Born Again - Knowing You Are The Child Of A King

For we are God's masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago. Ephesians 2:10

I am not sure if some of you reading this remember vinyl records or not. When the vinyl got scratched it was pretty much history. It would not play it would skip and well your favorite song on the album was ruined. The only solution was to go out and buy a new one.

When I think of Jesus I sometimes think of vinyl, why?  When we are born into this world we are born into sin. This is because of our first parent’s it was because of them sin entered into the world through Adam and Eve. What was once perfect, in harmony, and played without a skip was ruined.

One thing that is so hard now for me to understand is why people are so blind and prideful to the salvation that our Lord has given to us. It is a free gift and once it is accepted we are set free, and we are no longer in bondage to Satan.

Jesus said he came for the sinners;

Mark 2:17 When Jesus heard this, he told them, "Healthy people don't need a doctor--sick people do. I have come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners."

When I was born again I realized one important thing, my spiritual eyes were wide open. I saw who I was, I accepted it and I fell to my knees and prayed a sinner’s prayer.  It was the blood that has forever changed my life. It is the blood that has made what was wrong, right. That moment in my life everything was clear. It took time though for me to grow in Christ. Many battles in my life have been fought many I have lost, but the one that I stand in victory is not the one I fought. It was the battle that Jesus fought for me on the cross.

One of the most difficult issues I have faced is wiping the slate clean.

Matthew 5:30 And if your hand--even your stronger hand--causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell.

This verse was very difficult for me, I had to learn through Christ that when I fell to my knees that day I was made new, re-born and all that once was, was no more.  This is how God saw it through His Son. I did not realize that I was still in this world and Satan is very much present here. At that moment when I was on my knees and said the sinner’s prayer heaven rejoiced but Satan cringed.  Satan hates the fact that he at that moment was defeated. He lost a soul. Me? Little did I know he would attack me even harder remember I was a baby Christian. So I kept my Bible at arm’s length and wasted no time in finding answers in it when I was faced with difficult situations. I felt like a fish out of water, and it was hard my first year. 

My first step was I had to start eliminating things out of my life that was not good for me. I had to rebuild everything; I had to make sure that all that was in my life, God was front and center.  This also meant that I had to eliminate certain people out of my life. There were certain people that not only lead me to sin they were constantly reminding me of who I use to be. My past was very much still in my present when certain people were around me. I was always being reminding of what I did and who I was. This hurt and I had no idea at that time how I was going to make it through. All I knew was I had this most amazing feeling and what people were telling me and what God said was two different things. It was conflicting and no matter how hard I tried to ignore it, it was not working. I was reading the Bible for the first time in my life and understanding it.  I felt a personal and close relationship to God. I was happy, at peace, and felt for the first time loved, accepted, no matter what was in my past.  

It was so hard to contain what I was feeling. I wanted to shout from the roof tops what God had done for me.  All the while I had people whispering my past in my ear. They still to this day if given the chance they will waste no time in letting others know about my past. Not in a good way. God says HEY look she was lost now she is found. They will say HEY look at her she did bad things now she is using faith to cover it up. It is a phase in her life it will pass and she will be back to her old self. 

So I prayed, and pleaded with God for help, I did not understand. My prayer was like a daughter talking to her earthly father. I was learning that God was not only my creator he was also my Father.  I stopped holding back from God in fear that he would treat me the same as my earthly parents did. God was not selfish; he was not in it for himself. He truly cared about me and who I was becoming.  It was like a flood gate to a dam once it opened up it all flowed.  The pain, hurt, sadness, confusion, all that was bottled up was out. The trust was being built, what I thought was bad he showed me could be used for good.

See, Satan remembers your past; God has forgiven and has forgotten.  God moves ahead Satan wants us to move backwards.  

He sent His Son to die for me, so that I can remain His daughter, his beloved daughter.  I am forgiven, I am sacred, and I now belong to him. No matter what is in my past, no matter what I have done. He unlike humans accepts you, he wants to make you new again and perfect in His eyes. Where as people will bring you down condemn you to help them feel better about themselves. Not God, brothers and sisters he does not operate that way, he wants to lift you up. I have learned over the years to be patient and God will surprise you with some amazing things in your life. He will send you comfort when you least expect it, you may stumble but he will never let you fall.  Be patient, storehouses of blessings awaits you but first let him do what needs to be done within you. You will obtain your harvest on his timetable not ours.  I did what needed to be done, I eliminated all those people that Satan was using to keep me out of Gods will. It was my whole entire family, sister, brothers, and my parents. Being family does not give anyone a free pass to sin against you, or hurt you. I am here to tell you that the old saying "blood is thicker than water" is highy over rated. 

God through His Son took the vinyl record that was all scratched up threw it away, he replaced it with the blood of His Son a shiny new one. Do not think for one second, that Satan will not maneuver someone to come along and try and scratch it back up again. The only way we can prevent that from happening is Christ and remembering the blood that was shed, pray, read His Word, let God fight your battles, and let him defend you. He will make sure his beautiful music plays. The really cool thing about God is he will make sure you make it farther than the rooftops. Our God will make sure the voice of His creation sings from all the mountaintops!

Amen

Shannon Wendler