Principle 2 - I BEGIN TO BELIEVE THAT THROUGH JESUS CHRIST I CAN BE RESTORED TO A RIGHT RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD THE FATHER AND SUBSEQUENT SANITY AND STABILITY IN MY LIFE.
This principle talks about our coming to believe that we can have a right relationship with God the Father. As we look at those who have this relationship with God, their lives seem to be so much happier than the lives of those who don’t. The question that we may be asking ourselves is, “Will God really work in our lives if we do believe?” The answer is definitely “yes”—He is only waiting for us to give Him the opportunity. This principle will help us to better understand and to believe that Jesus has provided a way for us to have this relationship with God and all the benefits that result from it. God has done everything possible to provide us a way to come to Him and receive life abundantly.
This principle addresses the fact that the lifestyle we have been living was one that caused us to live outside of or beside ourselves, resulting in our insanity. It means that if we had been of a sober mind, we would never have participated in or thought of the behaviors that now cause us shame. Let’s start with a revealing look at God’s heart for us. Jeremiah 31:3, “The LORD has appeared of old to me, saying: ‘Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore with lovingkindness I have drawn you.’” Reflect on this scripture’s meaning, as well as what it shows God’s desire for mankind truly is. (Isaiah 1:17-20; Revelation 3:20; Romans 10:13; John 10:10; 2 Peter 3:9)
John 14:1, 6 "Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me.”…. Jesus said to him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”
The secondary focus of this principle is to confront our behavior and denial and draw our hearts to the area of belief. We have the ability and free will to believe in a variety of things. The scriptures make it very clear that the one thing we don’t believe in is the one and only true God. In the world there are many different beliefs and an abundance of gods. Jesus told us that there is only one way to God, and when confronted with what our carnal nature (flesh) deems restricted, narrow minded, or fundamental, we are often offended. Belief in God is much more that just being intellectual; it requires a restful work called faith. Jesus explains that His desire is for us not only to believe in God, but also in Him. Jesus also points out that He is the only way to the Father.
Read John 3:3-6. Jesus reveals the truth. Even though Nicodemus is a devout and religious man, a very pious Pharisee, and Israel’s teacher (John 3:10), he still cannot enter the kingdom of God. It takes a supernatural event, a rebirth, and just like your birth, you have nothing to do with it. It takes God!
Romans 8:9-11 But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His. And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.
These closing verses for Principle 2 are from the letter to the Romans. If we are “born again,” we are transformed from the nature of Adam to the nature of Christ. We'll notice the very important, two-letter words “if.” If we have been born again and redeemed in Christ, we don’t have to worry about our works or what we have to do for Him. There will be a change because He has made all things new, and we will begin to have a change in our desires. Paul states that if we are found in Christ, our mortal body is dead because of sin, meaning that sin is now powerless to rule over us. Sin is now a choice for those in Christ. We have been set free from this body of death, and the Holy Spirit now lives and rules in us. He has given us a righteous heart and a life that desires to follow the precepts of God. It is literally the fulfillment of Ezekiel 36:26-27. We can now participate in the resurrection life of the Son of God. We are lifted up and out of the main current of the world so that we are no longer a slave to the world and our lusts, but are now a slave unto righteousness.