It isn’t enough to get a baby down the birth canal. If they aren’t going to be “born dead,” they must immediately start breathing. They have been connected to an umbilical cord and their mother has been doing most of the work for them. Now, they are going to have to start doing some of these things on their own. This is the case with you; Jesus has been taking care of all your spiritual oxygen, food, waste removal, heat, and protection. It is now time for you to take on some responsibility.

If your new birth is going to be a CONTINUING success, then you will have to use your new spiritual equipment so you can STAY alive. Here are your first two life-continuing assignments: Rom 10:8-10 But what does it say? “The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart,” that is, the word of faith we are proclaiming: That

1. if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and


2. believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead,

you WILL be saved.

You WILL be saved: That means you WILL be born again! But, didn’t you already get born again, when you prayed Jesus' prayer? Yes, praying Jesus’ prayer was like a baby coming alive in the womb and being formed into a baby ready to be born. Healthy babies don’t come alive at birth; they must become a living being before birth. They are being taken care of and kept alive while in the womb; then they have to go down the birth canal and “be born.”

Jesus’ prayer made you alive, formed you into a new child of God, and then got you ready for the second stage of your being born again. It was like when a baby comes down the birth canal, we call it being born and act like that was the moment they came alive; but, it was actually alive in the womb; but, it was being kept alive through an umbilical cord; however, at birth, that umbilical cord gets cut.

When a baby is born, it loses its vital supply from its mother through the umbilical cord. So, one of the first things we have to do after birth is get the baby breathing; that is true of being born again. When you do what Romans 10:9-10 tells you to do and use your mouth to say, out loud, that “Jesus is Lord” and that you accept Him as your Lord, that is you breathing IN your first breath of spiritual air.

If you hadn’t prayed all of those parts of Jesus’ prayer, you wouldn’t be alive and formed into a child of God. And, you wouldn’t pass down the spiritual birth canal ready to BE SAVED or born again through Romans 10:9-10. If you don’t yield to it, you will fail to continue to live. Now that you are born again, you must start “breathing” in the spirit realm.

Once Jesus gets your spiritual lungs working by taking IN spiritual air, He has to get you to “breath” OUT. So, God requires you not only confess that Jesus is Lord (breathing in), you must BELIEVE He raised Jesus from the dead (breathing out). It is like you breathing in air and breathing out carbon dioxide rather than using your mother’s umbilical cord to get your physical needs met.

As with all illustrations, the example breaks down at some point. As a spiritual baby, you will be given much more time learning how to breath, eat, cry, get your spiritual organs, limbs, and muscles working than a physical baby gets. Your spiritual umbilical cord stays connected much longer. You will actually be taken into an example of a grape vine with its branches. In John 15:1-17, Jesus will show you how to stay connected to Him. So, we don’t want to over work this baby-birth illustration. But, let’s use it as much as is possible so we can understand what is happening to you.

Now, let’s allow Jesus to explain to us how these two aspects of spiritual birth work. First, you prayed all the parts of Jesus’ prayer; you did this as you were being taught what each part of the prayer meant; and, it was being explained to you what it was you were asking for. That got you down the spiritual birth canal into the spirit realm. You are NOW “existing” in the spirit realm; but, Jesus must get you “functioning” in the spirit realm. Just like a doctor or birth attendant has to do what it takes to get the new “born” baby to start breathing and functioning on its own, Jesus must do this for you.

NOW, you are about to breath in and out your first spiritual breaths; and you are about to take in your first spiritual power (nourishment). You breath in and out as you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead (Rom 10:9). AND, you take in spiritual food by continuing these studies.

If a human baby gets born but doesn’t start breathing it is said to be “born dead.” And, if it doesn’t start taking in nourishment in his new environment, it dies. Romans 10:9-10 keeps you from being “born dead” in your spiritual birth process. And, Second Timothy chapter 2 and verse 15 (2 Tim 2:15) helps you start taking in nourishment on your own. 2 Tim 2:15 (AKJV) Study to show yourself approved to God, a workman that needs not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. You are NOW to start allowing Jesus to help you read (eat) and understand (digest) those things in the Bible. But, for now, let’s continue with your responsibility to breath.

For

1. it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and


2. it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.

