POWER THROUGH FIRE BAPTISM
Dr. D. K. Olukoya
I want to encourage you to read this chapter prayerfully especially if you are not satisfied with your present spiritual life and would want improvement. Exodus 3: 1-6: “Now Moses kept the flock of Jethro, his father in law, the priest of Midian: and he led the flock to the backside of the desert, and came to the mountain of God, even to Horeb. And the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush: and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed. And Moses said, I will now turn aside, and see this sight, why the bush is not burnt. And when the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush and said, Moses, Moses (God’s double call. In the book of Samuel, when God called Samuel it was, Samuel Samuel, a double call). And He said, “Here am I. And he said, Draw not nigh hither; put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place where on thou standest is holy ground. Moreover He said, I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And Moses hid his face; for he was afraid to look upon God.”
We find one of the most important events in Scripture in the foregoing. The Bible has been divided into what Bible students call dispensations, which means different periods of time. This particular time signaled the beginning of what we call the dispensation of the law. It tells us about one man called Moses. People say a lot of things about the bush that refused to be consumed, because in the desert you find a lot of dry leaves, dry trees, cobwebs, bird nests and all kinds of things that are inflammable. These things were in that bush while the fire was on, yet it was not consumed. They were good materials for fire yet the fire rejected the bush and its contents as its own fuel supply. The fuel that supplied the energy of the fire was not from that bush, the fire sustained itself. So, it was not an ordinary fire. The focus of the fire was on Moses. Moses saw it, turned aside and there he received his call. And the Bible tells us that of all the prophets, there was none like Moses who spoke to God face to face. He was a very important man of God. If you read his history you will find out that even the devil tried to kill him at a young age just as the devil tried to kill Jesus at a young age. Sometimes at MFM, when we say, “Pray against the spirit of Herod,” many people don’t understand what we mean. The spirit of Herod is the spirit that kills good things in infancy. Herod was the man who killed all babies below two years old because he wanted to kill Jesus. The devil tried to kill Moses by the side of the water where they put him but God prevented that. The devil tries to kill many people because he knows what God would do with their lives.
Moses went to the best university in the world because Egypt was the best centre of knowledge in the world at that time. He was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians. He lived in the palace of the king.
The incident we are describing now happened at Mount Horeb. Horeb means a waste or a wilderness. All men of God must pass through the wilderness. Moses passed through his own wilderness. Elijah did as well. John the Baptist and even Jesus our Lord passed through their own wilderness. Jesus was there for 40 days and 40 nights. All holy men of God and anybody at all who wants to be useful to God must get to that place in his life, the place where fire is burning the bush and the bush is not consumed. Moses died at the age of 120 years. He spent his first 40 years in Egypt. It ended in disaster because he ended up as a murderer. Why? Because he tried to use his own power, he tried to use the arm of flesh which we know would always fail. He ended up as a murderer. He ran away from Egypt at the age of 40 to a place called Midian and there he did the kind of job that Egyptians hate so much; the dirty job of a shepherd which a graduate should not do. He did not know that God was teaching him the principle of shepherding,for a time was coming when he would lead three million people in the wilderness, just like Peter was first taught how to catch fish and then he learnt how to catch men.
He saw the burning bush at 80. That was the moment he met God and his life was never the same again. His life became meaningful and now had a purpose. He knew why he was called. He discovered the purpose of God for his life. There are many people who do not know God’s purpose for their lives and as such they are doing the wrong things. So, in summary, Moses spent the first 40 years of life thinking that he was somebody. He spent the second 40 years learning that he was nobody. And then he spent the last 40 years seeing what God could do with Mr. Nobody. He did not know what to do until he came across the fire.
Job 20:26: “All darkness shall be hid in his secret places: a fire not blown shall console him…” Job discovered the fire that nobody prepared with fuel. It is men who have moved like this that can be useful to God in any form.
