Jesus says you must be born again. (John 3:1-8) The first attempt at living life in the image of God (Genesis) was contaminated by sin through Adam. However, when we abandon the worldly life of sin and accept Jesus as Lord and Savior, we are “born again” because we are born into a new life stream. We don’t work for it. We don’t wish for it. We don’t make it happen. We must intentionally receive it as a gift.

To accept Jesus as Lord is to implement the infrastructure of the bible as a lifestyle.  He can only be Lord over those things in our life we submit to him. He cannot be Lord over those things we hang on to and want to take care of our own way.

To accept Jesus as Savior is to accept the power of his atoning blood on the cross for the forgiveness of sin and to use it to be free from sin and death.

Fortunately for us, we are not left to do this in our own strength. We receive the Holy Spirit when we intentionally accept this new life. The Holy Spirit needs to be activated in us. We are very familiar with credit cards being activated before using so we must have the Holy Spirit activated in us so we can use all the gifts and powers available to us as found in ICor 12:7-11. These are:

• The wisdom gifts: Wisdom, word of knowledge, and discerning of spirits.
• The vocal gifts: prophecy, tongues, interpretation of tongues.
• The faith gifts: faith, miracles, healing.

We are given these gifts for the purpose of being successful in our second chance or “born again” state to live the life God intended for us. Getting goose bumps and punctuating every sentence with “Hallelujah” are not the proof of a spirit-activated Christian. Although one’s exuberance may produce “hallelujahs”, the proof of a spirit-filled Christian is whether they function in the gifts of the Holy Spirit.

Some people have a natural knack for sports but with mentoring, training, and practice they become super stars. Musicians, artist, teachers, mechanics, salesmen, public speakers, all benefit from training that takes them to a higher level of competence.  Being able to function skillfully in the gifts of the Holy Spirit requires mentoring, training, and practice. Fortunately for us, the Holy Spirit himself provides that training if we would only hear his voice.