And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in Him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of His glory. …Ephesians 1:13-14

The Holy Spirit marks everyone who belongs to Christ. Paul describes it as a seal. A seal declares ownership and authority. So this spiritual mark from God declares, “This one is mine.”

However, being sealed with God is not the same as having your spirit filled with God’s Spirit.

This only happens when He is invited, received, and fully moves in. Once you do this, you can learn to respond to His indwelling presence by faith, and a real relationship with the Spirit of Christ develops.

Expecting a relationship with the Spirit to happen just because you are sealed with Him is like marrying your beloved in a wedding, exchanging vows and a ring… then continuing to live as if you are still alone. A wedding ring does not produce a marriage, it simply shows you belong to another.

Life doesn’t become abundant just because you belong to Christ.

Abundant life only happens through a vital living relationship with Him.

And you cannot have that without being baptized with the Holy Spirit. Which is why Jesus gave his disciples this command after His resurrection:

Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.

Acts 1:4-5, New International Version

Luke’s gospel also quotes Jesus on this matter, but adds a very helpful phrase:  I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high. (Luke 24:49)

I came to Christ amidst believers who didn’t make a deal out of being baptized with the Spirit; they assumed He just show up as part of the salvation package.

I was water baptized and belonged to God for three years before I realized something was missing. I wasn’t changing much. I didn’t know God like the Scripture described, like David spoke of in his psalms. I didn’t feel all that peace and joy, and life wasn’t particularly abundant.

I was asking, “Is that all there is?”

My answer came in many Scriptures, but most clear in the stories in Acts, about the newly minted Apostles. Every story revealed that these disciples, who walked with Jesus, had two goals with new believers: to baptism them in both water AND in the Spirit.

When the Apostles encountered someone who had only received the baptism of John — in water, for repentance — they made sure the convert was also baptized in the Spirit.

On the other hand, when they met believers who had only been baptized in the Spirit, the Apostles made sure the converts were also baptized in water!

The Apostles clearly believed in the necessity of both baptisms, and apparently were not uptight about the order in which those happened.

The Apostles knew and taught that one baptism wasn’t enough.

I reasoned that Christ has not changed and the way to have a right life with God had not changed. I needed another baptism so I could be “clothed” with the Spirit of Christ and filled with Him.

I had to have that. I found a Christian I knew to be full of joy and love for God, who seemed more vitally alive to Him than anyone else in our church community. She who knew exactly what I needed and prayed with me to receive this baptism by Jesus.

It was a simple process. Leila and I sat on a picnic bench in the church yard on a Wednesday afternoon. She asked if I needed to confess any sin for which I needed the Lord’s forgiveness. She also asked if I had ever dabbled in witchcraft practices, and if so, to renounce any dark spirits I might have invited to influence my life.

I spent some minutes asking the Lord to show me anything I might need to confess. A few things came to mind, including some past participation in seances and Ouija board play that seemed fun (and innocent) in my youth. Once I confessed, renounced and asked the Lord’s forgiveness, Leila led me in a prayer asking the Spirit to cleanse me, and to come fill my soul and spirit.

Some people have dramatic experiences with this baptism, but I did not. Nothing dramatic happened, but I felt wonderfully clean and free. I was filled with peace and a happy anticipation of what would come next.

Life with God began to blossom immediately.

It began with little, almost imperceptible changes. When I opened my Bible, the words came alive, as if the Lord were personally speaking to me. When I prayed, I felt a new strength. New thoughts and words began to form deep within and I began to not just pray to God, but have conversations with Him.

This blossoming continued to unfold day after day. Again, small things, but I leaned into each new thing with faith that this invisible Presence of the Spirit was alive and with me, and the more I leaned in, the more I experienced.

Life began to be abundant in my heart in ways I never imagined. I began to know and enjoy this God, the Spirit of Christ, in daily life. I actually began sharing life with God in a way that has never waned, never ceased to satisfy my heart and fill my deepest needs. (This story and subject is fully presented in Chapter Eight, “Our Covenant Ceremony and Gift” in my book, They Will All Know Me.)

Clarifying the two baptisms a Christian needs for abundant life

I was water baptized because Jesus taught it was right for new converts to do so. In this I symbolically died with Christ, believing He bore my sin, and was raised to new life with Him. What does that really mean?

It means that because I trusted in and obeyed Jesus, God caused me to be reborn. Not with a new body, but with a new human spirit. This new spirit is free of sin and undefiled — a suitable place for His Spirit to rest upon, and, if I allowed, to dwell in.

When I confessed my trust in Christ and was baptised, the Spirit put a sign and seal on my soul and spirit that said, “This one belongs to God.”

But many stop there, if not taught to receive the baptism of the Spirit. I was one of those, and had never invited the Spirit to fully move in! That day on a picnic bench, with a Spirit-filled believer praying with me, I did just that.

When I asked Jesus to baptize me with His Spirit, everything changed. I never again wondered, “Is that all there is?” because life with God is above and beyond all I could have imagined. I don’t believe I would be standing in Christian faith today if I had continued without the Spirit living in me!

As I work with Christians, I follow the example of the Apostles when I encounter believers who seem to be missing something. And how do I know when that is?

You know something is missing:

When a believer struggles continually with the desire to sin.

When a Christian is fully into and anxious to follow religious rules, but not enjoying the peace and joy of an interactive life with the Spirit.

When a believer is continually disappointed in their Christian experience, and THEY feel something is missing.

Beloved, you can be sealed with God as His child, yet not filled with and clothed with Him. Without Him to mentor you, it is hard to truly grow up in your salvation.

If you are missing out on this precious gift of God, please do something about it today. See your pastor, or seek out a Christian who seems full of God’s life and ask them to pray for you. Contact me and I’ll be glad to help. I want you to have everything that’s yours in the New Covenant of Christ! And if you know a disappointed, struggling Christian, share this with them!

Tonia