Holy Spirit #1

There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, "Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him." Jesus answered and said to him, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." Nicodemus said to Him, "How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?" Jesus answered, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. "That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. "Do not marvel that I said to you, 'You must be born again.' "The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit."

John 3:1-8, www.solascriptura.com

Jesus, here a Pharisee, one who knew and taught the Scriptures to others, comes to you by night, secretly. He knew his spirit was not in sync with Your Spirit. He knew something was missing. Jesus, we too know when we are out of sync with You. We never wonder about that fact, it is a certainty and when we come asking, what must we do to make things right, Your answer is that we must be "born again".

But what if we have been born again? Why do we continue to disobey? Jesus, You have taught us that we are not perfected, we are not yet raised up as Spiritual beings in eternity, we are a work in progress. We confess that we are very imperfect and we, as Nicodemus, seek perfection, in You.

Help us Jesus to realize that when we place our faith and trust in You, that by God's grace, we are "directed" as the wind. We are uncertain about the events of the next moment yet we take heart in the fact of Your love and presence. We who declare our love for You are born of the Spirit, we do have confidence that you know our every thought and action and that You will keep us from sin, increasingly, if we but ask.



Thank You Jesus for sending the Holy Spirit to us afresh, every moment. We feel so unworthy of such love. Help us to learn today that is Your righteousness in which we stand before the Father, never ours. In Your Holy name we pray, amen.

Bruce Caldwell