"born again" The Changes

    Billy Graham always spoke about
you must become a "born again" Christian.
    What does that mean?
We can not experience a physical rebirth.
    When God created us He gave us a soul,
it is the soul that must be reborn.
    That means for our souls to be made
pure and to become righteous.
    When God created us in His image,
He had a vision for the unclean and
unrighteous soul being born again.
    It doesn't just happen.
We have to ask for it.
    It has to be our decision.
God will not force it upon us.
    He gave us a free will with which
we can accept what He had planned for us.
    We can either accept it or deny it.
There is nothing that we can do to earn
this gift.
    It is a gift from God because of God's
great mercy for those who follow Him.
    Why should we want to become a
"born again" Christian?
    We are all sinners who one day
will pay the penalty for our sins.
    Once we pray the sinners prayer,
we are forgiven children of God,
who can know and experience God's love
in ways that we never dreamed possible.
      No longer are we separate from God.
We are no longer standing on the sidelines
wishing for the chance to join in.
    Once we become "born again" Christians,
we want to turn away from our past, from the
sins that were committed than and turn towards
what we do now to please God.
    We are able to ask God to forgive me,
to guide and help me each day in all that I do.
    "born again" Christians have confessed that
Jesus Christ died on the cross for our sins.
He arose from the dead and sits at the right hand
of God, the Father.
    God, sends His Holy Spirit, to help us in our
daily walk of faith and daily living.
    What can we expect after we pray, the sinners
prayer? I began to keep a journal to help me
to know what changes had taken place.
    We are still the same person that we have
always been. Over time we notice that we are
healthier and a better person. There is an increase
in our love for others. Where there was no
compassion for others, there now is.
    We will have God in our lives, to help us when
we experience difficulties that come our way.
We may hit obstacles in our pathway that cause us
to go backwards; back down the mountain.
    In time though, we will climb over the mountain
and go through the valley. We will notice that there is
a desire to please God and to be obedient to Him
that we couldn't explain before.
    We may notice other changes taking place within.
If we have an addiction, we may experience immediate relief
or it may take some time. Marriages may be renewed,
relationships may be renewed because the reasons for
the arguing are being worked out.
    We are motivated to do the things that we felt
we weren't good enough for or unworthy of having.
    There is an increased desire to serve God with others
and share what we know about His love for us.
    We want to know more about God so, we start to study
His Word more.
    We seek to have a relationship with God more now
than before.