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The Soul and the Spirit – Day 14

John 3:6

Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit.

The Thought

Jesus is explaining the need for new birth to Nicodemus (a member of the Jewish ruling council) (John 3:1), and also to us. Our bodies and souls are born via our physical parents, and consequently we find similar characteristics to our earthly family. Your height and whether you are plump, or thin, the colour of your hair, which books or magazines you like to read, which sports you prefer: all these things can be carried down to us through our genes. Our souls reflect our personality, and those of our parents and our upbringing.

The spirit is the part that makes us alive, and is born from God. But many of us do not do anything to encourage our spirit to grow. The spirit, as well as the soul, can easily be influenced by the world, where we live, and our spare time activities

That is why so many Christian groups insist that people be “born again”, so that each individual makes a serious decision to ask Jesus to be King of their life, wanting Him to be reflected in their daily activities.

As each of us encourages our spirit to grow we will see more and more godly characteristics in our lives. We will become more like Jesus!

Action

Praise the Lord for the good things you inherited from your parents, and praise Him too for all the good things He wants to make grow in your spirit.

Read John 3 where Jesus speaks of His frustration with the Jewish leaders, who were supposed to know the scriptures, but didn’t recognize the Messiah described there as Jesus.

Pray for spiritual growth so that you recognize more of what God is doing in your life. Pray for spiritual growth for others in your church and family.

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