except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus said unto him, how can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter the second time into his mother’s womb, and be born? Jesus answered, verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born of water and of 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 spiri’t (John3:1-6).
As far as the scripture is concerned, there are three major ways through which a man can be born – flesh, water and spirit. Like Nicodemus in his days, a lot of people do not realized this basic truth. We shall consider these types of birth one after the other.
BORN OF THE FLESH
Nicodemus’ knowledge was limited to the kind of birth resulting from physical pregnancy. ‘And Adam knew his wife, and she conceived, and bare Cain, and said, I have gotten a man from God’ (Genesis 4:1). This kind of birth involves a relationship between a man and a woman who by sexual intercourse got the woman pregnant and thereafter gave birth to a new baby. The baby who came through this relationship is referred to as the ‘fruit of the womb.’ Jesus was referring to this kind of birth when he said ‘that which is born of flesh is flesh…’
The bible talks about different kinds of flesh in 1corinthians 15:39. A man will give birth to a man, goat will give birth to a goat, and fish will give birth to fish, and so on. You recognize each creature by the kind of flesh it is made of. When a woman is conceived, she is expected to give birth to human being; but if she gives birth to a goat, something is definitely wrong.
When God created the heaven and the earth, He made all living creature male and female in order to give room for procreation. Then, He commanded them to be fruitful, to multiply, and to replenish the earth. This procreation order could only be carried out through physical birth – being born of the flesh.
BORN AFTER ITS KIND
· THE PHYSICAL
Before God made Adam and Eve, God said ‘let us make man…..’ (Gen 1:26). ‘So God created man…. Male and female created he them’ (Gen 1:27). When Adam knew his wife, she conceived and gave birth to a baby boy. She then said, ‘…I have gotten a man from the Lord’ (Gen 4:1) this is the reason Jesus said to Necodemus in John 3 that ‘that which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the spirit is spirit’. Man will always give birth to man
· THE NATURE
That which is born of the flesh is flesh is not limited to the physical sameness. It means absolute sameness; exact likeness, agreeing in every way. There are certain natural or inherited traits that bind a child to his parents. When Jesus explained this truth to the scribes and Pharisees, they became angry because he told them that He (Jesus) inherited his characters and nature from God, his father. ‘….Jesus saith unto them, if ye were Abraham’s children, ye would do the works of Abraham’ (John 8:39). He later explained to them where they inherited their evil characters and nature. ‘Ye are of your father the devil, and the lust of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own. For he is a liar, and the father of it. And because I tell you the truth, ye believe me not’ (John8:44&45)
The Pharisees, the scribes, the chief priests and others in that category sought to kill Jesus many times before his eventual cruxification, they sought for people who would support them in their lies against him, and they refused to believe in the truth of his sonship of God not because those things were part of the things they naturally inherited from their father the devil. There was no place where they were taught to kill, tell lies and never to believe the truth, but all these things were part of their nature because they are part of the nature of the devil who happened to be their father. Verse 44 of John 8 calls the devil ‘the father of’ liars. His children are liars because he himself is a liar. ‘When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own’. He could not give birth to a truthful person because ‘there is no truth in him’ He gave birth to children made of his own stuff.
When God created Adam and Eve, God affirmed that they were very good (Gen 2:31). They were good because of the stuff they were made of. Man was made by spirit and the word of God (Gen 2:7, John 1:1-4). He became a living soul by the breath of life from God. He was born of God. ‘……Adam, which was the son of God’ (Luke 3:38)
Man was created in God’s image, after His likeness and with God’s nature. He was created physically sound; naturally good and spiritually perfect. God gave the dominion of the earth to man and the responsibility of naming every other creatures of the earth (Gen 1:28, 2:19). Man was like God!
What a beautiful place this earth would have been if man started pro-creating when he was still like God! A world where sickness would be an alien, where there would not be tribal and cultural differences, where no one would be poor, where hatred would not be known, where lies would never be told, where storms would never rage, where heat would never be too much, where flood would never ravage, where no one would be hungry, where no one would be greedy. This world would have been a world with absolute satisfaction, complete harmony and total rest.
