Intro: Rebirth? What is it? When I think of Rebirth or being "born again", I somehow understand "deep within" that it means becoming new..., and while being new you are somehow the same person. It kind-of gets confusing from there; therefore, I will not break your brains about defining Rebirth with words. Instead, I will try to explain in this series what I mean by it through real life experiences.

Rebirth @Lake Eola: If you are familiar with Orlando, you know it is quite a big place. I for one love my city, though Florida is known for the land of the ignorant... if you do not know what I mean, I can explain in two words "Florida"..."Man". Yes, All of florida knows that the "florida man" gets the best of people sometimes, and I know that it is a disease that has spread all over the nation. Within the heart of Orlando there lies a beautiful park called Lake Eola where you can see gorgeous swans, terrific sculptures made by local and renown artists, and quarters that have different activites going on through the year. It was/is really a place you cannot not visit. However, though the park is so nice to the eyes, one night as I was walking, my heart broke. I became burdened, because I saw true injustice before my eyes. Some of you might say, what do you mean... well it goes like this. To my left, I saw all these people with there children chasing after these magnificent swans, giving them food, and really having a good time... however, to my right, I saw a very young and beautiful woman sitting with a sad spirit to my right. Usually, many don't recognize this injustice, but G-d was showing me something that night. He was showing me what it means to be Born Again. Rebirth is not just about recognizing, but it is being transformed in such a way that something new and good happens in response to what you have recognized! 

"Rebirth is not just about recognizing, but it is about being transformed in such a way that something new and good happens in response to what you have recognized!"

I know too many people that would simply go out to the birds and just love on the birds, and everytime that I have gone to Lake Eola, I actually have never seen a "regular" person reach out to the homeless (though I know there are ministires that do). You see it is very easy to look at these birds and say how wonderful they are, but, when we see a person hungry and hurt, we despise them. The birds mean so much to us that we approach the birds that could carry unknown diseases with no regard to what they could have. But a homeless person, no, we can't approach them because they are disgusting with some even in their own feces... those people are unapproachable. I felt ashamed, because I saw how ignorant I was. I knew that I could take the shame that I was shown by G-d's Spirit and just pray like a "typical" follower of Messiah, or I can follow the tug in my heart to do something about it. My family and I took a deep breathe and followed the L-rd's voice, and an unbelievable thing happend! We saw how beautiful G-d really made this young lady. The birds were no longer our focus, but the ones that really needed the love of Messiah were (including ourselves). G-d knows what we need, and this lovely lady needed this. Because of the love shared, she returned the very love of G-d in a very enormous hug to my mom. Coming home to follow through with prayer, I can here the hesitation in my mother's voice, because she simply felt the love of our Messiah over her life. Then of course it's hard to not to cry when momma cries, but I know this was a moment of Rebirth causing us to let out a glorious cry full of His Shalom making us to be complete in His Love. Yes, Rebirth causes us to see the fullness of His Shalom which is knowing that we have been made complete in His Love. We all are broken, but G-d, through His grace and mercy, is showing us that the good news is the power of G-d that brings Salvation to all those who believe (Romans 1:13-18)! No longer should we be unaware, but be transformed be the renewing of our mind in order to be in this eagerness to bring the love of Messiah to all that they might recieve Him (Romans 12)! Sure enough the Spirit of G-d showed me His kindness and love - that saved me from being a "florida man" - to become a "man of G-d" confident in hope of abundant life through the immersion of Rebirth@LakeEola and the renewing of the Spririt (Titus 3:4-9).

If you'd like to experience this Rebirth you can pray this prayer:
Avinu (Our Father) Malkeinu (Our King), There are times that I have neglect to do what is good before your eyes, because it is easy to see what is good in our own eyes. Forgive me for my ignorance and negligence of what it means to know You. I recieve You, Yeshua the Messiah, into my life, and believe that You died and rose again that I might be saved. Knowing this hope is now in my life, may you pour out unto me Your Love for all to see. Amen!

 

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