Baptized with Fire
Baptized with Fire
by Lonnie Lane
What is it that the first Disciples had to change the world around them so fearlessly and so entirely that the church has never had since? Christine Uwizera, one of our radio guests, not only has the answer, but is the answer, day by day. Christine was a victim of the Rwanda holocaust in which a million people were killed in three months. After losing family members, Christine escaped to Zaire/Congo where she was accosted by yet another horrible war.
All around her people were dying, but Christine remained supernaturally alive. Why, she asked? She had been raised a Catholic but did not know the Lord. She kept a small Bible with her but did not read it. But, she says, “God spared me for such a time as this, to take the message of the holy fire to the nations.”
She determined to go back to Rwanda, the country where she had but bad memories! The moment she stepped her foot on the soil of Rwanda she began shaking and trembling and knew it was the Holy Spirit. “When He visits you, you know it is God,” Christine says. She came home to find a mighty Revival sweeping Rwanda. The power of God could be felt even on the soil of this nation! God looked and saw crying hearts, so in His power, He came down upon this nation and His own arm brought salvation unto Himself. (Isaiah 63:5). “We saw how the enemy came to kill and destroy and many came to God.”
In Rwanda she saw the faces of the people reflecting peace, hope, faith and love and not terror; the very same people who had gone through killings! She came to the Lord in this Revival and was instantly healed and restored. When she began to read her Bible she found that what she read in the Book of Acts was happening all around her in power. Such was the evidence of God in the midst of great darkness.
Here are Christine’s own words of what unfolded. “I was sent to the US where God told me ‘I have set you apart, you will take this message of healing, hope and holy fire to the nations.’ God granted me to go to school but I knew why I came so I lived a separate life. Many people had spoken prophesies over me to take the fire to others. Following a season of seeking God and consecrating my life to Him in 2004, I was baptized in the holy fire and I’ve never been the same, seeing signs and wonders everywhere God sends me. This message of God’s holy fire is not a new thing. God is a consuming fire. The holy fire is the very presence of God (Daniel 7). God lives in the midst of fire (see Ezekiel). ‘He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and the fire.’ Luke 3:16. All the disciples in the upper room received the baptism of fire (Acts 2:3).
“It all start with seeking God. You cannot serve God in your own strength, you need His holy fire. There is no passion without His holy fire. God wants to tell you today, ‘Seek and receive the Holy Spirit, but don’t stop there. Go deep and deeper, seek earnestly and Jesus will baptize you with the holy fire. God’s fire is purifying. You can walk in His Presence 24/7. Yes, that’s what happened to me. My heart is always thinking about God, saying I love you, my Lord and my King. My heart is always thinking about Jesus. The holy fire helps you to abide in Christ. We are so busy today. But Jesus says,’ Abide in me.’
“During a time of daily seeking Him for about 8 months, the Lord told me to write the book. I protested because I did not think I could do it. I did not even have money to make leaflets! God said, ‘It’s my book, I’m going to take care of everything. The message of the fire will go out because my people are hungry. They’ll be hungrier!’ God gave me the title “The Blazing Holy Fire.” I wrote it on my knees, and I wrote what I have experienced, lived and seen with my own eyes. On my knees, this book was born and God told me anything birthed out of prayer is eternal and is going to touch many hearts. As people read this book, they are receiving a new fresh fire; they are getting back their first love. This book is like salt, even those who are not thirsty for God become so when they read it.
“For the baptism of the Spirit and fire, you have to seek God every day. You cannot live by the prayers of yesterday. It is a daily seeking. The heart has to be running after Him and burning (for Him) daily. I have had emails from people who are saying this is happening to them (after they read the book). The angels of God are putting the fire (on God’s people) because this is the time. He wants a Bride purified. How can you be purified if you don’t go through the fire?
“If you want this fire of God, purify yourself and seek God earnestly. God will touch you. He wants to separate us from this world. It’s wonderful. No more fear. You have only the fear of God. You walk in the kingdom with a kingdom mentality…knowing how powerful your God is!
“We are living in the last days. A big revival is coming. But before this happens, we will see much of evil. The enemy is not taking any rest, inventing all sorts of new lies, evil beyond comprehension. Only those who have this holy fire and power will overcome the days ahead! Great revival is coming, only those who seek God, and have this holy fire will be used as channels to transmit God’s power.”
It would have been nice to write this article without the reference to the enemy’s doings. But would that have been the full message of what God is evidently saying to us today? Would Ezekiel or Daniel have left that part out in order to be ‘seeker sensitive’? Jesus warned us to be aware of the signs of our times so as not to miss the visitation of God. Signs are all around us of moral darkness. But as fire brings light, so the fire of God will bring a blaze of His Righteousness that will touch all who come in contact with it.
Christine’s testimony of being one who is baptized with the Holy Spirit and with fire, brings new meaning to the familiar words which God spoke to Israel through Isaiah: “Arise, shine, for you light has come. And the glory of the Lord has risen upon you. For behold, darkness will cover the earth, and deep darkness the peoples; But the Lord will rise upon you, and His glory will appear upon you. And nations (gentiles; people groups) will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising.” (60:1,2)
In these last days, may all who are truly the people of God by faith, Jew and Gentile, be filled with His Glory to bring the fire of God in power and righteousness. Amen.
Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations are from the Holy Bible, New International Version®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved.