Day 22- Internal vs. External

As I was reading in Mark 1 in verse 8 John The Baptist is saying "I baptize you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.” As we all know the word BUT gives a contrast or a comparison between two things. So here in this statement John is giving this contrast between his baptism and the baptism that Jesus will give. John is saying that his baptism is going to be this external thing where it is going to be more ceremonial thing. I mean we'll get a certificate and frame it and probably put it on our wall. It is this preparatory washing that we get when we are dunked under and then come back up. However Jesus will baptize with the Holy Spirit, which is an internal thing. This is so cool I get really excited about it when I get to explain it. See when Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist He received the Holy Spirit it tells us that later on in the next section. I struggled with this fact that Jesus didn't have the Spirit before this point, however it doesn't mean that He didn't have Divine Nature it just meant He didn't have the Spirit sourcing Him. So when this happens it tells us that At Once, depending on the translation, but immediately The Spirit begins to move in His life and moves Him out into the desert to be tempted. So again we have this external baptism of John the Baptist that gets us ready for the baptism by Jesus that we know is an internal baptism and the Spirit of Christ comes to live inside of us and source us. I don't know about you but when I submitted over to Jesus completely I truly could feel the Spirit moving in my life. In fact that is when I felt the call to ministry, now that's pretty extreme and pretty fast however that is what happens. When the Spirit moves He takes us outside of our comfort zone and stretches us to the point that we have no other option but to trust in Him. When we reach that point we are called Christians. Not before where we hear songs or people say you carry your cross until you can't anymore and then Jesus takes over...NO!! Not true, you never carry your cross, He is the one doing it the entire time and He is stretching you and molding you until you have the actual vision, mindset, and plan of God working and moving in your life. It's a Divine Movement and quite an experience. What would it take for our generation to get a hold of this Divine Movement and take fire and shake our world of religion and the way we always do it mentality? The only answer to that question is of course JESUS! Let it be so in my life!!

Day 21- He Is Risen

Today is Easter and I remember my mother on one Easter coming and and waking me up with "He is Risen!" I was so scared and just woke up and had never heard the other half of that (which is He is Risen Indeed in case you didn't know) and I replied "Hallelujah". I do think about the He is Risen statement, it makes me wonder how important that is. I think sometimes we forget how important it is that He is Risen and that makes Him my savior. Without Him rising then we would just be like every other religion in the world who serves this god that isn't The God. We would fall into the same categories and under the same umbrella and wouldn't have something authentic and different about us. If you look at the other religions in the world (I'm not saying Christianity is a religion either) they all have this guy or thing they worship and they are constantly seeking it. However we have a God who seeks us first and then once we seek Him we become closer and closer and He lives inside of us so much so that we begin to think like He thinks, love like He loves and act like He acts. I doubt that any other religion can say that they think like Buddah or Muhhammed, and why would they want to, all they were was men. However we serve The God who is not limited to an earthly thought and actions, I mean even when Jesus was on earth He wasn't limited to what this earth had to offer. Now He was fully man but the difference was that The Father indwelt Him and He was sourced, even His teachings weren't His own. I want to have the Risen Jesus living inside of me so much so that I'm sourced by Him and am not limited to what this earth has to offer, I want to tap into the Heavenly realms by having the Spirit of Christ living in and through me! Jesus let it be so!