Beloved, God does not want His children to be spiritual weaklings, hence He gave us power to live a strong and vibrant Christian life. Therefore, God is not to blame if despite the power He has made available, you still remain a powerless Christian. When a Christian finds it difficult to overcome sin, flesh and Satan, such a Christian is in a state of powerlessness. Also, a believer is powerless when he or she finds it difficult to perform his or her spiritual obligations and responsibilities. So, it is very necessary for us to consider this message entitled, “Provoked from Powerlessness.” Matthew 3:11 says, “I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance; but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear; he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire.” In the above passage, we find three kinds of baptism:
1. Baptism with water.
2. Baptism with the Holy Ghost
3. Baptism with fire.
These three kinds of baptism are aimed at achieving one goal or the other. Before the departure of our Lord Jesus Christ to heaven, He told His disciples in Luke 24: 49: “And behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you; but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high.” Also Acts 2: 1-4 says, “And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place, suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.”
According to these three passages above, we can see that fire in the Bible represents the life, power, presence and anointing of God. Anywhere you see the manifestation of God in the Bible, He is always associated with fire. For example, when God drove Adam and Eve away from the Garden of Eden, an angel with the sword of fire was put there to guard the garden. Right from Genesis 3, you find God calling from a burning bush. As you continue in Exodus you see how God led the Israelites by a pillar of fire. We also know Elijah as the prophet of fire.
Many years ago, in the fellowship where I used to belong in England, there was a man who was always quiet. He talked only when he was asked to read the scriptures or pray. One day, he was asked to interpret the tongues of a preacher who was invited to minister that day. The challenge came to him unawares and immediately, he started to pray, shivering and sweating. However, as he provoked the Holy Spirit into action, the Spirit of God took over him and he interpreted everything the preacher spoke in tongues.
The spiritual state of the disciples declined after the death of Jesus. They all went back to fishing. We remember that Peter had previously denied Jesus. Thomas was bent on seeing Jesus and dipping his fingers inside the holes perforated by nails in His hands before he could believe. This shows the kind of people Jesus left behind. Their attitude indicated that something was missing in their lives and that thing needed to be imparted into their lives to enable them to become mountain movers for the Lord. Their lives at that time could be likened to a delicious soup prepared with assorted ingredients, yet it lacked salt. And an expensive soup without salt would amount to nothing. Samson was like any other man as at the time he was attacked by a lion, but something extraordinary happened. The Bible says that the Spirit of the living God came mightily upon him and right within his system, power changed hands and he grabbed the lion and tore it into pieces.
Sometime ago, as I was praying with a girl, the Spirit of God said, “Stop. Command every spirit of the forest to depart.” When I did that, the voice of an old woman spoke from the same girl and said, “She originally belongs to me, she cannot belong to Jesus. Please, leave us alone, she is mine.” I told the evil spirit that she was now a child of God and filled with the Holy Spirit. But it insisted that she belonged to them, that she was still a fornicator. The evil spirit even said that they have put a vagabond spirit in her and that was why she was roaming about all over the place without achieving success. I asked the girl if she heard all that the demon said. She said yes that she heard the words coming from her but did not know who was talking. I asked her if she had received the baptism in the Holy Spirit and she said ‘yes.’ When I tried to find out how, she said that somebody gave her a piece of paper and asked her to be repeating some words after him and as she did that, all of a sudden, she got confused, her tongue changed and she was congratulated. I said, “No, you need to receive the proper baptism of the Holy Spirit with fire.”
Some of the deliverance ministrations people pass through would not have been necessary if they pressed forward and received the baptism of fire after the Holy Spirit baptism. When that fire comes upon you, certain things cannot just continue to stay in your life, because they will not be able to stand the fire. It was obvious that something was absent in the life of that girl. The spiritual lives of many churchgoers are like that. No doubt, somewhere somehow, the salt is missing. There are a lot of people with beautiful faces or wonderful certificates from either Britain or America living a good life, but they lack fire. Such people are easy preys in the hands of witches. When they have been finished by these wicked powers, you will see obituaries where their family members would write things like: “The wicked have done their worst, woe unto the wicked,” etc. Whereas you and I know that such pronouncements against death is an empty noise. That will not prevent the spirit of death from operating, and it does not waste time eating up those who submit themselves to him. In the house of God, those who have the real fire are very few, but we have a lot of gossips, backsliders and those who cry and mourn everyday. Many people need to collect more fire than they presently have if they wish to disgrace all their household enemies. They need something to put them on the run. The fire of the Holy Spirit consumes every consumable within its reach. When you possess this fire in your life, no arrow fired at you would be able to harm you.
