4 minute read<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cJesus answered, \u201cVery truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit.\u201d (John 3:5 NIV)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Spiritual birth leads to eternal life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In simplest terms, believing in Jesus is spiritual birth. Accepting His presence into your heart is the beginning of life change. Describing the transformation that takes place when you trust Jesus is different for everyone. Some people have drastic life changes immediately; others, it\u2019s a slower process. No matter what your experience is like, one truth remains the same. Believing in Jesus is the starting point, not the endpoint.<\/p>\n\n\n\n My spiritual birth happened when I was 12 years old on my brother\u2019s bunk bed\u2019s top mattress.\u00a0 For the first time, I realized something was missing.\u00a0 After listening to the pastor\u2019s message that day in church, I knew I needed Jesus to fill the empty hole.\u00a0 Even now, 39 years later, I remember the moment I cried out to Jesus and asked Him to live in my heart.\u00a0 Not in church, not surrounded by people, just me and Jesus talking.\u00a0 For me, what I experienced after my heartfelt plea, was peace.\u00a0 I knew I was no longer alone; Jesus was with me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Believe<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Belief is the beginning of your relationship with Jesus. As a child, we believe in many things: Santa Claus, Easter Bunny, Tooth Fairy. All of these fairy tales exist until we grow old enough to know the truth. Jesus isn\u2019t like these invented characters. Belief in Him never ends. As we grow older following Him, the more His reality becomes apparent in our lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Nicodemus, the man Jesus is responding to in today\u2019s verse, had difficulty understanding what Jesus is saying. Perplexed, he asks Jesus: \u201cHow can this be?\u201d (3 John 3:9 NIV<\/a>). Believing what we cannot see is difficult for all of us. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAnd Jesus said to him, \u201c\u2018If you can\u2019! All things are possible for one who believes.\u201d …\u201cI believe; help my unbelief!\u201d (<\/em>Mark 9:23-25 ESV<\/em><\/a>)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n If you\u2019re having trouble believing in Jesus, ask God to help you with your unbelief. We all have areas we struggle to have faith. Even though I\u2019ve followed Jesus my entire life, I still have times I pray this prayer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I recently asked God to help me believe His promises, even the ones I don\u2019t like. For instance, our days are numbered. I\u2019ve rebelled against this promise of God\u2019s my entire life. My problem is I want to control something I can\u2019t control. I need God to help me with my unbelief, with His help, I believe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you\u2019re not sure about Jesus, ask God to help you with your unbelief. Whatever is holding you back from believing, God will help you have faith.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Question of the Day:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n What area do you need God\u2019s help believing?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Further Reading:<\/strong> Hosea 6:1-9:17 NIV<\/a>, 3 John 1:1-15 NIV<\/a>, Psalm 126 NIV<\/a>, Proverbs 29:12-14 NIV<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" 4 minute read \u201cJesus answered, \u201cVery truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit.\u201d (John 3:5 NIV) Spiritual birth leads to eternal life. In simplest terms, believing in Jesus is spiritual birth. Accepting His presence into your heart is the beginning of… Continue reading WHAT DOES \u201cBORN IN THE SPIRIT\u201d MEAN TO YOU?<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2784","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","without-featured-image"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2784","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2784"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2784\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2786,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2784\/revisions\/2786"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2784"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2784"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2784"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}