Luke 3:16-17: “John answered, saying unto them all, I indeed baptize you with water but one mightier than I cometh, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to unloose, 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 will gather the wheat into His garner, but the chaff he will burn with fire unquenchable.” John the Baptist was a powerful messenger. The Bible tells us that his clothes were leather belt and clothes woven from camel’s hair, and his food was locust and honey. Jesus told us that amongst those born of women, none was greater than John the Baptist. He was the forerunner of our Lord Jesus Christ. A study of the life of John the Baptist reveals that he had a lot of wonderful qualities and one unforgettable one was that he was very precise in everything he did. He said, “I baptize but my own baptism is with water, somebody else is coming who shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire.” A lot of people know about water baptism. We thank God for it because when we are baptized in water it is the symbol that we have died with Christ and resurrected again. It is good. Also when you are baptized in the Holy Spirit you may speak in tongues, you may prophesy and all kinds of things may happen, but very few people know what we mean by baptism of fire. In fact, many who claim to know what it means do not really know. But verse 17 makes it very clear. Chaff is the refuse of grain and the straw of the corn. In those days in the land of Israel when people wanted to remove the chaff from the corn, they would thread upon the corn until the chaff is removed. Then they would separate the chaff from the grain and burn it with fire because if they do not burn it with fire, the wind would blow it into the grain, which they had cleaned.
The wheat represents the good in our lives; that which is produced by the Holy Spirit. The chaff represents the evil in us, produced by the flesh. The Lord knows how to separate the wheat from the chaff. Sometimes when He does it to us we would feel the heat in one particular area of our lives, which we love dearly and are not ready to let go. We all have some items in the showroom of our lives that are not valuable to God. Sometimes when God begins to touch these things, we complain that the pain is too much whereas it is the refining heat of God.
When God passes you through fire, you will come out a better vessel to serve the water of life to people. God will use both cold and hot vessels. If you are in the house of God now and you are hot for the Lord, He will use you and if you are cold, He will use you. You may wonder how He may use you if you are cold. He will use you as an example for others not to follow. He did this to the children of Israel many times. When they did the wrong thing, He disciplined them so that nobody follows them. But if you are hot He will use you to minister grace to others and He will use you as an example for others to follow. The only kind of people God will not use at all are the lukewarm people. He will just abandon them on the shelf. They would be stock on the shelf like expired wares. So you should allow the fire of God to do a deep work within you today.
A long time ago, this country was thrown into heavy darkness. Human sacrifice was common and a lot of horrible things happened. Anyone who wore good dresses did not wake up the next morning. People were afraid to call witches by name, they called them nicknames because they were afraid that they would die. In some places in this country witches actually went about in daytime, people grounded day old babies in mortars to use for medicine, some people received up to 2,000 incisions and we had many evil trees growing around. Sometimes when men of God cut these trees, blood would start coming out from them, or sometimes the following morning, they would start growing again as if you did not cut them. People’s lives were regulated by superstition. You could not whistle at night or call a snake by its name. Some hunters shot at animals which turned into human beings. Many rocks and stones demanded worship and if they were not worshipped, there was trouble.
We were told about a king who had a special cutlass which used to spark fire, and people were afraid of him. But then something happened. God raised up certain men in this country who received more than the Holy Spirit and the gifts of speaking in tongues and body vibrations. They received the baptism of fire. These men entered forbidden forests, stopped the killing of twins, silenced powerful demons and chased them out of their hiding places. One of these men got to this king and commanded the cutlass to be powerless and its sparkling ceased immediately.
FIRE BAPTISM
The blunt truth is that there are many people with the baptism of the Holy Spirit but there are very few people who have received the baptism of fire. Those who have received the baptism of fire would not mind whether somebody is annoying them or not. There are characters that you will notice in them. Virtually anywhere in the Old Testament that God appeared, fire was always present. Fire symbolizes the presence of God, the unquenchable fire. We remember the God of Elijah, the one that answered by fire. An iron would not bend easily unless you push it into fire and it becomes hot. The reason some people have not been bent is because there is no fire in them. Therefore, God says, “Okay, I abandon you to your situation.” God will not abandon me to my situation, in Jesus’ name."
When you go through the baptism of fire God will reschedule your life. A lot of people are rescheduling their own lives after their parents who made mistakes and are now in hell fire. They would say, “Because my daddy was a member of the place I must be there and die there.” May God have mercy on them. God is crying, “Be rescheduled, be rescheduled,” but they refuse to be rescheduled. People hate change so much but that is what brings progress. It is because they have not passed through the baptism of fire and so God finds it difficult to bend them. He just abandons them. The lame would be beating the drum while the leper would be singing and a child of God who has not been rescheduled would be dancing. That is very unfortunate. There are many such people around now. Until you listen to that rescheduling, many things won’t find their ways out. This is the blunt truth of the word of God. Raw gold just dug out of the earth never looks good. But when it is passed through fire to remove the impurities, it comes out clean.
