The Blessings Of The New Birth

By Warren Mueller

What is life like once the Holy Spirit comes to indwell in each Christian believer?  In previous articles titled “Do I Pass The Test” and “Am I A Christian” questions were posed that can be used to evaluate whether a genuine spiritual birth has occurred.  Those who can affirm these questions have assurance that they are a new creation in Jesus, indwelt by the Holy Spirit and part of the kingdom of God.   Now let’s explore some of the blessings that come with the presence of the Holy Spirit.

The first thing I noticed after my spiritual birth was a tremendous sense of joy and relief.  I felt joy because of my adoption into the family of God and relief because I was free from the sense of guilt and fear of judgment for my sins.  I also felt the presence of the Holy Spirit and His great love for me which gave me a sense of security and confirmed the reality of my birth.  The Holy Spirit is the most precious part of me and is the very core or essence of who I am.  I can relate to the merchant in Matthew 13:45 who sold everything to purchase a pearl of great value which is compared to the kingdom of God.  The Bible speaks of believers as the temple of God and from this core or temple within, my thinking is transformed.   My thoughts and decisions are from now on a result of “we versus me” thinking.  This intimacy means that I am never alone and gives me great assurance that I am forever safe in the hands of God (Jn 10:27-28).

The blessing of being hungry to read the Bible and being able to understand it through revelations of the Holy Spirit are outcomes of being born again.  To read the Bible is to hear the words of God resonating deep within.  Paul said that “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 Tim 3:16-17).   Thus, the words of the Bible refresh, encourage, convict, instruct and are nourishment to the soul that has been indwelt by the Holy Spirit.

Another blessing is the bond of love I feel for other believers.  There is a need to be with others of kindred spirit for worship, learning and encouragement.   To be born again is to become a child of God adopted into God’s family and to be part of the body of Christ.  There is an attraction to  others who are members of the kingdom of God.  The saying is true for Christians that   “Birds of a feather flock together.”

As the years pass, the changes inside me have worked themselves into my mind and changing my thoughts and actions.  These outward changes inevitably make me different and result in the blessings of persecution.    Persecution comes from conflicts with the world and confirms that a genuine spiritual birth has occurred (Jn 15:20; James 4:4).  Nothing separates the pretenders from the genuine contenders for the faith like persecution.  It sharpens the focus of the believer on Jesus and confirms the importance of obedience to experience intimacy and the love of God.  In addition, there is a progressive revelation of my sinfulness which shows me how hopeless I am without the mercy of God.   Even the conviction I feel when I sin is a blessing because it is another evidence of God’s love and presence (Heb 12:6).   Indeed as I grow in my relationship with Jesus, I see blessings in every aspect of my life.  In a world where so much can go wrong, God brings a multitude of blessings each day in the routine events of life.