What a pity! Man never pro-created before his fall. Genesis 1&2 gives us the picture of a perfect world, with the highest creature made in God’s image after God’s likeness. This perfect world existed for less than a century before Genesis 3 crept in- The genesis of new (evil) birth. Genesis of sin, sorrow, sickness, and sadness. Humn, genesis of this polluted world that is full of evil. What a pity, Genesis of perfection never experienced pro-creation. No child was born in Genesis one and two. The first child ever to be born came in Genesis four, after the Genesis Three fall. Cain came after Genesis three. What a miserable heritage Cain inherited. He came at a time when perfect Adam had become imperfect, when happy Adam had become sorrowful, when the fruitful soil had become cursed with thistles and thorns, when stress-free life had become sweat-filled life. Cain came when Saint Adam had already become slave to sin. Cain came at the wrong time. ‘Adam, which was God’s son’ (Luke 3:38) had lost his sonship before Cain arrived. Cain came when Adam already become an adopted son of Satan the devil.
Genesis chapter 5:1-3 is a summary of Genesis chapter one to chapter four. Gen 5:1&2 describe Genesis chapters 1&2. It tells us about the perfect Adam created in the perfect image and likeness of the perfect God in a perfect world with perfect blessing of God upon them. But verse 3 of Genesis 5 tells us about imperfect child created in the perfect image of imperfect Adam in an imperfect world with perfect cursed from God. Adam was created in the image of God, his father. He lived in that perfection until he lost his sonship in Genesis 3 to the devil, thus becoming like the devil. Adam was already a sinner before he started giving birth to his children. He therefore gave birth to sinners like himself. Adam begat a son in his (Adam) own image. ‘This is the book of the generation of Adam. In the day that God created man in the likeness of God made he him. Male and female created he them and blessed them and called their name, Adam, in the day when they were created. And Adam lived an hundred and thirty years, and begat a son in his (Adam’s) own likeness after his image … (Gen5:1-3)
Cain, Abel, Seth and other sons and daughters of Adam never experienced the peace, joy, happiness, rest, abundance, etc of Eden. They came after the banishment of their parents from God’s garden. They did not come until their parents were dead (separated from God). They were giving birth to in the land of the dead, full of sweat, labour, thorns, thistles, barrenness, hardship and the likes. Cain became self-centered, wicked and a murderer, not because his father sat him down and taught him how to kill his fellow human being, but because he inherited that nature from the devil, his adopted grand father through Adam his father. Though Abel never committed physical sin before he was murdered by his brother, but sin was in him. His blood cried for vengeance instead of forgiveness. ‘Ye are of your father the devil, and the lust of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth because there is no truth in him’ Jn8:44. This trend of wickedness continued and got to climax in Genesis 6. ‘And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth and daughters were born into them… And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thought of his heart was only evil continually. And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart… The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. And God looked upon the earth, and behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth; ves 1, 5, 6, 11 & 12.
When we look at our world today, almost all flesh is corrupt, violence has become part of our nature, and people live in wickedness without restrain. Why is wickedness spreading like summer bush fire? ‘Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin, and so death passeth upon all men, for that all have sinned… Nevertheless death reigned from Adam…. Even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam’s transgression…. Therefore as by the offence of one judgement came upon all men to condemination, For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners… Rom. 5: 12, 14, 18 & 19.
Paul gave the answer to the reason behind prevalence of evil and wickedness in the world. All the earth became sinner because our first parents were already sinner before they started pro-creating. The nature of sin is an inherited nature. That which is born of the flesh is flesh again means that every one that is born of the flesh can not but obeys the desire of the flesh. Flesh desires and manifests idolatry, fornication uncleanness, lasciviousness, witch craft, hatred, variance, emulation, wrath, strife, sedition, heresies, envying, murders, drunkenness, reveling and such like (Gal 5: 19-21). This is contrary to what God wants. ‘So then they that are in flesh can not please God’ (Rom 8:8). They that are born of the flesh want to please God but they can not. It is not in their power to please God. It does not matter how a man tries, as long as he is in the flesh, he can not please God. He will always meet himself doing the wrong things. What is responsible for this? Satan and sin nature that reside in him. He is born with the nature of sin. This is what David was saying when he wrote: ‘behold, I was shapen in iniquities, and in sin did my mother conceived me’. (psalm 51:5).