Some years ago, there was a man who hated me. (There are still many of them today: it does not really matter.) He went to consult somebody who gathered candles and seven books of Moses to destroy me. The night they started their evil operation, the Lord opened my eyes and I was watching them and smiling. When I asked the Lord what I should do, He said, I should command the angels of God to blow the flame of those candles on his body, but not to kill him. The angels blew the flame of the candles on his body and I did not see him until about a week later. By then, his skin had started peeling. When you have sufficient fire, certain attacks will not have any effect on you, but anything can happen to a cold believer. When the level of fire in your life is not sufficient to cope with the warfare you are facing and you are just complacent about it, the enemies will be rejoicing. Bible students know that God manifested Himself in various ways in the Bible and one of those ways was by fire. When that fire comes upon you, anything can happen. This reminds me of a friend of mine who went to Russia to preach. As an Englishman he did not understand the language, so he started off with an interpreter. But as he continued preaching, to his amazement, his interpreter fell down and started moving like a cow, and could not continue. Notwithstanding, the Spirit of God came upon him and he was able to speak Russian language for half an hour. By the time he finished his message, fire fell down. Oh, that we may possess the fire of God, then our testimony would be like that of Paul who said, “Though I preach the gospel, I have nothing to glory of, for necessity is laid upon me. Woe is me if I preach not the gospel.” That is fire at work. You may want to suppress it, but will not be able to. Are you like that? Or are you hot today and cold tomorrow? When the fire of the Holy Ghost comes upon us in a new way, there would be no need praying for deliverance, healing or against any problem because the fire would be sufficient to deal with them. Your life will become too hot for the enemy to handle. We should pray for that fire to come into our bones. How I wish that those who are preaching preach with fire, those who are praying pray with fire, those who are singing sing with fire and those who are counseling, do so with fire. Beloved, for us to be able to cope with what God is showing us in these last days, we must be on fire.
The other time, God showed me a vision that troubled me exceedingly. In that vision, I saw a man in the market place preaching with a Bible in his hand. People gathered around him whilst an angel of God was by my side as I was watching this preacher. Even though he was modestly dressed and was preaching the correct message, he did something funny. He threw his Bible down all of a sudden and stood on top of it. Later, he put his hand in his pocket and brought out something that looked like a horn and still continued to preach even though his Bible had changed position. The Lord told me that this is what is happening now. I should therefore go and warn His people about it. If anybody is starting a church and hangs the head of a goat at the entrance of the church building with an inscription, “Welcome, in Jesus’ name to this wonderful place and expect your miracles.” I am very sure that people will not go there. That is why the devil does not work that way. He would rather make his servants look revered, with good big Bibles in their hands, but at the same time they still drink and smoke. Although they carry the Bible, they still tell lies, commit fraud, smuggle and encourage armed robbery by running armed robbers through prayers for successful operation. You may not believe it, but there are some people who pray for demonic people to succeed in their evil activities. They will say, “Man of God, we have a business, please pray for us.” And the so-called man of God would ask them to kneel down and would pray without finding out what sort of business they are talking about. I have had such experience before. Sometime ago, three girls who were below 20 came to see me. They said, “Man of God pray for us so that our business will prosper.” When I asked them what kind of business they were into, they said they needed prayer so that men would keep coming. I screamed and said, “You mean that you are prostitutes?” They said, “No we are just commercial sex partners.” I made them to understand that they would all end up in hell fire with that kind of business. I also made them to understand that they would not prosper with it, and that their family members they claimed to be helping with the filthy money they were making were being ruined.
Whatever you do in the house of God and is not energised by the Holy Spirit is useless as far as God is concerned. Some people who claim to have received the baptism of the Holy Spirit have not actually received the genuine one. They speak in tongues but still have demonic dreams and lack the fire and zeal of God. Some cannot even remember the last time they told anyone about Christ, while others are still living in sin even though they speak in tongues. The baptism in the Holy Spirit should be an experience that ought to revolutionize a person’s life. The reverse is the case with present-day believers. Some ignorantly wear materials dedicated to demons and some have employed house girls who are snakes.
If you want to become an intimate friend of the Holy Spirit, you must create time for it and put in everything into it otherwise you would be joking. Many people have been elevated beyond their spiritual level in their churches and as a result, their lives are being destroyed. If you were made a chairlady of a group because of your good personality and comportment or because of the British hats you wear to the church and not because you have the power and fire of God in your life, then do not be surprised when the demonic members of your group begin to deal with you.
When the fire of God comes upon your life, certain people will not visit you again since they know they will receive arrows if they dare come. Arrows from where you may ask? They are arrows from the angels of God, simply because you are on fire. If you are not known as a Christian in your place of work, your street and your home, it is because there is no fire. It is not to the glory of God when your neighbours make bad remarks about you as a Christian. You should have a good testimony anywhere you are as a Christian.
ARE YOU ASHAMED OF CHRIST?
