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Wednesday, September 30, 2009

I baptize you my sister.....


Mercie and Eli watching Mikaela.


Mikaela and her daddy - baptism day.

"When He had been baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon Him." (Matthew 3:16)

There is nothing quite as beautiful to me as a new Christian being baptized. I love the powerful message that is presented by a simple, symbolic act of obedience.

My son-in-law had the privilege of baptizing his precious daughter, Mikaela, on Sunday. It brought tears of joy to my eyes, as my sweet grandbaby followed her salvation experience with this precious act of baptism.

The total immersion in water signifies the burial of all our sins. The water washes away all of our uncleanliness. The water cleanses our souls for all eternity.

Then we come up out of the water, a new creation. Ready for our newness of life. Ready for a life that brings glory and honor to our God.

Our salvation is not dependent upon our baptism. Baptism is merely our first act of obedience that follows our decision to become a child of the King.

Our salvation is dependent upon one thing only. The grace that our precious Father extends to us and our acceptance of that free gift He offers.

Ephesians 2:8 tells us, "For by grace you have been saved through faith and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God"

We can do absolutely nothing to earn our salvation. There isn't anything that we ourselves can do to obtain this precious gift. It's already been done. God did everything for us when He sent His Son to die on the cross for all mankind. Jesus paid the price for us at Calvary with His precious blood.

We simply admit that we are sinners. Romans 3:23 tells us that we have ALL sinned. We then must believe in our heart, that Jesus is the Son of God. We must believe that He came to earth and was born of a virgin, was crucified and buried, rose again on the 3rd day, ascended into heaven and that He is coming again one day.

We must also confess Him to others. Telling others how to receive the free gift of salvation and eternal life. Telling others about Jesus - the Son of God.

Salvation is free. We can't earn it. We don't deserve it. Once accepted, we can't lose it. Christ died on the cross at Calvary one time. For all sins. For everybody, everywhere. For all time.

Baptism in itself doesn't cause an inward change. It doesn't alter our relationship with God in any way. It is an outward indication of what has already taken place inside a believer's heart and life.

Salvation is the first step toward a life that is made complete with our precious Savior, Jesus.

I praise You, Lord for the free gift of salvation. I thank You for having mercy on me. A sinner unworthy of all that You offer. A sinner saved by Grace only through my faith in You. Thank You for my precious granddaughter and what you are doing in her life already. I praise you for who you are. I praise You because You are worthy of my praise. I love You and I give You all the honor and glory that is due You.

Beth

17 comments:

Unknown said...

How wonderful...rejoicing with you! :)

JLI said...

Amen! I absolutely love this post. We visited a church a couple weeks ago, that we *think*, believes you aren't saved until you are baptized, and they reference Acts 2:38 as their supporting scripture reference. We basically "interviewed" some people at the church, as well as their prayer minister, and not ONE of them could give a solid, simple answer when we asked them "Do you believe you must be baptized to be saved?" They danced around it and used some clever word play to elude to the idea that they don't believe that, but they couldn't come right out and say it. There's no magic in the water, so I truly hope & pray that people who are baptized at that church and receiving the TRUE gift of salvation, and they don't just think it's a gift of the water rather than a gift of the Father.

Larie Carlice Proverbs 27:19 said...

Happiness in abundance for your granddaughter's baptism!

It is a beautiful sight and honor to watch someone go down into that watery grave for their sins to be washed away.

smooches,
Larie

petrii said...

Beth,
How wonderful!!! Your heart must be full to over flowing for your young granddaughter and her family. I love that father's are baptizing their daughters. My cousin's husband baptized his daughter just a couple of months ago. So exciting and what a moment!!

Have a Blessed and Beautiful day,
Dawn

Heart2Heart said...

Beth,

What an incredible feeling it must have been for him to witness and conduct her baptism!

My oldest daughter did her baptism at her youth camp this summer in front of 500 other teens. She couldn't wait to come home and share it.

Love and Hugs ~ Kat

RCUBEs said...

That is awesome that her own daddy get to perform your granddaughter's baptism. Celebrating with you! Heaven was rejoicing, too! Blessings.

LisaShaw said...

Precious Beth, what a GLORIOUS celebration for your family -- the salvation and baptism of one of your Grand children.

GOD IS SO FAITHFUL!!!

You're a blessed woman as you know. You have a beautiful family surrounding you. May the favor of GOD rest with each one of you.

Love you.

Amy said...

This is so wonderful! I can't wait for the day when I can see my daughters proclaim their faith and be baptized. Thank you for sharing this precious memory.

Beth E. said...

That is awesome! Praise God!

Denise said...

I join with you and the angels rejoicing in your granddaughter's baptism!

Shalom,
Denise

Nana Jul said...

How truly WONDERFUL!! You are blessed! Smiling from ear to ear!!
Bask in His Glory!

Nancy M. said...

That's awesome! What a blessing!

Yolanda said...

Thank YOU Jesus!


What a very special blessing in the midst of the daily grime of life that causes us to place our eyes on Jesus.

Love YOU

Nancy said...

What a wonderful thing baptism is. How fortunate that you could witness this experience with your granddaughter.

Unknown said...

Awesome!

Lisa said...

I'm so happy for Mikaela. We had baptism last Sunday as well. What joy to watch 4 girls take that step of obedience and proclaim to the crowd, "I have decided to follow Jesus".
Blessings ~ Lisa

A Stone Gatherer said...

How awesome is that! Praising God with you!