Glory Militant, Grace Triumphant
Dear Cor Incensi,
In John 3:6 (NIV), Jesus tells us that “the Spirit gives birth to spirit”. But is it possible that many of us misunderstand what this means? For the unregenerate, being born again sounds more like a “feel good” statement. Likewise, praying “in Jesus’ name” sounds like a tagline to denote that a person is saying a Christian prayer. But living in Christ and praying in Christ are symptoms of having truly communed and been changed by our Father, through the Holy Spirit. Even in the present moment, we are spiritually transported into the kingdom of God.
Scripture:
“And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation: Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you” (Luke 17:20-21, KJV).
Jesus clarifies in John 3 that men must be born again to enter into the kingdom of God:
Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born? Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again. The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit (John 3:3-8, KJV).
Spiritual Reading:
“Sermon XIII. The Potter and the Clay” by George Whitefield (1772)
Excerpt from The works of the Reverend George Whitefield, M.A., Vol.5 (of 6)*:
The generality of people form strange ideas of heaven. And because the scriptures, in condescension to the weakness of our capacities, describe it by images taken from earthly delights and human grandeur, therefore they are apt to carry their thoughts no higher, and at the best only form to themselves a kind of Mahometan paradise. But permit me to tell you, and God grant it may sink deep into your hearts! Heaven is rather a state than a place; and consequently, unless you are previously disposed by a suitable state of mind, you could not be happy even in heaven itself. For what is grace but glory militant? What is glory but grace triumphant? This consideration made a pious author say, that “holiness, happiness, and heaven, were only three different words for one and the self-same thing.” And this made the great Preston, when he was about to die, turn to his friends, saying, “I am changing my place, but not my company.” He had conversed with God and good men on earth; he was going to keep up the same, and infinitely more refined communion with God, his holy angels, and the spirits of just men made perfect, in heaven.
To make us meet to be blissful partakers of such heavenly company, this “marred clay,” I mean, these depraved natures of ours, must necessarily undergo an universal moral change: our understandings must be enlightened; our wills, reason, and consciences, must be renewed; our affections must be drawn toward, and fixed upon things above; and because flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of heaven, this corruptible must put on incorruption, this mortal must put on immortality. And thus old things must literally pass away, and behold all things, even the body as well as the faculties of the soul, must become new.
This moral change is what some call, repentance, some, conversion, some, regeneration; choose what name you please, I only pray God, that we all may have the thing. The scriptures call it holiness, sanctification, the new creature, and our Lord calls it a “New birth, or being born again, or born from above.” These are not barely figurative expressions, or the flights of eastern language, nor do they barely denote a relative change of state conferred on all those who are admitted into Christ’s church by baptism; but they denote a real, moral change of heart and life, a real participation of the divine life in the soul of man. Some indeed content themselves with a figurative interpretation; but unless they are made to experience the power and efficacy thereof, by a solid living experience in their own souls, all their learning, all their laboured criticisms, will not exempt them from a real damnation. Christ hath said it, and Christ will stand, “Unless a man,” learned or unlearned, high or low, though he be a master of Israel as Nicodemus was, unless he “be born again, he cannot see, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.”
*Whitefield, George. “Sermon XIII. The Potter and the Clay.” The Works of the Reverend George Whitefield, M.A., Vol. 5 (of 6), Project Gutenberg, 2025. https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/77034. eBook.
Weekly Fruit of the Spirit:
JOY
“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law” (Galatians 5:22-23, KJV).
Spiritual Practice:
Right now, imagine a drop of Glory from Heaven invading your entire body, mind, and soul - lighting you up with inexpressible joy. Is there anything preventing you right now from experiencing the joy that comes from communion with God? Are there any specific beliefs showing up in your focus?
Worship:
Elevation Worship. “Grace So Glorious | Live | Elevation Worship.” 2013, YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5IxhoUzsasI&list=RD5IxhoUzsasI&start_radio=1. Accessed 23 Jan. 2026.
Pray
Heavenly Father,
If I have misunderstood what it truly means to live in Christ, through the power of Your Holy Spirit…please correct my understanding and reveal more of Your kingdom to me in whatever way you see fit and whenever You wish. I express my desire to abide in You. As in David’s Psalm 141, may this prayer of mine be set before You like incense.
In Jesus’ precious name, Amen.
Deo Volente,
KS