The meaning of baptism was not clear to me until very recently. Now I’m convinced every Believer should be baptized.
In this episode I’m going to discuss:
- The different types of baptism
- The meaning of baptism
- Why baptism is important, and
- Why I chose to get baptized
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The Meaning of Baptism
We can’t discuss the meaning of baptism without knowing the different types of baptisms. The main baptisms I’m going to mention are baptism of the Holy Spirit, baptism with the holy spirit, baptism with water.
Baptism of the Holy Spirit. This form of baptism happens after someone accepts Christ after praying for salvation.
Baptism with the Holy Spirit. When someone is baptized with the holy spirit, Jesus is the baptizer and the Holy Spirit comes upon them.
Baptism with water. Any person can be baptized by immersion of water after salvation. Baptism with water is an outward display of what happens to us on the inside after we have given our lives to Christ. It symbolizes the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Romans 6:3-4, NLT says, “Or have you forgotten that when we were joined with Christ Jesus in baptism, we joined him in his death? For we died and were buried with Christ by baptism. And just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious power of the Father, now we also may live new lives.”
What Happens During A Baptism?
Baptism with water occurs when another Believer immerses you into a body of water. This can happen in a pool, in a river, at the beach, or in just about any body of water where someone can be submerged.
Going into the water represents the death of Jesus. Being submerged into water represents Jesus’ burial, and coming out of the water represents Jesus being raised from the dead.
Baptism is important because it allows us to experience a form of a rebirther process that not only demonstrates us being born again, but it represents the part of Jesus’ journey that led to our salvation. It’s a powerful experience that I personally believe every believer and Christian should have at least once.
Who Can Baptize With Water?
Until recently, I thought that only ministers or preachers can baptize someone. I have since learned that any mature Believer who has already been baptized can baptize someone.
Now that you know the meaning of baptism and why it’s important,you can get baptized tomorrow as long as you know know another Believer/Christian who can do it.
Is Baptism Necessary for Salvation
A point that people like to debate is whether baptism is necessary for salvation and my belief based on scripture is that it is not. That’s all I have to say about it and I encourage you to do your own research and come to your own conclusion after being guided by the holy spirit.
Even though baptism with water is not necessary for salvation, I do believe that it is an important part of a Believer’s journey. Even Jesus was baptized, which honestly was a shock to John the Baptist, the person who baptized him. Jesus left Galilee and went to the Jordan River to find John the Baptist so that John would baptize him. When John the Baptist saw Jesus roll up on him to get baptized his response was, and I’m paraphrasing here, but his response along the lines of ummm, I’m supposed to be baptized by YOU, why are you coming to me. Make it make sense. Jesus’ response was that it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness.
Jesus modeled baptism so I think we should follow his example. Period.
Why I Chose to Get Baptized
Now I want to talk about why I decided to get baptized. Truth be told, I thought that I had already been baptized. I got saved at a young age—around 5 or 6 years old when I was in kindergarten.
I learned about baptism a little later, but I still did not know the meaning of baptism. When I asked my mom if I had been baptized, she told me that I had been christened and had a baby dedication ceremony. My not fully developed brain interpreted a baby dedication to be the same thing as being baptized. But they are not the same thing.
A baby dedication is when parents present their precious little babies back to the Lord. The intention of the parents is reliance on the grace of God to guide their parenting throughout their child’s life, especially as it pertains to the child’s spiritual development. The parents’ ultimate belief is that their child will grow to trust and confess Jesus Christ as their Savior. See how this is completely different from water baptism? Lol
I learned this information about the meaning of baptism and baby dedications as an adult. Once I realized that, I was set on the fact that I would be baptized and I couldn’t wait to experience it.
Here’s the thing…
I didn’t want to be baptized by just anyone. I was pretty transient after college, so I would spend a lot of time looking for a good church home in whatever city I lived in, which was a process in and of itself. By the time I would find a good church home in those cities, it would be time for me to move. So, in my mind, I hadn’t really had an opportunity to be baptized.
My Baptism
I was originally set to be baptized at my church home here in May of 2020, but it ended up being canceled due to COVID. So I chilled and kept an eye out for when it might come back around and after a year had gone by, I started getting restless lol.
My church went back to meeting in person in August of 2021, so I waited to see when water baptism would be available again. When I hadn’t heard anything by 2022, I decided to ask someone in leadership to lobby for it to return. I really wanted to be baptized lol.
Eventually, the opportunity to be baptized became available and I signed up IMMEDIATELY, do you hear me? I was ready! I created a cute little flyer to send to my friends and family.
The purpose of the flyer was more so to inform people of what I was doing because I get accused a lot of not telling people anything until after something happens. I figured I would avoid that this time around and just let them know in advance about my baptism.
What ended up happening though…
…is that a majority of the people I sent the flyer to wanted to come—including some of my family back in Florida. I was surprised.
The ceremony was scheduled for Sunday afternoon, shortly after church service. My church is a portable church so we don’t have a physical church location of our own. We meet every week in an auditorium at a university. The baptism, though, was held at one of the local YMCAs.
There were three of us who were candidates for baptism. Everyone was so excited for us. I knew I wanted this moment to be recorded so I had a videographer record the experience for me and for me to be able to share with my friends and family who were unable to make it.
The significance of the moment didn’t really hit me until right before I stepped into the water. All of a sudden, I was reminded of the great sacrifice of Jesus. I felt so connected to God. It’s hard for me to describe.
Click here to see a short clip of the baptism.
Immediately after I came out of the water I felt invigorated—like I had been stimulated with this new energy. I felt the same but I also felt different. That may not make sense but that’s the best way I can describe it. I also felt immense gratitude. I was so very grateful.
The Best Part
Do you wanna know the best part about my baptism experience, though? I can guarantee you it isn’t what you think. The best part was what happened AFTER the baptism.
Afterwards, I was soaked with water of course, but people still wanted to hug me and take pictures. I did that for about 15 minutes and then I went into the locker room to change into my dry clothes because we all were going to dinner afterwards. While I was in the locker room drying off and changing, some teenage boys near the pool area approached one of the ministers and said they wanted to be baptized.
The boys had been in the jacuzzi off to the side observing the ENTIRE ceremony. I saw them when I was in the pool area before guests began to arrive for the ceremony. The jacuzzi was in a corner of the room, so I had no idea that they were still there during the ceremony! My pastor ministered to them, they accepted Christ, and they were baptized! The young men were living in a boys group home and one of them had just been kicked out of school.
Now their lives are changed, forever. Talk about God’s divine timing.
I don’t know WHO this episode is for.
All I know is that I was supposed to share it. Hopefully, you were able to take what you need from it and you now know the meaning of baptism.
I know I haven’t really discussed purpose in this episode but if you are struggling with knowing what to do next to find your purpose, then I want to encourage you to take my free quiz, How to Find Your Unique Path to Your Purpose. It’s a quick, fun assessment that will provide you with some powerful results and action items for what to do next.
Want More?
If you enjoyed this episode, then you may also enjoy the episode of the show about the fear of success and how it hinders purpose or this episode detailing what to expect when operating in your purpose.
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