Counsel #10 — How Are We Changed?

Picture: Counsel #10 — How Are We Changed?CI 12.1

The Holy Spirit is the Agent of change in our characters, renewing us in the image or likeness of God. Nicodemus, a religious leader of the Sanhedrin when Jesus was on earth, wanted to know about this and came to Him for a late-night explanation.^{[10]https://www.adventistbiblicalresearch.org/materials/what-is-the-new-birth/} Jesus told him we are changed, or born again, by the Spirit, and without that new birth experience, we can’t enter the kingdom of heaven.CI 12.2

This change isn’t just a one-time experience. Every day we are privileged to ask God to fill us with His Holy Spirit and empower us to live like Him.CI 12.3

“Jesus answered [Nicodemus], ‘Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.’” John 3:5 NKJVCI 12.4

“By the transforming agency of His grace, the image of God is reproduced in the disciple; he becomes a new creature.” Ellen White in The Desire of Ages, p. 391.1CI 12.5

Reflect: What do you think it means to be “born of water and the Spirit?”CI 12.6