The reason unclean spirits and all kinds of things are still hiding in some people’s lives is that there is no fire in them. Beloved, we need the fire of God in our midst and when it comes in, the promise of the word of God would come to pass. The strangers would fade away and run out of their hiding places, because when the fire comes in, it does not spare the ants, the elephant or the snake, it burns everything. But many people are afraid of what will happen if they dare get on fire. If you are like that, you need to be rescheduled. This may be your final call.
Fire would produce heat and make people hot
The reason some people are so slow when it comes to spiritual development and the things of God is that there is no fire, no baptism of fire. All they do is speak in tongue: “Baba bakakaka,” and immediately after that, they sleep and the night caterers come and say, “Well, you have blown your tongue it is time for night meal.” And the person who was speaking in tongues now begins to consume food, which weakens his spiritual life.
How can unbelievers be running after you a Christian girl? You are praying for a Christian husband and it is only married men and unbelievers who find you beautiful. Something is wrong somewhere. Something has to be burnt in your life to remove that magnet inviting evil people to you.
FIRE COOKS
The reason some people make a big start and have poor finishing is because there is no fire. Fire symbolizes power and lack of it means powerlessness. Fire produces light and without it there would be darkness.
Have you received the baptism of fire? Lack of this baptism is why many Christians are suffering. A Christian who is not interested in progress has no fire. A Christian who is not excited about the things of God has no fire. A Christian who gets weighed down by long prayer, has no fire. If certain things are still coming upon you to press you down on your bed, it is because there is no fire. Witches and wizards roam around the house freely when they know that the person is cold. Some people are in a hurry to escape from God’s presence. When they are in the house of God, they are always in a hurry to go. To some, prayer and fasting is becoming very difficult because there is no fire. Some people come to the MFM and say, “I thank God that my prayer life has changed.” We are not asking for your prayer life to only improve but for it to get on fire. Perhaps your Holy Ghost baptism is just speaking in tongues, you forget that there is a difference between your possessing the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit possessing you. The Holy Sprit will not possess you until you have passed through the baptism of fire, because when the chaff is still there it means that fire has not burnt it. That way, the Holy Spirit cannot possess you fully. It can only enter and operate in a little way. But for total possession, fire has to fall.
You want to reign with Christ always, but never once in your life have you seen a vision of heaven. What you see are masquerades, night caterers and serpents. With which Jesus do you want to reign when these are what you are seeing. When others say, “I saw angels of the living God praising God in heaven and I joined them; it was so wonderful,” you are saying, “I saw snakes.” You should be ashamed of preaching the gospel.
Many are just conquerors but not more than conquerors. Somebody who is more than conquerors will not only conquer, he will also take captives. How many captives have you made for the Lord? You are still busy sewing tight skirts so that everybody can see your shape. How many captives have you won for the Lord? Many people are praying that they want to grow but it is not coming from their hearts. Something within them is saying, “No, you cannot grow.”
It is lack of the baptism of fire that makes it difficult for people to run away from strange things and situations. All the virtues of many men have been buried under the sea by strange powers that have collected their sperm and have stored it there and they are busy going around. It is because there is no fire in their lives.
When you receive the baptism of fire three things will happen:
1. Jeremiah 20: 9 says, “Then I said I will not make mention 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.” When you receive the baptism of fire you cannot relax. It is not possible because the fire will not let you. You cannot see sinners and feel unconcerned. You would not be able to do without prayer and you would find it difficult to be away from your Bible. You would want to sit down and read it through. That is what we call baptism of fire.
2. 1 Corinthians 9: 16 says, “For though I preach the gospel I have nothing to glory of: for necessity is laid upon me, yea, woe is unto me, if I preach not the gospel.” You cannot stop preaching. When the occult or witchcraft people see you they would mark you out and avoid you.
