Fire of the Holy Ghost

First I want to remind us all, and at the same time to give our God glory, honor and praise, because of who He is!  He is our Father, our Protector, our Savior, our Guide, and so much more!  Not only that He already had plans for us from the foundations of the world, but he chose you and I which makes us very special to Him! 

He also knew the calling on our lives and He knows everything that we’re going through and going to go through.  So now that we have come to the place that we know who we are and who’s we are, He’s going to see to it that we are equipped to perform the work for the Kingdom.

He has given us His Word, His power, His guidance and because Zion is calling and He knows we will answer, He has given us His anointing because it’s the anointing that destroys the yokes.  And because our feet will carry Him wherever and whomever He sends us to, He has sealed us with the Holy Ghost and with fire to get the work done!!!  That’s why John said, “The one coming after me is mightier than I and he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and fire”!!

Text:  Luke 3 (the ministry and call of John the Baptist):  (vs 12-18) [He speaks of the one coming after him that would baptize with the Holy Ghost and fire]:  Vs 16: 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”.

Topic: “The Fire of the Holy Ghost”!

Let me tell you, this “fire” is no ordinary fire.  This “fire” will never go out.  Fire is found throughout the scriptures from Genesis to Revelation.  How many of you know we are experiencing this “fire”!

What is “fire”?  The Greek word for fire is pur (poor), and it means lightning; fiery; fire.  Our Father wants us hot, fiery for His Kingdom!

 Psalm 104:4: Who makes his angels spirits; his ministers a flaming fire!  This word “fire” is the Hebrew word esh, meaning, fire; burning; fiery; flaming; hot.  So then our Father wants us “hot”! 

Listen to what was spoken to the angel of the church of the Laodiceans:

·         Revelation 3:14: These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God.  Vs 15: I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot:  I would thou were cold or hot.  Vs 16: So then because thou art lukewarm and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.

Spue is from the Greek word eme’o, meaning to vomit.  We have to be “hot” for God because “lukewarm” is not going to do.  We have to be on “fire, flaming, fiery” for God!!  When we’re on “fire”, we’re excited and joyful being on the move for the Father!  As I heard one Pastor say, “He that sits on fire shall rise”!!

Fire is generally used in the Bible as a symbol of destruction of evil and error.  What is error?  It’s taken from the root word plane’ (plan-ay’), meaning fraudulence; a straying from orthodoxy or piety; deceive; seduce; wander.

·         1 John 4:6: We are of God:  he that knoweth God heareth us:  he that is not of God heareth not us.  Hereby know we the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.

Fire stands for cleansing and purification.  Fire in its true essence is the fire, Spirit, or Divine energy which never ceases its life giving, purifying glow.  When its cleansing work is completed in man’s mind and body, there is no more error to be consumed and it then manifests in purified man as his eternal life.  So can you see how and why we can reach full maturity in God?  We can all come in the unity of the faith and of the knowledge (recognition) of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ (Ephesians 4:13).  This is all  because of the Holy Ghost and fire!!

What is the Holy Ghost?  It is the Holy Spirit?  What is the Holy Spirit?  It’s nothing else but God Himself!  It is His Presence in Spirit form and He’s in us and we’re in Him!  1 John 4:4: Greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world:  vs 17: As he is, so are we, in this world.  We don’t have to die and go up beyond the blue to be like Him, we already are, right now, in and on the earth!

We sure enough can’t lose with the stuff we use!!!  That is, the Holy Ghost and fire!

Religion focuses on water baptism and its okay.  If you’ve been water baptized, I’ve been water baptized myself several times, but that’s only a showing of outward cleansing, it surely can’t wash our sins away.  Water baptism is demonstration of our obedience to Jesus Christ.  It is a symbol to identify with the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus.  In certain Christian denominations, such as the Lutheran Churches, Baptists and others, baptism is the door to church membership with candidates taking baptismal vows.  That’s alright, but we have come to know that water baptism is not enough.  I’ve heard said, “Some go down dry devils and come up out of the water wet ones”.  This is why we need the “fire baptism of the Holy Ghost”! 

·         Luke 3:16: 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”.

Baptize is from the Greek word bapti’zo, which means to make whelmed (indulge; submerge or bury someone or something); full wet.

This “fire” is necessary to do an “inside” job, while the water only symbolically cleanses the “outside”.  This “fire” cleanses the inside!  God works from the inside out.

What will the “fire” do?  It will do two things:  (1) It will purify and burn all your bondages off of you that you are bound with, if you submit to God:  (2) If we reject Him that same fire will burn and consume us along with the bondages.

This fire burns on the inside of us and begins to melt the stony heart. 

·         Jeremiah 17:9: The heart is deceitful and desperately wicked:  who can know it? 

·         Vs 10: I the LORD search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways and according to the fruit of his doings.

