BLOG #1: Should I Get Water Baptized Again "In Jesus' Name"?
DOUBLE DIPPED
It is your decision to make, but it will not jeopardize your salvation either way. The physical act of baptism does not possess saving power; baptism is an ordinance that is symbolic of your dying to your sinful nature and being raised to life in the Holy Spirit, John 6:63, Romans 6:4-5, Galatians 2:20. Your faith in the completed work of Jesus Christ has the saving power; it is both spiritual and supernatural. "If you declare with your mouth, Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart (spirit and soul intertwined, Hebrews 4:12) that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth (body) that you confess your faith and are saved". Romans 10:9-10, Matthew 10:32. The vital most important point here the belief in your heart in Jesus Christ.
Dear niece, don’t feel pressured. Obviously, the Lord is laying this on your heart for a good reason, for now is the time when again every Christian will start getting baptized in the Holy Spirit (Joel 2:28, Acts 2:17) where these crucial water baptism issues will re-surface. The Lord wants you to be completely sure in your own mind from His Word (the Bible) as to what is required and what you should decide to do based on His leading. I have spent 21 years in the Baptist church and over 38 years in the Pentecostal church. I have studied this like nobody's business, and I am so glad that you asked me!
I am all for getting baptized again. I was Double-Dipped years ago. What I mean by this is that in addition to being baptized in water when I first believed; I was baptized in water again, directly after I got baptized in the Holy Spirit later in life. It merely confirmed my continued growth and development in the things of God and ear marked me starting to live in an entirely different dimension than I had been with a greater potential for fulfilling the assignment that is on my life.
As my story goes, I was saved and baptized in water at age 5. I have lived saved all my life. I have never decided not to be saved; I never backslid, yet I have not been perfect, of course! I received my second water baptism at age 25 under Uncle Michael's personal ministry to me when he led me in the baptism in the Holy Spirit at Grandma's house after I had sought and requested of the Lord for years. I humbled myself under his authority as baptism denotes indoctrination into a belief, because prior to his ministry, I had only experienced the water baptism after I got saved.
For me, the first water baptism was in obedience to Christ to celebrate my coming into the Kingdom of God to be a Christian. However, the second water baptism was in obedience to Uncle Michael, my minister whose Apostolic doctrine dictated it. A church's doctrine may not always exactly line up with the Bible. I thank God that it was close enough. Nevertheless, I had no problem celebrating the fact that Christ's command to have both the indwelling Holy Spirit (John 20:22, John 4:14) as well as the Baptism in the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:4-5, John 7:38) had been obeyed. This is Jesus' original package intended for us. In fact, God, The Holy Spirit wants to be (1) within us (indwelling), (2) upon us (baptism in the Holy Spirit) and (3) walk beside us (John 14:15-17, Genesis 3:8, Leviticus 26:12).
As Adam and Eve were in the Garden of Eden, the Holy Spirit lived in their human spirit and the glorious presence of the Holy Spirit was upon them and concurrently the voice of God walked with them. In Genesis 2:25, we find that they were naked and unashamed as the glory of the Holy Spirit covered them. However, in Genesis 3:7, after they ate the fruit, they discovered that they were newly naked, because the glorious presence of the Holy Spirit had left from within, upon and alongside them. Then, in Genesis 3:8, The voice of God came walking up to them where previously God had been ever present within, upon and along side them. This was the sad Fall of Mankind.
You never hear of two water baptisms in the Bible (Ephesians 4:4-6). However, I often hear of people who got baptized in water at an early age get baptized again, because they did not understand baptism nor the salvation and kingdom reality that they had come into. Another baptism does not hurt anything. Baptism is a public announcement that you are now following the lifestyle and teachings of Jesus Christ by dying to your sinful nature and being raised to life in the Spirit (your divine nature) that's why we are called Christians. When I got Double-Dipped, I fully understood that I wasn't getting saved again just because I was now speaking in tongues. My first salvation was good enough, whether I was baptized in "Jesus’ name" or "In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit". Either way, we call on God for salvation, and He is wise enough to know to whom we are addressing. Selah. (Pause and ponder the statement).
Remember, "For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess your faith and are saved", (Romans 10:9-10). Baptism never saved anyone. Remember the thief on the cross? Jesus saved him, and he went to Paradise never having gotten water baptized or speaking in tongues at all! Furthermore, I understood that the only command that I was fulfilling was the one to be filled with the Spirit (Ephesians 5:18).
Today, I believe that churches have misunderstood the gift of the Holy Spirit. There is but one Holy Spirit that is gifted to every Believer. In that one gift, He instantly indwells us and walks with us, and in that same gift as a subsequent event for emphasis and with our permission He comes upon us called the Baptism in the Holy Spirit. He baptizes us for power (authority) or exousia in the Greek, (Matthew 10:1, Acts 47-10b) and for power (dynamite) or dunamis in the Greek, (Acts 1:8, 10:38 and Luke 24:49) supplying a greater anointing to live victorious and have successful ministry to others. For the most efficient restoration of man's dominion and authority in the earth, we must have the Holy Spirit within us, among us and upon us to fulfill the original intent of God. This allows the Holy Spirit to maximize His Fruit (The Fruit of the Spirit) and His Gifts (The Gifts of the Holy Spirit) in our lives.
