We have made the new birth controllable with our easy conversion formulas. We have reduced being born of God to easy steps and reciting words. This often produces shallow converts with no real interest in advancing the Kingdom of God or participating in the Body of Christ. The new birth is brought about by a mysterious Holy Wind. All of us encounter God in different ways. Some are born of the Spirit that we may think are not. Some come to faith through great travail, and some seem to come without it. We cannot explain or control that. We may participate as midwives, but the mystery belongs to God.
Jesus replied, “I assure you, no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit. Humans can reproduce only human life, but the Holy Spirit gives birth to spiritual life. So don’t be surprised when I say, ‘You must be born again.’ 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.” John 3:5-8 (NLT)