This is telling you what the two main things are that keep you alive in the spirit realm. You are a new born again baby as a child of God; it is up to you to start functioning as one. Your assignments are few and simple; but, to a certain degree, like a new born baby, there ARE some things YOU MUST start doing to continue to live.

If you take these spiritual steps, you will start interacting with your new way of life. You will be using your spiritual equipment like a baby uses it new body to breath, eat, cry, digest food, and start using its muscles. Just like all these things are VITAL for the new born baby, Romans 10:9-10 and 2 Timothy 2:15 are VITAL to your new birth.

It is with your heart that you believe and are justified: It is impossible to be a Christian, if you don’t believe that God raised Jesus from the dead. It is much simpler for a person to say with their mouth that Jesus is Lord and that He is their Lord. But, it is a little harder for them to believe in their heart that God raised Jesus from the dead. So, let’s spend some time working on breathing OUT in the spirit realm.

All of your power and success in the Christian life is going to come through Jesus. Your ability to resist the difficulties with drugs, all your hope for eternal life, and your citizenship in the Kingdom of God are based on life after death. If God didn’t raise Jesus from the dead, then you have no reason whatsoever to believe that you will be raised from the dead. To you, death would mean you cease to exist; and, that is NOT what happens.

You can’t call on a dead God. Rom 10:13 (NIV) For, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” That means that when you call on Him, He will answer you. He will also empower you to live the life of one of His children and a citizen of His Kingdom. Later it will be easy for you to know that Jesus has been raised from the dead. You will experience all kinds of miracles from Him that will PROVE He is alive. But for now you just need to consider a few truths about human life.

We are all going to live forever somewhere. Our bodies die; but the spirit person, that is the real you, is going to keep on living. Jesus never ceased to exist; even though His body died on a cross, He, as a Spirit being, continued to live; you can’t kill a spirit. All you are being asked to believe is that the Father put Jesus’ Spirit back in His body. You aren’t being asked to believe that Jesus ceased to exist and the Father made Him exist again.

Can you believe that God raised Jesus from the dead? If you can, that will be like a new born baby breathing OUT. These two requirements in Romans 10:9-10 are HOW you breath in spiritual air and breath out those things that are hurting you.

For us who now believe that God can do anything, it is an easy concept to believe; it has become automatic for us to breath. Since we know Jesus created the universe and everything in it, we have not doubted Jesus’ resurrection ever again. We have experienced so many miracles and have had such an intimate, close relationship with Him that we KNOW He is alive and doing His powerful work among us.

But, for you to eventually become a permanent Christian, you have to be confessing with your mouth that Jesus is your Lord; and you have to keep believing that God raised Him from the dead. You must do this as a normal routine in order for you to be and stay saved for eternity.

If you find yourself struggling with the two concepts in Romans 10:9-10, don’t give up. Jesus will be helping you to keep growing spiritually; He will do this so you will be able to experience miracles in your issues with drugs. As you experience these miracles, you will grow in your knowledge that Jesus is alive because God raised Him from the dead. You will soon KNOW for a fact that Jesus is your living Savior and is hearing and answering your prayers.

Now that you are a new BORN again Christian, Jesus will be helping you keep applying yourself to study and making changes in your relationships. He will be helping you be healed from your problems with drugs. He will be feeding you so you can be powerful and have the necessary building blocks from that food so you are helped to grow spiritually. His objective is to keep parenting you until you grow into a mature, adult child of God.

A baby can’t just breath once or eat once; they have to accept the responsibility of continuing to breath and eat. And, if they become aware that something is going wrong in their life, it is their responsibility to let us know about it (cry). If food is presented to them, they are responsible to do what it takes to take advantage of it (eat). It is their responsibility to start using their muscles to move the various parts of their body.

As a new born again child of God, these are all your responsibilities as well. You are to keep “breathing” by obeying Romans 10:9-10, “eating” by obeying 2 Timothy 2:15, which is you continuing to study, and obeying many more Scriptures that will help you use all your spiritual muscles.

Jesus has caused spiritual growth classes to be prepared for you. But, it is your responsibility to use the power you now have through salvation to take advantage of them (eat). It will be your responsibility to let the people around you know that you are now a Christian (spiritual breathing). There will be things Jesus will help you be willing to give up; and, those around you will need to know why. There will be things Jesus will help you be willing to start living; and, those around you will need to know that you are now following the teachings of Jesus.