Daily Devotional Day 71

Because we were born of Adam, his genetic make-up was passed on to us, and his sin was also passed to us. Sin is in the blood. It is in the genetic makeup of every man and woman ever born into this world. We have the same traits as Adam, including sin. This is why we "must be born again from above" (John 3:1).

We must be born of God. Because of the blood, we are therefore vulnerable to the temptation that appeals to this nature from outside in. We have a sin nature. We have Adam's tendencies. We will react in the same way to outside temptations and influences. He reacted to the fruit of the tree because it was good to taste, good to look on and satisfying to the natural man. As a result of this compulsion, we do not always retain control of our spiritual senses, and our natural man takes over. We gaze first outside and turn from the inside. This becomes spiritual death, which is a separation from God, and then it is a natural death through the consequences of sin. Sinful man can not redeem sinful man. It would take a sacrifice to satisfy the penalty of the fall and to reverse this power of Adam's blood. Only a pure and innocent being with blood that was free from sin nature can atone for a sinful person. As a sacrifice, Jesus came to reverse this horrible curse. It is blood for blood. We need a blood transfusion.

This is known as redemption, and it comes by faith in the process and believing in His love and His work. He does the work. We don't just decide to come to the Lord. He draws us and comes to us first. When we have this experience of God drawing us, it's usually when we are at the end of ourselves. Circumstances come into our lives and convince us that we can do nothing apart from God. We recognize that our natural strengths and abilities are not able to carry us anymore, and we are able to turn to the Holy Spirit. At this point, we are open to the born again experience. Repentance from self or turning away from the self life is a key to this process.

Ask the Holy Spirit to bring to your remembrance your born-again experience. How did God draw you to Himself? How did you sense His presence at that first touch?