In relation to the “heart”, God is not talking about that muscle that pumps blood through your body, but the “heart” is the real you, the heart of you, right in the pit of your stomach.  In the Hebrew it’s the root word leb, meaning, feelings; will; intellect; the center or middle of you; mind; understanding.  It’s the area you feel tightening up in the pit of your stomach when you become offended or angry.  Once we turn to God and begin to allow Him to melt that stony heart with His Holy Ghost fire, then we will begin to turn to Him and then the “fire” begins to burn those bondages of guilt, shame, hatred, fear, backbiting, all filthiness and so much more I haven’t named can be consumed.  Then we look at life from a whole new perspective.  This “fire” causes our whole life to change for the better.  This “fire” continuously burns on the inside to keep us in perfect peace!

As this “fire” continually burn in us, we find ourselves having a love for God and for people who are in dire need of what we have on the inside. 

We find ourselves becoming bold and having a desire to do the will of our Father.  We thank God for the water and fire baptism.  Water and fire are the same substance because hydrogen and oxygen compose water and fire.  So if you want your thirst quenched you can become water.  If you don’t want it quenched you can become fire.  Water satisfies the people.  So we are the water of life and fire of God. 

·         Proverbs 25:21: If thine enemy be hungry, give him bread to eat; and if he be thirsty, give him water to drink:  vs 22: For thou shalt heap coals of fire upon his head, and the LORD shall reward thee.

·         Hebrews 12:29: Our God is a consuming fire.

·         Deuteronomy 4:24: For the LORD thy God is a consuming fire, even a jealous God.

This was the “fire” that followed the children of Israel by night, Exodus 13:21.  This was the same “fire” that came down on Mt. Carmel, 1 Kings 18:38 at the word of Elijah and consumed the burnt sacrifice and the wood and the stones, and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench.

This is the same “fire” that burned the bondages from the Hebrew Boys that were cast into a fiery furnace, Daniel 3:19-29.

This was the same “fire” in Acts 2:3: And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire and it sat upon each of them.  This is the “fire” that caused them to do great exploits.

This same “fire” causes us to live in a new (fresh) heaven and a new (fresh) earth, as John saw in Revelation 21:1.  This is when we put off the old man (carnal or flesh man) and put on the new man (CHRIST) which is renewed in knowledge (discernment) after the image of him that created him (Colossians 3:10).

This fire is and has created a burning passion in us moving us forward, aligning us with God’s will.  It has and is opening our minds to give revelation knowledge, wisdom and understanding God’s ways.  The “fire” equips our feet with speed to carry God everywhere.

So let’s allow the “fire of the Holy Ghost” to do a great work in us to do the work of the Kingdom of God.  And of His Kingdom, there shall be no end!

·         2 Peter 3:10: But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.

The “day of the Lord” is already come to those that accept the truth that He (Jesus Christ) is come to them by the Spirit of the Living God.  We’re no longer waiting for Him because He is come and dwells in us!  Why did He come as a thief in the night, because He came as “light” and dispelled the “darkness” that was in our minds that had been obscured by religious teachings of the “one of these days” messages when Jesus come back.  But revelation truth allowed us to see and know that He’s here NOW, dwelling in us:  “Greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world” (1 John 4:4).

The “heavens that passed away with a great noise”, were the “heavens” that we thought were up beyond the blue that we tried to hold on to, but the “fire of the Holy Ghost” caused them to melt with fervent heat, and thank God it did!!!  And those “elements that melted with fervent heat” were the elementary teachings of religious order:

 One of these days when Jesus comes back:  [HE IS HERE ALREADY]!

·         Matthew 1:23: A virgin shall be with child and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.

·         1John 4:2: Hereby know ye the Spirit of God:  every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ IS COME in the flesh is of God:  [those saying that He IS PRESENT in you now and He’s not out beyond the blue, is of God].

·         vs 3: And every spirit that confesses NOT that Jesus Christ IS COME in the flesh IS NOT of God:  and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even NOW already is it in the world.  [These are those saying that one of these days He “IS COMING BACK” is not of God].

1 Corinthians 12:12: For the body is one and hath many members and all the members of that one body, being many are one body:  SO ALSO IS CHRIST.

Ephesians 5:30: We are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones.

1 John 4:17: As he is, so are we, in this world.  [Not out beyond the blue].

 When we get to heaven we’re going to get a new body:  [WE’RE ALREADY IN HEAVEN AND WE CAN HAVE A NEW BODY RIGHT NOW]!

·         Ephesians 2:6: And HATH (already) raised us up together and made us sit together in HEAVENLY places (the heavenlies) in CHRIST JESUS!

We are already in the “heavenlies” (higher realms of spiritual elevation) in Christ Jesus!

·         Isaiah 53:5: But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities:  the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.

·         1Peter 2:24: Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness:  by whose stripes you were healed.

God’s divine plan for His people is not “divine healing” but “divine health”!!

When we get to heaven we will walk the streets of gold:  [NOT SO:  REVELATION SPEAKS OF “A STREET”, NOT STREETS]!

·         And the twelve gates were twelve pearls; every several gate was of one pearl:  and the “street” of the city was pure gold, as it were transparent glass.

