A few weeks ago I was talking to a friend of mine who told me of a time when he was in a little bit of legal trouble and was in lock up waiting for court dates and sentencing. He said he been crying uncontrollably for days, and one day he talked with God like he had never done before and he felt this warmth over take him and from that moment he knew he was going to be ‘ok’ and God was going to take care of him. This encounter with the love of God has changed his life and this is the Baptism of Assurance.

Jesus told the Apostles to wait in the upper room and not to do anything until they received ‘power’ from the Spirit (See Acts 1:7). What power was Jesus talking about? The Apostle Paul wrote it like this “God’s royal dominion is not based on food and drink regulations, but righteousness, (likeness) friendship (peace) and joy in the Holy Spirit.” -Romans 14:17 MBT. Could the ‘power’ be knowing we are in good standing with God and peace and joy will follow because of the assurance we have in knowing we are good? “We are engineered by his design; he molded and manufactured us in Christ. We are his workmanship, his poetry.” – Ephesians 2:10 MBT

After the Spirit swept over the Apostles and filled them in Acts 2:1-4, Peter went on to tell the crowd of over 3000 people, “Change your mind about who God is, and you will be immersed in assurance of the good news about Jesus freeing you from wrong belief about God and you will live in peace and joy in the Spirit.” (See Acts 2:38) Now I know you have heard this verse differently, starting with the word “Repent…. “. However, the word in the original Greek manuscripts is ‘metanoia‘ which means to change your mind. The Latin word penance is what was put in the Latin Vulgate, replacing the word metanoia, by St. Augustine who admittedly did not speak or read Greek. Most translations are translated from the Latin Vulgate rather than the original Greek manuscripts. The word penance “means to repay for something that was already paid for.” This would mean Jesus’s sacrifice was not enough because you have to keep repaying for something that was already paid for. That’s not Good News. However metanoia is good news, refreshing life changing good news!!

After the word repent, most translations say “and be baptized in the name of Jesus….” Baptism comes from the Greek word ‘baptisma‘ which means to be immersed. “Jesus told the Apostles, “John baptized by water but in a few days you will be baptized with the Spirit” – (See Acts 1:5). This confirms that Peter wasn’t talking about being dunked in water. Peter was telling people “you will be immersed in assurance of the good news of Jesus” which in some translations is followed with “for the remission of sins.” Sin means wrong belief not wrong action. This is good news knowing that even our wrong belief about God doesn’t keep us from His love! This is the baptism my friend had, he was baptized in Assurance! This is the baptism of the New Covenant. It’s not water or the Spirit, the Baptism is being immersed in the Trinity’s love which is assurance.

“Change your mind about who God is, and you will be immersed in assurance of the good news about Jesus freeing you from wrong belief about God and you will live in peace and joy in the Spirit.” (See Acts 2:38)

How does this happen? We get to the place where we see God-Our Father as He is and understand how He sees us. He isn’t mad at you when you mess up. He isn’t looking to beat you for bad behavior. He doesn’t need to see you through Jesus. He sees you the same way Jesus sees you with love and favor. This changed Katy and my mindset and freed us. We now live in the freedom we have in Jesus. We live in the assurance that our Father loves us without conditions and the Spirit will continue to convict us that we are God’s masterpiece! Until this baptism happens we will always see God as our experiences filter Him to be. The refreshing good news is the dead will arise, the blind will see, the deaf will hear and the lame will walk comes to life when we assuredly see ourselves seated in Jesus’s lap at the right hand of the Father in heavenly places. We get a new pair of glasses when we have Assurance. Our new lenses are Christ’s lenses of love and compassion. We begin to see our situations, ourselves and other people the way Jesus sees us all which is perfect, righteous, holy and loved. The dead parts of our body, mind and soul will come to life and arise out of the rivers of living water bringing life into all those places. Our Ears will no longer be deaf to the whispers of truth and love that are constantly communicated to us by the Father, Son and Spirit. We become quickened to their tones and begin to celebrate our hearts being intertwined rather than being deafened by the lie of separation. Naturally our lame legs that couldn’t stand to lead us begin to walk and run in our oneness intertwined in the unity we were born into.

“But those who wait on the LORD Shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles, They shall run and not be weary, They shall walk and not faint.” -Isaiah 40:31 NKJV. The Hebrew word for wait in this scripture is ‘qavah’ which is pronounced ‘kaw-vaw’ and means to bind together, Intertwined. We, from the foundation of the world, have been knit together and intertwined with the Father, Son and Spirit. Having assurance gives meaning to our oneness. Those who are intertwined with the LORD shall have renewed strength, and shall soar like eagles, seeing ourselves intertwined also allows us to walk boldly and never grow weary because we have assurance.

Jesus told the Apostles, “The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.” John 10:10 NKJV. This leads to 3 questions we are leaving you to ponder and examine; 1) Do you see yourself the way God sees you? 2) Do you have assurance that God made you perfectly? 3) Do you know in your heart of hearts that you have never been separated from your oneness with God?

Blessings in Love,

Kurt & Katy

• MBT: Mirror Bible Translation
• NKJV: New King James Version