Prayer brings fire
Prayer brings Fire
Sunday – 06th August 2023
Overview
1. Introduction – Prayer brings Fire
2. The Importance of Carrying the Power and the Fire of the Holy Spirit
3. Prayer of Elijah bringing Fire
4. The Spirit of Baal will be destroyed
5. Steps that Elijah took in bringing back the fire
6. Setting a priority in our life for God to bring the fire of God to our Altar
7. Result of Elijah’s Fire – Heavy Outpouring
8. David’s Fire – A Solomon carrying his Father’s Heart
9. Result of Solomon’s Fire – Glory filled the temple
10. The Fire of the Holy Spirit will make us an answer to the World
11. The Disciples' Fire
12. Results of the Disciples’ Fire
13. Concluding Prayer
Introduction – Prayer brings Fire
This beautiful month of August 2023, as per the voice of God we heard while we were preparing our calendars for this year, we call it the month of prayer.
When Solomon had finished praying, fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices; and the glory of the Lord filled the temple.
2 Chronicles 7:1 (NKJV)
The Importance of Carrying the Power and the Fire of the Holy Spirit
There are three instances in the Bible, where people prayed, the fire came down, and the end result was the Glory realms of the Almighty God.
Prayer of Elijah bringing Fire
The Spirit of Baal will be destroyed
It is a demonic spirit that operates bringing false gods against the God Almighty. Here, sending the fire to determine which God is powerful. But Bible has historically, again and again proven that no emperor was able to stand against the fire of the Holy Spirit God.
And when midday was past, they prophesied until the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice. But there was no voice; no one answered, no one paid attention.
1 Kings 18:29 (NKJV)
Here, when the prophets of Baal did their rituals, there was no voice, no one answered, and no one paid attention. Though this is written in connection with the prophets of Baal, it is true that when the church loses the fire of the Holy Spirit, when the pastor loses the fire of the Holy Spirit, and when the believers lose the fire of the Holy Spirit, these three things will happen. There will be no more voice of God. None of the prayers will be answered. No one will pay attention to the gospel that is being preached.
But on the other side, if the fire is burning in our life, there will be the voice of God, there will be answers to our prayers and people will pay attention to our voice.
Steps that Elijah took in bringing back the fire
1) He repaired the Altar of the Lord which was broken.
Then Elijah said to all the people, “Come near to me.” So, all the people came near to him. And he repaired the altar of the Lord that was broken down.
1 Kings 18:30 (NKJV)
An Altar is a place where God and Man meet. In all our lives, there should be an area where we meet God. The Bible says there is an altar that had to be repaired. Fire does not come just because of impartation. Impartation brings fire, but when contact with the source is lost, there is a possibility that the fire will be out. For example, when a man of God ministers, his hands touch us and we are in union with the fire and the anointing and we receive the impartation. This is a corporate activity.
2) He Sacrificed the Most Precious thing on the Altar
But the Lord is looking for our personal altar where we find time to meet the Almighty God. On an altar, there is a sacrifice. If we read,
And Elijah took twelve stones, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, to whom the word of the Lord had come, saying, “Israel shall be your name.” Then with the stones he built an altar in the name of the Lord; and he made a trench around the altar large enough to hold two seahs of seed. And he put the wood in order, cut the bull in pieces, and laid it on the wood, and said, “Fill four waterpots with water, and pour it on the burnt sacrifice and on the wood.”
1 Kings 18: 31-33 (NKJV)
what Elijah did, Elijah took 12 stones and he said, Israel is your name, he built an altar and put an all trench around it and he put wood, and cut the bull. He put a bull on it. Then he said, fill four water pots with water and pour it on the burnt sacrifice and on the wood.
That period of the time was a big drought as the Bible mentions that Elijah prayed and the rains stopped. There was no rainfall for the last three and a half years. So, the most precious thing in that time period would have been water. Verses 34 and 35 say, three times they gave/released the costliest thing that is available at that point in time to put on the Altar.
If we want to catch the fire of the Holy Spirit, one thing that the Lord is requiring of us is to put the most precious of our life onto the altar.
