DAY 19 - TAKE AN IMMERSION IN THE HOLY SPIRIT!!!

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FOOD CALENDAR:

Juices and water all day

 

DEVO: 

What if you lived your whole life, and only after entering eternity did you realize the Holy Spirit is a person Who wants to fill you with His joys and His power? How would this have impacted your life on earth? How many struggles, how much confusion, and how much suffering persisted because of the absence of this one reality?

Matthew 3:11-12 (NIV) [John the Baptist said] I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me will come one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not fit to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.

What would it be like to be “BAPTIZED in the Holy Spirit of God?” In other words, what would it be like to be “immersed, saturated, fully pervaded, and thoroughly permeated with the Holy Spirit?" This baptism depicts vividly the idea of a person or an assembly being entirely enveloped in the reality of the Holy Spirit. Since to be baptized in water means literally to be immersed in, plunged under, drenched, or soaked with, then to be “baptized with the Holy Spirit” can mean no less than that. 

In Scripture, being “BAPTIZED” and “FILLED” with God’s Spirit speak to the same general experience. The only distinction is to give us a broader image of what this amazing encounter brings to our lives.

Acts 1:4-5 (NKJV) And being assembled together with them, He (Jesus) commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father, "which," He said, "you have heard from Me;  5 for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be BAPTIZED with the Holy Spirit not many days from now."   

Acts 2:1-4 (NIV) When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. 2 Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3 They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. 4 All of them were FILLED with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them. 

Jesus described the encounter as “BAPTIZED,” while Luke (the writer) described it as “FILLED.”

The idea of being “FILLED” or “FULL” of the Holy Spirit points to totality; that is to say, the whole person is inwardly transfused by the Holy Spirit. Even as the sound of a mighty wind filling all the house (which signifies every room, nook, and corner), so is every aspect of individual and communal life touched. The image is one of the Spirit of God moving throughout like wind or fire until all barriers are breached. This is total penetration with the Holy Spirit. All areas of one’s being—spirit, soul, and body—are engulfed. The conscious and the subconscious depths of a person become sensitized to the divine presence and activity of God. This is where God has flooded one’s being with His presence.

The idea of being "BAPTIZED" in God's Spirit points to a pervasiveness; that is to say the whole person is excessively and dynamically pervaded by God. In water immersion no part of the body is left untouched; everything goes under. There is excess and overflow. So with the Spirit’s baptism, the whole being of a person—spirit, soul, and body—is imbued with the Spirit of God. Expanding this idea, the church body of believers in community, of those who are so being baptized, is profoundly affected in the community's total life. Both individual and community are touched in every area by the presence and power of the living God. 

These descriptive terms depict various aspects of the Holy Spirit as the gift from the Father.  This GIFT is for EVERYONE.

Ask God to give you intense, coveting desires for the Holy Spirit’s fillings and immersions. Let a lack of desire for Him be an indictment, knowing that desire can be changed with a simple surrender and reflection on these ideas presented above. May the Holy Spirit blast you with desire and fillings today!!

 

PRAYER:

Dear Lord God, I set apart my spiritual prejudices and open myself to Your greater works. I want to want the Holy Spirit with the intensity of fire. I ask You to give me the desires deposited deep within my heart. And fill me, immerse me, saturate me, and permeate me with Your Holy Spirit. I will not resist any of His works, gifts, and transformations. Align my will with Yours. In Jesus’ Name.

 

PRAYER PLAN:

●     Holy Spirit Baptism for Church Faith Community – That EVERY ATTENDER at my local church faith community would experience consistent immersions in the Holy Spirit of God.

●     Faith Church Community World Missions - That EVERYONE at my local church faith community would burn with desire to see all people saved.

 

SUGGESTED READING:  COLOSSIANS 3 (NIV)

Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. 3 For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.

5 Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. 6 Because of these, the wrath of God is coming. 7 You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. 8 But now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. 9 Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices 10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.

11 Here there is no Gentile or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all. 12 Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. 13 Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. 14 And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.

15 Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. 16 Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. 17 And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

18 Wives, submit yourselves to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord. 19 Husbands, love your wives and do not be harsh with them. 20 Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord. 21 Fathers, do not embitter your children, or they will become discouraged. 22 Slaves, obey your earthly masters in everything; and do it, not only when their eye is on you and to curry their favor, but with sincerity of heart and reverence for the Lord. 23 Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, 24 since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving. 25 Anyone who does wrong will be repaid for their wrongs, and there is no favoritism.

 

DECLARATION:

I receive and walk in the power of the Holy Spirit as promised by Jesus at His ascension (Acts 1:8). I set my affections on the Holy Spirit’s leadership (Rom 8:14, 16). Today I will live as a Christian possessed by God the Holy Spirit: gifted, wise, righteous, and empowered in all things. For greater is He that is in me than he that is in the world (1 John 4:4). The works that Jesus did will I do also, and greater works because of the person and power of the Holy Spirit that abides in me (John 14:12).

WORKSHOP SATURATION:

Workshop saturation is taking spiritual topics and listening to them until they change the way you think, believe, and live. During the Awakening fast, we encourage you to binge-listen or binge-watch our Workshops the way you would binge-watch a show on Netflix. See Workshop Saturation for more information and instructions for accessing the Workshops.

 

COMMENTS:  

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