Provoked from Powerlessness by Daniel Olukoya

Matthew 3:11-3:11

Beloved, God does not want His children to be spiritual weaklings, hence He gave us power
to live a strong and vibrant Christian life. Therefore, God is not to blame if despite the
power He has made available, you still remain a powerless Christian. When a Christian finds
it difficult to overcome sin, flesh and Satan, such a Christian is in a state of powerlessness.
Also, a believer is powerless when he or she finds it difficult to perform his or her spiritual
obligations and responsibilities. So, it is very necessary for us to consider this message
entitled, "Provoked from Powerlessness. Matthew 3:11 says, "I indeed baptize you with
water unto repentance; but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am
not worthy to bear; he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire. In the above
passage, we find three kinds of baptism:
1. Baptism with water.
2. Baptism with the Holy Ghost
3. Baptism with fire.

These three kinds of baptism are aimed at achieving one goal or the other. Before the
departure of our Lord Jesus Christ to heaven, He told His disciples in Luke 24: 49: "And
behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you; but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem,
until ye be endued with power from on high. Also Acts 2: 1-4 says, "And when the day of
Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place, suddenly there came
a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the entire house where they
were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon
each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other
tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.

According to these three passages above, we can see that fire in the Bible represents the
life, power, presence and anointing of God. Anywhere you see the manifestation of God in
the Bible, He is always associated with fire. For example, when God drove Adam and Eve
away from the Garden of Eden, an angel with the sword of fire was put there to guard the
garden. Right from Genesis 3, you find God calling from a burning bush. As you continue in
Exodus you see how God led the Israelites by a pillar of fire. We also know Elijah as the
prophet of fire.

Many years ago, in the fellowship where I used to belong in England, there was a man who
was always quiet. He talked only when he was asked to read the scriptures or pray. One
day, he was asked to interpret the tongues of a preacher who was invited to minister that
day. The challenge came to him unawares and immediately, he started to pray, shivering
and sweating. However, as he provoked the Holy Spirit into action, the Spirit of God took
over him and he interpreted everything the preacher spoke in tongues.

The spiritual state of the disciples declined after the death of Jesus. They all went back to
fishing. We remember that Peter had previously denied Jesus. Thomas was bent on seeing
Jesus and dipping his fingers inside the holes perforated by nails in His hands before he
could believe. This shows the kind of people Jesus left behind. Their attitude indicated that
something was missing in their lives and that thing needed to be imparted into their lives to
enable them to become mountain movers for the Lord. Their lives at that time could be
likened to a delicious soup prepared with assorted ingredients, yet it lacked salt. And an
expensive soup without salt would amount to nothing. Samson was like any other man as at
the time he was attacked by a lion, but something extraordinary happened. The Bible says
that the Spirit of the living God came mightily upon him and right within his system, power
changed hands and he grabbed the lion and tore it into pieces.

Sometime ago, as I was praying with a girl, the Spirit of God said, "Stop. Command every
spirit of the forest to depart. When I did that, the voice of an old woman spoke from the
same girl and said, "She originally belongs to me, she cannot belong to Jesus. Please, leave
us alone, she is mine. I told the evil spirit that she was now a child of God and filled with
the Holy Spirit. But it insisted that she belonged to them, that she was still a fornicator. The
evil spirit even said that they have put a vagabond spirit in her and that was why she was
roaming about all over the place without achieving success. I asked the girl if she heard all
that the demon said. She said yes that she heard the words coming from her but did not
know who was talking. I asked her if she had received the baptism in the Holy Spirit and
she said `yes. When I tried to find out how, she said that somebody gave her a piece of
paper and asked her to be repeating some words after him and as she did that, all of a
sudden, she got confused, her tongue changed and she was congratulated. I said, "No, you
need to receive the proper baptism of the Holy Spirit with fire.

