Holy Ghost Fire!
By Pastor Jim May
Matthew 3:11-12, "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: Whose fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into the garner; but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire."
John the Baptist came preaching that the Baptizer in the Holy Ghost was coming. Not only would He baptize with the Holy Ghost but with Fire. Why should we, as disciples of Christ, seek after and be baptized with the Holy Ghost and Fire?
We need the Holy Ghost for Boldness to speak what God wants us to say and do what God wants us to do.
In Acts Chapter 4, Peter and John were entering the temple to pray when they passed by the crippled beggar. It was the power of the Holy Ghost within them that had transformed these disciples from fear to having the boldness to speak to the beggar these words, “in the name of Jesus Christ, rise up and walk.”
It was the power of the Holy Ghost that moved upon the disciples and it was the power of the Holy Ghost that moved upon the beggar to heal him and give him strength to begin walking and leaping and praising God.
It was that same power of the Holy Ghost that gave them the ability to answer the Jews who questioned how this miracle had taken place. These disciples answered by calling them murderers, witnesses to murder and ignorant because they had crucified the Lord Jesus Christ.
Only the power of the Holy Ghost can make you that Bold and give your words that kind of power to strike at the heart of sinful man. The disciples went into their time of prayer and this verse describes what happened.
Acts 4:31, "And when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together; and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the word of God with boldness."
So we, as Christians, must have the Holy Ghost if we want to have POWER and BOLDNESS to witness, to preach and to minister to the lost.
Secondly, we need the Holy Ghost baptism to be filled with the Spirit of God and to have a closer walk with Him. We must allow Jesus to breathe the Holy Ghost upon us to give us the breath of spiritual life in Him.
John 20:21-22, "Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you. And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost:"
I want the Holy Ghost within me, giving me the breath of eternal life, and I want all that God has to offer for me to be an over-comer.
I want the Holy Ghost to breathe in me so that these old dead bones of flesh can have live in them through the power of God. I want that breath of God that gives me eternal life and will raise me in the Resurrection.
I want that Holy Ghost power, with the evidence of Speaking in other Tongues as the Spirit gives the utterance.
I want God’s power and I want God’s FIRE!
What does the Fire of God that comes with the Holy Ghost do for us?
The Fire of the Holy Ghost melts the heart of stone, turns it into a heart after God. Like the heat of a volcano on molten lava, our heart begins to flow with the guiding Hand of God to follow the paths that He has made for us.
The Fire of the Holy Ghost brings to light the dross (filthiness) of our soul and causes us to repent of the sin in our lives. Little by little, the Fire of the Holy Ghost burns away those things that beset us, those “little foxes that spoil the vines” in a constant refining process that brings us closer to a holy and sanctified Christ-centered life.
The Fire of the Holy Ghost will light your fire after God’s own heart and kindle a love for Jesus Christ that you never knew could be possible. Just as the fires of passion in a marriage relationship should never grow common or be taken for granted, the Fire of the Holy Ghost will keep your love and passion for Jesus fresh and new and growing.
The Fire of the Holy Ghost marks the very presence of God in our life.
Deuteronomy 4:24, "For the LORD thy God is a consuming fire, even a jealous God."
The all-consuming Fire of the Holy Ghost will consume your life and immerse you in service for the Lord of Heaven. God is a jealous God, not like men are jealous, but His greatest desire is to see each of us enter into our reward in the Kingdom of God and He will not tolerate anything in our lives that will keep us from that ultimate goal.
The Fire of the Holy Spirit will get you moving. You can’t be full of the Holy Ghost and be a bench warmer and more than you can stand barefoot on hot coals and not jump around and try to get away from them.
The Prophet Jeremiah said it this way in chapter 20, verse 9, "Then I said, I will not make mention of him, nor speak any more in his name. But his word was in mine heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary with forbearing, and I could not stay."
I believe that anyone who is full of the Holy Ghost and Fire will have to be on the move, ministering to someone, doing something to further the Kingdom of God and to let people know of the gospel of salvation through Jesus Christ. You can’t help but do so because it is in you and what is in you will come out!
I long for the day when we see more of the manifestations of the Holy Spirit within the church and within our individual lives.
I believe that the scripture is still true when Jesus says as His final words before being received into Heaven after His resurrection, "And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; they shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover."
Why don’t we have those things happening as much as they used to in the old days?
I believe it’s because we don’t put ourselves in a place for these kinds of things to happen, and we don’t put ourselves in those places because we don’t have the passion for the work of the Lord and for lost souls that we should, and we don’t have the passion for souls because we aren’t really full of the Holy Ghost.
We talk about it, preach about it, think about it – but we don’t really have it! If we did, we would see more signs, wonders and miracles because Jesus said that’s the signs that would follow those who believe.
We may speak in tongues once in a while, even shout every once in a while, but there isn’t much FIRE anymore because we have become to accustomed to the presence of God and we take Him for granted.
IT’S TIME WE WAKE UP AND SEE OUR CONDITION!
JESUS – WE NEED TO BE REFILLED; WE NEED TO BE FULL TO OVERFLOWING, AND IMMERSED IN THE HOLY GHOST AND FIRE!
We must do like Elijah in 1 Kings and call down the Fire from Heaven to consume us as living sacrifices, and cleanse our hearts and allow the Lord Jesus Christ to fill us again.
There are prerequisites to being filled with the Holy Ghost and Fire!
First, you must be saved. Repent of those things that have kept us from experiencing God’s Best in our lives.
Then we must be obedient to the call of God to go out into the world and witness for Jesus. We must be obedient to the leading of the Holy Ghost within us to do the work of the Kingdom.
Then we must be hungry for the bread of life and thirsty for the Word of God that fills the void within each of us. Ask and ye shall receive, seek and ye shall find, knock and it shall be opened. I don’t think we have been asking, seeking or knocking enough.
Then we must surrender our will to Jesus and allow the Holy Ghost to come in total commitment and belief that He will come.
Church, we need the Baptism in the Holy Ghost more than ever before. The days are getting more evil and if we don’t have the power of the Holy Ghost and Fire within us we don’t be able to stand in these last days.
Let’s prepare our hearts, pray for the refreshing rain of the Spirit from Heaven, seek the Face of God and ask Him for the Holy Ghost and Fire to be made manifest within us.
