So....I got baptized yesterday after church service for the second time in my life. It was such a remarkable next step in my relationship with the Lord...and with that being said I really wanted to share what it truly mean't for me...and why I chose to do it a second time. Here goes....
Well...I was baptized as a nine year old child after first coming to the Lord, at a Baptist Bible camp. I said that little prayer that sometimes us Christians like to call "The Sinners Pray". As soon as I returned home from camp I was given a New Believers study guide, a new white Bible NIV edition and was told I needed to be baptized. I just honestly thought at that time, that is what you did. I have seen so many friends say the little prayer to God and then get dunked in the water and now everyone calls them a member of the Church.
soooo....that is a little background info for you....
Well.....flash forward a few years down the road, I got into highschool, lol. I am sure you know what goes on in highschool....we'll then again...maybe you don't. But, I on the other hand got off the straight n narrow path, started living my life for me. I got mixed up in the wrong crowd, still went to church mind you (youth group) but for all the wrong reasons. I either went because my parents made me, I wanted to check out he fellas (lol) or because my girlfriends would be there. Truly was not living out the Christian walk....and honestly now that I think of it, I don't sincerely believe I was a new creature in Christ. I never allowed the Spirit to transform my walk, I never read God's word because I loved Him, and only did I pick it up at church...if that. I knew who Jesus was. I knew He was savior, but I do not truly feel He was Lord over my life. There was no real relationship with Him. I had turned my back on God, but God never turned His back on me.
Flash forward now a year or two after highschool....I had joined the United States Air Force (hooray!)
I got orders while stationed in Tuscon, AZ to go to Osan Air Base, South Korea for 13 months. I was soooo excited, but scared as all get out to go to a foreign country.....but that my friends....is where God needed me to be in order to get me right with Him.
After a few months of being there, with no real friends (sure I had fellow friends at work, but not true friends like I needed) I felt so alone. Now that I look back on it, God had stripped me of everything I had placed in my life as little gods ie; cellphone, friends, car, money, material things, even food. Everything I loved and thirst for in this life was taken from me and He got me to a place where I could completely humble myself.
Well I called my mother one day after work and told her how I felt...I was lonely, no friends, and I can 't do this another 10 months etc. She replied with "why don't you visit the church on base or something Corey, I am sure you will meet some friends there". That was God speaking. So I took her advice as much as I didn't want to because you know....when your not right with the Lord...."the last place you seriously want to be in is....oh I don't know.....a CHURCH!!"
Anywho...I decided to go...and oh my....the Holy Spirit started doing a number in my soul. The preacher preached and was so dynamic....everyone was on fire for the Lord...the Spirit was moving....and I was missing out on what those people had. I had longed to be filled with something....all this time I had filled my life with these empty things...materials...bad friendships....negative relationships....etc. I remember going back to my dorm room that night on base....and I got down on my knees and cried out to Jesus. I was so repentant. I then laid prostrate on the ground for hours it seemed. I was so sorry, and had so much guilt. I think I probably confessed every sin I had ever committed....lol (I'm a little extra)...but no...I was just so remorseful that I had lived my life for myself and not for Christ who was my creator that put me here so I could have a relationship with Him. Jesus said in the Bible "you have to pick up your cross and follow Him....and be willing to deny yourself". OH that is so what I did that night....and something that everyday as a follower of Christ you have to do...because our flesh is sooo weak, but the Spirit is willing.
I gave my heart and LIFE to the Lord that night in a dorm room floor on an Air Force base...it was real...it was raw....I was totally exposed, naked (not really, but a metaphor) in front of His thrown. I wanted Him to take have me and all of me and make me whole, because I was tired of trying to fill my life up and live my life for myself. After that night....I was so on fire for the Lord....I was just so radical! Woooooweeeee....I almost wanted to start knocking on my fellow airmans doors and start preaching the Gospel!!!!!!!!!!!
Anywho...I wanted to get baptized right after that. I approached the Pastor at the church on base and pretty much explained to him and poured my heart out to him just like I did right here in this blog. He looked at me and said "Corey, there is only one baptism in the Lord, so I don't think you need to be baptized again". WEll...me being only a week old Christian (a babe in Christ) and so weak in the Word....I was like "ok" and I took what he said as truth. After all he is a pastor and don't want to disobey the pastor...lol...jk but that is how I felt. So I carried on...but in the back of my mind...and in my heart....I felt like....no this can't be right...I am now truly saved, I am a born again Christian...I don't think I was when I was nine years old.
After several years of really digging into God's word and really soaking up His scriptures and truth there were many opportunities for me to be baptized...even at Next Level Church (where me and my hubby have been going to for 2 years now). But every time the opportunity arose that pastor's voice just kept playing over and over in my head. I was totally drowning out the Lord's voice. Well I really began to pray about it...and pray bout it and then the Lord led me to a passage in scriputure where Peter was speaking to the people at Pentecost in Acts 2:38 where he said "Repent and be baptized" and something struck a cord in me....that is what I did in Korea. I repented! When I was nine years old, I didn't repent from anything....I just said a little prayer asking the Lord to come into my heart....and it wasn't sincere.
So I reached out to one of the pastors at Next Level. I shared briefly with him my story....and asked him just to reaffirm my feelings....."so is there anywhere in scripture where it says you can't be baptized or there is only one baptism in the Lord?" His quick reply was short and simple...."yes you can be baptized again". Gosh it felt like a weight had been lifted! For so long I had not listen to the Lord's voice! What a new chapter about to unfold.
So that is what I did this Sunday. I got baptized for the second time in my life...and it was so beautiful. I just remember sitting there and the Pastor saying "upon confession of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ" I began to weep. I was so filled with joy because even if you have been a Christ follower for 1 week or 1 year or 25 years, we never need to forget, but always remember where He has brought us from. So Sunday it was not just me identifying myself with my new life in Christ or a public confession of faith or the symbolic meaning of dying to myself and being raised with Christ......but it was also me remembering where He had brought me from and how I am still His and He is still my Lord.
So....if this little blog has struck a cord anywhere in your spirit, and you have never been baptized....or have been and don't remember...or maybe you don't even know Jesus as Lord and Savior and your searching....I encourage you to get in His word, reach out to someone who can explain the Gospel message to you and pray for wisdom and for God to reveal His Word and Himself to you through Jesus.
Blessings to all......
Because He lives,
Corey
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