Have I truly been born again as evidenced by a completely new nature that replaced my old one?  

1 Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a member of the Jewish ruling council.  2 He came to Jesus at night and said, "Rabbi, we know you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the miraculous signs you are doing if God were not with him."  3 In reply Jesus declared, "I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again." 4 “How can a man be born when he is old?" Nicodemus asked. "Surely he cannot enter a second time into his mother's womb to be born!" 5 Jesus answered, "I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. 6 Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. 7 You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’ 8 The wind blows wherever it pleases.  You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going.  So, it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”

INSIGHT:  You can love sports or exercise without being an athlete, and tragically you can “love” Jesus without being born again and filled with His Spirit.  Claudia, from Australia, saw my story on YouTube and sent me her testimony.  She grew up Catholic and had spent years praying to God and “loving” Him.  Tragically, she “died” in a car accident at 21 years old.  She left her body and saw the spiritual realms of both heaven and hell.  Terrified of hell, she was drawn to the light of heaven and was very much ready to enter, when suddenly she heard the voice of Jesus say to her, “You cannot come in here; I do not know you.  Go back and find Me.”  She was shocked and exclaimed, “What do you mean you don’t know me? Of course you know me, I’ve prayed to you and loved you all my life!” 

Tragically, like most Catholics, and a very large percentage of professing “Protestants”, she had not been born again.  She was an unintentional hypocrite, pretending to be something externally, which she was not internally.  She had the man-made false framework and practices of a religion, without the internal divine nature, power, or the Spirit of the God of the true Christian religion.  He did not know her because He had not yet made His home in her heart, by His Spirit (Jn 14:21-23).  Religion, church, prayers, service, and even deep affection for God cannot save us.  We must be born again, and have a completely new nature, His nature, which is spirit.  We are all born, with a body, a soul, and a spirit. Even those not born again have a spirit (1 Pet 3:19).  Our soul is that part of us that makes us uniquely us, (mind, will, emotions, talents, gifts, personality, etc.).  Our spirit is the part of us that, once regenerated and made alive through our re-birth, can now discern and relate to God, through His Spirit (Rom 8:16).  God is spirit and must be worshipped in spirit, not by our flesh (Jn 4:24).

Human beings are all born spiritually dead to God (1 Cor 2:14).  We must be made spiritually alive to God (born again), by faith in Christ and turning from our sins.  God then forgives us and cleanses us by washing us with the "water" of the Spirit (symbolized in baptism 1 Pet 3:21, Eph 5:26, Acts 22:16).  He then gives us his Holy Spirit to live in our hearts, who communicates with our newly alive spirit.  The way I see it, the more we surrender and yield our heart to the Holy Spirit (by faith, obedience, and purity of heart), the more we will be filled with Him (Eph 3:19, 5:18).  The more we are filled with Him, the more of His grace (power) we have over the sinful nature.  This then, is the main evidence that shows we have truly been born again (Rom 8:9-10). 

It is impossible to live in holiness and obedience, from your heart, apart from being born again.  This is why Catholics, who are stuck in Romans 7, and cannot stop doing the evil they do not want to do, have need for weekly confession of their sins, (which cannot save them), and why so many professing Protestants struggle to consistently live a holy and godly life.  Many are stuck trying to live like Christ, in their own strength, apart from being born again and filled with the Spirit.  They are unsuccessfully trying to force godliness on their unchanged heart, through external pressure (like the Law of Moses) rather than from the internal desire of a completely new heart.  The grace, or power of the Spirit, allows those of us who are born again to finally tell our sinful nature, “You aren’t the boss of me anymore!” (1 Cor 9:27, Gal 5:24-25)