Baptism

Good morning friends,

I’m posting both here and on http://www.yougogirlforgod.blogspot.com/ this morning. Let me know if you like having separate blogs; this one that focuses on prayer, journaling, and God’s attributes and the other for a variety of topics. OR…if you like all my posts on one blog. Also, pass the word that my blog(s) are back up. Forward them. I missed you during the months it was down and want us to get back in touch with other.

This morning in Isaiah 32, God stirred my heart to recognize yet another divine attribute that is not listed in my 200 Names, Attributes, and Titles of God. I’ve referred to this booklet numerous times and it’s just that; a listing of God’s attributes, the Scripture references, and a box to check or date when you’ve looked up and prayed each. The exciting thing is, it started out as 175 Names, Attributes, and Titles. It then went to 200. However, God keeps showing me more ways He’s revealed in Scripture so I keep adding to the list. The next publication will be 225. If you want a copy, let my Administrator, Cynthia, know. Her email is hcm@hillcountryministries.org or you can order online.

The name you need to add to your booklet today if you already have a copy? Baptizer. That’s right. It’s not in there. Most of the time, when we think of someone in the Bible who baptized, we think of “John the Baptist.” That’s what he’s called in Matthew 3:1. However, in my study this morning of Isaiah 32, my eyes fell on verses 13-17 and my heart was quickened to both Christ the Baptizer and the need for Him to pour out His Spirit on our spiritually dry nation. Read the following with me.

“For the land of my people in which thorns and briars shall come up; Yea, for all the joyful houses and for the jubilant city. Because the palace has been abandoned, the populated city forsaken. Hill and watch-tower have become caves forever, A delight for wild donkeys, a pasture for flocks; Until the Spirit is poured out upon us from on high, And the wilderness becomes a fertile field, And the fertile field is considered a forest. Then justice will dwell in the wilderness And righteousness will abide in the fertile field. And the work of righteousness will be peace, And the service of righteousness, quietness and confidence forever.”

Friends, Isaiah is talking about the millennial blessings of the Spirit in these verses. However, the application is all too true for today. Our land is dry. Where I live, in Texas, the earth is literally scorched. We pray daily for rain. In Sunday School, our class prays weekly for rain. We look heavenward at the sky every day to see if rain clouds might be forming. Yet, are we as hungry for the heavens to pour forth the Spirit as we are the heavens to pour forth rain?

Think with me for a moment. We are dry. Little spiritual fruit is born from weekly church goers. What our nation needs is spiritual revival. What we don’t need is man made emotion. We need Jesus Christ to pour forth His Spirit in a mighty way upon our land. He is the only One who can do it. HE is the BAPTIZER. In John 1:33 John the Baptist explains, “I did not recognize Him (Jesus), but He (God) who sent me to baptize in water said to me, ‘He upon whom you see the Spirit descending and remaining upon Him, this is the One who baptizes in the Holy Spirit.’ I myself have seen, and have testified that this is the Son of God.”

John the Baptist, who baptized with water, explained that the Son of God would be the One to baptize people not with water, but with the Holy Spirit. Jesus affirmed this repeatedly throughout His ministry. “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, ‘From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water,” John 7:37-38. Jesus doesn’t baptize us on the outside. He baptizes us on the inside with the Living Water of His Holy Spirit. See also, John 14:15-17. In Romans 5:5, Paul reaffirms and explains that what happened at Pentecost with the coming of the Holy Spirit, was not just for a select few. It is for all who believe in Jesus Christ. “…the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.” Note the “poured out” and “within” us.

Friends, we need revival. If the Holy Spirit who is in us was not grieved (Eph 4:30) and quenched, (1 Thes 5:19) there would be a mighty rushing of His power in and through each of us. Our nation would be flooded with righteousness and truth. The problem in our nation is not that there aren’t Christians. The problem is that there aren’t Spirit filled Christians. Oh, that we would look on our own hearts and see ourselves as parched. Oh, that we would look on our limbs and confess there is only shriveled, spiritual fruit, if any. Oh, that we would look at the heavens and pray not just for rain for our parched earth, but for the Spirit to rouse Himself and bring forth a mighty flood to clean the debris from our lives. Only when we who have been saved and baptized by Christ confess our sins and are filled with the Spirit (Eph 5:18) will we look heavenward and our hearts beat wildly for spiritual revival in our land.

Will you join me in prayer?
Debbie