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A Voice and a Dove

When all the people were being baptized,
Jesus was baptized too. And as he was praying, heaven was opened.

Luke 3:21
 

Crowds of people responded to John the Baptist and his pull-no-punches call to a river-plunge of repentance. So did Jesus. Not because he had patterns of sin to change but because he identified himself with the people—with us—and humbled himself before God. When he came up from the water, dripping and praying, heaven opened. A voice spoke the Father’s love, and a dove imparted a holy presence on the scene.

In baptism, whatever its form, we identify ourselves with Jesus and vow to live like him and for him. Today can be an echo of that beginning, a day to change some pattern in our lives that’s not good—a spending habit, for example, or an attitude toward a colleague. When we commit to renewal, heaven opens to us. We receive help from God’s Spirit and assurance of his love.

 

Reflect: What aspect of your life could you “baptize” today? Pray for God’s help and assurance.

If I can only touch the hem of his garment

There was a woman with an issue of blood that struggled through the crowd. She stretched out her hand to touch the hem of Jesus garment. She thought to herself and said, "If I can touch the hem of his garment then I will be made whole."

This was a woman of faith that believed that whatever her illness was, she was able to be healed by this man called Jesus.

There are times we get to a point in our lives that prayer seems to be the only answer. Man can no longer help us, friends and family can only comfort us, and we move to a place where we must trust in a higher power that can bring us out of our deep calamity.

We come to a point in our lives that we can only lean on that spiritual force, that supreme power of a divine intervention. We tend to forget about that higher power, because we can get so caught up in doing everything ourselves, we forget about prayer and the power of it.

We tend to forget how God delivered us in our past and how he carried us through our trials and tribulations. Remember if God was able to deliver you then, that he can deliver you again.

The Upper Room

Follow this link to the Upper Room

 

http://devotional.upperroom.org/