Setting a priority to our life for God to bring the fire of God to our Altar
There may be many things that will be important to people. Some give importance to their work, some people importance to their family, some people importance to vacation, some people importance to children. Giving importance to them is not wrong, but depending on them and not putting them on the Altar might put out the fire that is in our life. And if the fire is not there, we will miss God but when the fire comes, the voice of God, the answers to our prayers, and the ministry of our life will become effective.
Peter
Simply saying or believing for fire will not bring fire. In the Bible, we read that Jesus gave two options to Peter. He can choose the two boats full of fish or he can choose to follow Jesus. It was a sacrificial decision that he took to put on the altar two boats full of fish. Probably it could have been a great blessing. But Peter decided to put it as an offering on the Altar and follow Jesus. Later, he became the man who received this Fire among the all disciples.
Paul
Paul was bringing out the believers from the church, dragging them onto the streets, and killing them. Such power and authority. But when Jesus called ‘Saul’, that one voice transformed him. He put his every qualification and his access and privilege on the altar and became the greatest apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Elijah
Here, Elijah took the thing which was the hardest to get and poured it three times. and he prayed, for the fire to come.
Then the fire of the Lord fell and consumed the burnt sacrifice, and the wood and the stones and the dust, and it licked up the water that was in the trench.
1 Kings 18:38 (NKJV)
The word consuming means to ‘be happy’. When we look at the other places in the Bible, the fire of God never consumed anything other than the sacrifice. But in Elijah's case, it was a heartbreaking prayer of a righteous man, that God decided to:
a) Consume not just the bull, but the Altar, the sacrifice of water.
b) Bless Elijah with a greater responsibility to come back and talk to the Lord Jesus Christ on the Mount of Transfiguration.
c) He will never see death because he offered a sacrifice and the fire of God will be on Elijah’s life.
In other words, the fire of the Holy Spirit in him overpowered the physical power of death. Many Christians are suffering in their bodies just because they lost the fire of the Holy Spirit. The devil had access to their physical bodies to bring destructive fires on their bodies. But if we are carrying the fire of the Holy Spirit, the demonic spirits can never come near us with any kind of sickness to stop us. Our bodies will be very fresh, active, and very powerful.
d) The fire proved that God is God.
Now when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces; and they said, “The Lord, He is God! The Lord, He is God!”
1 Kings 18:39 (NKJV)
God proved that God is God. Elijah was in a tough situation, in a time and season, and when people were in a drought and in distress, Elijah decides to pull up an altar and sacrifice the most precious thing, and it brings the fire of God.
Result of the Fire – Heavy Outpouring
Now it happened in the meantime that the sky became black with clouds and wind, and there was a heavy rain. So, Ahab rode away and went to Jezreel. Then the hand of the Lord came upon Elijah; and he girded up his loins and ran ahead of Ahab to the entrance of Jezreel.
1 Kings 18:45-46 (NKJV)
the closed heavens were opened and there was a heavy outpouring.
Likewise, If the church is not on fire, we cannot expect Revival in our nation. It is not a fire seen on Sunday services, but the fire of God in our personal life, and there will be open heavens.
David’s Fire – A Solomon carrying his Father’s Heart
When Solomon had finished praying, fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices; and the glory of the Lord filled the temple. And the priests could not enter the house of the Lord, because the glory of the Lord had filled the Lord’s house. When all the children of Israel saw how the fire came down, and the glory of the Lord on the temple, they bowed their faces to the ground on the pavement, and worshiped and praised the Lord, saying:
“For He is good, For His mercy endures forever.”
2 Chronicles 7:1-4 (NKJV)
The Bible says that when Solomon had finished praying, which means we have just started to begin to pray and we are yet to finish praying, then the fire comes down. Here we see, it is not Solomon’s heart, that brought the fire, but there was a man after God’s own heart, who yearned all his life for the Glory of God, and God sends Fire.
Now, my God, I pray, let Your eyes be open and let Your ears be attentive to the prayer made in this place. “Now therefore, Arise, O Lord God, to Your resting place, You and the ark of Your strength. Let Your priests, O Lord God, be clothed with salvation, And let Your saints rejoice in goodness. “O Lord God, do not turn away the face of Your Anointed; Remember the mercies of Your servant David.”
