Spirit Birth
The crystalized theories of even the highest religious doctrines are powerless to transform human character or to control mortal behavior.
“We who are Jews by birth and not sinful Gentiles know that a person is not justified by the works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law, because by the works of the law no one will be justified.”
– Galatians 2:15-16
“([F]or the law made nothing perfect), and a better hope is introduced, by which we draw near to God.”
– Hebrews 7:19
Instead of laws, what the world of today needs is the living truth by means of the combined spirit forces. Jesus attempted to explain the power of the spirit forces to the Samaritan woman at the well. He told her:
“Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.” “Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his livestock?” Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
– John 4:10-14
It is the presence of the divine spirit forces, the waters of life, that prevents the consuming thirst of mortal discontent and that indescribable hunger of the fleshly mind. Spirit-motivated beings never thirst, for this spiritual water is a well of satisfaction “imparting everlasting life.” Such divinely watered souls are independent of the material environment for the joys of living and the satisfactions of earthly existence. They are spiritually illuminated and refreshed, morally strengthened and endowed. These are the Father’s children.
“Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”
– John 4:23-24
Yet, the spirit never drives, only leads. If we are willing learners, if we want to attain spirit levels and reach divine heights, if we sincerely desire to reach the eternal goal, then the divine spirit will gently and lovingly lead us along the pathway of sonship and spiritual progress. Every step we take must be one of willingness, and intelligent and cheerful co-operation. The domination of the spirit is never tainted with coercion nor compromised by compulsion.
When we live such a life of spirit guidance freely and intelligently accepted, there gradually develops within the human mind a positive consciousness of divine contact and assurance of spirit communion. And eventually:
“The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children.”
– Romans 8:16
Already has the Father’s indwelling spirit told us of our kinship to God so that when the spirit of truth bears witness, we have an assurance that we will attain to our inheritance. We increasingly exhibit the characteristics of the spirit as would spirit-led individuals – "love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control” (Galatians 5:22-23), even without law.
Such spirit-guided and divinely illuminated mortals, while we yet tread the lowly paths of the human existence, soon begin to discern the lights of eternal life as they glimmer on the faraway shores of another world. Already have we begun to comprehend the reality of that inspiring and comforting truth:
“However, as it is written: “What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived”— the things God has prepared for those who love him—these are the things God has revealed to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God.”
– 1 Corinthians 2:9-10
