In the Spirit

1 Samuel 18; 1 Chronicles 6; Psalms 11, Matthew 3 

“’I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me will come one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not fit to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.’…At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting on him.”

Matthew 3:11, 16

Just as Jesus was baptized in water, he would later baptize in the Holy Spirit. His baptism in the Jordan was to fulfill all righteousness. Jesus voluntarily took the frailty of man with complete dependence on the power of the Holy Spirit to become God’s sinless sacrifice. It was for our sins he died, that we could become righteous before God. Just as Jesus did not rely on his divinity, but rather, on the person of the Holy Spirit, so too, are we to live, not by our sinful nature, but by the Spirit.

Will we live daily immersed in the fullness of God’s Spirit?

The power and gentleness of the Spirit, like a river and a dove, remind us that both boldness and humility mark those who live dependent on the Spirit, as Jesus did.

“Lord Jesus, you are my example of complete dependency on the Holy Spirit, for your glory.”