The street of what city?  The holy city, New Jerusalem that John saw.

Revelation 21:2: I John saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, as a bride adorned for her husband.

We the body of Christ, are God’s “holy city”: 

·         Isaiah 60:14: The sons also of them that afflicted thee shall come bending unto thee:  and all they that despised thee shall bow themselves down at the soles of thy feet:  and they shall call thee, “the CITY of the LORD, the Zion of the Holy One of Israel.

• Isaiah 62:12: And they shall call them, the holy people, the redeemed of the LORD:  and thou shalt be called, “sought out”, “a CITY” not forsaken.

• Hebrews 12:22: But you are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem (a place of perfect peace) and to an innumerable company of angels,
• Vs 23: To the general assembly, and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect.

The “street” John saw was not a physical street made of asphalt concrete, but it’s spiritual. 

Webster defines “street” as a public thoroughfare (highway; road) in a town or city with buildings on either or both sides.

STREET is the Greek root word platei’a, meaning a wide plat or place, ie open square.  It goes to plas’so, meaning, to mold; shape; form.

This “street” was of pure (clean; clear) gold. Gold is from several root words basically meaning to furnish what is needed; power: and we know that it’s the “anointing” that destroys yokes (Isaiah 10:27).  The “gold” is also God’s divine nature or the production of His fruit in our lives:  love; joy; peace; gentleness; longsuffering; goodness; faith; meekness; temperance (Galatians 5:22). 

·         2 Peter 1:4: Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises; that by these you might be partakers of the “divine nature”, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

But remember Revelation 3:18: I counsel thee to buy of me “gold” tried in the fire, that thou may be rich; and white raiment, that thou may be clothed and that the shame of thy nakedness doth not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eye salve that thou may see.

Buy is from the Greek word agora’zo, meaning to go to market, to purchase; to redeem.  This means that God’s “gold” or His “divine nature” doesn’t come without price.  It comes to us by the roasting process of the fire we go through that purifies us and brings us to maturity in God.  Natural gold and silver is purified in the fire and so are we to shape and mold us into His image and likeness!!!  Glory, glory!!  So that “street of gold” is the fullness of God shining forth out of us that everything we do and say glorifies Him!!

Still talking about the “elements that melts with fervent heat” by the “fire of the Holy Ghost”!

When we get to heaven we will wear our golden crown:  [teachings we’ve heard for years that’s not true].

My question is, how many crowns, can someone put on their head at one time, because the “golden crown” isn’t the only “crown” spoken of in the bible.  It speaks of many crowns.  It speaks of the “crown of pride” (Isaiah 28:1): the “crown of thorns” [that was placed on Jesus’ head] (Matthew 27:29): the “corruptible and incorruptible crown” (1 Corinthians 9:25):  the “crown of rejoicing” (1 Thessalonians 2:19): the “crown of righteousness” (Romans 6:18):  the “crown of life” (James 1:12): the “crown of glory” (1 Peter 5:4).

The word crown is the Greek root word steph’anos, meaning to twine or wreathe; a chaplet (as a badge of royalty; a symbol of honor.  It is that which surrounds or encircle; a symbol of triumph, a reward or prize.  Paul said:  1 Corinthians 9:24: Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receives the prize?  So run, that you may obtain.  Philippians 3:14: I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.  A “prize” is “an award” given or granted.  What greater award can we have or get than that that has already been given and that’s “CHRIST IN US THE HOPE OF GLORY” (Colossians 1:27).  And contained in Him is all the other “prizes”:  salvation; redemption; power; perfect peace; divine health; wisdom; understanding; revelation knowledge, kingdom; eternal life:  just to name a few things! 

Crowns are worn on the “head”.  So that “GOLDEN CROWN” is us having Christ’s mind!  Who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him?  But we have the mind of Christ (1 Corinthians 2:16):  Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:  who being in the form of God thought it not robbery to be equal with God (Philippians 2:5).

All these things come to us out of the “Fire” that God Himself is where we now are, in the heavenlies, in Christ (Ephesians 1:3).  So I will also add that “WE ARE ALREADY IN HEAVEN” (the higher realms of spirituality) in Christ Jesus:   Ephesians 2:6: He hath (present tense) raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.  The good news is that we didn’t have to get to heaven via a dirt grave in a cemetery.  All we had to do was step out of the “grave” (that old man Adam with that old religious mind-set) that was holding us captive to sin, death, and hell and move into the heavenlies in CHRIST!!!

·         1 Corinthians 15:22: As in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive!!!

So this “fire of the Holy Ghost”  has and is creating a burning passion in us moving us forward, aligning us with God’s will, opening our minds to give revelation knowledge, wisdom and understanding of God’s ways.  The fire equips our feet with speed to carry God everywhere He wants and needs to go, so that we can speak what He wants us to speak and do what He wants us to do to magnify and glorify Him!!

Let us allow the “fire of the Holy Ghost” to do a great work in us which is to do the work of the Kingdom!  And of His kingdom there shall be no end (Isaiah 9:7).

Evangelist Mary Perry