Paul wanted to do the right thing but he found himself doing the contrary. Then he wrote to the Roman church. ‘I don’t understand my self at all, for I really want to do what is right, but I don’t do it. Instead, I do the very thing I hate. I know perfectly well that what I am doing is wrong , and my bad conscience shows that I agree that the law is good. But I can not help myself, because it is sin inside me that make me do this evil things. I know I am rotten through and through so fear as my old sinfully nature is concerned. No matter which way I turn, I can not make myself do right. I want to, but I can not. When I want to do good, I do not, when I try not to do wrong I do it anyway. But if I am doing what I don’t want to do, I am not really the one doing it; The sin within me is doing it (Rom. 7:15-20 NLT).
Can you now see why evil is prevalent everywhere? Can you now understand why many are unable to abide by their resolutions? You are not the one doing the wrong things you do. I understand that you even regret every time you meet yourself doing this evil and sin. But because you are born of the flesh, which had inherited sinful nature from Adam, the sin that is within you will still make you do evil.
I know you don’t love doing the wrong things you do. How do I know? Because your conscience tells you that what you are doing is wrong, though you can’t help yourself but do it. When you see a police man take bribe, you complain; but in your own office, you falsify records and steal money. You complain about the PHCN/NEPA official who demanded for bribe from you so as to avoid disconnecting your house from the national grid; but you too demand for gratification before you render your official service in your own place of work. You show displeasure to armed robbery and assassination rate in the world, but you have succeeded in killing many people with your mouth and pen. You defraud your neighbour by committing adultery with his/her wife/husband. When you hear about a rape crime, you rail curses upon the man who perpetrated it; but you too commit sin of exposing your nakedness when the law of God demands that you should not expose it.
The fact that you frown at evil shows that you do not love it, but unfortunately, you meet yourself perpetrating one. This is because you are born of the flesh, and they that are in the flesh can not please God (Rom 8:8). The sinful nature inherited from Adam makes you do it as well as others. (Rom 7:20). No one wants to go to hell after leaving the earth. All want to make it through to heaven and enjoy eternally. But the truth of the matter is that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption (1 Cori 15:50). Hence, there is the need for a new birth not after the flesh, but after the spirit.
BORN OF THE SPIRIT
For any one who had been born of the flesh or of a woman to inherit God’s kingdom and enjoy as a child of God here on earth, the person needs a new birth. This is what Jesus told Nicodemus in John 3. For you to be delivered from the work of the devil and dominion of sin (in you), you need a new birth. A new birth under a new parent. A new birth that would impart new nature into you; not after the devil, but after the righteous God.
THAT WHICH IS BORN OF THE SPIRIT
‘……. And that which is born of the spirit is spirit (John 3:6) is the word of Jesus to Nicodemus. Before we discuss the two important questions Nicodemus asked Jesus in relation to this new birth, let me first take my time to explain what Jesus meant when he said that anyone who is born of the spirit is spirit.
Genesis 5:1-3 gives us a clear distinction between Adam (in the day when he was created) and Adam (by the time he gave birth to Seth). Let us read together. ‘This is the book of generation of Adam. IN THE DAY THAT GOD CREATED MAN, in the likeness of God made he him. Male and female created he them, and blessed them, and called their named Adam, IN THE DAY WHEN THEY WERE CREATED. Adam lived a hundred and thirty years and begat a son in his own likeness after his image, and called his name Seth’. We all know how God made Adam a living soul in Genesis 2. ‘He breathed into his nostrils the breath of life’ (V7). This breath of life is the spirit through which Adam was born. Adam was a spiritual man because he was born of the spirit. There is a particular emphasy made in Genesis 5: 1&2 twice as pertain to Adam’s spiritual personality. (1) In the day that God created man. (2) In the day when they were created’ Adam was a spirit man in the day God created him. He was created in God’s image, after God’s likeness in the day God created him. He was a sinless, pure and perfect spiritual person in the day God created him. He knew no pain, sorrow, sickness, nakedness, bitterness, shame, sin, curse, sweat, sadness, thorns, evil, weakness, agony, trouble, torment, lack, hatred, and the likes in the day God created him. God made him god over the whole world in the day God created him. He enjoyed God’s presence in a cool atmosphere and unbroken communion. He had unlimited access to God’s presence. He had dominion over every other creature. He worshipped God in spirit, for ‘God is a spirit and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth’ John 4:24).
To be born of the spirit means to submit the entirety of ones being to the leading and direction of God by the Holy Spirit. It is to yield oneself unreservedly to God. ‘The wind bloweth where if listeth, and thou heareth the sound thereof, but can not tell whence it commeth, and whither if goeth. So is every one that is born of the spirit’ (John 3:8).