2 Chronicles 6:40—42 (NKJV)
Result of the Fire – Glory filled the temple
Then Solomon spoke: “The Lord said He would dwell in the dark cloud. I have surely built You an exalted house, and a place for You to dwell in forever.”
2 Chronicles 6:1-2 (NKJV)
Solomon is praying a different kind of prayer. Solomon did not get this heart of prayer from his own understanding but he was able to pray this prayer because he carried his father's heart. King David had a tent and in the new covenant, we read about the rebuilding of the tent of David. King David had only one desire as we read in Psalm 72: 19 and 20, the whole earth will be filled with the glory of God.
Personally, we can have many desires, but if we want to see a revival, our focus should be as what David prayed that our whole nation be full of God's glory.
And he said: “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, who has fulfilled with His hands what He spoke with His mouth to my Father David
2 Chronicles 6:4 (NKJV)
Solomon's heart was to carry what God told his father to do.
When we read the passage where the glory fills the temple, it was not just because of Solomon, but it was David's heart, David's purpose of rebuilding his temple, that his son stands up and says I want to continue doing what my father did.
“When the heavens are shut up and there is no rain because they have sinned against You, when they pray toward this place and confess Your name, and turn from their sin and send rain on Your land which You have given to Your people as an inheritance.
2 Chronicles 6:26-27 (NKJV)
The Fire of the Holy Spirit will make us an answer to the World
Here, Solomon is praying Lord let this altar, this glory-filled temple be an answer to all the problems of this world. There is a problem that there is no rain, and when there is famine, when people are in struggle let this glory-filled temple be an answer. When we have the fire of the Holy Spirit, we are the answer to many of the problems in this world.
“O Lord God, do not turn away the face of Your Anointed; Remember the mercies of Your servant David.”
2 Chronicles 6:42 (NKJV)
Many people think only about Solomon but the reason why suddenly the glory came was because the prayer was entirely David's prayer. Because David sacrificed the most precious of his life, his everything to see the glory of God. And when Solomon finished praying the prayer of King David the glory filled the temple.
The Disciples Fire
When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all [a]with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.
Acts 2:1-4 (NKJV)
The third prayer which brought the fire from heaven was on the day of Pentecost after the ascension of Jesus. Jesus purposefully told the Apostles one thing to not start the ministry until they get the Holy Spirit's fire. He told them the fire will come, wait in Jerusalem, and pray for the Holy Spirit and He will come. And when they obeyed, everyone was full of the Holy Spirit. They began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterances. When the fire mark came upon them, they stopped their prayer which they probably learned from Jesus or which they prayed from their experience and they started praying according to the Holy Spirit.
We are the sons of God and the Bible says the whole creation is waiting for the revelation of the sons of God. The sons of God cannot pray according to their needs, their desires but pray according to the Spirit of God. We have to purposefully, and sacrificially develop a habit of igniting this fire in our life and maintaining this fire of God in our life.
Results of the Fire of The Holy Spirit
a) We shall become a Witness
The effect when the Holy Spirit came on 120 people the Bible says, the gospel started spreading to the ends of the world. Jesus said when the Holy Spirit shall come on us, first you shall be a witness where in Jerusalem.
b) There will be a testimony about our life
When the fire of the Holy Spirit comes, there will be a testimony about our life. In Acts 2, we read people kept on saying these people are different, they were something but now they are different. So, the fire of the Holy Spirit produces the testimony of Jesus in your life. There is a testimony attached to our lives. And the Holy Spirit's fire keeps the testimony burning and the constant testimony keeps the Holy Spirit's fire burning. It is directly connected with each other. The Holy Spirit's fire keeps your testimony alive and your testimony keeps the Holy Spirit's fire alive.
Concluding Prayer
Lord Jesus, we pray and ask the fire of the Holy Spirit to saturate us so that we will be fire carriers and will bring revival to our nation.
In Jesus’ Name,
Amen.