November 1

Read: Matthew 3:11-12

I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me… shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost (Matthew 3:11).

The Baptism With The Holy Spirit

“John the Baptist was the last of the prophets, and the forerunner of Jesus Christ. He pointed to Jesus with the cry, ‘Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.’ John then pinpointed Jesus’ age-long ministry with the words: ‘He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire.’

“Jesus not only endorsed John’s description of His ministry; He stressed it as the one indispensable element in His age-long continuing work among men. On the day of His ascension into heaven He ‘commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me. For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence’ (Acts 1:4).

“On the Day of Pentecost the tarrying disciples were ‘all filled with the Holy Ghost.’ It is therefore evident that to be baptized with the Holy Spirit is to be filled with the Holy Spirit, and that the reverse proposition is likewise true. Thus this baptism is related to all those passages which exhort believers to be filled with, or to be the habitation of, the Holy Spirit.

“To be filled with the Holy Spirit is to experience the presence and work of God, the Holy Spirit, within human personality, without any barriers to His will, and in complete harmony with His purposes. On our part it means God’s total access to our being, and on His part it means total possession of our personalities” (A. E. Airhart).

Affirmation For Today

Jesus was concerned that His followers be baptized with the Holy Spirit. I shall try never to be careless about anything that Jesus considered important.