ERCC DEVOTIONAL (TEKAN) DAILY SPIRITUAL DIET MONDAY 21TH AUGUST, 2023
TEXT: JOHN 3: 1 - 15
SPIRITUAL FOCUS: NICODEMUS, THE GREAT TEACHER, VISITED JESUS.
Man is always inexperience and does not have all the knowledge. This makes people to keep looking for knowledge, even some go to demons in search for knowledge. No matter how we struggle, no one can achieve all knowledge before returning to his Creator.
In today's study, the teacher, Nicodemus visited Jesus at night because he did not know how to be born again. This should not surprise us because a popular adage says, "The inquirer will not go astray". Jesus did not hide anything from Nicodemus.
He told him the truth that would make him enter the kingdom of God. He assured Nicodemus, until a man is born again, he could not see the kingdom of God. This is a lesson for all followers Christ. The birth that Jesus spoke of was not physical, but spiritual. Therefore, it is clear that if we are to please the Lord and see His kingdom, we must be born again. Birth is the transformation of our present life into one that is filled with the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 5: 18).
The fruit is many, namely, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness (Gal. 5: 22). We can truly be filled with the Holy Spirit because Jesus was crucified for our sins. Only His blood can cleanse us, regenerate us, and blot out all our sins.
FOOD FOR THOUGHT: Christ Jesus cleansed me with His blood.
PRAYER: Almighty God, I beseech You, fill me with Your Word so that I may believe Your Son Christ Jesus, Amen.
JOHN 3: 1 - 15 (NLT).
1 There was a man named Nicodemus, a Jewish religious leader who was a Pharisee.
2 After dark one evening, he came to speak with Jesus. “Rabbi,” he said, “we all know that God has sent you to teach us. Your miraculous signs are evidence that God is with you.”
3 Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, unless you are born again, you cannot see the Kingdom of God.”
4 “What do you mean?” exclaimed Nicodemus. “How can an old man go back into his mother’s womb and be born again?”
5 Jesus replied, “I assure you, no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit.
6 Humans can reproduce only human life, but the Holy Spirit gives birth to spiritual life.
7 So don’t be surprised when I say, ‘You must be born again.’
8 The wind blows wherever it wants. Just as you can hear the wind but can’t tell where it comes from or where it is going, so you can’t explain how people are born of the Spirit.”
9 “How are these things possible?” Nicodemus asked.
10 Jesus replied, “You are a respected Jewish teacher, and yet you don’t understand these things?
11 I assure you, we tell you what we know and have seen, and yet you won’t believe our testimony.
12 But if you don’t believe me when I tell you about earthly things, how can you possibly believe if I tell you about heavenly things?
13 No one has ever gone to heaven and returned. But the Son of Man has come down from heaven.
14 And as Moses lifted up the bronze snake on a pole in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up,
15 so that everyone who believes in him will have eternal life.
