FIRE FROM HEAVEN
Then the fire of the LORD fell, and consumed the burnt sacrifice, and the wood, and the stones, and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench.
1 Kings 18:38
Does God still send fire from heaven? This is the question many people ask. Some wonder whether, fire like in the Old Testament days, still fall from heaven? The answer to this is in the affirmative – God still sends fire from heaven.
Why it appears as if fire does not fall from heaven is because the church no longer hungers for the pure fire from heaven.
Whenever God sends fire down from heaven, it is for a task to be accomplished on earth. The following are some of the reasons God sends fire from heaven.
1. He Purifies: Whenever God wants to do the work of purification, He sends down fire because fire is needed for purification. The fire may come via His words, especially when He wants to purify a people.
God wants us to be holy. He wants us to be pure. He wants us to become like Christ. In His plans to make us holy, He sends His words to us on a regular basis to ignite His fire in us. When this fire is ignited, it works out purification in us. Really, the word of God burns like fire in our hearts.
And they said one to another; Did not our heart burn within us, while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the scriptures? Luke 24:32
There is no other way a believer is purified outside the word of God. Our sanctification is through the word of God.
Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth. John 17:17
One other reason we need purification is to obtain promises. We forfeit so much of God’s promises when we are not purified. It is only when we have purified our hearts that access is granted us into the promises of God for our lives.
Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. 2 Corinthians 7:1,
So, whenever God sends fire from heaven, He has it in mind to purify someone, a people or a land.
2. He Leads and Protect:
And the LORD went before them by day in a pillar of a cloud, to lead them the way; and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light; to go by day and night: Exodus 13:21-22
When the children of God left Egypt to go to the land of promise, they were lost as to which way to go. In their confusion, God appeared unto them to lead them by the pillar of fire by night. The night time is a time of darkness; a time of confusion. God sent his fire to give them illumination. What you need whenever you are confused is the fire of the Lord. When that fire comes, illumination comes also. This is why the psalmist said God’s word is a lamp unto his feet.
Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path. Psalm 119:105
God can give direction through the instrumentality of His words. Whenever the fire of God comes to give direction, it also does the work of defense by throwing the camp of the enemies into darkness. Those that have been monitoring your life are thrown into confusion. While the fire gives light to you, it casts a shadow on the path of the enemy. Pray today for the fire of God for direction and defense.
4. Judgment upon the enemies:
Then the LORD rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the LORD out of heaven; Gen 19:24,
And Moses stretched forth his rod toward heaven: and the LORD sent thunder and hail, and the fire ran along upon the ground; and the LORD rained hail upon the land of Egypt. Exo 9:23-24
The fire of God also comes to bring judgment upon the sinner. In the peak of God’s anger, He can destroy a whole nation, race or people by His fire. This He did in the land of Egypt when Pharaoh hardened his heart in disobedience; God through Moses ran through the land clothed in fire and caused so much destruction.
In the case of Sodom and Gomorrah also, it was fire that God sent upon the land to destroy it. The prayer of every man is for the fire of God not to work destruction upon his life because it can be very destructive. When God’s anger kindles upon a family and He sends His fire down, terrible things begin to happen in that family. The fire of God is worst than the worst the enemy can do.
One good thing about this fire is that, as a child of God, you call it down upon your enemies. Elijah called down this fire upon the soldiers that were sent to go and arrest him. God released it and all of them were roasted. Can I hear you say, ‘Father, send down the fire of judgment upon all my enemies; let them all be roasted!’
And Elijah answered and said to the captain of fifty, If I be a man of God, then let fire come down from heaven, and consume thee and thy fifty. And there came down fire from heaven, and consumed him and his fifty. 2 Kings 1:10
Rain followed the fire that fell on Mount Carmel bringing coolness and forcing the opposition to bow.
Can the church of Christ today be the Elijah of her generation, commanding down the fire of God and forcing the opposition to bow to the supremacy of God? What the world around us needs to change is not a chain of programme that are put together to satisfy our thirst for excitement and entertainment, but to bring down the fire of God!
Pray to God today to make you the carrier of His fire.
