“We “literally” receive Him [if we wish] daily in the Breaking of the Bread.”
Unfortunately for Catholics, Jesus was not referring to the eating of bread when He said one must be born again to enter the kingdom of heaven. I posted about this in 215. And I apologize for the look...it all ran together.
I realize it does not make sense to a Catholic which is a huge part of why, I believe, they cling to Catholic dogma. When we speak of being born again, and by we I mean true believers, we are speaking of a spiritual birth. God in the person of the Holy Spirit enters into us and lives within us. When it happens to you, there is no doubt.
John 14:26
New American Standard Bible (NASB)
26 But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you.
I had grown up in church and always knew Jesus was the way...I just did not understand how. I had made a declaration of faith in Jesus at the age of nine, but from that point on I lived my life and never gave it much thought. I was a rebellious child and that was the end of my church going days. It wasn’t till I was 32 and going thru a terrible crisis that I finally called out to God and asked Him to reveal Himself to me.
In that instant, I knew that the Spirit was in me and had been since I was 9 years old, working in my life to bring me to the point of anguish where He could finally reveal Himself to me. I looked back at my past and could see all the times He had protected me and kept me until I was ready to understand. Let me just say again that when one is born again of the Spirit there is no doubt. Will you know everything there is to know about Him and faith right away? No, but it is the beginning of the journey and the only way to God.
He comes when all you want is Him and only Him. For most people, myself included, it happens when they have come to the end of themselves. I had nowhere else to turn and the Scripture from my childhood came to me. The rest is as I have described above.
Have I been perfect and sinless since then? Not hardly. But what I am assured of is that from the moment I asked Him to come and live in my heart at the age of 9, He was there. Guiding the circumstances of my life and bringing me to a point of desperation so severe, He was my only hope. And that little girl who had asked Him into her heart all those years ago finally understood. Immanuel, God with us...and so He had been with me all that time.
I was also saved and sealed at the age of 9 and my salvation was secure and my name written in the Lamb’s Book of Life. God heard the heartfelt cry of the 9-year old and came right in...and was still there when the 32-year old cried out again. As I say over and over, it takes a heart that wants Him and nothing else. Will you lay down everything for Jesus? Catholicism, Protestantism, whatever-ism and choose only Him?
As long as you BELIEVE in Jesus is all that matters.
Guiding the circumstances of my life and bringing me to a point of desperation so severe, He was my only hope.Indeed! There are those who are desperate sitting in the pews of the Catholic Church too, and the ones who truly want help, are sitting in the "daily" ones as well (not to mention standing in line for Confession and visiting an Adoration Chapel from time to time). What do you think you "have" over and above what I have as a Catholic? Why do you assume I haven't chosen only Him?