SPIRITUAL BAPTISM

How long could any of us survive without water to drink? And I’m speaking in terms of being stranded in a desert where one had literally nothing to drink. It would depend upon the person, but we do not we wouldn’t live that long without any water to drink and even less time if we were in the place where the sun was scorching us.

In fact we know that water plays a very critical part in life on the planet. It covers most of the land with oceans and even the human body is composed mainly of water. Is there a subtle message in all of this? Perhaps. If one is willing to accept or embrace that God did this for a special reason.

While that is a matter of speculation we do know water is necessary to our daily lives. But do we apply that same rule to the soul? I’m not sure.

The scriptures speak of the experience of being baptized by the Holy Spirit. And to be baptized is to be “immersed.” In traditional baptism that would mean having the body totally engulfed in water, which is how some practice it. Others treat it as an symbolic act that only requires one to show surrender to the act so they merely consummate it with a sprinkling ritual.

My point is not to debate the merits of which form of baptism is preferable, but rather to say how it does involve immersion. And wouldn’t it therefore apply that true spiritual baptism would also mean immersion?

So the question perhaps is what does that mean? What is total immersion through the baptism of the Holy Spirit involve?

For me it is incorporated in part with surrender. It is to willingly allow God’s spirit to completely wash over one’s life. And that isn’t always excess for we all have those smudges on our soul, the marks of our will that don’t come off that easy.

Another aspect is that just like real baptism we can’t stay completely immersed in the water forever. Thus there are times when some wind of being a sinner will dry the Holy Spirit in our lives. Which is why it is a continual process of immersion sometimes being more effective on our lives that others.

We have to be prepared in that regard to be open to surrender to that baptism on a regular basis. But there may be days when we honestly don’t feel like it. That might seem trite or silly, but it is the way we are on a human level.

However the biggest problem is with the will. There are times the Holy Spirit’s water will seep into some crevice of our pride we out of selfishness want to keep dry. And those are the places we probably need the immersion the most.

This is in reality a process rather than an one time experience. And I pray we are willing to return to the point of baptism as often as the Holy Spirit leads for refreshment is always better than being thirsty.