EPISODE 349 – BE IMMERSED IN THE SPIRIT 3

BE IMMERSED IN THE SPIRIT 3

“I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.“ 

Matthew 3:11 (NKJV)

We have seen previously that to be BAPTIZED is to be immersed or dipped into.

We also looked at the three-fold or aspects of immersion in Christ.

1. It is to be baptized or immersed into Christ. This immersion is into Christ’s body (which is also the Church) and extensively immersed into His Kingdom.

2. It is also to be filled with the Holy Spirit.

3. The third point is not a one-time experience but a continuous experience. This is the CONTINOUS INFILLING OF THE HOLY SPIRIT.

One may wonder how INFILLING OF THE HOLY SPIRIT relates to immersion.

Take a close look at these verses:

John the baptist said this about Jesus; “He who is coming after me is mightier than I…He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.” Matthew 3:11 (NKJV)

Now Jesus confirmed the words of John the baptist:

“And, being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me. For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence“ Acts 1:4-5 (KJV).

Now pay attention to the fulfillment of this experience of the Spirit.

“And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.” Acts 2:1-4 (KJV)

Jesus clearly instructed them to assemble and tarry for the baptism of the Holy Spirit. And on the day of Pentecost when the disciples were assembled at the Upper Room they were baptized.

Now you will clearly notice that:

a. the entire house in which they were sitting was filled.

If the house was filled, what happened to the people in the house?

Definitely, they will be immersed in that atmosphere of the Spirit.

b. As long as the house was filled and they were immersed in it, they also will be filled.

Wait a minute…

Both John the baptist and our Lord Jesus used the phrase “BAPTIZED WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT”. Yet on the day when the Holy Spirit came, Luke (the writer of the book of Acts) used the word “FILLED”.

Which means to be BAPTIZED also includes the INFILLING of the Holy Spirit.

This is an absolute saturation and permeation of the presence of the Holy Spirit.

This is not a one-time experience. This has to be your daily life. Just as your expression of the life of Christ is not a one-time moment but a continuous living of the newness of life; even so are we to be continually enriched and soaked by the presence of the Holy Spirit.

You have to be drenched and overtaken by the Spirit.

A man who is immersed in the Spirit doesn’t live by his own might. Such a man does things by the anointing of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit becomes his might and capacity. His results are Holy Spirit directed. An immersed life in the Spirit lived, will cause greater works to abound.

Hallelujah!