“Give me one hundred preachers who fear nothing but sin, and desire nothing but God, and I care not a straw whether they be clergymen or laymen; such alone will shake the gates of hell and set up the kingdom of heaven on Earth.” – John Wesley

Matthew 3:11

¹¹ “I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.

When John the Baptist introduced Jesus to the world, he introduced him as the one who will baptize us with the Holy Spirit and fire. It’s an interesting choice of words for John the Baptist.

Many are knowledgeable when it comes to the baptism of the Holy Spirit but many can’t seem to get what baptism in fire means. What I am sure of is that this is not some fire walk trick being done in some motivational speaker’s event. Fire talks about purification. Fire symbolizes passion. It is directly linked with the Holy Spirit. John baptized with water. Jesus baptizes (immerses us) in the Holy Spirit and in fire. A contrasting picture of how humans baptize in water and Jesus with fire.

In the road to Emmaus, the two men’s heart burned within them. I have personally felt that burning in my heart. Many times when God gives you a burden, you know you can’t contain it’s either you burst out praising, or burst out crying. It’s like what Jeremiah mentioned,  But if I say, “I will not mention his word or speak any more in his name,” his word is in my heart like a fire, a fire shut up in my bones. I am weary of holding it in; indeed, I cannot.

When the Holy Spirit came in the upper room, it was described that tongues like fire sat upon each of them (Acts 2:3) When we visited a church in Cubao, one of their pastors, a young woman in her late twenties recounted how God called her from a life of rebellion during a conference she was directing for her father. She couldn’t stop crying and she heard a message from the Lord to help her dad with their church which at that time numbered less than a hundred people.

What happened next was a revival. She got radically transformed and started preaching and teaching. She remembers asking God for the fire to come and a spiritual revival broke in their small group. This moved on then to other neighboring churches and youth ministries would grow from 20 people to 500 people. Later on, they would hold conferences that would attract thousands of young people to come. It was wildfire! Today Faythe pastors a church in the University Belt and continues to preach the gospel boldly!

Elijah said, “The God who answers by fire, He is God.” ( 1 Kings 18:24) It’s time we call the Holy Spirit’s fire to ignite the church again

some of the thoughts in this article was taken from the book Evangelism by Fire by Reinhard Bonnke