APRIL 11, 2025 ~ FROM A PASTOR'S HEART

APRIL 11 DEVOTIONAL BIBLE READING: JOHN 3:1-17

When we get the opportunity to speak to someone about Jesus, we need to remember that they are spiritually blind. They cannot see or know the things of God. So often we want to get into an argument and try to prove we are right and they are wrong. We need to be sharing the message of the Gospel with them, trusting the Holy Spirit to give them understanding so that they might come to salvation. The things of God are unknowable for the person that does not have Jesus as their Savior. For the things of God are spiritually discerned. Only the Holy Spirit can reveal God's truth in someone's life, and we only have the Holy Spirit when we have trusted Jesus as our Savior. You and I will never convince a lost person to come to the biblical way of thinking and living, only the Holy Spirit can do that.

Jesus said in John Chapter 3, "Unless a person is born again, they will not see the kingdom of heaven.” We rightly relate this verse to salvation, but there is even more here. We cannot even see, comprehend or know the kingdom of heaven without being born again. What does it mean to be born again? It is when God, through His Holy Spirit, brings you to the realization that you are a sinner who is lost, without hope and in need of a Savior. The Holy Spirit then opens your eyes to the truth that Jesus is the Son of God who died for your sins and overcame death and hell through His Resurrection. The Holy Spirit brings you to a place of total belief and trust in Jesus as your Savior. You respond to His revelation of who Jesus is and what Jesus has done, and trust Him as your Savior. People do not come to this realization on their own, only the Holy Spirit can bring a person to this place. Thankfully the Holy Spirit is a work all the time, everywhere, bringing people to salvation. The Lord has called us to share this wonderful message with a world that is lost and dying and heading to eternal hell. We cannot save anyone. We cannot even convince them to be saved. Only the Holy Spirit can bring someone to salvation.

Please share your thoughts.