11/12/2016 0 Comments One Cloud; Believe and Be Baptized God has done lots of things to show me that He loves me. I guess I needed a lot of proof, but He can do anything and He does. He wants to show His love to anyone who will chose Him and seek Him diligently. I had heard a sermon that showed me the Bible says “Believe and Be Baptized, not to be saved but it did sound like something God wanted us to do. I was told that it was an act of obedience and a testimony of our faith to be baptized after we believe. So I chose to be baptized. The day I was baptized was a particularly tough day for me. It was June 23, 2002. My husband Neil had been diagnosed with leukemia and I was very down. I was supposed to give my testimony at the church in Carnduff before going over to the pool to be dunked. That day I felt extremely shaky and nervous. Anything greasy, containing caffeine or sugar would give me a nervous stomach that would leave me looking like a nervous wreck when I stood in front of people and spoke. I got through the testimony but didn’t feel very good about it. I wondered why I had to be so pathetic. Why couldn’t I be strong? We went to the pool and the ceremony continued. I looked up to the sky. The sky was totally clear except for, a very small cloud coming in from the west. One or two people were baptized, then it was my turn. As I took off my towel and stepped towards the water, big drops of rain came from that one small cloud and sprinkled all the people there. I went into the water, was baptized and came out and reached for my towel. The rain stopped. A woman came over to me and said “Did you see that? That one little cloud in the sky rained on you as you went into the water and came out and then it stopped”. “Yes” I said “I did see that.” I was glad she brought it to my attention because it reinforced what had happened and made me remember it. About a week later the baptismal card came in the mail. I opened it. Inside was a picture of one man baptizing another, but what caught my attention was the cloud in the sky and the big drops of rain coming from it. I thought about my baptism, one cloud in the sky and the rain. I didn't think that card was a coincidence. Wow, I thought. Even though I was down that day God honored my baptism. I was humbled and at the same time it made me feel better about that day. Until that one cloud rained on me and the woman pointed it out, I thought it was a disaster. You may ask why this didn't happen for the other people. I do believe that some people have experiences with God when they are baptized but not everyone does. All baptisms are equally important. In my case I think it was because God knew how much I needed it. In the picture below, the dove came down on Jesus. This represented Jesus being baptized in the Holy Spirit and being anointed with power, as He was being baptized by John in water. Following His baptism in the Holy Spirit, Jesus went out and preformed many miracles. Mark 16:16a (NKJV) He who believes and is baptized will be saved;
To be saved means a lot of things. Here is a list of some of the definitions: eternal life, to be safe, to be delivered, helped, rescued, victorious, prosperous, healthy, etc… Jeremiah 29:13 (NKJV) And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart. Ephesians 3:19 (AMP)and [that you may come] to know [practically, through personal experience] the love of Christ which far surpasses [mere] knowledge [without experience], that you may be filled up [throughout your being] to all the fullness of God [so that you may have the richest experience of God’s presence in your lives, completely filled and flooded with God Himself].
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