Now to Nicodemus two questions.
(1) HOW CAN A MAN BE BORN AGAIN WHEN HE IS OLD?
When Jesus told Nicodemus the need for one to be born again before one could see God’s kingdom, Nicodemus demanded for how a man could be born when he is old?
(2) CAN HE ENTER THE SECOND TIME INTO HIS MOTHER WOMB, AND BE BORN?
The knowledge of how to experience this kind of birth which Nicodemus lacked is the same thing that is affecting this contemporary world from being born again ‘my people are destroy for lack of knowledge…’ (Hoses4:6).
The concept of being born again looked so much impracticable and mysterious to Nicodemus that he didn’t see the possibility of an old man becoming born again. In these questions, he gave the answer unknowingly. ‘….can he enter the second time into his mother’s womb and be born again? That is it! The answer is in that question. He must go back into the womb before he could be born again. How?
· BECOME A BABY
As an old man, one will be too big to enter the womb, unless he is reduced to the size of a new baby. To come to the level of a baby, you must drop self centeredness and consciousness, pride, tradition of men, human philosophy and wisdom, sinful lifestyle, etc.
‘As the scripture says, I will destroy human wisdom and discard their most brilliant ideas. So where does this leave the philosophers, the scholars, and the world’s brilliant debaters? God has made them all look foolish and has shown their wisdom to be useless nonsense. Since God in his wisdom saw to it that the world would never find him through human wisdom……..’ (1Cor 1:19-21 NLT)
The pathway to be born of the Spirit takes the route of child-likeness. No one can think through to the understanding of spiritual birth. Academic brilliance, human philosophy and wisdom have no stake in the journey into spiritual birth. You can’t depend on your wisdom and expect re-birth. You must prepare to give up all you are and have, and condescend to the position of a baby- someone who desperately needs help.
Despite the academic achievements and philosophical attainment of Nicodemus, which earned him the prestigious position of ‘Pharisee and also a leadership position among the Jews, he could not comprehend what it takes to be born again until he gave up all his academic and experiential pride, and steep low to the position of a new born baby, gasping for survival and desperately in need of help. John 3:42. Nicodemus derobed himself of all human honour and treaded the path, of divine honour. He made himself nothing before he could discover the divine secret of how to become something.
As a baby he was in a situation where he could not survive unless help urgently come, not from within himself, but from a source higher than him. As a child, he needed to be cared for, his umbilical cord had to be cut; he needed to be washed, rubbed with ointment, dressed in warm clothing and breast fed.. Without an external help, the baby would remain on the flour helplessly kicking about in his/her own blood, and would died in the blood clot. (Ezekiel16:1-10)
· GO BACK INTO THE WOMB
Nicodemus asked ‘can he enter the second time into his mother’s womb, and be born? Yes, but not as Nicodemus thought. For someone to be born of the spirit, it is not enough for him to be like a baby alone, he needs womb experience. Womb experience! What does it mean?
In the womb, the baby is not conscious of the physical environment. It can not be influenced since it has not been given birth to. He can not be numbered among the people in the family. He is as good as non-existing. He is dead to everything in the world.
To go back into the womb means to be in a state where flesh, sin, and the world can no longer influence your decisions and actions. It is to be indifferent to the enticement and pleasures of sin and the world. Moses, despite his training as an Egyptian prince and the enticing pleasure of riches available for him in the king’s palace, chose to go back into the womb so that he could experience spiritual re-birth. This was written concerning him. ‘By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasure of sin for a season, esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasure in Egypt….’ By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king; for he endured, as seeing him who is invisible’ Heb11:24-27. Moses became dead to every physical thing around him so as to experience spiritual rebirth. He left the treasures of Egypt to pursue God’s purpose for his life.
Saul, who later became Paul, was trained as a Pharisee and a lawyer. He knew the old testament of the bible inside out. Yet he was not saved. He had to go back into the womb before he could be saved. On the way to Damascus, he had an encounter with Christ which did not only reduce him to a child (‘and he fell to the earth, but they led him by the hand, and brought him to Damascus Acts 9:4&8), but also sent him back to a womb experience for three days. (And he was there for three days without sight, and neither did eat nor drink (Act 9:9). As a child, he needed to be led around by someone else and as a foetus, he was not conscious of his outer environment. He was totally empty.
