Free Filled with the Spirit: Understanding God's Power in Your Life by Joyce Meyer

1
    J ESUS AND B APTISM
    John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness (desert), preaching a baptism [obligating] repentance …in order to obtain forgiveness of and release from sins….
    And he preached, saying, After me comes He Who is stronger (more powerful and more valiant) than I, the strap of Whose sandals I am not worthy or fit to stoop down and unloose.
    I have baptized you with water, but He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.
    Mark 1:4,7,8
    To baptize means to submerge. 1 We could say it means to engulf, which may cause whatever is baptized to be filled with something.
    For example, if we took an empty drinking glass and submerged it in water, it would become engulfed and filled with that water. We could say that glass had been baptized in water or baptized with water.
    That is a simple explanation of what I believe takes place when we receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit — we become completely engulfed and filled with all the power and presence of God, which means we don’t have to go through life trying to do everything on our own anymore.
    Jesus didn’t try to do His ministry on His Own. First, He was baptized in the Holy Spirit.
    Jesus Was Baptized — in Water and in Spirit
    In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan.
    And when He came up out of the water, at once he [John] saw the heavens torn open and the [Holy] Spirit like a dove coming down [to enter] into Him.
    And there came a voice out from within heaven, You are My Beloved Son; in You I am well pleased.
    Mark 1:9-11
    In this passage we see that Jesus received the baptism of the Holy Spirit at the time of His water baptism.
    Some people try to make a doctrine out of that event, saying that everybody receives the baptism of the Holy Spirit at the time they are baptized in water. Others claim that everyone is baptized in the Holy Spirit when they are born again, or when they accept Jesus as their Savior. Still others teach that children receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit at the time of their confirmation or other religious ceremony.
    We must be careful not to put God into a doctrinal box. God may do some things in an ordinary way, but He Himself is supernatural and can go far beyond the borders or limits we human beings may try to place on Him.
    I know this is true by personal experience because I received the baptism of the Holy Spirit in my car without even knowing what was happening to me or that it had a name. I was a believer in Jesus Christ, so the Holy Spirit was in me, but I knew I was a Christian who had no victory and was looking for a deeper walk with God. As I cried out to God for more, I was baptized in the Spirit fight there in my car. That may not be the usual place for God to baptize someone in the Holy Spirit, but God chose to meet me at the point of my need in a rather unusual way.
    As another example, I know a woman who did receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit as a twelve-year-old child at her confirmation but did not know what had happened to her until years later when in middle age she realized what had taken place in her youth. She became aware that this experience was a catalyst for many other powerful things that had happened in her life through the years.
    The bottom line is, people can be baptized in the Holy Spirit at the time of their water baptism, just as Jesus was, though that is not always the case. But whenever the Holy Spirit is poured out upon people, He comes upon them to stay with them in a special, powerful way, just as He did with Jesus.
    Descend and Remain
    John gave further evidence, saying, I have seen the Spirit descending as a dove out of heaven, and it dwelt on Him [never to depart].
    And I did not know Him nor recognize Him, but He Who sent me to baptize in (with) water said to me, Upon Him Whom you shall see the Spirit descend and remain, that One is He Who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.
    John 1:32,33
    Notice the two phrases used here in this