Baptism of Fire
It was 117 degrees out. The wind was nowhere to be felt and the red african dust filled the air so much that it felt as if you were eating it with every swallow. The smell of burning trash and open pit toilets filled the air. As my mouth slowly dried out and my body instantly sweat every ounce of fluid I would consume, I looked upon a crowd that had gathered for the first night of a 4 night gospel crusade in East Africa.
It was the first night and I was miserable. I was hot, the journey hadn’t been kind to me, and our sleeping arrangements were not favorable. We attempted to sleep in tents that had baked in the african sun all day. It was so hot that after being in the tent for a minute or two, you would step out and find what seemed like relief in the 117 degree temperatures. If it hadn't been for the excitement of just beginning a gospel campiagn in a new city, that was predominately muslim, I may have allowed myself to faint under the african sun and pass off my mandate from God that night to someone else.
As the music came to a close, I made my way up some rickety stairs onto the stage and a mic was given to me. All of the planning, all of the preparation, the finances, the prayers and fasting had culminated in this moment. I stood almost speechless. As I took a moment to gaze across the crowd of about 10,000, I could see the faces, the hurts, the pains, and the struggles as if I was standing one on one and face to face with each person and not before a crowd of many. I could see that they were not looking for another message.
These beautiful people were not interested in just walking away feeling encouraged or feeling better about their future. They needed to see that the God of Christianity was in fact alive, they needed to see that the Holy Spirit was radical in demonstrating the love of Jesus and that God Himself, not a preacher or a platform was eagerly waiting to touch the longing in every single heart.
I stood there for what seemed like an eternity but actually amounted to about 20 seconds. The translator shouted “Hallelujah” a few times to the crowd almost as an attempt to pull me back to the present where I was standing.
I lifted the microphone to my mouth and as I did, my prescribed message for that night left out of the back door of my mind. I stood there another 20 seconds motionless. The desperation was beginning to rise up in me, the feelings of inadequacy, unworthiness they started to creep in little by little and the more I stood motionless, the quicker they came like a battering ram to my mind.
But deep down, I felt the smallest fragment of faith begin to rise with equal fervency as a battering ram to my heart. With the microphone still lifted to my mouth but no words coming forth, I stepped up to the edge of the stage and once again looked across the crowd. Faith began to pound in my heart with such a violent frequency that it overtook what my mind was experiencing. I had mustered up enough faith to ask God for help and that I needed Him in this moment, I had nothing, my mind was blank and my faith was weak.
The moment I asked God to come, I felt the hairs on the back of my neck and on my arm stand on edge as if my body was in anticipation that something was about to happen. Just as the hair stood up I felt what can only be described as a bolt of lightning strike the top of my head and vibrate down my neck, onto my shoulders, then down my arms, into my hands where the microphone popped with an ear piercing sound, only for the electricity to travel back down my arms, to my shoulders where it rushed all the way down to my feet. Once it hit my feet it was as if it bounced off the stage under my feet and all the way back up my body where it exploded out of my mouth with a “hallelujah” that seemed to shake me to my core. I began to preach from the heart under the power of the Holy Spirit. I felt the love of God come out like laser beams catching the eyes of everyone in attendance. I had experienced a fresh baptism of the Fire of God. We were all immersed in His presence! We had a powerful move of the Spirit and nearly 8,000 people responded to the call to salvation!
As we prayed for the sick, with so many in the crowd it is nearly impossible to pray for every person individually, so we pray and trust that Jesus will come and do what only He can do. After a short time of prayer we worshipped for about 5 minutes to allow the Holy Spirit to touch the bodies and minds of people and then we asked for testimonies.
The first 12 people that came testified of all major, incurable diseases or aliments being completely healed including one muslim lady born blind and another young boy who was born mute! What was just as amazing is they all testified of seeing a middle eastern man dressed in white put their hands on them and they were healed!
This was beyond my comprehension. It was beyond my understanding. I stood once again in awe of what God was doing and I got to be apart of it. I found myself back where I started. Speechless. The noise of the crowd grew louder and louder as the shouted “Jesus, Jesus, Jesus”. The noise began to fade to a muffle as I lifted my eyes to where my help comes from. I wept with thankfulness and awe in my heart.
Over the next 3 nights the crowds swelled to over 30,000 people with nearly 80% of the crowd responding to the call to salvation each consecutive night. Miracles exploded and what was a Muslim city at the beginning of our 4 day campaign had now completely flipped to a city flooded with Jesus. God had rewrote the script of that city in just 4 days.
The point is that God uses weak, unqualified, people who say yes. All we need is Him. All we need is the baptism of Fire. When He shows up, everything changes.
John the Baptist told a large crowd that had gathered where he was baptizing, “I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.”
“He who is coming after me” was referring to Jesus Christ. So, John was saying that he was baptizing with water and Jesus would (in the future) baptize with the Holy Spirit and with fire.
The word baptize comes from a Greek word that means “to immerse.”
John was immersing people in the water of the Jordan River. But one of the purposes of Jesus was to immerse you with the Holy Spirit.
The baptism of Fire is an “immersion of the Spirit.” When you are baptized with the Holy Spirit and Fire, you will receive strength, power and boldness from God to accomplish what God has called you to do.
We need to be endued with the Holy Fire. It is only by sitting at His feet that we receive and he who waits there long and believingly will receive that Fire, and come forth from his communion with God, bearing tokens of where he has been.
Prayer:
Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, as I pray for the baptism of fire and the Holy Spirit & Fire, I desire that you make me a vessel of your power. Open my heart to receive your magnificent glory, slaying all that is within me of the flesh, and imparting that newness of life which is led my your Spirit. Enable me to receive the liquid fire of your fresh anointing which purifies my mind, body, and spirit. May my will be completely bent unto your leading.
Pour out now Father your precious Holy Spirit, empowering me to receive the baptism according to your promise in Luke 3:16, and prepare me to confidently appropriate it on the authority of Jesus’ word in Luke 11:13.
Lord, all that you have for me, I receive right now, in the name of Jesus. Every good and perfect gift that comes from above, I humbly partake for the work of salvation and the edification of the saints.
Empower me now by continually filling me with your fire and Holy Spirit, making me fully surrendered to your will. Be my always on time helper that I may speak your word with all boldness. Stretch forth your hand within me, that signs and wonders may be done by the name of Jesus. Father, I thank you for the baptism of fire and of the Holy Spirit for your work and service.
In Jesus Name, Amen.