· BE BORN AGAIN
If we consider Nicodemus question very well, we will discover that the major concern of his question has to do with rebirth otherwise known as being born again. ‘How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter the second time into his mother’s womb and be born?’ John 3:4. He asked. From his question we know that Nicodemus has enough knowledge about the first birth which I referred to in the previous chapter as being born of the flesh. He also understood that Jesus was talking about a second birth, but how to experience this birth was his problem.
Jesus gave Nicodemus the needed answer to his question. ‘Jesus answered verily, verily, I say unto thee, expect a man be born of water and of the spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God’ John 3:5. Jesus Christ, in His answer, did not mention ‘being born of the flesh’ (the first birth) as part of the requirements for entering God’s kingdom. I explained earlier in the previous chapter that everyone that is born of the flesh is a sinner by inheritance. Remember Adam and Eve never reproduced any offspring in Genesis one and two when they were still in God’s image. They started procreating in Genesis four after Genesis three fall. And they reproduced children after their sinful nature. This therefore substantiates the word of Paul in 1 Corinthians 15:5 that ‘…flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God……’ No wonder Jesus never mentioned ‘flesh’ as part of the requirements for entering God’s kingdom. Before we look into what Jesus meant by being ‘born of water', let us first consider what he meant by being ‘born of the Spirit.’
TO BE BORN OF THE SPIRIT MEANS TO BE BORN OF GOD
What was Jesus actually saying when he told Nicodemus that one of the conditions for entering God’s kingdom is to be born of the Spirit? He was simply telling him to be born of God. Jesus said in John 4:24 that ‘God is a spirit…’. If God then is a Spirit, therefore logically, to be born of the Spirit means being born of God.
Then how can you be born of God? ‘Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God..., (1John 5:1). The only biblical way to be born of God is to believe that Jesus is the Christ. No other way!
‘Whosoever’ here means anybody irrespective of sex, age, culture, background, race, status, etc. ‘whosoever’ here is referring to you, to me, to the neighbour next door, to that man you meet on the street, to that colleague of yours in the office, to that man you see on your television, to any human being you know and those you do not even know. ‘Whosoever’ means everyone that is already born of the flesh.
‘Whosoever believeth’……, means that that individual has the power to choose either to believe or not to believe. To be born of God is a matter of choice. You are at liberty to choose either to be born of God or to remain an offspring of the flesh and of the devil. That is why we still see a lot of people today who have heard the message of salvation but fail to believe the message. This is why this kind of birth is different from that of the flesh. You don’t have the choice-power to determine when or where or how to be born of the flesh. You just met yourself in the flesh. You didn’t make the choice of your parents in the flesh. But in case of spiritual rebirth, you have the power to choose either to believe and be born of God or reject salvation message and remain spiritually dead.( He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God).
“…that Jesus is the Christ…” you don’t just believe without first having a message to believe in. ‘for whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? ...’ (Rom 10:13&14)
What you need to believe to be born of God is ‘that Jesus is the Christ’. This is Peter’s confession in Matthew 16 that earned him the key to God’s Kingdom. ‘He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.’
‘Christ’ means ‘saviour’ and Jesus is the Christ. Therefore, Jesus is the Saviour of the world. Prophets prophesied this (Isaiah 53). God said it (Luke3:21&22). Angels announced it (Mt1:20 & 21; Lk2:8-15) Jesus himself said it (John14:1-7). The whole bible speaks about it. But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the son of God. And that believing ye might have life though his name. John 20:31. ‘And daily in the temple and in every house, they cease not to teach and preach Jesus is Chri..t Act 5:42. ‘But all that heard him were amazed, and said, is not this he that destroyed them which called on this name in Jerusalem, and came hither for that instant, that he might bring them bound into the chief priest? But Saul increased the more in strength, and confounded the Jews which dwelt at Damascus, proving that this is very Christ Act 9:21&22.
Jesus is the son of God, the one sent to bring you back to a place of harmony with God. He came to break the wall of partition between you and your God. He was sent to restore to you that which Adam lost in Genesis 3. He came to give you the experience of spiritual rebirth. He came to take you back to Genesis 1&2 Eden garden experiences. He came to deliver you from the power of darkness, and to translate you to the kingdom of God. Jesus came to take you by the hand and lead you into God’s kingdom.
