Joan Boney ... apostle/prophet
I was baptized before I was born again. Then after I was born again, the Spirit of God said to me, "Be baptized."
I was on airplane enroute to Albuquerque, NM, (USA), when I heard this from God. My cousin met me at plane. I told her if she could arrange it at her church that afternoon, I would be baptized before returning to Dallas. She was confused and questioned, "But you've already been baptized." I replied, "But I wasn't born again then and now I am."
So she set it up at her church.
When the minister lowered me into the water, the Holy Spirit spoke this to me: "This is like being buried with Christ."
When I came out of the water, the Holy Spirit said, "This is like being raised with Christ."
At the time this happened I didn't know Romans 6, which tells us the same thing the Holy Spirit told me.
Romans 6 ...Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? 4Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. 5For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection: 6Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. 7For he that is dead is freed from sin.
Before we were born of the Spirit of God, we were servants to the flesh, servants to sin. But after we were born of the Spirit of God we no longer had to serve sin. Dead men do not serve sin. And after we belong to God, our flesh is crucified with Christ so we can then serve God instead of sin.
Romans 6 ... 8Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him: 9Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him. 10For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God. 11Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. 12Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. 13Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. 14For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.
...God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you. 18Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness.
Now we reckon ourselves to be dead to sin (buried with Christ/crucified with Christ) ... And as Christ was raised by the power of God, we, too are raised by the power of God that we might serve God rather than our own flesh and the desires of our flesh. Therefore we have power over the flesh now through God. So instead of yielding ourselves to sin to serve our flesh as we once did, now we yield ourselves to God to serve HIM, considering our flesh to be dead and crucified with Christ.