Written by Daniela Kerekes, Captivated Int’l Board Member
Perhaps the first thing many people think of when they hear that God is an “all-consuming fire” is judgment. But let me tell you from personal experience, there is SO much more! Not too long ago, I served at a camp hosted by Christ for all Nations (CfaN) where I had a life-changing encounter with God and the reality of His fire. One night, one of the team leaders taught about the fire of God, and as he spoke, I felt a stirring in my spirit. At the end, he called everyone to the front who wanted that fire in their life. As a part of the staff, I came to the front thinking I would be the one praying for people, when suddenly I fell to the floor myself under the weight of God’s presence. Then another team member came up to me, placed a hand on my back, and simply said “Fire.” Within a moment, I felt heat on the inside of me and began to have an experience and vision of the all-consuming fire of God.
I had read and heard the Scriptures like Hebrews 12:29, “For our God is a consuming fire,” and Matthew 3:11, “…He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire,” and thought I had an idea of what that meant. On that night, however, these Scriptures came to life in a whole new way for me. I got a small glimpse of this pure, cleansing, beautiful, passionate, powerful and all-consuming fire of God. In the vision, I saw the fire in different tones of yellow, blue, orange and red, and it was unceasing. It kept on flowing and flowing and flowing and flowing out of the heart of God. It was unstoppable and inextinguishable.
When I came in contact with this pure fire, I felt my whole body burning from the power of His presence. I could not help but release a great cry from the intensity of it. This one cry continued for at least one or two minutes! It is hard to comprehend everything I experienced at that moment, but what I felt, sensed, and saw was that God’s fire can pierce through anything – even through the coldest heart. I felt like gold being put through the purification process as impurities were melting away. In this process, I knew God wanted to remove any self-produced fire, any striving, any self-centered behavior or thoughts from my heart.
Another aspect that I felt and saw about His fire was that it is full of love and passion. I knew at that moment that He loves me with such a passion that it is indescribable. It was so deep and intense. I got a deeper understanding and revelation of what it meant to understand the width, length, height and depth of God´s love as Paul describes in Ephesians 3:18: “And may you have the power to understand, as all God´s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is.”
After this intense and unforgettable hour of experiencing and seeing God’s fire, I realized that any other fire I could try to produce myself would never come close to this fire. I never wanted to live without this fire, which produced in me something I could never recreate on my own. It was a humbling experience that left me realizing I was nothing without Jesus, His power and His fire. And now, whenever I imagine Jesus in my imagination, I see in His eyes this exact same fire—the fire John described in Revelation 19:12: “His eyes were like flames of fire…”
Have you ever experienced God´s all-consuming fire? If you’re reading this and you feel like you’ve never encountered His holy fire or you once were burning but have now grown cold, I urge you to open yourself to Jesus right now. Invite Him to come with His all-consuming fire to touch, transform and renew you. Let the fire of His love bring new life and fresh passion to your heart and your faith.
Jesus, we want to burn with your fire each day more than the day before! Amen!
