My Beauty for Ashes story continues with Jesus exchanging a broken, insecure, and depressed young girl for a healed, restored, and joy infused woman of God.
I am not here to tell you that after I accepted Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior everything was perfect. That my thoughts were miraculously positive, my words holy, or my actions Godly; in reality, they were not.
The Bible refers to those who have accepted Jesus as their Lord and Savior as being born-again. When Jesus was in the earth, he had a conversation with a religious leader about what being born-again meant in John 3:4-5, “How can someone be born when they are old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother’s womb to be born!” Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit.”
Jesus wasn’t speaking of a second natural birth, rather a spiritual birth.
How was this possible?
1 Thessalonians 5:23 reveals the answer: “May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
This scripture reveals something you probably never knew. We are a three part being.
Spirit – which is our heart
Soul – which is our mind, emotions, feelings, will and intellect
Body – which is our flesh
Therefore, Jesus was referring to our spirit being birthed by our Heavenly Father, not a natural birth that has already occurred by our earthly mother and father.
How many of you know that newborn babies are VERY dependent upon their parents to feed them, clothe them, bathe them, clean them, sooth them, protect them, etc. They are vulnerable to their surroundings and must be dealt with extreme attention and care. Spiritually, I was like a newborn symbolically; in a very needy, thirsty, hungry and vulnerable state.
There are two families in this world: the family of God and the family of the devil. The children of God are those who accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior.
Jesus said in John 8:42, “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I have come here from God. I have not come on my own; God sent me.”
The children of the devil are those who have not accepted Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.
Jesus says in John 8:44-45, 47, “You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies. Yet because I tell the truth, you do not believe me!
Whoever belongs to God hears what Gods says. The reason you do not hear is that you do not belong to God.”
I had spent sixteen years prior as a child of the devil. And let me tell you, when your father is a liar, your heart, soul, and body are under extreme fear, bondage and slavery! It’s like living in a home with a father that hates you, degrades you, lies to you, abuses you, steals from you, neglects you, shames you, confuses you, manipulates you, violates you and destroys you.
Jesus said in John 10:10, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy.”
The thief is the devil; and he is NOT a good father. But, he was what I was used to.
So, when I accepted Jesus Christ as my personal Lord and Savior, my Heavenly Father adopted me into His family and I became His child!
The rest of what Jesus' statement in John 10:10 says, “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.”
What a different spiritual, mental, emotional and even physical state I was exposed to!
I moved from the house of the devil to the house my Heavenly Father who loves me, heals me, protects me, cares for me, encourages me, strengthens me, comforts me, speaks truth to me, leads me, guides me, helps me and provides for me.
My new, loving Heavenly Father now had to exchange healing for sickness, joy for depression, strength for weakness, and restore, rebuild and renew His daughter who had sixteen years of abuse, fear and embraced lies from her previous father, the devil.
And that is precisely what my new Heavenly Father did for me and He will do the same for you if you are in need of restoration, healing or renewing.
ISAIAH 61:1-4
“The Spirit of the Lord, the Eternal, is on me. The Lord has appointed me for a special purpose. He has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to repair broken hearts, And to declare to those who are held captive and bound in prison, “Be free from your imprisonment!” …For those who mourn it will be a time of comfort. As for those who grieve over Zion, God has sent me to give them a beautiful crown in exchange for ashes, To anoint them with gladness instead of sorrow, to wrap them in victory, joy, and praise instead of depression and sadness. People will call them magnificent, like great towering trees standing for what is right. They stand to the glory of the Eternal who planted them.
And they will rebuild this place from its ancient ruins; they will restore the ages-old, once-splendid structures; They will renew Israel’s ruined cities from the ashes and debris that laid untouched for many generations.”
This rebuilding, restoring and renewing process starts with you allowing God to adopt you into His family, so you can become a child of God. As we have discussed above, one becomes a child of God by being born-again. Your spiritual birth occurs by accepting the Fathers sacrifice, Jesus Christ, as your personal Lord and Savior.
The Bible says in Romans 10:9 and 10, “If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.”
If you believe this in your heart and declare the following prayer out loud, you will be born-again, a child of God and in a position to be restored, rebuilt and renewed by Jesus today:
“Heavenly Father, I believe in my heart Jesus Christ is your Son. I believe Jesus died for my sins. God, I’m sorry for all my sins and I ask you to forgive me. I believe that you raised Jesus from the dead and I say with my mouth Jesus is my Lord and Savior. Now I am saved, I have chosen life and I am Heaven bound. In the name of Jesus, Amen.”
If you have said this prayer out loud and meant it in your heart, I want to hear from you! Subscribe to receive prayer, content and future blogs on Beauty For Ashes HOME page.
In the comments write me about your decision to accept Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior today.