The Born Again Experience

Sounds like a band name. I searched for others' descriptions of being born again of the spirit of God and came across this link first:

http://www.gospeldistribution.org/tracts/t_born.htm

This section describes what happened in my own life, about two years ago, so wonderfully.

It's a miracle which Jesus gives to everyone that accepts him as the Lord and only Savior. Just like he heals the lame legs and blind eyes, he also will touch the heart and mind supernaturally and set us free from sinful desires without which we cannot do right every time, and without which we cannot enter the kingdom of God.

When you are born again by the Spirit of God, you will immediately have love and desire to live right. You will begin to see clearly why some habits which are declared by the Bible to be sinful are sinful. You will have a changed heart to hate those habits and love to read the Bible and to know more about Jesus and the kingdom of God. In fact, when you have the 'born-again' experience, there will be in you a change of ideas about life, a change of taste for habits, a change of ambitions now to please God henceforth, and a change of desire. Your heart and mind will be free from guilt and from sin as the Lord removes the demons away from you, which also will free you from many diseases. It's as if your long-broken phone line now comes alive again. What a joy as you can henceforth dial out and receive calls -- direct connection with the Father. For it is truly that Jesus Christ said 'I am the way, the truth, and the life; no man cometh unto the Father but by me.' It is only by accepting Jesus Christ as the only Savior, and asking him for the 'born-again' experience that you can enter heaven, and live again forever with God in the new world to come.

That was exactly it. I remember the night when it happened clearly enough -- it was the night I realized who I was before a mighty and holy God, and that what the Bible says about his Son Jesus is true.

I also remember the lack of desire for the sinful things my old nature desired and a strong desire to feed on the Word through preaching and soak in all I could. I got things wrong, but God showed me where I needed to change and helped me to grow. I was ignorant of much of the Bible, but I wanted to learn more. I still stumbled and fell into sin, but it ripped me up inside when I did.

I know exactly what this inside-out transformation feels like and didn't have the words to articulate it. The above description is good, but nothing can really describe the experience adequately. You just have to have it, like Saul, later Paul, being blinded by the light and having his life flipped around and rearranged!

Despite how wonderful it was, recalling this experience has me perplexed now and again. Knowing what I felt and the drastic change in my life at that moment in time, I have something to solidly fall back on to remind me of the exact day that I was delivered out of my bondage and given a new and abundant life through Jesus Christ. I've talked to a believer, maybe a few, who have had the same type of experience. But interestingly many who profess Christ have not, and that's what perplexes me. If someone is indeed born again of the Spirit of God, shouldn't there be a distinct marker in the road of their life for when it happened, splitting that life into two parts? Before Christ and In Christ? Maybe not a memorable one for children who grew up knowing God all their lives, but for adults, I would think there would be.

Whether this is an expected occurrence or not for all born again believers, I praise my God and Father for it, and for the new life he has given me!

Grace and Peace