“Now am I trying to win the favor of men, or of God? Do I seek to please men? If I were still seeking popularity with men, I should not be a bond servant of Christ (the Messiah).” Galatians 1:10 AMPC

What purpose has the test, the trial, the fast, the sacrifice, the sufferings if one does not emerge taking on a greater likeness of Christ?

If I am washed and made clean by the Word, may I find my life submerged in the water of the Holy Spirit.

In the beginning the Holy Spirit was hovering and brooding over the face of the waters, and while all the Persons of the Godhead are essential for Birth, the Holy Spirit is the vital element of water; vital in the birth of creation, vital in the birth of our Savior, vital in the rebirth of mankind through baptism, and vital in the continuous ‘births’, or reformations that cause us to look more like Christ. The Holy Spirit in unity with the Father and the Son formed the seas (Genesis 1:2, 6-8), a symbol for the womb, a spiritual place where we are formed and reformed, refined, cleansed and preserved.

Perhaps the sea will cease to exist after the first earth and first heaven pass away because the Lord’s Bride is now complete and One with Him. What need is there for a sea of forgetfulness of sin when I become in finality washed and pure for my Lord? What need is there for salt to burn my eyes when then I shall fully see? What need is there for salts agitation after I have entered through the gate of Pearl? What need is there for cleansing when I am spotless and fully mature?

Until then I choose submersion. Holy Spirit hold me here. Here You uplift me formless into the life of Christ where I walk on the waters in communion with Him; this is my transformation. Here in submersion you keep me safe in Your Spirit, for if I depart I become nothing but a pillar of salt without You.

If we depart from the waters we have divided hearts like the heart of Lot’s wife, who when looked backward toward her homeland in Sodom and Gomorrah (a symbol of sin and abomination) became a pillar of salt when the Spirit left her (Genesis 19:26). For it is the Holy Spirit who leads and guides us into all Truth, and Truth is the person of Jesus.

May we all humbly pray and cry out as David, “take not Thy Holy Spirit from me!” Holy Spirit I come “under” You. Keep me submerged in Your holy waters until I emerge like Christ, again and again, may I go under when You pull me under and may arise when You say walk. Apart from You, I am nothing, keep me close lest I become a symbol of earth’s empty and void vanity – a worthless pillar of tasteless salt. Help me to love, obey, and fear You, and may I yield until the breath of Christ is entirely mine. Lead me on the waters Holy Spirit to the resting place of the Ark. As You continue to form me, being made fully alive in Christ by Your Spirit, You lead me to the dwelling place, our forever Home where in Holy Union there is no separation; I in You and You in me… the mysteries of the sanctified, created in the depths of the womb.

“Where could I go from Your Spirit? Or where could I flee from Your presence? If I ascend up into heaven, You are there; if I make my bed in Sheol (the place of the dead), behold, You are there. [Rom. 11:33.] If I take the wings of the morning or dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, Even there shall Your hand lead me, and Your right hand shall hold me. My frame was not hidden from You when I was being formed in secret [and] intricately and curiously wrought [as if embroidered with various colors] in the depths of the earth [a region of darkness and mystery]. Your eyes saw my unformed substance, and in Your book all the days [of my life] were written before ever they took shape, when as yet there was none of them.” Psalm 139:7-10, 15-16 AMPC

“Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her, So that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the Word, That He might present the church to Himself in glorious splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such things [that she might be holy and faultless].”Ephesians 5:25-27 AMPC

“For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit,” I Peter 3:18 NKJV

“Teach me Your way, O Lord, that I may walk and live in Your truth; direct and unite my heart [solely, reverently] to fear and honor Your name. [Ps. 5:11; 69:36.] I will confess and praise You, O Lord my God, with my whole (united) heart; and I will glorify Your name forevermore.” Psalm 86:11-12 AMPC

“For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God. But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His. And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.” Romans 8:5-11 NKJV

“Then in a vision I saw a new heaven and a new earth. The first heaven and earth had passed away, and the sea no longer existed. I saw the Holy City, the New Jerusalem, descending out of the heavenly realm from the presence of God, like a pleasing bride that had been prepared for her husband, adorned for her wedding. And I heard a thunderous voice from the throne, saying: “Look! God’s tabernacle is with human beings. And from now on he will tabernacle with them as their God. Now God himself will have his home with them— ‘God-with-them’ will be their God! He will wipe away every tear from their eyes and eliminate death entirely. No one will mourn or weep any longer. The pain of wounds will no longer exist, for the old order has ceased.”” Revelation 21:1-4 TPT