On the day of Pentecost, the day God fulfilled His promise to pour out His Spirit on all flesh, fire from heaven came down (Acts 2: 1-4). The fire that rested on the disciples was not just fire to speak in tongues. Speaking in tongues is good, it has so many wonderful benefits (1 Corinthians 14:2, Jude 20, Romans 8:26), but it’s just a small aspect of what can happen in our lives when the fire of the Holy Spirit comes on us.
The fire of the Holy Spirit that came down on the day of Pentecost was a fire for greatness; a fire to be great, a fire to do great things for God. Today the fire of the Holy Spirit shall come down on us and that fire will make us great. It will empower us to do great things for the Kingdom of God.
The fire that came down on the day of Pentecost manifested in these six ways:
1. The fire to destroy satanic plantings and strongholds.
A close look and study of the life of Peter will reveal that before the day of Pentecost, Peter was a fearful person. Peter displayed fear on several occasions. For instance in Matthew 14:25-26, when he saw Jesus walking on water, his heart was gripped with fear and he thought he was seeing a ghost. Fear can actually paint wrong pictures in your mind. This is the kind of fear that you are on the street at night, ahead of you is a broken branch of a tree which is about to fall off. Because there’s fear in your heart, that branch of tree can actually appear to you like a person holding a gun. You see it and start running away because you were afraid. But you were actually afraid of something that wasn’t there, something that doesn’t even exist.
Today, every fear that has been painting wrong pictures in our mind about ourselves, other people, or situations we are faced with will be destroyed by the fire of the Holy Spirit.
Matthew 14:28-30 is another instance when Peter demonstrated fear. He had started walking on water, but as he saw and focused on the wind, he became afraid and started sinking. Fear if not addressed can make you go down. I pray that as God’s word goes forth and we pray today, every fear making us sink spiritually, physically and financially, or causing our marriages, business, career and ministry to sink, to go down will be consumed by the fire of the Holy Spirit.
Then in Matthew 26:69-75, we see how fear made Peter deny our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ three times. Peter was scared for his life. He was afraid that if he confessed to knowing Christ and being one of His disciples, he too could be arrested or put to death. I pray that any fear in our heart that will make us deny and disown Jesus in the face of adversity, the fire of the Holy Spirit will remove from our hearts. Fear can put you in a position that you are so afraid that if you stand for Christ in that situation, you could be put to death, lose your job, or certain “privileges”. Any fear that will make us disown Jesus when we are called upon to stand for Him, the fire of the Holy Spirit will take completely away from our lives. Any fear that will make us sin against God, the fire of the Holy Spirit will burn out of our lives. Peter actually lied that day because he was afraid and we know lying is a sin. The fire of the Holy Spirit will set us free from every fear making us tell lies and other such acts that do not please our Father in heaven.
Fear is not of God. 2 Timothy 1:7 tells us this. On the day of Pentecost when the fire of the Holy Spirit came down, the hold of the spirit of fear which God didn’t give to Peter was destroyed by the fire of the Holy Spirit. Peter was set free that day from the stronghold of fear. This is evident in Acts 2:14. As fire from heaven came down and consumed the yoke of fear, Peter received supernatural boldness to address a crowd of people and preach to them about the same Jesus he had earlier denied. As fire from heaven came down, deliverance took place in Peter’s life. The fire of the Holy Spirit brings you under personal deliverance. The fire of God that came that day was FIRE FOR PERSONAL DELIVERANCE. Peter didn’t have to run to see a deliverance minister, he didn’t have to go for a deliverance program before he could be set free. Freedom and deliverance took place as the fire from God came to rest on him. If you need deliverance, what you need more than anything else is the fire of God to fall on you and fill you not a person, not a place, and that fire will fall on you right where you are.
Say this prayer: O LORD, LET THE FIRE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT REST ON ME AND DELIVER ME NOW FROM EVERYTHING YOU HAVE NOT PLANTED IN ME. Let your fire deliver me from fear, failure, poverty, sickness, barrenness and stagnation.
Jesus declared concerning Himself in John 14:30 that he had nothing of the devil on Him, the devil had no hold or claim over Him. So pray this prayer until everything of the devil is taken out of you. Pray this prayer with all of your heart so that after today, no planting, property or possession of the devil will be seen or found in you.