Jesus knew that Believers would need both the indwelling of the Holy Spirit and the Baptism in the Holy Spirit. You can be a successful Christian without the Baptism in the Holy Spirit, but speaking in tongues called the prayer language will take your spirituality to new dimensions. By embracing the kingdom culture of heaven with its language and full restoration of the benefits of being a Child of God, Christians are restored to kingdom dominion and authority. I like to think of it as the 23rd Psalms verse 5 puts it, "He anoints my head with oil"; the anointing with oil represents the Holy Spirit being placed inside of us. "My cup runneth over"; the moving of the oil represents the Holy Spirit's power and movement upon us directing our lives in a more dominant way.
Luke 10:18-20 and Matthew 28:18 speak of receiving power and authority to overpower all the works of the devil once you have been baptized in the Holy Spirit. It takes the need for a thousand tons of "will power" and a thousand prayer partners out of the way. Although there is a definite place for corporate prayer. Being baptized in the Holy Spirit with the speaking of tongues as your prayer language will give you a greater anointing to live a full and successful life with the ability to walk in the Spirit without the limitations of our sin nature usurping authority over our divine nature with a free flow of the Gifts of the Spirit.
I said a greater anointing, because I believe from personal experience that every Believer who has confessed Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior whether they speak in tongues or not has an anointing (1 John 2:20), can walk in the Spirit (Galatians 5:16), can be intimate with God and can walk in both the Fruits of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23), exercise the Gifts of the Spirit (1 Corinthians 12:1-11) and live victoriously (Acts 1:7-8, Jesus' final words). It is through the power of Holy Spirit that we take our rightful places restored again to having dominion in the earth, Genesis 1:26, Hebrews 2:8. This power can be fully unleashed when you are baptized in the Holy Spirit. A note of warning though, Speaking in tongues is not a substitute for Godly living or walking in the Spirit; it goes hand in hand with everything you have ever learned about Godliness, purity and love. It does not make you a superior Saint, but it has its definite perks!
I believe that we become like Jesus was in the earth having all that we need from the Holy Spirit when we need it not because we are better, smarter, more spiritual or have something different. It is the same Holy Spirit that indwells that also fills us with His baptism. It is a grace to do more because of the level of submission to the total control of the Holy Spirit by way of the Holy Spirit dealing directly with our human spirit bypassing our soul and flesh and dominating over them without conflict. When you speak in tongues as your personal prayer devotion (not as a Ministry Gift of the Spirit in a social setting) you speak mysteries from God and the Holy Spirit takes your well communicated needs and requests before God, the Father. It is a complete dialogue back and forth in a supernatural way. Only your spirit understands what is communicated back to you. It bypasses your intellect, will and emotions which are all housed in your soul as well as bypassing your flesh. 1 Corinthians 14:2, Romans 8:26-27.
Jesus likens the indwelling Holy Spirit to well water that only moves when you manually draw from it. Being indwelt by the Holy Spirit is like drinking water; scripture describes this aspect as a well of Living Water, John 4:4-26. The Water is placed on the inside to do an appointed work (renewing the mind and such) where He remains as a deposit, Ephesians 1:14, 2 Corinthians 1:22.
By comparison, Jesus likens the Baptism in the Holy Spirit to rivers of living water that move on its own accord. This is the power of the Holy Spirit that always empowers us moving upon us daily supplying what we need to be happy, successful and in the will of God. Again being filled or baptized in the Holy Spirit is like being in the deep side of an ocean not being able to swim with no life jacket; scripture describes this aspect as Rivers of Living Water, John 7:37-39. The Water is not subjected to us as much as we are subjected to the Water’s control and empowerment. This Water leads and guides us in the way that we should go to a greater degree. The movement of the Water is the power like in The Creation, Genesis 1:2. Here the Holy Spirit moved upon the water, but with us He is the Water.
Such is the act of speaking in tongues. When we speak in tongues, we engage in a back-and-forth conversation with God, the Father through the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the guide. It is so crucial to understand that speaking in tongues is always a private conversation that does not invite our souls (our intellect, feelings and will) and our flesh in on what is being communicated, 1 Corinthians 14:2, 14. It is a definite war tool where the devil and his imps can't understand us.
Nevertheless, I have had 20 years of salvation without being baptized in the Holy Spirit, and I have had 34 years of salvation with being baptized in the Holy Spirit. I am telling you that the difference is that the Holy Spirit is more readily allowed to control my life now that I have committed to do all that He has commanded me in being baptized in the Holy Spirit along with walking in the Spirit and building up my spirit man by speaking in my prayer language daily (Jude 1:20).
Think of this hair food scenario. Our bodies, even our hair, are nourished by what we eat. Right? Sure. When we eat nourishment, the body does what it wants with it, prioritizing and deciding what to do with the nourishment with the vital organs getting the best of the nourishment first. For example, the muscles are nourished before the hair. The hair gets the leftovers. Huh? Well, when we directly apply various things to nourish our hair like water, conditioners and oils directly, our hair absorbs it instantly for itself. It does not have to ask the muscles whether it can use it or not. It goes directly onto, and it is directly used by the hair and scalp. It does not have to share. Well, the indwelling Holy Spirit deals with our human spirit primarily.
The Holy Spirit communicates with our spirit which is our true selves. We are a spirit; we leave in a body (flesh), and we possess a soul. Our soul houses our mind, will, and emotions. Our soul decides whether to follow the dictates of our spirit or our flesh. If our minds are not renewed through the Word of God, our souls will often opt to obey the flesh. Our human spirit was made alert and active again when we got saved and was meant to dominate our soul as well as our body. As we build our spirit, it gains power to dominate and make our soul and flesh obey it, 1 Corinthians 14:4, Jude 1:20. The result is a victorius life!
Love Always,
Aunty Vickie