3. Job 32: 19-20 says, “Behold, my belly is as wine which hath no vent; it is ready to burst like new bottles. I will speak, that I may be refreshed I will open my lips and answer.” The power of God would be burning within you. You will wake up in the night speaking in tongues. God will be talking to you and you will see what God wants you to do. You will not live in darkness or semi-darkness.
Have you received the baptism of fire? A pregnant woman who had the baptism of fire went to the market. There, she mistakenly stepped on what an idol worshipper displayed for sale. The idol worshipper jumped up and started to rain curses on her while she was saying that she was sorry. He cracked his sticks and fire began to come out of his mouth. This pregnant woman said, “I quench that fire in your mouth, in the name of Jesus,” and the fire quenched. The man said, “What did you do now?” The woman said, “I spoke to your fire, in Jesus’ name and secondly, I returned all your curses back to you, in Jesus’ name.” When the man heard that, he ran away. If the woman had no baptism of fire, it would have been a terrible day for her. In fact, the power of darkness could change her baby from there.
Unfortunately, a lot of people are becoming friends with fire extinguishers. What quenches the fire of God?
FIRE EXTINGUISHERS
Lust: Your imagination indulges uncleanness.
Idolatry: If you permit anything to come between you and your God, it becomes an idol. For example, your job, money, etc.
Laziness: Life of ease at home and lack of zeal for the things of God and hatred for long prayer sessions. These are fire extinguishers.
Over-sensitivity: Bitterness rises quickly in the hearts of some people immediately somebody disagrees with them.
Judgmental spirit.
Gossip: All gossips are devil’s advertisers.
Worry: This is when you are anxious about the future.
Selfishness: This is when you ignore the interest of others and you are only interested in yourself.
Distraction: This is when you are unable to focus on Christ and you find it difficult to read the Bible and gain something from it.
Lying.
Discouragement: Some people are easily discouraged. At the first sign of failure, they run away. They quit when things are hard.
Abusive tongue: Some people cannot control their temper.
Depression: This is when you allow despair to overtake you. You think of your problems always and withdraw from everybody when the Bible says, “I will not despair for I have believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.”
Fear: All kinds of fear are in the lives of people.
Procrastination: This is when you are always planning to go higher and dig deeper but always postponing the day you will start.
Lack of sexual control: People in this category should forget about spiritual growth.
The enemies of our soul have the most powerful scanning machine that you can think of. They can look and locate our weaknesses quickly. They struggle so much that people will not receive the baptism of fire. When the baptism of fire falls on a person, the person can prophesy for five hours non-stop. Many things will be drawn out of the person’s life. He or she would not have to pray to be delivered. The fire will answer everything. All infirmities would disappear. When fire falls on fibroid or whatever it may be, it would melt away because God did not create it with you. It is chaff and fire has to burn it.
Beloved, if you are ready today, I want you to bow down your head and begin to ask the Lord to forgive you any sin that would prevent the fire from falling upon you, because during the prayer session the fire will fall and things will burn and you will be catapulted to a higher realm. You will go from the position of weakness to that of power. When some people came against Elijah and extended the invitation of failure to him, he said, “Instead of me to come down, let fire come down.” And that was how 102 people were roasted on the ground. The third group of 51 people that came to him adopted a different approach because they were afraid to die. When you are in Elijah’s position, who is the enemy that can sit on your brain or your business? There would be no need for you to go to the hospital when you have the great Physician.
Please, if you are not ready for the fire that would come down as you pray, don’t pray.
PRAYER POINTS
1. Holy Ghost fire, fall upon me, in the name of Jesus.
2. All strangers, loose your hold, in the name of Jesus.
3. O Lord, crucify me on your altar now, in the name of Jesus.
4. O Lord, set me on fire by the Holy Ghost, in the name of Jesus.
5. Everything that is cooperating with evil in my life, stop your cooperation, in the name of Jesus.
6. My life, begin to cooperate with the Holy Ghost, in the name of Jesus.
7. All the negative things that I have been eating, I refuse to eat you anymore, in Jesus’ name.
8. Fire from God, fall upon my life now, in the name of Jesus.
9. (Stretch forth your hands as you say this:) Lord, put the head of my Goliath in my hands, in the name of Jesus.
10. My enemy shall bow down before me, in the name of Jesus.
11. O God, make me a vessel of your power, in the name of Jesus.
