I Got Baptized
The followings are taken straight from my private journal, I've only taken one paragraph that's too personal out; everything else is straight from it. It's not fully organized or completely coherent; but it's my genuine thoughts and emotions about baptism, what I was feeling the day before being baptized, and the hours after. So here it is ...
April 18, 2026
Writing this a day before my baptism, 15 hours before to be exact.
So I had a pretty basic view of baptism for years which is; one, that it isn’t necessary for salvation and two, that it’s purely symbolic (you’re just performing a ritual) I didn’t think anything more of it until my foundation class.
So in class I’ve learnt that being baptized is the next logical step of growth as a Christian after accepting Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. I have also learnt that God has put some grace and blessing in that act of baptism. Baptism at it’s core isn’t just being dunked in water, it’s an act of recognizing Jesus as authoritative over your life. It’s still not important for salvation, but it’s definitely not just symbolic, it’s spiritual covenant.
Requirements to be baptized
Now to be baptized there’s only one requirement, which is to believe in your heart that Jesus is the Son of God. That’s it. You don’t need any formal education, you don’t need anything other than being preached to about Christ somehow and believing in Him. This goes to say that you don’t need to be sin-free, addiction-free, sickness free, nor any other kind of brokenness in you or in your life. You just got to believe and that’s all.
One thing I’d like to point out here is that the Eunuch was returning from Jerusalem in his carriage and reading the book of Isaiah. But he was just reading it and not understanding it. It started with confusion but after Philip told Him the Gospel of Christ, and then finally baptized him, this eunuch was rejoicing on his way back home. So joy could be part of the equation and I’ve heard so many people rejoicing after baptism so that’s something to look out for.
በመጓዝ ላይ ሳሉም ውሃ ካለበት ስፍራ ደረሱ፤ ጃንደረባውም፣ “እነሆ፤ ውሃ እዚህ አለ፤ ታዲያ እንዳልጠመቅ የሚከለክለኝ ምን ነገር አለ?” አለው። ፊልጶስም፣ “በፍጹም ልብህ ካመንህ መጠመቅ ትችላለህ” አለው። ጃንደረባውም፣ “ኢየሱስ ክርስቶስ የእግዚአብሔር ልጅ እንደ ሆነ አምናለሁ” ሲል መለሰለት፤ ሠረገላውም እንዲቆም አዘዘ። ከዚያም ሁለቱ ዐብረው ወደ ውሃው ወረዱ፤ ፊልጶስም ጃንደረባውን አጠመቀው።” — ሐዋ 8:36-38
Now there are more stuff I haven’t gotten the answers of like child baptism. But as an adult this is complete enough for me to get baptized.
Baptism into Christ, and the newness of life
“Baptized into Christ” (Greek: eis Christon) **— implies movement into a relationship or participation, not just association. Baptism signifies being engrafted into Christ, so that what belongs to Him (His death and life) becomes ours. It marks incorporation into Christ’s person—believers now share in His story.
“Baptized into His death” — His death to sin is counted as your death to sin. The “old self” is considered crucified with Him. So basically, baptism puts me inside Christ to partake in the death He died, and to partake in the resurrection He experienced.
“Walk in newness of life” (Greek: kainotēs) — It means a qualitatively new kind of life, not just an improved version of the old one. Life empowered by the Holy Spirit, distinct from the old life under sin. It is a real transformation of nature, not external change only. This is also a bit of a reference to the Jews being exiled from Egypt. They lived a fundamentally different life.
ከክርስቶስ ኢየሱስ ጋራ አንድ እንድንሆን የተጠመቅን ሁላችን፣ ከሞቱ ጋራ አንድ እንሆን ዘንድ እንደ ተጠመቅን አታውቁምን? ስለዚህ ክርስቶስ በአብ ክብር ከሞት እንደ ተነሣ፣ እኛም እንዲሁ በአዲስ ሕይወት እንድንኖር በጥምቀት ሞተን ከርሱ ጋራ ተቀብረናል።” — ሮሜ 6:3-4
Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too may walk in newness of life.” — Romans 6:3-4
Role of Faith in Baptism
Baptism is the circumcision of the old flesh. The body enslaved by sin is no longer attached to you.
It’s also important to note that baptism isn’t a mechanical function, it’s a spiritual one, everything spiritual involved with it is linked to the faith you have of it. Merely being dunked in water doesn’t transform you, you have to believe in Christ and in the union formed during baptism.
በርሱ ሆናችሁ በእጅ ባልተደረገ መገረዝ ተገረዛችሁ፤ በክርስቶስም መገረዝ የሥጋን ኀጢአታዊ ባሕርይ አስወገዳችሁ፤ በጥምቀትም ከርሱ ጋራ ተቀብራችሁ፣ እርሱን ከሙታን ባስነሣው በእግዚአብሔር ኀይል በማመን ከርሱ ጋራ ደግሞ ተነሣችሁ።” — ቈላስይስ 2:11-12
Baptism unites you with Christ
The part about being in union with Christ is also explained as how the jews had union with Moses and how they were led under him. So by being baptized you’re saying I hereby agree to work with Christ, under Christ as my leader to some goal and purpose.
