“We soon learned that we were on the island of Malta. The people of the island were very kind to us, building a bonfire on the beach to welcome and warm us in the rain and cold. As Paul gathered an armful of sticks to lay on the fire, a poisonous snake, driven out by the heat, fastened itself onto his hand! The people of the island saw it hanging there and said to each other, ‘A murderer, no doubt! Though he escaped the sea, justice will not permit him to live!’ But Paul shook off the snake into the fire and was unharmed. The people waited for him to begin swelling or suddenly fall dead; but when they had waited a long time and no harm came to him, they changed their minds and decided he was a god.” (Acts 28:1-6 ESV)
There is a fire so hot and so powerful that it will burn out everything that is hidden. What am I talking about? I am talking about the Holy Ghost Fire from heaven. I want you to pay particular attention to the phrase within the verses above, where it says that when he put the wood upon the fire a poisonous snake was “driven out by the heat.” I know that this story talks about the provision of God, the protection of God, about how when the snake bit Paul's hand how that Paul’s hand did not swell and Paul did not die from the poison of this snake. But I want you to see why the snake came out. It came out because of the heat of the fire.
Our arch enemy, satan, wants us to remain cold and dead spiritually. As long as we remain cold and dead spiritually the snake can just lie around comfortably. But when Holy Ghost fire begins to burn, that old snake is going to wake up fast. Many in the church world might ask the question, “Why would we want to wake up the snake? Why can't we just let him lay right where he's at?” Well, if you have to ask that question you've been cold spiritually for so long that you don't even realize that there is a snake lying somewhere in your life.
For too long many in the Church have not wanted to stir up the devil and make him mad. So over time people begin just to sit back and to take it easy and be at ease in Zion. But that's the reason so many Christians today and so many churches today have become so cold and dead. Because nobody wants to get involved. Nobody wants to get radical for Jesus. We need some Holy Ghost, spirit-filled, fire-baptized warfighters to rise up and light some fires under that old serpent.
Many times, satan will hole up in areas of our lives that are not as easily seen. Many times, he'll hole up in areas of our churches that are not so easily seen. Little subtle hidden areas that you might not even know are there. But when you light a Holy Ghost fire in your midst, you will expose him, and he'll come running out of that fire. When Paul went to gather firewood, he picked up a bundle of sticks. Now that snake was in that bundle of sticks, and Paul didn't even know it. And when Paul put that bundle of sticks on the fire, what happened? The snake came out immediately. That's what fire will do.
As Holy Ghost warfighters for the Kingdom of God, we must understand that when we light a fire underneath that old serpent that he isn't going to like it one bit. Look at what happened to Paul. The snake bit him on the hand and wouldn't let go. Dear friend, when you light Holy Ghost fires under satan, he isn't going to like it either. He'll do everything he can to retaliate and attack you back. He'll get more mean and more evil than ever in a last-ditch attempt to get you. He'll come at you with everything he's got.
Through my years of evangelizing across this nation, I've seen this more than anything else. You let Holy Ghost revival fires begin to burn in a church and you will always have dead church members come to try to hinder it or stop it. But understand me clearly. Man cannot stop what God has started. Man cannot control the fire any more than we can control the wind. Quit trying to control God and let God be God!
Many people automatically will say, “If satan is going to attack back then I don't want to awaken him.” You know, it's a shame that people run around scared of the devil like that. They obviously don't know their Bibles. For the Word says that once that snake bit Paul's hand, you know what Paul did? He just shook it back into the fire. Back into the same fire that it was running from in the first place!
Fellow spiritual warfighter, the devil might come at you, the devil might try to attack you when you get fired up for God, but the Word has said he won't be able to hurt you. You'll feel no harm. Shake that snake back into the fires of Holy Ghost power and it will burn his hide.
There are five steps to making sure that you do not have any hidden snakes lying comfortably within your life. If you will allow these five steps to be a part of your life on a daily basis, you will see not only victory over the enemy, but you will see Holy Ghost fire burning within you at all times.
- Let true confession and repentance become the norm. Make sure that every day that you live you are not afraid to go back before the throne of God and say, “Lord, search me, try me O Lord, and if there be any sin found within me, please forgive me of it. And not only forgive me of my sin, but give me victory over the very root cause of what caused the sin to begin with.” If true confession is part of your daily lifestyle, you will be victorious as a warfighter.
- Make prayer a top priority. Sadly, many in the church world itself only get spiritual on Sundays. If you are to be a victorious warfighter in the Kingdom of God, you must make prayer a top priority. You don't have to go to a corner somewhere and get on your knees for multiple hours every day. All you have to do is make prayer a priority in your life. Pray without ceasing. That means pray at all times. Pray when you're driving down the road. Pray in your home. Pray while you're out hunting or fishing. Make prayer a priority and you will be victorious.
- Seek, hunger, and thirst for righteousness in your life. We must be righteous as He has made us righteous. We must stay in right standing with God. We have been made righteous by the blood of the Lamb, and it is through that blood that we will be victorious as well.
- Get radical for Jesus! Get radical in your service to the Kingdom. Get radical in witnessing to the lost. Get radical in your worship unto the Most High God. There are many in times of war that will never fire their weapons whenever the battle starts. Researchers have told us that in World War 2, only between 15 to 20% of soldiers actually fired their rifles when the bullets started flying. Only the true warriors ran to the sound of the gunfire. And I believe today that it will be only the true radical spiritual warfighters that will run to the sound of the gunfire in the spiritual realm.
- Let the Holy Ghost be in control. Quit trying to handle life on your own. Quit trying to make it every day through your own intellect. Through the mind of Christ operating in us, and through the empowerment of the Holy Spirit operating through us, there is no sense in as many Christians being powerless today as there are. God is looking for some spiritual warfighters that will allow the Holy Ghost to be their command and control element. To allow the Holy Ghost to direct their paths. To allow the Holy Ghost to give them orders from the command structure of God. When we do this, we will be victorious warfighters.
I truly believe that if we will put these five steps into action within our lives that we will light Holy Ghost fires everywhere we go. I believe that we will drive out the snakes that have been hidden in people's lives. And, if we follow these steps, the fire won't ever go out either.
“Oh that you would rend the heavens and come down, that the mountains might quake at your presence—as when fire kindles brushwood and the fire causes water to boil - to make your name known to your adversaries, and that the nations might tremble at your presence! When you did awesome things that we did not look for, you came down, the mountains quaked at your presence. From of old no one has heard or perceived by the ear, no eye has seen a God besides you, who acts for those who wait for him.” (Isaiah 64:1-4 ESV)
Just like fire burned the brushwood and the fire caused the water to bowl, God will send forth Holy Ghost fire to burn up your enemies. He says that when the fire came, it caused the nations to shake. It caused the adversaries to know who the one true God was. It says that whenever God sends the fire that the mountains quaked at the presence of God. That no one could even describe what God had for those who live in the fire. No one can even describe, no one even knows what mighty acts wait for them, the spiritual warfighters, that walk in the holy fire of God.