2. God’s refining fire came down on the day of Pentecost
Prior to the day of Pentecost, Peter had displayed spiritual pride. When Jesus told Peter that he would deny him, this was Peter’s response. “Even if all fall away on account of you, I never will” (Matthew 26:33). Peter boasted I can never do that. Peter was full of himself. Peter saw himself on a higher level spiritually than the other disciples. He believed denying Christ was something they could fall for not something someone like him could fall for. But what happened? Exactly what the scripture says “pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall” (Proverbs 16:18).
On the day of Pentecost a great change took place in Peter when the fire of the Holy Spirit came down on him. He was refined by the fire of God. This was why shortly after in Acts 3: 11-12 after they healed a man who had been lame from birth, there was no trace of spiritual pride in him. He gave all the glory to God. He didn’t take any form of credit for the miracle that had taken place. He didn’t boast that it was his prayer, boldness, courage or anything at all in him that brought about the miracle. On the day of Pentecost, God’s refining fire fell on Peter. We all need this refining fire.
PRAY THAT GOD’S REFINING FIRE WILL FALL ON YOU AND DESTROY EVERY HIDDEN PRIDE AND ARROGANCE IN YOU THAT CAN BRING YOU DOWN SPIRITUALLY, PHYSICALLY, FINANCIALLY.
1 Corinthians 10:12 tells us that even when you think you are standing, you need to be very careful so you don’t fall. This means we should always check ourselves to see if there’s any pride growing in us. We should check ourselves to see if we are looking down on others, thinking ourselves better than others. We need to be careful because if we are not, the person we are looking down on can be ahead of us tomorrow. The thing we think we can never do, we might find ourselves doing that exact thing.
You can’t go far with God when there’s pride in you. The fire of the Holy Spirit refined Peter and removed that pride that was limiting his greatness.
Anger didn’t allow Moses get to the promised land.
PRAY THAT GOD’S REEFING FIRE WILL FALL ON YOU AND REMOVE EVERYTHING IN YOUR LIFE THAT CAN HINDER YOU FROM GOINF FAR WITH GOD.
3. The fire for explosive growth and expansion came down on the day of Pentecost
It started with 3000 people being won to the Lord in Acts 2:41. Then God started adding daily to their numbers (Acts 2:47). By Acts 4:4, they had grown to about 5000 not counting the women and children that had come to believe in Christ. And on and on they kept expanding, increasing and multiplying. The fire for explosive growth and expansion was activated as the Holy Spirit came down. The fire to progress came down. That fire will come down today.
PRAY THIS PRAYER: HOLY SPIRIT, FILL MY CHURCH WITH THE FIRE FOR EXPLOSIVE GROWTH AND EXPANSION.
HOLY SPIRIT LET THE FIRE FOR EXPLOSIVE GROWTH AND EXPANSION COME UPON MY MINISTRY, BUSINESS, CAREER AND FINANCES.
In Acts 19:18-20, in that spirit of explosive growth and expansion, many who practiced sorcery, who were involved in witchcraft, repented and turned to the Lord. The fire of God created an atmosphere that was not conducive for these agents of darkness to operate. Rather, they surrendered to the Lordship of Christ. The kingdom of darkness was seriously being depopulated. When the fire of the Holy Spirit is present, it shakes and weakens the kingdom of darkness. In our time when so many people even people who sit down in churches and church services, are practicing sorcery, are operating with witchcraft spirit, we need a revival of this kind of fire.
So pray this prayer:
HOLY SPIRIT PLEASE RELEASE AFRESH ON THE BODY OF CHRIST THE FIRE TO POPULATE YOUR KINGDOM AND DEPOPULATE THE KINGDOM OF DARKNESS. Let that fire be manifest in all our gatherings and services. Let that fire make the atmosphere not conducive for agents of darkness on assignment in our homes, families, churches and nation to operate.
4. The fire for soul winning came down that day
An uncontrollable and unstoppable passion to preach to souls came down on the disciples. In Acts 4:1-4, Peter and John were seized and locked in prison because of their preaching to people about Christ. When they were released, they were warned not to talk about Jesus, not to preach any more. But they boldly declared that they couldn’t stop preaching about Christ (Acts 4:18-20). They were filled with an intense passion and fire for soul winning that not even being put in prison, not even their life being in danger could quench this fire. The fire of the Holy Spirit filled them with an unusual strengthen and determination to preach for Christ.
