Another kind of baptism is the baptism of fire. This is ultimately the forgotten baptism. Picture in your mind a river of lava. When you get dipped in it, it melts away your entire flesh! While the baptism of water reflects the baptism of repentance, the baptism of fire reflects the baptism of the Holy Spirit. If you have truly been baptized in the Holy Spirit, you will have a fire that will truly not be contained! Do not just stop at the baptism of the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in tongues. Get baptized in fire! God has not given us a fire that should be contained in a fireplace and make everyone feel cozy, but He has given us a wild fire that cannot be controlled or directed by man but only directed by the Holy Spirit. Any time something catches on fire, such as a wild fire in the mountains or a home going up in flames, everyone stops or drives by to see what is going on. They realize something is on fire when they see or smell smoke. Our lives should be set on fire, and our words should be as smoke, echoing throughout this generation and impacting many. John Wesley said, “I set myself on fire, and the people come to watch me burn.” We must set ourselves on fire and fan the flames of revival if we want to see people saved and lives changed for the glory of God!

According to Acts 2:3, the Holy Spirit moved on the Day of Pentecost as a mighty rushing wind, but cloven tongues of fire sat down upon each of those in the upper room. God’s throne is seen as a fiery flame (Daniel 7:9), and there are seven lamps of fire burning before His throne, which are the seven Spirits of God (Revelation 4:5). As they were undoubtedly meditating upon and praise God, their praise and worship drew His presence, meaning heaven came down to earth. It is why the cloven tongues of fire sat down upon them because the Holy Spirit was taking His rightful position of authority. Psalm 22:3 teaches that God inhabits the praises of His people, meaning that He lives in and is enthroned by our praise. We build God a throne to sit upon through our praise, and when that throne is constructed, He comes and sits down upon us. If we want the baptism of fire to sit down upon us and completely transform us, then we must give God the praise and glory that He so overwhelmingly deserves. When He comes to us, His cloven tongues of fire will come and devour our language. We can no longer complain, gossip, curse, and murmur like we use to. We speak only the positive, and He gives us a heavenly language to pray with. He may even give us languages of other nations so we can minister the gospel to them. We do not just need the baptism of the Holy Spirit, but we need the baptism of fire as God would do to us as He did the prophet Isaiah and send a Seraphim our away, take a live coal of fire, and put it upon our tongue so our lips are purged. We need the baptism of fire!

The baptism of fire is when an individual dies to impurities in order to be ignited with the passion of the flames of revival to evangelize the gospel and fulfill the Great Commission. Therefore, the baptism of fire does two things:  consumes and purifies. Hebrews 12:29 teaches that our God is a consuming fire, meaning that He burns and consumes our flesh and who we are now in order to be like Him. In fact, He even led the children of Israel by night through a pillar of fire (Exodus 13:31-32), and He commissioned Moses out of a burning bush (Acts 7:30). The baptism of fire gives us direction and discernment from the Holy Spirit so that we can be leaders and teachers in the faith who are disciplined. It was light in the midst of darkness! The only way God can consume us is when we become a living sacrifice before Him. Romans 12:1-2 says, “1I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. 2And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” In the Old Testament, the children of Israel knew that God accepted the sacrifices made by the priesthood when fire rained down from heaven upon their sacrifice. We know that God accepts our sacrifices when the fire of His holy presence comes down and consumes us, insomuch that we become ministers of flaming fire (Psalm 104:4). It is when we have the testimony of Jeremiah in which he said, “I will not make mention of him, nor speak any more in his name. But his word was in mine heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary with forbearing, and I could not stay” (Jeremiah 20:9). We need to have such a fire shut up in our bones that we cannot contain it and cannot refrain from telling others of the greatness and goodness of our God. We need to keep the fire burning on our altars by fanning the flames through prayer, fasting, and authentic evangelism. Leviticus 6:13 says, “The fire shall ever be burning upon the altar; it shall never go out.” This was the instruction given by God concerning the burnt offering, which indicates that we are to lay our lives down as burnt offerings so that we can be totally purified before Him.