After his baptism,
as soon as Jesus came up
out of the water,
the heavens were opened to him and he saw the Spirit of God
coming down
in the form of a dove.
And a voice from heaven said,
“This is my beloved Son,
and I am wonderfully pleased
with him.” – Matthew 3:16-17
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew3:16-17&version=TLB
New Creatures in Christ
This is now the second time that, while working on my newest upcoming book that I hope to be ready for publishing by next week called ‘To The Chosen Ones’, that the Holy Spirit has interrupted what I was doing to show me something that totally amazed me. (I love when He does that.)
“After his baptism…”
(I am going to share a few baptism pictures that I have of myself and a few of my family and friends, all taken on different days but because of what I have just been told by the Holy Spirit I can’t help but to be amazed and filled with gratitude for the pictures that I have to remind me of such special times )
Several times I have written about and considered baptism such as this post that I wrote in October of 2020:
When we choose to dedicate our lives to God symbolized through water baptism, we are choosing to die to sin and to ourselves and to live for God. Therefore, in everything that we do, we are to do it as unto the Lord.
Through baptism, we enter into a covenant relationship with God, a marriage so to speak. So just like divorce is not an option, willful sin is not an option.
Written on October 21 2020 on my social media account.
But even then I didn’t see this verse in Matthew the way I am seeing it today.
After his baptism, as soon as Jesus came up out of the water, the heavens were opened to him and he saw the Spirit of God coming down in the form of a dove.And a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, and I am wonderfully pleased with him.” – Matthew 3:16-17 TLB
What is another way of saying “as soon as”? Instantly. Immediately. Straightway. Suddenly. At that moment.
That stands out to me because of what Jesus Christ said to Nicodemus about being born again.
Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.”
“How can someone be born when they are old?” Nicodemus asked.
“Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother’s womb to be born!”
Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. 6 Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. 7 You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’ 8 The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”
“How can this be?” Nicodemus asked.
10 “You are Israel’s teacher,” said Jesus, “and do you not understand these things? 11 Very truly I tell you, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, but still you people do not accept our testimony. 12 I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things? 13 No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven—the Son of Man. 14 Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, 15 that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.”
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.
Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. – John 3:3-18
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John3:3-18&version=NIV
Now, I focused on that for a moment because of this…
King Jesus said that we cannot see the Kingdom of God unless we are born again. This is why those verses in Matthew stand out to me because of how suddenly it happens.
m so glad He changed me.”
There is a bible verse that when we read it we apply it to the rapture but I am now beginning to understand that it actually has a two fold fulfillment and the first fulfillment happens so quickly that if we are not paying attention, or (catch this now) if our heart condition is wrong, we will miss it.
Omg let’s look at it now. 1 Corinthians chapter 15. (Unbeknownst to you, I needed to take a pause right here. This chapter is so (!!!) good that I first personally read it from the King James Version, and then from the New King James Version. 1 Corinthians 15 will be blue letter (or highlighted to stand apart from my comments and interactions. )
Now, brothers and sisters, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand.
By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain. – 1 Corinthians 15:1-2
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1Corinthians15:1-2&version=NIV
Ok my first interjection is that water baptism is a personal choice. We do this, choose this, because of what we have come to believe about our Lord and Savior Christ Jesus from our personal studies of God’s Word.
We are so moved by Jesus Christ love for us that we desire to love Him back. We desire to connect to HIM. He makes us want to be a better person. That love and desire for Jesus Christ is what moves us to want to dedicate our lives in baptism.
It is this good news that we received about Jesus Christ that we want to firmly hold onto and build upon as we walk out the remainder of our days “in Christ” while enjoying the Holy Spirit in us and upon us.
We have to keep this in our memory daily or else we can find ourselves walking a different path that draws us away from Christ, or as Paul stated “unless we believed in vain”.
We get baptised, moved by Jesus love and sacrifice for us, and our desire to give back. We get baptised and at the moment that we go down into the water we die. We die to ourselves. We die to our will. We die to that free will that we were given that allows us to do what we want. When we go under that water we freely give our will back to God. And when we are raised up out of the water, we are raised up “in Christ”. Instantly, the heavens is opened up to us. We are new creatures in Christ.
For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, – 1 Corinthians 15:3-4
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1Corinthians15:3-4&version=NIV
The fact that Jesus got up from the grave is of utmost importance. Everything about our faith is wrapped in this moment. Jesus is our King, our Lord, our Savior, and HE is alive now; and it is in Christ Jesus that we live. Apart from. Jesus there is no life. He is the wa. He is the truth. He is the life.
(Incomplete writing that is being posted as is)
Between a Father and HIS daughter 