PRAY FOR THE FIRE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT TO REST ON YOU AND FILL YOU WITH A PASSION AND FIRE FOR SOUL WINNING.
We need this fire because when we have it, we will experience more answers to prayer (John 15:16). Perhaps the reason why we haven’t seen the answer to some prayers we have been praying for so long is because we are not personally involved in soul winning; we are not bearing fruits for the kingdom. Answers to our prayers are linked to our fruitfulness.
When last did you tell anyone about Christ? We truly need the fire for soul winning poured afresh on us.
5. The fire for spiritual discernment came down on the day of Pentecost as the Holy Spirit filled the disciples.
This was why in Acts 5:1-10, without anyone confiding in Peter about what Ananias and his wife had done, Peter knew that they were lying and had hid part of the money they got when they sold their property.
There are two types of fire. There is the fire from God. There’s also strange or unauthorized fire (Leviticus 10:1-3). It’s not everyone that is filled with fire that is carrying the fire of the Holy Spirit. You need to be able to discern strange fire from the fire of the Holy Spirit.
PRAY THAT THE HOLY SPIRIT WILL HELP YOU DISCERN THOSE CARRYING STRANGE FIRE SO YOU DON’T FALL PREY TO THEIR FALSE TEACHINGS.
When we do things in the flesh, do things contrary to what the Spirit of God wants, this is a form of unauthorized fire. You are acting in your own authority not under God’s authority which can be dangerous. At every point in time we need God’s backing. God can’t back us up for decisions we took outside His authority and leading.
PRAY THAT YOU WILL NEVER CARRY UNAUTHORIZED FIRE IN YOUR MINISTRY; YOU WON’T DO WHAT GOD HAS NOT COMMANDED YOU TO DO. YOU WOULD BE LED BY THE SPIRIT OF GOD.
6. The fire for the miraculous came down
From the moment the fire of God rested on Peter, a door was opened for him into the supernatural. Today God will fill you with His fire and a door for you to enjoy and experience the supernatural will be opened to you.
First, Peter saw God save 3000 souls in one day (Acts 2:41). This was a major breakthrough and miracle. This was followed by another major breakthrough and miracle, a man who had been lame from birth started walking (Acts 3:1-10). By Acts 5: 15-16, the fire for miracles was so mighty upon Peter that the sick were brought into streets, laid on beds and mats so that at least the shadow not the hand of Peter would fall on them and heal the sick as he passed by. Crowds were brought to him and those sick and possessed with evil spirits were healed and delivered. Miracles aren’t rare or scarce when the fire of God is at work. I pray that from today the fire of the Holy Spirit will fill our lives and miracles will no longer be rare in our lives. We will be moving from one miracle to another miracle.
When the fire of God is present miracles happen. How does this fire for the miraculous manifest? Sometimes the miracle can be an instant or an immediate answer to a prayer especially when you seriously need divine intervention. It could be your prayers are answered speedily, they are answered by fire (1 Kings 18:36-39). Sometimes it could be God bringing a solution to a problem that has been there for so long, a problem you never imagined could be solved. The man that was crippled from birth never imagined he could walk. The most and best he thought he could ever get from God was for God to touch someone’s heart and make that person give him money. But when the fire for the miraculous came down and located him, what he never imagined could be solved was solved, what he never imagined could change was changed. Or it could be God bringing back to life what is dead. As it happened to Dorcas who died and Peter prayed for her and she came back to life (Acts 9:36-40).
So pray along these lines:
FATHER ANSWER ME BY FIRE TODAY ESPECIALLY IN THOSE AREAS OF MY LIFE WHERE I NEED INSTANT AND URGENT DIVINE INTERVENTION.
FATHER, LIKE IT HAPPENED TO THE MAN LAME FROM BIRTH, LET THE FIRE FOR THE MIRACULOUS FALL ON THAT PROBLEM IN MY LIFE I HAVE BEEN BATTLING WITH FOR YEARS. LET YOUR FIRE BURN THAT PROBLEM TO ASHES TODAY.
FATHER, LIKE IT HAPPENED TO DORCAS, LET THE FIRE OF YOUR HOLY SPIRIT FALL ON EVERYTHING THAT IS DEAD OR DYING IN MY LIFE AND BRING ABOUT A REVIVAL AND RENEWAL.
Nobody remains the same after the fire of God comes upon the person. Your life will never be the same again.