In John 3, Jesus first talked about ‘seeing’ the kingdom of God and later spoke about ‘entering’ the kingdom of God (Vs 3&5). It involves catching the Kingdom revelation, then having the Kingdom experience. The Kingdom of God is not limited to going into paradise where you will reign eternally with Christ as some Christian think. It includes having a dominion experience here on earth while you live like a king. Kingdom means a king having a domain where he exercises dominion. At creation in Genesis 1, God commanded man to have dominion. When Jesus Christ spoke to Nicodemus about seeing and entering the kingdom of God, he was simply talking about reconciliation and restoration. When a man reconciles with God, God will restore him to a place of dominion. ‘and all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ,….’ And hath made us kings and priest unto God his father, to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen (11 Cor. 5:18, Rev 1:6).
God sent his son, Jesus Christ, to reconcile us with God, and to make us kings & priests to God. Though all dominions belong to Jesus, but Jesus decided to give us delegated authority to reign on the earth on his behalf. ‘And hast made us unto our God kings and priesst, and we shall reign on the earth’ Rev. 5:10.
So, when a person is born of the Spirit by accepting Jesus as Saviour and Lord, that person is automatically qualified to reign on the earth. The bible does not say that a Christian would reign in the earth, but on the earth. To reign in the earth is to have a particular portion of the earth where you are reigning while living in the earth. For example, the scope of authority of Nigeria president does not extend beyond the boundary of Nigeria. He is not the one reigning in Ukraine, Ghana, Uganda, etc. Truly, he is reigning in the earth, but his territory is limited. Nigeria alone! Some are reigning over poverty, but they are not reigning over sickness. As a Christian who is born of the Spirit, redemption guarantees you a limitless territory, because the mind of God is for you to reign on the earth. Your scope of authority and operation is not limited by international or cultural or spiritual boundaries. You can stay on your knee in prayer in your room and determine what happens in nations of the world. Elijah prayed and there was neither rain nor dew for Three years and six months all over the world. And he prayed again and God sent rain. Elijah was in charge. He was really reigning. Read James 5:17&18. To reign on the earth means to have dominion over sickness, poverty, wealth, Satan, demons, and over all creatures.
As a man who has experienced spiritual rebirth, the Lord has positioned you, by virtue of the new birth, to a place where you will reign over sickness, Satan, demons, angels, situation, and circumstances and so on. The scepter of authority that Adam lost in Eden garden has been restored to all who have reconciled with God through Jesus Christ.
When you believe in the miraculous virgin birth of Jesus, his sinless life, his suffering for your sake, his atoning death, his resurrection from the dead, his ascension to heaven, and you make Him the Lord of your life, then you are born again and you are qualified to enjoy the benefits of sonship.
BORN OF WATER
‘Jesus answered, verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man is born of WATER and of the Spirit, he can not enter into the kingdom of God’. John 3:5.
Without water, thirst can not be quenched. Without water, dirty cloths can not be washed. Without water, plants can not grow. No one can bath without water. These are just few examples to show how important water is. Imagine a situation without water. Men, plants and animals will be dehydrated, peoples’ bodies and cloths will become dirty and stinking, air-borne diseases will break out, plants growth will be stunted, there will be famine in the land, and death will be a common occurrence.
Jesus said; ‘except a man be born of water….,’ what does it means to be born of water? ‘That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the WASHING of WATER by the WORD’ Eph. 5:26. Paul in his letter to the Ephesians gives a clear explanation of what the water is as far as the scripture is concerned. Water is required to sanctify and cleanse the church of Christ and the water required is God’s word.
Therefore the word of Jesus to Nicodemus can now be put as ‘except a man be born of the WORD and the Spirit, he can not enter into the kingdom of God’ John 3:5. The bible says ‘so then faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God’ Rom10:17. You become born again by hearing and accepting God’s word - The Gospel of salvation. You can not be saved nor be redeemed through any other mean apart from the word of God. No one can claim to be saved if he has not believed in the gospel of Jesus Christ. ‘Except a man be born of the word…. He can not enter the kingdom of God.’ It is the same word of God that helped Timothy to be saved as a young man. ‘And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, (God’s word) which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus’ II Tim. 3:15. To be born of water is to accept the message of salvation brought by Jesus Christ, and preached by his followers. Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever. 1Peter 1:23
To be born of water is to feast on God’s word. A person may be born again, and yet do not enter into the kingdom experiences, if he is not well fed with the word of God. To grow in the knowledge of God and to access your inheritance in Christ, you need the word of God. ‘As new born babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby, I peter 2:2. The word of God, in your mouth, is a weapon of warfare to those who understand how to use it. I was ministering to a demon-possessed woman in Ibadan sometimes ago. I engaged the weapon of the word of God as written in the bible to fight the demons in her through the name of Jesus. The demons in her cried out and said: ‘what her husband had tried to do and failed is what you’re trying to do. Who told you that the only power that can cast me out of her resides in the word? I have to leave because I cannot disobey the word of God.’ The woman was delivered instantly! Glory be to God. The word of God has power to set you free and deliver to you your treasures in God.
