JOHN SAID OF Jesus: “I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I . . . he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire” (Matt. 3:11). Again Jesus said: “John baptized with water, but . . . you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit” (Acts 1:5). When the Holy Spirit was given on the day of Pentecost, Peter said: “This Jesus God raised up, and of that we all are witnesses. Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this which you see and hear” (Acts 2:32–33). This was the one baptism which Jesus came to give—the baptism of the Spirit.
If you have the Christ firsthandedness, you are sure to find the Holy Spirit if you follow through far enough with Him. It is the intention underlying our relationships with Him. “But this spake He of the Spirit, which they that believe on Him should receive” (John 7:39 KJV ). “Were to receive”—it is in the intention of Christ to give the Holy Spirit.
The emphasis on Jesus Christ as the center of the firsthandedness brings both the Father and the Spirit. If the emphasis is on either the Father or the Spirit, however, you miss both, if the Incarnate is dimmed.
If the Incarnate Jesus is dimmed, the content of the union with the Father or the Holy Spirit is dimmed and uncertain. The Word become flesh puts the highest content conceivable into the union—it is a union based on Christlikeness. The emergence of a Christlike character is the end product. Nothing higher than that for God or man. It is the acme.
O Jesus, my Lord, when Thou art Lord and I’m wholly Thine, everything falls into its own place. I know the Father and I have the Holy Spirit. I have everything. Help me to be a one-centered person—centered in Thee. In Thy name. Amen.
AFFIRMATION FOR THE DAY: I have hold of the right end of the stick when I begin with the cross.
