THE GOD WHO ANSWERS BY FIRE Larry W Peebles June 18, 2021 21.23
Most people understand that water extinguishes a fire. This is the stuff we studied in Firefighting 101. From a chemistry standpoint, water robs a fire of heat, and smothers its supply of oxygen. When a fire begins to get out of control, we have learned to apply water quickly and generously.
Not so in the kingdom of God. The North Georgia Revival at Christ Fellowship Church in Dawsonville, Georgia is now in week #175 (three years, 19 weeks and counting). In the following quote, Pastor Todd Smith described the genesis of this revival in his book “Creating a Habitation for God’s Glory”-
“The
[church-wide]fast started out normally; however, just over two weeks into the fast something happened I will never forget. Let me explain. Each day I would make my way into the sanctuary to pray; then one morning as I was walking across the platform toward our baptistery, out of nowhere I had an open vision. In the natural, the baptistery was empty, there was no water in the tank. However, in the vision I saw the baptistery full of water and there was fire on the surface of the water. The fire on the water was two to three feet wide and stretched from the front of the baptistery to the back. It reminded me of how gasoline burns on top of water. The open vision lasted a short eight to ten seconds. As soon as the vision ended, the Lord spoke clearly to me, I will never forget what He said, ‘I am going to baptize people with Holy Spirit fire.”
The rest, as they say, is history. Now in its fourth year, the revival has produced countless miracles, and countless lives changed. God has kept His promise to meet His children in the water. The revival has experienced blind eyes and deaf ears opened, cancers disappear, lame people walk, and people addicted to alcohol, drugs, tobacco and pornography are delivered. Some have come to salvation acknowledging Jesus as Lord and Savior, and rise up out of the water speaking in a new tongue. Medical conditions too complicated to explain here are healed, with accompanying Doctor’s and lab reports. This is not a comprehensive list of all the Lord has done. As He said He would, God has sent the fire of the Holy Spirit to meet the people in the water. This is not a traditional baptism; it is an encounter with Holy Spirit fire in the water.
Our pastor cannot explain it, and He says others who have studied the history of past revivals in the church have not heard of anything like this. I asked the Lord about this, and felt I heard Him say this is not new. Fire on the water goes back to the days of Elijah. During the reign of Ahab and Jezebel, Israel was drawn into idol worship. Jezebel’s father, Ethbaal, was ruler/king over the Phoenician cities of Tyre and Sidon. She married Ahab, king of Israel, and became queen of Israel. She brought with her the worship of Baal, and imposed the same upon Israel. The exclusive worship of Yahweh was tossed to the side. God sent the prophet Elijah to deal with the problem.
He first called for an extended drought (1 Kings 17). In the third year of that drought, Elijah followed God’s instruction and called for a showdown with Jezebel’s 450 prophets of Baal. (1 Kings 18) On Mt. Carmel, the prophets of Baal and Elijah would each offer a bull as a sacrifice. The prophets would call on their god, Elijah would call on the Lord. “The god who answers by fire- he is God.” (v. 24) The prophets of Baal built an altar, laid the wood, positioned the bull on the altar, and then spent all day calling on Baal, and dancing around the altar. They cut themselves until their blood flowed. Despite their efforts, wailing and commotion, there was no response.
Toward evening, Elijah took twelve stones from the ruins of the altar of the Lord, and built an altar for the sacrifice of the bull. He dug a trench around the altar, and had the people fill four large jugs of water and pour it on the offering (the bull), and the wood. He did this three times, totaling twelve large jugs of water. The offering, the wood and the trench were all drenched. 1 Kings 18: 36-38- “The prophet Elijah stepped forward and prayed-‘O Lord, God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel [Jacob], let it be known today that You are God in Israel and that I am your servant and have done all these things at your command. Answer me, O Lord, answer me, so that these people will know that you, O Lord, are God, and that you are turning their hearts back again.’ Then the fire of the Lord fell and burned up the sacrifice, the wood, the stones and the soil, and also licked up the water in the trench.” Elijah then killed the 450 false prophets of Baal, and it was the beginning of the end of the reign of Ahab and Jezebel. God miraculously revealed Himself to the people of Israel that day by answering with fire on the water.
The “fire on the water” anointing of the prophet Elijah passed to the prophet Elisha in “double portion” (2 Kings 2:9). Elisha had two very significant miracles involving the power (fire) of God and water. The first was the miraculous healing of Naaman, commander of the army of the king of Aram (2 Kings 5). He washed seven times in the Jordan River to receive a cure for leprosy. The second was the retrieval of an axe head from the Jordan River as Elisha’s students of prophecy were cutting poles to build a building. (2 Kings 6) The axe was borrowed, and when lost in the river, it represented a debt they could not repay. The power of God in the water miraculously brought the axe head to the surface, and the impossible situation was resolved. It is a picture of the new life, new hope, and a new beginning that comes up out of the water when the water is mixed with Holy Spirit fire.
The anointing of Elijah passed to John the Baptist. In Luke 1:16-18, the angel of the Lord spoke to Zechariah (John’s father) and said- “He [John] will be filled with the Holy Spirit even from birth…many of the people of Israel he will bring back to the Lord their God…he will go on before the Lord [Jesus], in the spirit and power of Elijah.” We know that John’s ministry prepared the way for Jesus, and was a ministry of baptism, repentance, and turning the people back to God. Because of his large following, I suspect his ministry demonstrated miracles as well, showing the “power of Elijah”. Jesus said John the Baptist was the greatest prophet (Matt. 11:11).
Then the “fire on the water” anointing of Elijah passed from John to Jesus. When John baptized Jesus in the Jordan River, the Bible says the heavens opened violently, the Father audibly spoke “This is my Beloved son in whom I am well pleased”, and the Holy Spirit fell on Jesus. He received the full measure of the Spirit, without limitation, and Jesus’ ministry was filled with miracles, beginning with turning water into wine at the wedding in Canaan.
When the anointing came to Jesus the Son of Man, it had come full circle. It was Jesus Son of God (the Angel of God) who was the fire by night and the cloud by day that led the Israelites through the desert and out of Egyptian slavery. The Bible says the only time the fire was not out front leading was when the Israelites came to the Red Sea. The fire came behind the Israelites to guard when the waters of the Red Sea miraculously parted and the Israelites crossed over. (Exodus 14:19) This is also a picture of baptism, as the Israelites went into the water slaves, and came out free, by the power of God. The Egyptian army was drowned when the waters came back together. They were never seen again. (Exodus 14:13) Their oppression of the children of God was over.
These examples are not exhaustive, but I think they make the point. Whether it is at the Red Sea, Mt. Carmel, the Jordan River, a wedding in Canaan, or today at Christ Fellowship Church in Dawsonville, Georgia, the presence and power of God’s Holy Spirit still comes as fire on the water, and miracles happen. The services are available live on Facebook, and are posted on the church’s website. The miracles are well documented and photographed. All are welcome to come to the Sunday evening revival service. Don’t think of it as a traditional baptism; rather, think of it as a meeting with God at a place of His choosing—that happens to be in the water. God still answers by fire. Come and see.
