Tag: Water

Shallow End Swimmers

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                The relationship God desires with His children calls us into the deep and of the metaphorical swimming pool. You can never feel the power of God fully manifesting in your life until you can’t touch the bottom anymore. Your Father is calling you into the deep water where He is your Sustainer and your own provision is exhausted. You either admitted your best attempts are worthless or they have left you empty.

                The deep water is where we find spiritual connection with God. We have a heart-felt connection with His love and His Spirit fills us. Our trust and faith have lead us to follow Him into the deep water where our reliance on His will and bigger plan matures our faith and grows us. God has plans for us that exceed our wildest dreams. Those plans are found in the deep waters where He grows our character to receive something we could not handle otherwise. It is through growing closer to Him that we can see His bigger plan and walk in a way that glorifies Him in His provision.

                The shallow end of the pool, where most people are too afraid to leave, reflects self-reliance. We feel ok as long as our feet are touching bottom and we perceive that we have any control over what is going to happen. We have a mental connection to God but our reliance on our flesh makes us too heavy to tread water. We find security in our own abilities and the things that the world can provide. We are in danger of missing the plans that God has to grow us. There is also the inevitability that God’s full power will never be able to fully manifest in our lives.

                I pray that each of us will seek God in the deep waters. We will allow our water treading muscles to grow. As we rest in God our weight becomes irreverent as we find rest in Him. Our best efforts in life will never compare to what the Lord has for us. Our best will always be incomplete because God is not there with us. If we rely on God and walk the path He has, we will find rest and we can always be sure that His plan is one of completion. Our daily battle to maintain stability will fade away and His peace and joy will fill our hearts as His Spirit overflows from us. Follow God into the deep water and see His glory manifest in and through you.

And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.  (Hebrews 11:6)

For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.” (Romans 1:17)

Why was Jesus Baptised?

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                I heard a question a while back asking why Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist in the Jordan. If baptism represents a forgiveness of sin, and Jesus was sinless, why would that be necessary? Why would Jesus insist that He be baptized when John stated that he was unworthy? (Matthew 3:14) John would have prevented him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?”  People understand that baptism represents forgiveness but forget it also represents new life with the indwelling of the Holy Spirit through acceptance of Jesus. (Romans 6:4) We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. With that thought in mind we can look into why Jesus wanted to be baptized.

  • To Glorify God, who opened the sky and spoke in acknowledgment of His son
  • To pass the torch from John the Baptist who came to set the table for the arrival of the Messiah
  • To submit Himself and stand shoulder to shoulder with the sinners He was going to lead out of death and eventually lay down His life for
  • To represent the beginning of His ministry, His ordination by the Holy Spirit of God

                What if Jesus was baptized in order to begin His discipleship of man? Part of discipleship is living a life that someone can come along side and imitate in order to grow in the Spirit. The humility of God’s Word made flesh, God in the flesh, allowed Him to become like us as an example. God’s love allowed this to happen. The baptism of Jesus wasn’t about His sin, it was about His humble love and the beginning of the Gospel that would echo through time as He drew the children of God into reconciliation with the Father.

(Philippians 2:8) And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient