Now, the Fire!
Today’s post is a word from our friend, Gina Gholston, who had the “Command the Foreword” dream. Holy Spirit has given her further insight for us. Gina shares:
“Exodus 3:1-4 and Acts 2:1-4 are accounts of people on the threshold of a major unfolding of God’s plan. They had been chosen by Him to carry out His purposes, impacting their nation and the world. Before being launched into their intended destiny, however, God first led them to a fiery encounter with Himself. Those encounters transformed their lives and set them on a course to impact history!
“We, too, find ourselves in a major unfolding of God's plans. And just as occurred in those significant times, this history-making season will require today’s church to experience a transforming encounter with Him: Life-changing moments will be created by life-changing encounters with God.
“Over the past few months, many have taken their place in the ‘Command the Foreword’ initiative/assignment. The response to that dream was nothing short of amazing. I am so thankful for every decree and prophetic act, every drop of oil that was distributed, and every prayer that was prayed for our nation. Everyone worked so diligently and quickly, following Holy Spirit’s leading, to get the assignment completed! How exciting it has been!
“Recently, as I was reflecting on and thanking the Lord for all that has been done, He spoke to me, saying, ‘There is another aspect of the dream that must be fulfilled.’ I was shocked by that statement because I felt everything had been completed. I reread the dream, and Holy Spirit opened my eyes to see the unfulfilled part.
“We have painted the borders and commanded the foreword for the nation, which was exactly what we were told to do in the dream. But now, God is calling us to command and experience His original foreword for the church. He said to me, ‘If I awaken and realign the nation without awakening and realigning the church, the harvest will be lost. I can’t have a harvest without harvesters. There must be the pure influence of anointed harvesters to reap the harvest, and there must be an established, functioning Ekklesia to tend the harvest that comes in! So now, I am “harvesting the harvesters.” I am bringing them into an encounter with Me that will transform, realign, and refocus them completely on Me.’
THE DREAM
“The portion of the dream the Lord drew my attention to was this:
“The place where we were gathered began to vibrate with what felt like an electrical current. A wind started to blow, and then it was as if fire dropped out of the heavens onto every one of us. It wasn’t a natural fire; this was the fiery presence of the Lord as He entered the room in a visible, tangible demonstration. When this happened, people began falling to the floor, overwhelmed by the presence of the Lord. Some fell on their knees and began to weep; others were running, lifting their hands with shouts of joy!
“In the dream, the thought that came to my mind was, ‘This is a true baptism of fire!’ It came with great force, and no one in the room was exempt from it. No one questioned or debated it. No one was offended by the reactions to it! Everyone received it! Somehow, we all understood that we were being transformed by the fire of God.’
“The Lord wants us to encounter Him in this baptism of His fiery presence. This transformative baptism of fire is a preparation for what we are moving into. True encounters with God are not about a momentary touch, goosebumps, and casual ‘visitations’ that leave us unchanged. True encounters with God mark our lives, bringing total transformation.
“We see this demonstrated in Acts 2. Those who experienced the upper room encounter were transformed and equipped with power to ‘turn the known world upside down.’ People took notice that they had been with God, and began calling them Christians because they modeled such Christ-likeness! They spoke truth with the same authority and operated with the same power Christ had demonstrated. The movement we have entered will also be one requiring a demonstration of Spirit and truth, manifesting Christ in word, power, and deeds!
“To equip us for this, the Lord wants us to encounter Him, a true ‘baptism of fire,’ a reintroduction to Pentecost! Pentecost is the ‘foreword’ God wrote regarding the church; it pictures His original intentions: ‘You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be My witnesses . . . even to the ends of the earth!’ (Acts 1:8). God did not create a people with only a form of godliness, but He birthed ignited demonstrators of His power and likeness!
“The church has come a long way! We’ve grown and matured, and there is appropriate excitement for what we have seen and done. But we must know there is more, and the entrance to the ‘more’ is through the door of God’s transforming presence!
DESTINY DECISIONS
“We are in a destiny moment of time, and destiny moments require destiny decisions.
“God offered Moses a destiny, but that destiny required a decision to say yes. To help Moses with his decision, God allowed a bush to burn and not be consumed! Then he spoke from the fire!
“The 120 men and women on the day of Pentecost had been chosen by the Lord to continue what He began to do and teach. But each one had to decide whether to go to the Upper Room and wait for Holy Spirit. When they said yes, God drew them into a fiery encounter with Him that marked and changed their lives forever.”
DUTCH’S COMMENTS
I believe Gina’s dream and this word are accurate. Though we should all experience Holy Spirit’s presence on a regular basis, there are times when He does come to us more intensely in order to accomplish specific things. What would this “baptism of fire” look like for us today? How do we experience it? Obviously, ours won’t come through a “burning bush,” and there will not be an “Upper Room” we can all wait in until it occurs.
“God encounters” of this nature are not something we can generate or force. However, when He speaks of wanting to manifest in a stronger way, there ARE things we can do to facilitate it. In tomorrow’s post, I am going to bring a teaching on how we can do this.
Pray with me:
Father, in the “Command the Foreword” dream, You came to us with holy Fire, preparing us to partner with You. Your fire consumes our “flesh,” our carnal desires, and replaces them with passion for You and YOUR desires. We ask for this fire that originates in Your presence, releases Your glory, and produces revival. Take us to a deeper understanding of You that will facilitate a deeper walk with You. Take us beyond our manageable ideas of You, beyond the “controlled” environments we’ve created in the church. Give us encounters with You that transform and mark us forever! May we all encounter YOU, and may the encounter produce in us a vicious hunger that compels us to pursue the depths of You. Consume us with the fire that is You! May we put on Christ and be hidden in Him, so that He might be seen through us.
We join with the great revivalist, William Booth, in asking: please Sir, Send the Fire!
Send the Fire (Public Domain)
by William Booth (1894)
“Thou Christ of burning, cleansing flame, Send the fire, send the fire, send the fire! Thy blood-bought gift today, we claim, Send the fire, send the fire, send the fire! Look down and see this waiting host, Give us the promised Holy Ghost; We want another Pentecost, Send the fire, send the fire, send the fire!
“God of Elijah, hear our cry: Send the fire, send the fire, send the fire! To make us fit to live or die, Send the fire, send the fire, send the fire! To burn up every trace of sin, To bring the light and glory in, The revolution now begin, Send the fire, send the fire, send the fire!
“’Tis fire we want, for fire we plead, Send the fire, send the fire, send the fire! The fire will meet our every need, Send the fire, send the fire, send the fire! For strength to ever do the right, For grace to conquer in the fight, For pow’r to walk the world in white, Send the fire, send the fire, send the fire!
“To make our weak hearts strong and brave,
Send the fire, send the fire, send the fire!
To live a dying world to save,
Send the fire, send the fire, send the fire!
Oh, see us on Thy altar lay
Our lives, our all, this very day;
To crown the off’ring now we pray,
Send the fire, send the fire, send the fire!”(1)
Our decree:
As we draw near to God, He will draw near to us, empowering us to be the church (Ekklesia) He created us to be!
Portions of today’s post were shared by Gina Gholston and were taken from her new book, Carry On. You can find out more about Gina at GinaGholstonMinistries.org
Click on the link below to watch the full video.