The word of God is not only an offensive weapon; it is also a defensive weapon. You can protect your territory from enemies’ attack through the word of God. Jesus Christ, when tempted by the devil, used the word of God to defeat Satan. ‘Then saith Jesus into him, get thee hence Satan; for it is written, thou shall worship the Lord thy God, and him only shall thou serve. Then the devil leaveth him……’ Mat.4:10 & 11.
The word of God has the capability, capacity and ability to comfort the discouraged, heal the sick, and deliver the oppressed, change bad situation for good, build life and destiny. In fact, the spoken word of God has the anointing to create. ‘And God said, let there be light: and there was light; Genesis 1:3. The word of God is light generator and it builds lives and situations. Therefore understand that ‘it is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.’ John 6:63.
The solution to your situation is right there in the word. Do you have the word? When you store up the word of God into your heart, you can easily draw from that treasure to live the life of dominion restored to you by redemption. Remember that out of the abundance of heart, the mouth speaks Mat. 12:34 & 35. You must believe the gospel, read the scriptures, study the bible, confess the word of God, live by the standard of the word, obey the word, and teach the word. Be God’s word addict. That is what it means to be born of the word. ‘For this commandment which I command thee this day, it is not hidden from thee, neither is it far off. It is not in heaven, that thou should say, who shall go up for us to heaven, and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it? Neither is it beyond the sea, that thou shouldest say, who shall go over the sea for us, and bring it unto us, that we may hear it and do it? But the word is very nigh into thee, in thy mouth, and in thy heart, that they may do it’ Deuteronomy 30:11-14. After God had given Moses His Word for Pharaoh, He further charged him thus: And thou shalt take this rod (the word) in thine hand, wherewith thou shalt do signs. Exodus 4:17. If you want to experience signs and wonders, go for the word.
ONE YOU CAN NOT DETERMINE,
THE OTHERS YOU CAN
Dear friend, it is true that you were not involved in the decision that brought you to the planet earth. You didn’t choose your coming when you came. Neither did you choose the family and the parents through which you came. You did not choose the way you were brought up from cradle till you reach accountability age. You did not choose your culture and tribe. You didn’t choose your sex. Maybe, if you were given the opportunity, you might have made a different choice from where you find yourself.
But the fact still remains that you have come already, and you can not undo that fact. It is also a pity that you were born of the flesh, by your parents, into the slave-market of sin, into this wicked world, into a cursed land outside the beautiful Eden. Man was already lost and banished from God’s garden before procreation began. This accounts for the sinful nature of mankind ‘wherefore as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passeth upon all men, for that all have sinned Rom 5; 12. And don’t forget, my friend, that ‘they that are in the flesh cannot please God Rom 8:8.
It pains God that you are in this present sinful situation. The wickedness of men, sickness, poverty, sorrow, oppression, natural disaster, suffering, and the likes do not give God joy over mankind. God is not satisfied with what you are passing through and he wants to help you. If God is the almighty and God of love, he should be able to do something to help humanity from his despondent situation? Is He not compassionate and strong enough?
Beloved, God actually did something to help man and to help you in particular. God did what man could not do in the redemption covenant and expects man to do his part. Since man could not redeem himself, God therefore sent his only begotten son in the likeness of man to redeem man from his unpleasant state. ‘For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God sent not his son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved’ John 3:16&17.
The love God has for human being made him to send his only begotten son into the world, not to condemn people, but to save them and give them fullness of life. If you understand what God and Jesus Christ went through just to redeem you, you will forever make Him the Lord of your life. He was beaten and seriously battered for you to enjoy divine health. He was hanged on the cross to remove your curses. He lived as a poor man in order to make you rich. He died a sacrificial death to redeem your soul from destruction. He shed his blood to wash your sin away and to give you victory over your enemies. He rose from the dead and went to heaven to prepare a place for you in the beautiful paradise. He is sitting at the right hand of God interceding for you. He sent his Holy Spirit to you to be leading, guiding, teaching, comforting and guarding you. He did more than what I can explain in this book for you!
