Stage 4 Stage 4 Stage 4

His hands unfurled. His back straightened. His body corrected. He was miraculously healed.

Those who saw it struggled to wrap their minds around it. 

After all, Mike had been diagnosed with ALS for some time now. ALS is the abbreviated form of Lou Gehrig’s disease, a debilitating motor disease that typically ends in death. It causes progressive degeneration of nerve cells in the spinal cord and brain. Those who have it deal with the experience of gradual body deterioration.

And that’s what Mike had experienced. Week after week, month after month, year after year…a slow deterioration of the body. It was obvious to all those around him what was happening, not to mention the nurses and the doctors who saw him at every medical visit.

But Mike was holding on to something. He had had some special dreams: dreams that God was going to heal him in baptism. Other Christians also randomly came up to him and told him that God was going to heal him of this disease.

But this was the 21st century. Scientists and historians would point to miracles and healings in the Bible as metaphors, analogies, or myth all-together. These were fanciful stories made up by well-believing followers of Jesus, who either misunderstood what was happening in their day or were simply propagating their religious movement.

Fast-forward to the day of baptism, Mike had to be carried towards the trough that held the water. It wasn’t special water. It wasn’t holy water. It was just a lukewarm, classic horse trough, filled with H2O. In fact, the trough was in a basketball gym because the whole church had recently been relocated due to renovation. In other words, it was just common.

A few men helped Mike down the path to the trough and lowered him into the water. Several  words were spoken, and prayer was offered. And then, like thousands and thousands of Christians before him, Mike was immersed into the water: a picture of death and burial. An identification with Jesus’ death and burial into the ground 2,000 years ago. But then, a powerful resurrection from the water: a picture of new life, refreshment, and renewal. It was an identification with Christ’s resurrection from the dead.

But as Mike breathed the air above the waters, he noticed something was different. His hands were stretched out to their full length. His back was straight for the first time in years. His strength had returned.

Mike was not carried out of the waters of baptism; Mike walked out of the waters of baptism, diagnosably healed. A miracle of God that was later confirmed in the medical field.

You see, water baptism is not just a symbol. It’s not just a representation. It’s a moment of true worship and experience. A moment when the God of the Universe meets you in the waters of baptism like He met His Son, Jesus, 2,000 years ago.

“As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him.  And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”  Matthew 3:16-17 

The important words here are “At that moment.” At the moment of Baptism, Heaven opened up. The supernatural was encountered in the waters. God showed up to meet with His Son and express His love over His Son in the waters of baptism.

He still does this. Don’t let anyone ever convince you that baptism is just a routine, or JUST a symbol. It is much more than that.

A moment when you express your devotion to God and He expresses His love to wash you and cleanse you of all your sin.

We may not all be healed of a debilitating disease, but we can all encounter God in water baptism and express our love for the One who cleanses us from something more paralyzing than any physical malady: sin.

Are you ready to have your encounter with Jesus in water baptism? He’s waiting on you.

Scripture Reading:Matthew 3:16-17