A lot of people hide their Bibles in their bags for fear of being called fanatics. This explains why some people refuse to paste their church’s stickers on their cars. They don’t want people to call them fanatics, whereas Jesus was called a mad person. Those who have fire in them are ready to declare that “Jesus is the way” to anybody. Those who lack fire are cowards. They are always disturbed when they see strange things, for example, sacrifices around them. Instead of dealing with these things, they will be looking for a man of God to help them. If when you come to the house of God you present a picture different from what you are outside, then something is really wrong with your life.
Other ways of knowing a Christian who lacks fire are:
1. When a Christian finds it difficult to pray on his or her meals before eating.
2. Uncontrollable tongue.
3. Unforgiving spirit.
4. Hypocrisy.
5. Lack of interest in Bible study and prayers.
6. Jealousy and envy.
7. Seeking the praise of men.
8. Fear.
Sometime ago, I was travelling to somewhere in the western part of Nigeria, and the driver of the vehicle I was going with was very reckless. A man who was sitting behind him tried to caution him about his dangerous driving, but he got annoyed instead, stopped the vehicle and asked the passenger to get down and take back his fare. The man ignored him and he continued with his dangerous driving. Then, the passenger turned to me and said, “Youngman, you are sitting by this man in the front and you cannot caution him.” I said, “Let him continue speeding, if he crashes, I will get out and he will die.” When the driver heard my statement, he slowed down without anybody telling him again to do so.
It is when the fire of the Holy Ghost comes upon you that you will start enjoying God. The most exciting experience you can have is to experience God’s power. As you read through the book of Acts of the Apostles, you see the demonstration of power and excitement that thrills one more than the disco hall. You see wonders upon wonders, impossible cases receiving solution and hypocrites being exposed. This is what God wants His church to be. When everyone that comes to church collects God’s fire, the enemy will be in trouble. But if the percentage of those with wet wood is higher than those with fire, the fire will be put out easily.
Do you have a fire extinguisher in your life? If you do, do not cover it up, expose it. Follow the example of that pastor who came to me with a bread and said, “Doctor, this bread is my wife,” and I said, “What does that mean?” He said, “I sleep with the bread.” There was also another man who brought a duck and confessed that he used to sleep with it. If they had covered it up and came to pray and sing: “Let the fire fall on me,” it would have been a waste of time.
WHAT ARE THE FIRE QUENCHERS?
1. Sin: Sin is a fire quencher. The Bible says, “She that liveth in pleasure is dead while she liveth.”
2. Television and video sets: Some people are so addicted to TV that they put it first before the things of God. We must also do away with all the worldly and demonic films because they are all fire quenchers.
3. Depression: When you are heavy hearted, depressed and easily fed up with everything, you are inviting fire quenchers into your life.
4. Anger.
5. Lack of love: Jesus says, “By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples when ye love one another.” For example, if you do not see a fellow brother or sister in your house fellowship for a long time, do you find out why he or she has not been coming? The love of God in you would prompt you to go and look for the person.
6. Hypocrisy.
7. Lust.
8. Laziness.
9. Prayerlessness.
10. Idle talks and lying: Gossips are satanic advertisers, and the reason we have them is that there are those who listen to them. Some people are professional listeners who are ready to listen to everything they are told. They should know that if they want their ears to be full, it would take them to hell fire. Do you know that the devil can drag people to hell fire through any of their sensual organs such as the ear, mouth, eye and nose? And if you have a friend who is a gossip, be sure he will gossip about you too.
A long time ago, this country was in thick darkness. Human sacrifices were very common (even though they are still doing it up till now). People were living in fear. People could not trust one another and in many of our towns and villages, witches operated in the afternoon and boasted openly. At that time, nobody knew how to pray fire prayers. Idols demanded to be worshipped and anyone who refused would be punished. Anyone who seemed to be living well and dressing nicely died suddenly in his or her sleep. Some parents with about 20 children hardly had any survivor. One day-old babies were used to prepare concoctions to prolong lives. Evil spirits dwelling in trees roamed about in villages and towns victimizing people. Whenever hunters fired shots at animals, they saw to their dismay human corpses instead. Eventually, some men of God collected fire and began to disgrace all these evil powers. That is why you and I can now serve God more conveniently than the Christians of those days.
You need to ask for that fire today, and if you are serious about it, you will get it. If you have anything to sort out before the Lord, it is high time you did that. The Lord Jesus Christ is waiting for you. Tell the Lord to remove every fire extinguisher from your life. I want to assure you that as you do so, the good Lord will visit you in a new way, in Jesus’ name.
PRAYER POINTS
1. Oh Lord, revive your church and begin with me, in the name of Jesus.
2. Holy Ghost fire, make my life your raw material, in the name of Jesus.
3. I receive fire to quench every fire of the enemy, in the name of Jesus.