God had done what you cannot do. And he expects you to do what you should do in order to be restored to a place where you will enjoy God, live a life of dominion, and experience victory over sin and Satan.
What does God expect you to do? Simple thing! He wants you to believe that man fell from grace to grass because of sin, became Satan’s slave, and that he needs redemption but could not redeem himself; that God’s love for the falling man made him to send Jesus Christ his only begotten son to die a sacrificial death on the cross to redeem the falling man; that Jesus rose from the dead on the third day and he is presently in heaven; and that redemption of human being depends on believing these basic truth. Then, God wants you to accept Jesus as your saviour by confessing your sins and inviting Jesus into your life; and as your Lord by allowing him to direct your life daily through His word (the bible) and His Spirit.
The only reason why God sent Jesus into the world is to destroy sins and its consequences which include sorrow, sickness, pains, bareness, diseases, agony, fruitlessness, frustration, defeat, discouragement, poverty, failure and so on. And ye know that he was manifested to take away our sins; and in him is no sin. 1John 3:5. He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil. 1John 3:8.
Truly, you didn’t determine how you were born into this world. You just met yourself in that family and that community. You didn’t choose to be a sinner, but because of the sinful nature inherited from Adam, you found it very difficult not to commit sin. These are basic truths.
But you can choose to be born of the Spirit by doing what God expects you to do as discussed above. Give your life to Jesus and let him lead you. You can also choose to be born of water by feeding on God’s word and obeying what is written therein (the bible).
You can choose to live a victorious life and shun defeat. You can choose to enjoy divine health and shun sickness, you can choose to be successful and shun failure; you can choose to be a saint and shun sin; you can choose to be enjoying God and become untouchable to Satan, his demons and evils. Jesus loves you and wants to help you; but you must first choose Him and shun Satan, ‘……For this purpose the son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil’ I John 3:8b. Jesus came to destroy all the works of the devil in your life, but you must choose Him first so that He can have access into your life to help you.
‘I call heaven and earth to record this day against you that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life that both thou and thy seed may live’. That thou mayest love the Lord thy God, and that thou mayest obey his voice, and that thou mayest cleave unto him: for he is thy life, and the length of thy days……’ Deut. 30:19 & 20. Hear what Jesus is saying to you: ‘….. For as the father hath life in himself, so hath he given to the son to have life in himself,…I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life’ John 5:26; John 8:12..
Are you making a decision to accept Jesus into your life so that you can start enjoying the light of life that is in God in all areas of your life? Then pray this prayer: Lord Jesus, I admit the fact that I was born a sinner and I have lived in sin till now. Forgive me my sin, I believe in your sacrificial death on the cross for the redemption of my soul. Save me and write my name in the book of life. Help me to serve you for the rest of my life. Thank you for saving my soul. Amen.
If you have prayed that prayer, then you’ve been born of the Spirit. It is written in Romans 10:9 ‘That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.’ It’s that simple. You still need to be born of water so that you can grow in your new life. This new life is based on certain Kingdom principles that can help you to maximally enjoy all that belong to you in God’s Kingdom. You can learn these principles in the congregation of other children of God. Start studying your bible and begin to attend a bible believing church. I agree with Christ departing prayer of John 17 and I pray for you thus: Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee: As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him. And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do. And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was. I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world: thine they were, and thou gavest them me; and they have kept thy word. Now they have known that all things whatsoever thou hast given me are of thee. For I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came out from thee, and they have believed that thou didst send me. I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine. And all mine are thine, and thine are mine; and I am glorified in them. And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are. While I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name: those that thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition; that the scripture might be fulfilled. And now come I to thee; and these things I speak in the world, that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves. I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth. As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world. And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth. Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word. That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one: I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me. Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world. O righteous Father, the world hath not known thee: but I have known thee, and these have known that thou hast sent me. And I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it: that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them’. John 17.
Are you in need of healing from sickness, deliverance from demons, blessing from God and spiritual growth and empowerment? All these are available for you in God.
You can call me to share your testimony and challenges with me through 07057546196. I declare you blessed in Jesus name. Shalom.
I am your friend, Olusola Dare.