ወንድሞች ሆይ፤ አባቶቻችን ሁሉ ከደመናው በታች እንደ ነበሩና በባሕሩ ውስጥ እንደ ተሻገሩ ታውቁ ዘንድ እፈልጋለሁ። እነርሱ ሁሉ ከሙሴ ጋራ ለመተባበር በደመናና በባሕር ተጠመቁ።” — 1 ቆሮንቶስ 10:1-2
Forgiveness of Sins
Repentance is not just regret it’s the reorientation of our life. Baptism is an act to seal that repentance. So repentance is the inward turning to God, while Baptism is the outward identification with Christ. Something important to remark here is that every single sin you’ve ever committed up to that point of baptism will be forgiven. There is nothing holding you back, your record is completely wiped clean.
Not only that but God will give His Spirit to us during or after baptism.
ጴጥሮስም እንዲህ አላቸው፤ “ንስሓ ግቡ፤ ኀጢአታችሁም እንዲሰረይላችሁ፣ እያንዳንዳችሁ በኢየሱስ ክርስቶስ ስም ተጠመቁ፤ የመንፈስ ቅዱስንም ስጦታ ትቀበላላችሁ።” — ሐዋርያት ሥራ 2:38
Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” — Acts 2:38
This’s for when you sin after being baptized
You will sin. Baptism doesn’t give you the glorified, unafflicted, unbreakable, sin-undesiring body; that’s after resurrection. Baptism doesn’t promise you a sinless life. It does promise you the power to overcome sin. So don’t break down and lose hope when you sin after. Remember you’ve got a unity with Christ like never before, meaning you can ask for forgiveness. Just repent okay! You will be fine!
So back to me …
My view of baptism has changed drastically the past few months. From viewing it as just people getting soaked in water to believing in the grace and blessing God has placed in the act of baptism.
For the past few months, there was a voice and dream of “I will kill you” and in the past two weeks, almost every day I’ve seen dreams of me dying. One morning I even woke up crying cause I was watching myself die in a third person perspective. But in all of them there was either an Light Figure or some Comforting Voice to calm me down or to comfort me from my fears and cries. These dreams only made me sad for a bit, they haven’t disturbed my spirit. But I don’t know what to make of them. Guess it’s something to unravel after, but I don’t feel like it’s from the devil.
I do have this sense and feeling that the old me hasn’t died, maybe it’s the doubt in me speaking whenever I’ve sinned but in all honesty I’m hoping for even more decisive and drastic change in my life after my baptism tomorrow. There’s a lot in my life I want changed, I lack the knowledge & wisdom and the strength to do it and so I’m hoping the Holy Spirit just empowers me like never before. I genuinely want to die in that water so that when I get out Christ lives in me.
Sin is tiring, sinning as a believer is even more tiring and I’m very tired. So I’m earnestly begging God in my heart that He pours out His Spirit and power, presence and voice, wisdom and healing, all over my body, mind and spirit. I guess I genuinely believe that in that moment of baptism I’ll spiritually encounter God and what would you want God to do for you if you ever meet Him to that extent?
I’d want Him to heal me, to remove every thing I was so broken and obsessed about, I want my brokenness, addiction, sickness, foolishness, tiredness, indecisiveness, doubts, sins and afflictions all to perish. I am hoping to change so I can honor Him as much as I want to.
I have been scared, worried, stressed but also excited, hopeful and grateful for the past two weeks (our teacher told us to prepare ourselves and tell him of our decision two weeks ago) I can’t believe this’s happening. God orchestrated SO MUCH for this moment to happen. He brought a friend into my online community, somehow we became good friends, somehow I started going to church, and transport was an issue then but God orchestrated that too — my friend would drive me back after service, God would pay for my ride, then I got my driving license so now I can just drive, then another friend I met at church encouraged me to start foundation class, and that whole thing needed its own orchestration, the teacher was a very blessed person, my family was also supportive. It’s just something entirely handled by God, I had literally no plan or say in this other than just praying and trusting Him. I’m just so happy. I hope to get the presence of God tomorrow, I hope to talk to Him, and I hope He blesses me so much. AMEN!
I’ll tell you how the baptism went, tomorrow!
April 19, 2026
I GOT BAPTIZED!!!!
I STILL CAN’T BELIEVE IT! The moment is replaying every time I close my eyes.
THIS IS MY FAVORITE DAY OF THE YEAR.
The overwhelming joy after baptism is so true. I am overwhelmed by happiness and joy, I feel well rested and so peaceful, I feel so much power and energy, like I can move a mountain!!! I’m just so blessed right now. God is so wonderfully kind to me. I have no words to thank Him for what He has done for me today! I am just loved!
I wish I could put all this joy in a bottle and just get a taste of it every single day! You know, last night I asked God to give me so much energy, now I feel like I’m going to explode with the amount of energy I’ve gotten. I feel so renewed, restored, I feel healed dude! I feel on top of the world.
I love this! I love this so much. I’m so happy that God did all of this for me. I have finally been baptized into Christ, and partaken His death. The old self has died in that water, all my sins have been forgiven and I am now living a new life.
Oh praise God!
You should do it!
If you’re a believer of Jesus Christ, and you believe in Him in accordance to His Gospel. Then you should get baptized! You will kill the old self in you, you will partake in the death of Christ knowing that you will also partake in His resurrection, you will have unity with Him to walk in a new life, you’ll have complete physical and spiritual mark of forgiveness of all your sins, you will be joyful about it, and most of all His Spirit will be given to you — God will dwell in you. The pros outweigh the cons. There’s just no reason to not do it. It’s an amazing blessing given to us.
Oh the joy I'm feeling right now! My God!