Your born again experience is like receiving an invitation to a place you’ve never been before with these words,” more details to follow.” If you accept the invitation, The Holy Spirit is the guarantee that you’ll arrive at your destination. He holds the rest of the details. Ensuring an experience you’ll never forget. The salvation trip is loaded with out-of-this world benefits, vast and limitless in what it has to offer. We cannot stop at just receiving the invitation. So in order to find out what awaits us we have to move from invitation to acceptance, then on to experiencing the fullness of God’s ultimate plan for us.
First let’s clarify what salvation is not. Your born again experience is not a wish or a hope, it’s a decision. You don’t hope for what is available to you, you receive it by faith. Once you have accepted Jesus’ finished work, you no longer need to hope that you’re forgiven. No different than when you’ve received something you’ve been waiting for. Once we accept Jesus’ invitation to receive Him as Lord and Savior of our lives, the Holy Spirit moves in, not the baptism in the Holy Spirit with the evidence of tongues(speaking in a heavenly language) as in Acts 2, but the inner witness that assures us that we’re now His. The scripture calls Him our guarantee of sonship. 2 Corinthians 1:22. Jesus called it being born again. John 3.
“and He has identified us as His own by placing the Holy Spirit in our hearts as the first installment that guarantees everything He has promised us.”(if there’s a first, then there must be a second)emphasis mine.
2 Corinthians 1:22 NLT
He also does this: “And now you Gentiles have also heard the truth, the Good News that God saves you. And when you believed in Christ, He identified you as His own by giving you the Holy Spirit, whom He promised long ago. The Spirit is God’s guarantee that He will give us the inheritance He promised and that He has purchased us to be His own people. He did this so we would praise and glorify Him.”
Ephesians 1:13-14 NLT
The Holy Spirit now becomes the driver daily bringing us closer to our destination in Christ. His purpose isn’t to glorify Himself, but to make Jesus known to us in a richer fuller way. Jesus asked the Father to send Him to us, so we would experience what the apostles did when they had Jesus in the flesh. He now comforts us when we’re sad or lonely, He helps us understand God’s Word and He corrects and convicts us whenever we mess up. Jesus says He will be with us and in us forever (John 14:16) constantly reminding us of who Jesus is and what He Jesus, has spoken.
There’s no reason to figure out your salvation, you can’t anyway as Jesus told Nicodemus. Let’s read:
“Jesus replied, “I assure you, no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit. Humans can reproduce only human life, but the Holy Spirit gives birth to spiritual life. So don’t be surprised when I say, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows wherever it wants. Just as you can hear the wind but can’t tell where it comes from or where it is going, so you can’t explain how people are born of the Spirit.”
John 3:5-8 NLT
It’s all the work of the Holy Spirit. We receive the message of grace by faith. We believe in the finished work of Jesus and wham! The Holy Spirit takes the wheel. Whenever I hear someone say they “hope” Jesus has forgiven them, or they hope He’ll answer their prayer, I know they either have not accepted Him, or they have, but no one has taken the time to explain what salvation through Jesus Christ truly is. As soon as we receive the gift, the Holy Spirit gets in position to teach us through the Word, as we daily read with intention, every truth we need to know.
Growing in our walk with Jesus requires daily spending time with Him in fellowship through prayer and His Word. But it’s just as important to get into a small group Bible study or discipleship program to help you grow and develop your spiritual acumen and your faith. Now that you
have accepted the invitation for your trip of a lifetime, allow the Holy Spirit to take the lead. He knows how to help you avoid the potholes and pitfalls of life. He even knows how to protect you in the fiery trials, seeing to it that you won’t be destroyed by what you’ll pass through. Wait till you see where He’s taking you next.....live with a confident expectation of good. Everyday is an experience. He is working in conjunction with Daddy after all. Didn’t you notice the signature on your invitation?.....Love Abba.
“For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God.”
Romans 8:14 NLT
“For His Spirit joins with our spirit to affirm that we are God’s children.”
Romans 8:16 NLT
“But to as many as did receive and welcome Him, He gave the authority (power, privilege, right) to become the children of God, that is, to those who believe in (adhere to, trust in, and rely on) His Name–Who owe their birth neither to bloods nor to the will of the flesh [that of physical impulse] nor to the will of man [that of a natural father], but to God. [They are born of God!]”
John 1:12-13 AMPC
Don’t waste another minute struggling, guessing or questioning your salvation ever again! You are completely His the moment you said “I Accept!” spirit, soul and body. The next step is what the apostles experienced on the day of Pentecost in Acts 2 (second installment ). The empowerment of the Holy Spirit to go deeper and higher in your relationship with Jesus, to be His powerful witnesses, is it a requirement for heaven? No! But it’s a part of the salvation package, so why wouldn’t you want all the benefits Jesus has provided? This is why a good Bible believing church that teaches the full course meal of the born again experience is vital.
If you don’t know what’s in your benefit package, you’ll miss out on enjoying everything God has for you. These messages are great, but they’re not a replacement for a loving church family or what you can learn in a face to face small group setting where you can ask questions and interact with your teachers. At the beginning of this writing I mentioned that the benefits were endless, and they are. Allow the Holy Spirit to remain in the driver’s seat, and He will take you on a journey with Jesus you’ll never forget. Remember, He holds the direction to your final destination.
“When the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on His own but will tell you what He has heard. He will tell you about the future. He will bring Me glory by telling you whatever He receives from Me. All that belongs to the Father is Mine; this is why I said, ‘The Spirit will tell you whatever He receives from Me.”
John 16:13-15 NLT
“If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by openly declaring your faith that you are saved.
For “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
Romans 10:9-10, 13 NLT
If you’ll do what the verses above say, and ask in your own words, to receive Jesus into your heart, you are assured of salvation through Christ Jesus alone. Welcome to the family of God, or welcome back. You still have a place at the Father’s table🙏♥️
Written by permission of the Holy Spirit
W. Tennant