Malachi 4:1. “For behold, the day is coming, burning like a furnace…and the day that is coming will set them ablaze….”
In preparing the way of the Lord, John the Baptist gave special emphasis to the work of the Holy Spirit prophesied by Malachi and Isaiah—a work of fire that threshes and cuts away at the root of that which restricts and voids all that God would do in us.
And then came the day of fire! Like a rushing mighty wind, it shook the little remnant of believers and the place where they waited on the day of Pentecost; the Church was born. On the day of Pentecost, The tongues of fire and the Spirit of burning sat upon the disciples, and they were changed through their awareness of the Spirit of God. All the little grievances, all the doubts, all tendencies to waver in their dedication were burned away. The place where they were was shaken that day. The baptism of fire was the beginning of the shaking of the whole world.
We need to also experience this baptism of fire. The Spirit came upon them so mightily that it burned out their individuality. The promise of that baptism of fire is for us also, (Acts 2:39). What happened on that first day of Pentecost was an initial fulfillment of the experience of fire. The Lord is restoring the baptism of fire to the church.
Just being baptized with the Holy Spirit is not enough; we also need to be baptized with fire. John the Baptist prepared the way for the baptism in fire. If we really want to know God we need the fire of His holiness. The fire will refine our walk with God, so the Holy Spirit can use us to shake the world.
We need a Pentecost of fire. There is a distinction between receiving the Holy Spirit and receiving the baptism of fire. Many have thought that it was just one experience; however, it involved two different experiences in the life of the Lord Jesus Christ. He was filled with the Holy Spirit, but He also talked about the baptism of fire that He was to undergo (Luke 12:50). John spoke about the Holy Spirit coming, but he also spoke of a baptism of fire (Matthew 3:11–12).
When the Holy Spirit and fire was poured out on the day of Pentecost we can see the results, we can see the power, the anointing, the miracles and the oneness in which the disciples moved. Fifty days before, those believers were hiding behind closed doors for fear of the Jews. The Shepherd had been smitten, and all the sheep were scattered. Peter had denied the Lord, and Thomas had doubted. The early believers were willing to sell everything they had and lay the money at the apostles’ feet (Acts 2:42–47).
The fire is what prepares us for discipleship.
Many believers receive the Holy Spirit years before they come into a real walk in the Spirit. But when they do enter into such a walk, the baptism by fire becomes more and more an experience in their lives. There is no way we will be able to meet the trials ahead of us unless we go through a baptism of fire first. This is the experience which will prepare our hearts for the days ahead. When we come into a walk with God we experience the fire. When we come into a walk with God we experience things other Christians never experience.
We do not really have an effective ministry like Jesus did, unless we go through the fire. The fire only hurts until the old life is dead. A walk with God is characterized by a baptism of fire, so that only dedicated seekers of God experience it. The baptism of fire brings us into a real walk with God. When people see the cost of discipleship they do not enter the fire, they think it is unreasonable, the carnal mind rejects it.
People want the gifts of the Spirit, but they do not want the fire of the Spirit. The minute the fire of testing begins to burn, many turn aside to a lesser level of God in their lives.
In a walk with God, we cannot talk about being an ex-anything; by the time we go through the fire, we no longer have a past. We are dead to self. The baptism of fire takes away the professionalism that characterizes much of Christianity. Some people rejoice that they have a certain seniority, or position. When we go through the fire, we are persecuted by the church at large, we become a threat to religious movements and traditional Christianity, because of the revelation and power that we walk in.
If we welcome and submit to the baptism of fire, we are being prepared to enter into the Kingdom.
There is still ambition in the traditional church system, but anyone who comes into a real walk with God does not seek a place. Such a person is not concerned if they are up at the top or way down at the bottom. If we are to be a real ministry, we will walk through the fire. The Lord burns out ambition until His people are willing to do what He asks of them.
When Jesus spoke of the baptism with which He was to be baptized , He had already received the Holy Spirit, and had been baptized in water. He was referring to a baptism of fire. The disciples received both baptisms simultaneously on the day of Pentecost
Paul said, …I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it. I Thessalonians 5:23–24. Anyone who has not entered into the sanctification and the preparation of the Lord in every realm of his being—spirit, soul, and body—will be in trouble in the days ahead.
The baptism of fire is necessary to prepare us to go through the days to come. The only people who will be immune to the fires of judgment will be those who have passed through the baptism of fire.
When the Lord brings promises and prophecies about the things that will take place, He immediately puts us into an experience. A true Pentecost experience is the launching pad to move us into a ministry. We may begin to minister with gifts, but we have a real ministry only after we have been through the fire. Gifts are given to people even though they are filled with self-ambition. A real ministry comes forth when the fire has been applied to a person’s ambition, when the fire has burned up the chaff of their life. When the baptism of fire has taken place, our focus is no longer on having certain gifts; our life becomes the evidence that we are a ministry of God. There is a difference between something that we do as we work ourselves into a place of importance, and what we do after God has put the fire to us and consumed the chaff. When He has consumed the chaff, then we begin to minister to the Lord.
A Pentecostal experience of receiving the Holy Spirit without the baptism of fire is something we can talk people into.