If you are looking to feed and challenge your faith, visit
Crosswalk.com's Spiritual Life Channel at:
http://spiritual.crosswalk.com
-----------


N E I L   A N D E R S O N   D A I L Y   D E V O T I O N A L
             from Freedom in Christ Ministries

February 3

SALVATION IS REGENERATION

He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, in
order that by them you might become partakers of the divine
nature (2 Peter 1:4).

What does the Bible specifically say about our nature? The Greek
word for nature is used in this way only twice in the New
Testament. Ephesians 2:1-3 described the nature we all shared
before we came to Christ: "And you were dead in your trespasses
and sins . . . and were by nature children of wrath." What was
your basic nature before you were born again spiritually? You and
every other Christian "were by nature children of wrath," dead in
sin, subject to Satan's power, living completely to fulfill
sinful lusts and desires. This is the condition of every
unbeliever today.

The second occurrence of the word is in 2 Peter 1:4 describing
our nature after we came to Christ: "He has granted to us His
precious and magnificent promises, in order that by them you
might become partakers of the divine nature."

When you came into spiritual union with God through your new
birth, you didn't add a new, divine nature to your old, sinful
nature. You exchanged natures. Salvation isn't just a matter of
God forgiving your sins and issuing you a pass to heaven when you
die. Salvation is regeneration. God changed you from darkness to
light, from sinner to saint. There is a newness about you that
wasn't there before. If God hadn't changed your identity at
salvation, you would be stuck with your old identity until you
died. How could you expect to grow to maturity if you didn't
start as a transformed child of God? Becoming a partaker of God's
nature is fundamental to a Christian's identity and maturity.

We are no longer in Adam; we are in Christ. We can still choose
to walk according to the flesh, but why should we want to? "You
are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of
God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of
Christ, he does not belong to Him" (Romans 8:9).

Lord, may my understanding of who I am in Christ grow today so
that I may walk in the victorious life You secured for me.


-----------
This daily devotional is published and distributed by
Crosswalk.com.  It is written by Neil Anderson at
< http://www.ficm.org >.

You can purchase "Daily in Christ" and other titles by Neil Anderson at
christianbook.com (Christian Book Distributors - CBD).
< http://shopping.crosswalk.com/bye/devo_na >

Additional devotionals are available from Crosswalk.com:
< http://devotionals.crosswalk.com >.
-----------
To read the Current Feature Story from ReligionToday,
go to http://religiontoday.crosswalk.com/CurrentFeatureStory/

For today's complete News Summary from ReligionToday,
go to http://religiontoday.crosswalk.com/CurrentNewsSummary/



-----------
For Copyright Terms go to http://www.crosswalk.com/info/copyright


____________________SUBSCRIPTION INFO_______________________

* You subscribed to Neil Anderson as:
         < jeff.king@enron.com >
* To unsubscribe from this newsletter immediately, click here:
         < http://link.crosswalk.com/UM/U.ASP?A3.14.261895 >
  If that link is not clickable, simply copy and paste it into
  your browser window.
* To change the email address at which all of your
Crosswalk subscriptions are received, click here:
http://lists.crosswalk.com/chaddr/1,,,.htm?3~261895~V9udWFWFS8ES
.
* To subscribe, send an email to:
  < SUBSCRIBE-neilanderson@lists.crosswalk.com > or go to
  < http://www.crosswalk.com/lists > for a complete list of
  our newsletters.
* Copyright ? 2001 Crosswalk.com, Inc. and its Content
  Providers. All rights reserved.

____________________________________________________________