Paul Writing His Epistles, 16th century (Blaffer Foundation Collection, Houston, Texas).

How do spiritually dead people come to life? If you are dead then how can you accept spiritual truths that you are not equipped to understand?

In order for any of us to come to Jesus, we must be drawn by the Father.

John 6:44 “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up at the last day.

So even though prior to having accepted Christ as Savior you were dead in your sins, and are not capable of true understanding of the Word of God…God is still reaching out to you if you are His.

Some people take John 6:44 to mean that people don’t have freedom of choice. That is simply not true; God the Father draws you to Jesus that does not mean you have to accept what Jesus then offers you. We have a choice; it’s called free will. So how does that coincide with predestination? Honest answer…I have no idea, nor do I worry about it. It simply is, and somehow the two work together, because God is God, and nothing is impossible for Him!

People take the idea of being spiritually dead, and turn it into something it is not. Here is what Ephesians 2:1-5 says, 1 As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 2 in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. 3 All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath. 4 But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions–it is by grace you have been saved.

These verses tell us that we were dead in our sins, (verse 1) because we followed the ruler of this world (verse 2) which is Satan. Notice though what verses 4-5 say…that when we were dead in our transgressions, God through His great love for us saved us, by His Grace. Therefore, there is a way for the spiritually dead to come alive in Christ. We need to realize here that although someone unsaved cannot understand the deeper truths contained in the Bible; that does not mean that a person cannot understand a very basic truth.

Let’s back up a minute and look at faith. 2 Corinthians 5:7 We live by faith, not by sight.

So faith is not something we see, faith is also not something we have to feel. Faith means to trust in what we do not see, and also something we do not understand.

Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. Faith at the beginning is always an action, not a feeling. When you decided to accept Christ as Lord and Savior, that was a choice not a feeling. Feeling may have been involved, but accepting Christ is a choice nevertheless. Have you ever heard, Step out in faith, or take a leap of faith? What do those statements imply? As it relates to what we are talking about here, you are trusting or believing in Christ to provide, or help you, or come through for you in some way, you are going to make a choice to step out despite your doubt or fear, and do something you believe the Lord wants you to.

Lets go back to spiritual deadness, keeping in mind the context of faith just described. If you were reading the bible because you were say curious, or you were searching, seeking maybe; you read 1 John 5:13 I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.

You may not understand a lot of what the bible says, but you can choose to accept this statement as being true. Better yet, people show up at your door and explain Christ to you in a simple way; you have been feeling for some time now that something is missing in life. Now you know what has been missing, and you choose to pray and receive Christ! Or you have been attending church, and are not saved. The Pastor is talking about Christ and what He can do for you, you have been having a hard time in life, nothing seems to help, there is nowhere to turn and you are at the end of yourself. The Pastor gives an alter call, and although you by far do not understand a lot, you accept and pray to receive Christ. These are choices made based on information read or heard.

Lets look at Ephesians 2:8-9 8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith–and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God– 9 not by works, so that no one can boast.

We have been saved by God’s grace; well what is grace? Grace is God’s unmerited favor given to us, or receiving what we do not deserve. So we are receiving eternal life from God when what we do deserve is death, but by His Grace, we are given life. How is this done? Through faith are we saved according to verse eight above. I believe the real gift here to be that God forgives us our sins and grants us a whole new life as soon as we pray to receive the Son as Lord and Savior.

Does God grant us faith to accept Christ as who he says he is before we accept Christ? In the broadest sense, I tend to think not, we are after all spiritually speaking…dead. Our faith is truly started within us when we except Christ, the Holy Spirit comes to live within us after we accept Jesus, and we are made spiritually alive. But yet at the same time, God does have something to do with this choice we make, He called us after all.

Maybe there is a small seed of faith within us, such as the person who on occasion thinks of God, and then moves on and does nothing about it. Something after all causes us to seek, to fill that hole that nothing else seems to fill. That something is always God…we have a God shaped hole…only God can fill it.

Related articles  http://ptl2010.com/2012/04/17/free-will-simplified-reblog/