Joan Boney ... apostle/prophet
There is a vast difference between dealing in secular things and dealing in spiritual things.
In secular, the student and teacher can work together and devise a plan whereby the student can improve.
But in spiritual things, "if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his." Rom. 8:9
Without the Spirit of God in you, you cannot improve in things of God no matter how hard you study.
Salvation is of God, not of man. God gives the Spirit to whom HE wills.
And Jesus said ... 44No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day. Jn. 6
Unless God chooses you, it is hopeless. You can't do it no matter how hard you try, no matter how much you study, no matter how much you attend church and are baptized in water ... You can't do it by the will of your own flesh.
You must be born again, born of the Spirit ... and that is by the will of God ... Flesh cannot inherit the things of God.
Jn. 3 ... 3Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
4Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother’s womb, and be born?
5Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. 6That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again. 8The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.
The flesh cannot serve God. The Spirit serves God. And unless you have HIS Spirit you cannot serve God. No man belongs to God unless he has the Spirit of God. Romans 8:9 ... Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His.
You cannot be of God by your own will. Only God can give you HIS Spirit. You cannot be of God by the will of another person or by the will of a church group. Only God gives us HIS Spirit.
Humans don't like to hear this but salvation is of God and not by the will of man.
Paul explains that there is an elect of God ... several times in Bible elect of God is mentioned.
Romans 9 ... For they are not all Israel, which are of Israel: 7Neither, because they are the seed of Abraham, are they all children: but, In Isaac shall thy seed be called. 8That is, They which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God: but the children of the promise are counted for the seed. 9For this is the word of promise, At this time will I come, and Sara shall have a son. 10And not only this; but when Rebecca also had conceived by one, even by our father Isaac; 11(For the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth;) 12 It was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger. 13As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.
14What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid. 15For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. 16So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy.
No man can teach you things of God. God is the teacher. If God chooses to give us HIS Spirit and to reveal HIS things to us we are blessed of Him. No man can do this for another person nor can we do it for our own selves. It is all from God.
I was baptized in water when I was 15. I was born again when I was 37. Then everything changed. Then I was a new creation, created in HIM. For the next 30+ years I was created in the image of God.
You can't get spiritual things for yourself and no man can teach you spiritual things. It is completely different from fleshly things which you can learn from man.
My sound guy said he stepped on his front porch and was born again. He said he didn't think much about it.
Being born again is a change ... instant change ... in the blink of an eye, we who are born again, are different. We are a new creature. "old things are passed away ... all things are become new." II Cor. 5:17
It is a mystery. It is a miracle. Most of us weren't looking to be born of God. But we were because it was the will of God.
Thus Paul explains: Romans 9 ... 16So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy. 17For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might shew my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth.
18Therefore hath He mercy on whom He will have mercy, and whom He will He hardeneth.
19Thou wilt say then unto me, Why doth he yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will? 20Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus? 21 Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour? 22What if God, willing to shew his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction: 23And that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory, 24Even us, whom he hath called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles?