The Holy Spirit (6) – Baptism of the Holy Spirit and Baptism of Fire (3)

“For John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” (Acts 1:5)

“As for me, I baptize you with water for repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, and I am not fit to remove His sandals;

He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.” (Matthew 3:11)

3.  Power of the Baptism of the Fire

When you receive the Holy Spirit, you are forgiven of all your sins and become God’s children, but it does not mean that all your sinful natures have been removed. You gain the qualification to be saved by receiving the Holy Spirit.

But, if you do not live a changed life, namely if you continue to commit sins and befriend the world without change, you are no different from worldly people.

These people can go back to the world any time if something does not agree with their own opinion or things are not beneficial for them.

 Then, even if they once received the Holy Spirit, they will have nothing to do with salvation eventually.

Galatians 3:3 talks about this kind of people. It says, “Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?”

 Also, 1 Thessalonians 5:19 says, “Do not quench the Spirit.” It tells us that even if we have received the Holy Spirit once, the Holy Spirit can be quenched. Revelation 3:5 also tells us that names written in the Book of Life can be blotted out.

Therefore, to cast off sins, become sanctified and live by the will of God as God’s children, one-time baptism of the Holy Spirit is not enough.

 We should keep the fullness of the Holy Spirit by receiving the baptism of fire.

The baptism of fire is when the Holy Spirit’s fire comes on you and gives you the strength of God. When you receive this baptism of fire, the sinful natures and diseases in you will be burned, and the enemy devil and Satan in your family, workplaces, and businesses will go away.

The Holy Spirit lets us realize about sin, righteousness, and judgment and helps us live within the Word. But just by receiving the Holy Spirit, we cannot cast off our original sinful natures or drive away diseases and problems.

If we receive the Holy Spirit, God forgives all our previous sins, but we still have the root of sin in our heart, and because of this sinful nature we do not live by the Word.

So, we may come under accusations by the enemy devil and Satan making us vulnerable to disease, or bringing upon us problems in family, workplaces, and businesses.

Therefore, even though we have become God’s children by receiving the Holy Spirit once, we should continuously receive the baptism of the fire to burn the original root of

sins and become sanctified so that we can always walk in the light. Also, when we continually receive the baptism of fire living in the light, you will be protected in all your ways by the fiery wall of the Holy Spirit so that all tests and trials will leave you and you can receive the blessing of accomplishing everything without any hindrances.

In the Bible, we can see fire burning sins. Isaiah 6:6-7 says, “Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a burning coal in his hand, which he had taken from the altar with tongs. He touched my mouth with it and said, “Behold, this has touched your lips; and your iniquity is taken away and your sin is forgiven.”

Here, ‘to touch my mouth with burning coal’ is to burn his mouth with the baptism of fire. After this baptism of fire, it says, “your iniquity is taken away, and your sin is forgiven.” It means sins were burned by the fire.

 But to burn the sins, the fire has to come to our heart where the original sinful nature is placed, and why does it say sins were forgiven by burning the mouth?

Matthew 12:34 says, “You brood of vipers, how can you, being evil, speak what is good? For the mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart.” What is in heart comes out through the mouth, so, evil that comes out from one’s mouth refers to the evil in his heart.

 Thus, burning Isaiah’s mouth with the burning coal spiritually symbolizes burning sins in his heart.

Also, it says the baptism of the fire is the descending of God’s strength, and why does God express His power with fire?

 As physical fire burns something down, in spirit, you can see fire comes from above when you pray very fervently or fire goes out from a powerful man of God to other people.

 So, diseases or the sinful nature in heart are burned and many spiritual and material problems are resolved.

The reason why we pray to God to work with the fire of the Holy Spirit is this. Also, we ask God to protect us with the fiery wall of the Holy Spirit, and if God surrounds us with this wall, the enemy devil and Satan would not dare come near us but depart from us.

If the enemy devil and Satan touch the fire of the Holy Spirit, they will lose their strength and become like dead. In Genesis, when Adam was driven out from the Garden of Eden, God guarded the east of the Garden of Eden with cherubim and the flaming sword which turned every direction.

Therefore, when the fire, the power of God comes on you, the darkness, namely the sinful natures in you will be burned, diseases and germs will be burned, and darkness will leave you from where you are.

Also, even though you are healthy, if you receive the fire of the Holy Spirit, your tiredness will go away, you will be healthier, and darkness will leave from your family, workplace, and business.