When God’s Fire Falls

When God’s Fire Falls

Watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ns-xDm9cgSE

John Whitehead, president, and founder of the Rutherford Institute said, “If there isn’t a revival in this country of some sort … we’re moving toward a state that would be very much like pagan Rome.”

There’s a generally accepted truth that says if people were left to their own devices and free to choose their own course for life, then they would go from bad to worse, that is, unless this tendency is reversed by God’s grace.

We see this outcome in the Bible where it says in the book of Judges when things were good; the Jewish people started to do what was right in their own eyes, and in the process left God’s word and ways behind. As a result, they soon found themselves oppressed and in dire straits. They then cried out to God who then delivered them. And this happened time and time again.

You see, God in no way desires for His people to stay in a state of moral decay, and as a result live under His divine judgment. So, God delivers His people, He sends down holy fire, or what some have described as revival.

“Restore us again, O God our Savior, and put away your displeasure toward us … Will You not revive us again, that Your people may rejoice in You?” (Psalm 85:4, 6 NIV)

Fire throughout the Bible is a symbol of God’s presence, power, and purity. In fact, the Bible speaks of the need of God’s people to purify themselves by the fire of God’s word and Spirit. So, it’s not without significance that the words for ‘purify’ and ‘purge’ in the Greek come out of the Greek word for fire.

And so, we as God’s people need to pray for God’s fire to fall, we need to pray for revival fire much the same as the prophet Isaiah called out for.

“Oh, that You would rend the heavens! That You would come down! That the mountains might shake at Your presence. As fire burns brushwood, as fire causes water to boil -- To make Your name known to Your adversaries, that the nations may tremble at Your presence.” (Isaiah 64:1-2 NKJV)

It is in such days of revival that God’s fire comes down as He manifests His presence, which is when we realize God’s power and greatness, and our own unworthiness and complete dependence upon God. And it is in these times of revival that God accomplishes more in hours and days than what the church has accomplished in years.

What we need to understand is that it’s God’s nature to bless, and an outpouring of the Holy Spirit is one of God’s greatest blessings. Such revivals have continued to dot the spiritual landscape of the church’s history and have been described as an experience of spiritual refreshment along with new manifestations of God’s grace and power. Some have even described it as God’s spiritual fire touching down like a powerful tornado of blessings.

In these cases, these divine manifestations have been marked by an unusually widespread awareness of God’s presence, mercy, grace, and power, changing people’s lives. Listen to some of these accounts from those who were there.

In 1825 through 1826, revival fire swept through central New York, mainly through the preaching of Charles Finney. Finney lists out these characteristics that were everywhere.

· The prevalence of a mighty Spirit of prevailing prayer

· Overwhelming conviction of sin

· Sudden and powerful conversions to Christ

· Great love and abounding joy of the converts

· Intelligence and stability of the converts

· Great earnestness, activity, and usefulness in prayer and labor for others

In the early 1900’s the country of Wales experienced a great outpouring of the Holy Spirit as Evan Roberts taught the people to pray, “Send the Holy Spirit now, for Jesus Christ sake.” Roberts emphasized these four points.

· Confess openly and fully any unconfessed sin

· Put away from your life anything doubtful

· Obey promptly anything the Spirit tells you to say and do

· Confess Christ openly

And through this great time of revival Roberts noticed these three things

· Enormous congregations

· Unity between denominations

· The Baptism of the Holy Spirit

And while revivals are a sovereign work of God, there is one thing that marks them all, and that is obedience on the part of God’s people to His word.

God is eager to come down with the firepower of His grace to meet our heart’s desire. And so, the question is, “Are we really hungry for a revival? Are we willing to prepare the way for a revival through obedience to God’s Word?” And do we really want to experience what the first church continued to experience, “Time of refreshing from the Lord” (Acts 3:19).