To understand the term “born again,” you need to realize God is not into behavior modification—He has provided for nothing less than return to His original dream for man. To be born again refers to being restored to the image and likeness of God’s original creation as recorded in Geneses 1 and 2. John described this in the opening of his Gospel:

Definitely. Kenneth Copeland has always encouraged believers to be faithful and active in a local church body.

First, understand that joining a church is not what makes you a member of the Body of Christ. You became a member of the Body of Christ the moment you made Jesus the Lord of your life. And retaining that place in His Body is not conditional on membership in a local church.

As Gloria Copeland says, “When you do what’s right, get ready for a fight!”

That’s why 1 Timothy 6:12 tells us to “fight the good fight of faith.” When it comes to healing, faith is only the beginning. It’s the stand of faith, or your patience, that takes you to the finish line. What you’re in the midst of is possessing the “land” called healing, and the devil has no intention of letting you walk into it without a fight.

Water baptism is a declaration to the world around you that you’ve made Jesus the Lord and Savior of your life, your old life is behind you, and you are a new creation in Christ. It symbolizes the transformation of your salvation. 

A baby is unable to make this decision, which is why most Protestant churches conduct baby dedication ceremonies instead. During these ceremonies, the parents dedicate their child to the Lord and commit to raise him or her according to the Word of God. 

You are not alone in that battle. As children of God, none of us want to be guilty of fulfilling what Scripture calls “the lust of the flesh.” In our society, lust is most often thought of in connection with sexual immorality. But lust means “strong desire.” The lust of the flesh is simply the strong desire to follow after the ways of the world rather than God, in any area of our lives.

At salvation a very important ministry of the Holy Spirit took place in your life. But that ministry is different from the Baptism in the Holy Spirit.

In the moment you made Jesus the Lord of your life, spiritual death was removed from your spirit, and there was born in you a new life, a new spirit. You were literally born of God. “Dear friends, we are already God’s children” (1 John 3:2). “Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has become a child of God” (1 John 5:1). Without encountering the Holy Spirit, man cannot be born again (Romans 8:9).

We have great news: To receive the Baptism in the Holy Spirit, all you have to do is ask your heavenly Father for it. God wants every believer to be filled with the Holy Spirit and speak in other tongues.

Ask God right now. Receive the Baptism in the Holy Spirit just as you received Jesus—by faith, by believing God’s Word. You are His child and He is your Father. God is poised and ready to baptize you in His Holy Spirit when you ask Him.

Simply repeat this prayer out loud:

The Bible instructs us to “pray always with all prayer” (Ephesians 6:18, BRG). Other translations say, “all kinds of prayer” or “different kinds of prayer.” The AMPC says, “with all [manner of] prayer.” 

There is more than just one kind of prayer, and depending on what you desire from God, you it’s helpful to understand the importance of each one. 

Water baptism is not only significant to the person being baptized, but it also testifies to his or her community what happened when their life was changed by Jesus. It confirms and strengthens the new believer’s commitment to live a godly life. It also gives the believer the opportunity to openly testify to others of his experience of having been crucified with Christ, buried with Him and raised together with Him to walk in newness of life (Galatians 2:20; Romans 6:4-6).

No. As important as water baptism is, we know from multiple scriptures that it’s not what saves a person. What does save a person is the new birth resulting from faith in the shed blood of Jesus, confession of Him as Lord and believing that God raised Him from the dead (Ephesians 1:7; Hebrews 9:22; Revelation 1:5; Romans 10:9-10).

Some have thought Acts 2:38 tied water baptism to salvation. It says, “You must repent of your sins and turn to God, and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. Then you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”

The difference—and it is major—is that under the Old Covenant, those who trusted God in regard to the Law could not be born again like we are under the New Covenant. Their new birth could not take place until Jesus died for their sins, was raised from the dead and glorified. (See John 7:37-39.) 

Scripture tells us not only when the disciples were born again, but also how. The answer may surprise you: They were born again the very same way you and I, or any other person is.

We know the disciples walked and talked with Jesus on a daily basis. But like every Christian, each individual disciple had to accept that Jesus was raised from the dead and make Jesus his Lord (Romans 10:9-10). The Bible describes how and when this took place after Jesus’ resurrection:

You don’t have to debate or fight or plead your case to evangelize. In fact, KCM’s Minister of Evangelism, Riley Stephenson, says that will actually hurt your cause. Instead, he recommends the following:

The enemy tries to discourage or confuse all believers on this issue. Think about it: Anytime he can get believers to spend time wondering if they are saved is time he is keeping them from discovering how much authority this new life gives them over the kingdom of darkness. 

Here is some really good news—you can know without a doubt that you are born again!