Fire is Falling
Luke 3:16 promises that Jesus will baptise his followers with the Holy Spirit and fire. This was partially fulfilled at the feast of Pentecost, seven weeks after Jesus’ death and resurrection. Acts 2:2-3 (NLT) records, “Suddenly, there was a sound from heaven like the roaring of a mighty windstorm …Then, what looked like flames or tongues of fire appeared and settled on each of them.” The disciples were later accused of being drunk with wine as they spoke in tongues and were under the power of the Holy Spirit. (Acts 2:13)
In 1985, internationally respected prophet Bob Jones prophesied three great future moves of the Holy Spirit that would occur in the reverse order described in Acts 2. First, a wine move, then fire, then wind. He accurately predicted that the wine move (later known as the Toronto Move) would start within ten years of 1985. In January 1994, this move broke out at Toronto Airport Church in Canada. Some characteristics of this awakening were joy, laughter, and people being unable to stand. But there was more to it than this. As it spread around the world, millions have been saved, lives transformed, and thousands of churches planted.
For example, the leadership team at Holy Trinity Anglican Church, Brompton, London were greatly impacted by the move, as was their whole church. HTB is now powerfully re-evangelising parishes in Britain and has also written the Alpha Course which to date has seen over four million people worldwide come to faith in Jesus.
So what of the fire move? There are signs that it has started, though not yet in its fullness. For example, in a School of the Holy Spirit that we ran in New Zealand a few years ago, 140 people attended. Sixty people came forward for the baptism in the Holy Spirit with over two thirds receiving, and speaking in tongues as people prayed for one another. Numbers reported feeling heat in their bodies as we released the fire of God.
On another occasion, Greta spoke on the Baptism of Fire in a church in the United Kingdom. Numbers of people reported smelling smoke and many were touched by the Spirit, experiencing heat or burning in their bodies. These are small signs that a spiritual fire is starting to be lit in the Church, especially in two areas.
FIRE OF PURITY
Malachi 3:1-2 (NLT): "Then the Lord you are seeking will suddenly come to his Temple … he will be like a blazing fire that refines metal or like a strong soap that whitens clothes.”
We should not fear this. Suddenly, God can cleanse us from struggles with sin and addictions in an instant by his fire. Sin is destructive - God’s love exposes and removes it. The modern global church desperately needs the fire of cleansing to purge compromise and lukewarmness.
This fire of purity will also call the Church back to fervent prayer for a lost world, so that our praying aligns with the priority Jesus taught us in the Lord’s Prayer: “Let your Kingdom come, let your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” Most prayer today is for personal needs to be met; little of it is for his Kingdom to come. The fire will change that.
FIRE OF PASSION
After Jesus’ death and resurrection, two of his disciples walked to the village of Emmaus, near Jerusalem. Suddenly, Jesus began to walk with them, but they did not recognise him. He then explained the Old Testament prophecies that foretold he would suffer, die, and rise from the dead.
Once they reached Emmaus, they invited Jesus to lodge with them. Over dinner, as he broke bread, they suddenly recognised him, at which point he disappeared! They said to one another, “Didn’t our hearts burn within us as he talked with us on the road and explained the Scriptures to us? “ (Luke 24:32 (NLT))
God wants to light a similar fire of passion for him in our hearts. This fire will, in turn, release a passion for what he cares about – a lost world that needs saving. Missional fire will release power to make Jesus known by words and wonders. If we steward the fire well and seek for more, then the wind move will come (a description of this is best left to a future Perspectives).
RUNNING WITH FIRE
The ancient Greeks had a race in their Olympic games that was unique. Runners would run over a course with lit torches in their hands. The winner was not the runner who finished first. Rather, it was the runner who finished first with his torch still lit. May we run all the way with the flame still lit for him.