Have you been baptized? Do you see this as an essential significant milestone in the practice of your faith? How many ways have you been baptized? For John said that he baptized with water, but one would come after who baptized with the Holy Spirit and fire. He was referring to me. Did you see your water baptism as a transformative event? It can have this effect if you apprehend it correctly and are fully invested in it. This is not something to be done casually. What about baptism in fire?

Have you noticed that being a Christian is less popular than it used to be? Has a favorable impression of Christians several decades ago turned neutral and even become negative by the general population in recent years? Can you face this issue and ask yourself if Christians have done anything to contribute to a declining image? Is it easier to be a Christian when it is a popular thing to do? Yet throughout the span of history and geography there have been times of persecution of believers, and you may be called on to pay a price for your allegiance to a Kingdom not of this world.

Do you remember the day that you were saved? What milestone could be more important to your faith, and what could be more important to your life than your faith? So this is the ultimate event for believers. You celebrate your birthday. Do you celebrate the day you were born again? You may not keep track of this on the calendar, but would you celebrate it as a beginning or an end? It could be argued both ways, and also as neither one. You were a spiritual being even before you were saved, and I was at work drawing you to me. You didn’t arrive the first day you trusted me.

I promised that you would not face any temptation that you could not withstand because with it I would provide a way of escape, that you may be able to endure it. Does this seem contradictory to you? Do you like the idea of escape? Do you dislike the idea of enduring? Is there a way that these concepts can be reconciled so that both are true? I told my disciples that I had meat they knew not of, and that where I was going they could not follow. Have you found that there is a place of spiritual refuge where you can go to escape your afflictions even as you endure them?