MJLarkin

One thing you’ll learn about me is that I’m going to get right to the point every time. 

Everything I say on mjlarkin.com is going to have real time Biblical application to your daily focus.

So, the first thing we need to do on this inaugural blog post is start off with the first application that is absolutely vital to understand, if you’re going to understand anything I have to say. 

The Gospel of John 3:3 says, “…Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

Keep reading and you’ll see Nicodemus’ reaction to Jesus.  He asks, “How can a man be born when his old?  Can he enter the second time into his mother’s womb..? 

Now, I don’t know about you, but that’s not a thought I like to get bouncing around my head. 

Of course the answer is no.  Jesus goes on to explain in verse 5 and 6…, “Except a man be born of water and of the spirit, he cannot see the kingdom of God.  That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the spirit is spirit.”

Being born of the water is simply the experience of a natural birth.  We all have a biological mother.  Being born of the Spirit is entering into the Kingdom of God.

Three easy points to understand.

1.  God is Spirit:  and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. 

2.   There are benefits to being in the Spirit. In order to receive the “fruit of the Spirit” you must be in the Spirit.  And I can tell you… you want some of that fruit. 

The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance:  9 great characteristics for all of us to achieve. 

A quick look at these words gives us a little help understanding what it is we really should be striving towards.

Love:  An intense desire to please God, and to do good to mankind; the very soul and spirit of all true religion; the fulfilling of the law, and what gives energy to faith itself.

Joy:  The exultation that arises from a sense of God’s mercy communicated to the soul in the parting of its sins, and the prospect of that eternal glory. 

Peace:  The calm, quiet, and order, which take place in the justified soul, instead of the doubts, fears, alarms, and dreadful forebodings, which every true penitent less or more feels, and must feel till the assurance of pardon brings peace and satisfaction to the mind.  Peace is the first sensible fruit of the pardon of sin.

Long –Suffering:  Long-mindedness, bearing with the frailties and provocations of others, from the consideration that God has borne long with ours. 

Gentleness:  A good education and polished manners, when brought under the influence of the grace of God, will bring out his grace with great effect.

Goodness:  The perpetual desire and sincere study, not only to abstain from every appearance of evil, but to do good to the bodies and souls of men to the utmost of our ability.  But all this must spring from a good heart… a heart purified by the Spirit of God.

Faith:  Fidelity… punctuality in performing promises, conscientious carefulness in preserving what is committed to our trust, in restoring it to its proper owner, in transacting the business confided to us, neither betraying the secret of our friend, nor disappointing the confidence of our employer.

Meekness:  Mildness, indulgence toward the weak and erring, patient suffering of injuries without feeling a spirit of revenge, an even balance of all tempers and passions, the entire opposite of anger.

Temperance:  Continence, self-government, or moderation, principally with regard to sensual appetites.  Moderation in eating, drinking, sleeping… 

3.  But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God:  for they are foolishness unto him;  neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. 

I love to talk about this key point in God’s Word.   “For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing:  for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.” 

For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit which is in him?  Even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God.

Dig Deep!