Today’s New Covenant nugget is from Matthew 3:11
I indeed baptize you with water unto 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.
One of Jesus’ central assignments from the Father is to baptize His followers with the Holy Spirit and fire. Jesus wants to continually immerse born again, new creation, New Covenant believers in the Holy Ghost and fire… He wants us ‘on fire’ and burning with the anointed fire of the Holy Spirit on the inside and on the outside.
Fire baptism is not often talked about, but it is paramount in our Christian experience. Being baptized in fire by Jesus is more than speaking in tongues, more than a Pentecostal experience and it is more than power to be a witness… it is all of those things, but if we allow dead religion to subtract the Holy Ghost fire from the baptism, it would be like trying to start a car without sparkplugs, like trying to cook without heat and like sitting around wood that is not burning, to get warm.
Acts 2:1-4 says, “When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from Heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.”
Holy Ghost fire is one aspect of the anointing of God… His anointing has been described as a cloud, as rain, as a river, as oil, as wine and as fire. The cloud anointing protects you from circumstantial hardship, the rain anointing brings spiritual growth and blessings, the river anointing brings spiritual renewal, healing and refreshing, the oil anointing is a healing anointing and also an anointing of consecration, the wine anointing is a covenant anointing, it is an intoxicating anointing that submerges believers in deep worship and takes them into the realm of the spirit… the fire anointing empowers, propels, breaks free, energizes and infuses passion… it also destroys the work of the enemy and the flesh.
HOLY GHOST FIRE IS FUEL TO EVERYTHING THAT GOD HAS PLACED IN OUR LIVES AND IT IS DESTRUCTION TO EVERYTHING NOT GOD!
Hebrews 12:29 - “Our God is a consuming fire.”
TO BE ‘CONSUMED’ IS TO EITHER BE ‘TAKEN OVER’, OR ‘DESTROYED’…
GOD TAKES OVER AND FUELS OUR LIVES WITH PASSION AND WITH POWER WHILE AT THE SAME TIME DESTROYING AND BURNING AWAY EVERYTHING THAT IS NOT FROM HIM.
HIS FIRE IS BOTH PAINFUL AND POWERFUL, IT DESTROYS AND IT PROPELS!
Holy Ghost fire will burn up and destroy anything that God has not established in our lives while at the same time empowering, establishing and propelling forward everything that God has placed in our lives. His fire is good and essential for the new creation believer, but devastating for our flesh and devastating against the powers of darkness.
Jeremiah 20:9 says, “Then I said, “I will not make mention of Him, nor speak anymore in His Name.” But His Word was in my heart like a burning fire, shut up in my bones; and I could not hold it back.” Even though Jeremiah was suffering persecution, the fire of the Holy Spirit together with the Word of God burned like fire shut up in his bones and it propelled him through the pain to continue to minister and speak the Word!
The fire of God is what keeps you going when nothing else will… The rocket that went to the moon, ‘Saturn V’ weighed 5.5 million pounds… fire generated 34.5m Newtons (7.7m pounds) of thrust at launch and propelled all of those thousands of pounds of metal into space. Just like real fire can propel seemingly immovable objects, Holy Ghost fire can propel a man or a woman of God when nothing else can.
Without the fire of God, we will burn out, give up, give in, give out, cave in and fail – with His fire we will receive power, rise up, break through, overcome and be empowered to run our race with endurance by the anointing of fire!
Paul said to Timothy in 2 Timothy 1:6-7 (TPT), “I’m writing to encourage you to fan into a flame and rekindle the fire of the spiritual gift God imparted to you when I laid my hands upon you. For God will never give you the spirit of fear, but the Holy Spirit who gives you mighty power, love, and self-control.”
We need to rekindle the fire of God in our lives, we need a fresh baptism of fire… we need Jesus to immerse us into the fire of the Holy Ghost until it burns in our bones… we need the fire of God now more than ever!
HOW DO WE KEEP THE FIRE OF GOD BURNING?
David said in Psalm 5:3 (TPT), “At each and every sunrise You will hear my voice as I prepare my sacrifice of prayer to You. Every morning I lay out the pieces of my life on the altar and wait for Your fire to fall upon my heart.”
Like David, every day, lay out the pieces of your life on the altar and wait for His fire to fall upon your heart. Receive the fire of God by faith, in Jesus Name!
1. ASK JESUS TO BAPTIZE YOU WITH FRESH FIRE.
2. PRAY IN THE SPIRIT.
3. SING SONGS ASKING FOR THE FIRE OF GOD.
4. RECEIVE FRESH FIRE THROUGH THE LAYING ON OF HANDS.
Blessings on you, Nick