Some of the deliverance ministrations people pass through would not have been necessary
if they pressed forward and received the baptism of fire after the Holy Spirit baptism. When
that fire comes upon you, certain things cannot just continue to stay in your life, because
they will not be able to stand the fire. It was obvious that something was absent in the life
of that girl. The spiritual lives of many churchgoers are like that. No doubt, somewhere
somehow, the salt is missing. There are a lot of people with beautiful faces or wonderful
certificates from either Britain or America living a good life, but they lack fire. Such people
are easy preys in the hands of witches. When they have been finished by these wicked
powers, you will see obituaries where their family members would write things like: "The
wicked have done their worst, woe unto the wicked, etc. Whereas you and I know that
such pronouncements against death is an empty noise. That will not prevent the spirit of
death from operating, and it does not waste time eating up those who submit themselves to
him. In the house of God, those who have the real fire are very few, but we have a lot of
gossips, backsliders and those who cry and mourn everyday. Many people need to collect
more fire than they presently have if they wish to disgrace all their household enemies.
They need something to put them on the run. The fire of the Holy Spirit consumes every
consumable within its reach. When you possess this fire in your life, no arrow fired at you
would be able to harm you.

Some years ago, there was a man who hated me. (There are still many of them today: it
does not really matter.) He went to consult somebody who gathered candles and seven
books of Moses to destroy me. The night they started their evil operation, the Lord opened
my eyes and I was watching them and smiling. When I asked the Lord what I should do, He
said, I should command the angels of God to blow the flame of those candles on his body,
but not to kill him. The angels blew the flame of the candles on his body and I did not see
him until about a week later. By then, his skin had started peeling. When you have
sufficient fire, certain attacks will not have any effect on you, but anything can happen to a
cold believer. When the level of fire in your life is not sufficient to cope with the warfare you
are facing and you are just complacent about it, the enemies will be rejoicing. Bible
students know that God manifested Himself in various ways in the Bible and one of those
ways was by fire. When that fire comes upon you, anything can happen. This reminds me of
a friend of mine who went to Russia to preach. As an Englishman he did not understand the
language, so he started off with an interpreter. But as he continued preaching, to his
amazement, his interpreter fell down and started moving like a cow, and could not continue.
Notwithstanding, the Spirit of God came upon him and he was able to speak Russian
language for half an hour. By the time he finished his message, fire fell down. Oh, that we
may possess the fire of God, then our testimony would be like that of Paul who said,
"Though I preach the gospel, I have nothing to glory of, for necessity is laid upon me. Woe
is me if I preach not the gospel. That is fire at work. You may want to suppress it, but will
not be able to. Are you like that? Or are you hot today and cold tomorrow? When the fire of
the Holy Ghost comes upon us in a new way, there would be no need praying for
deliverance, healing or against any problem because the fire would be sufficient to deal with
them. Your life will become too hot for the enemy to handle. We should pray for that fire to
come into our bones. How I wish that those who are preaching preach with fire, those who
are praying pray with fire, those who are singing sing with fire and those who are
counseling, do so with fire. Beloved, for us to be able to cope with what God is showing us
in these last days, we must be on fire.
The other time, God showed me a vision that troubled me exceedingly. In that vision, I saw
a man in the market place preaching with a Bible in his hand. People gathered around him
whilst an angel of God was by my side as I was watching this preacher. Even though he was
modestly dressed and was preaching the correct message, he did something funny. He
threw his Bible down all of a sudden and stood on top of it. Later, he put his hand in his
pocket and brought out something that looked like a horn and still continued to preach even
though his Bible had changed position. The Lord told me that this is what is happening now.
I should therefore go and warn His people about it. If anybody is starting a church and
hangs the head of a goat at the entrance of the church building with an inscription,
"Welcome, in Jesus name to this wonderful place and expect your miracles. I am very sure
that people will not go there. That is why the devil does not work that way. He would rather
make his servants look revered, with good big Bibles in their hands, but at the same time
they still drink and smoke. Although they carry the Bible, they still tell lies, commit fraud,
smuggle and encourage armed robbery by running armed robbers through prayers for
successful operation. You may not believe it, but there are some people who pray for
demonic people to succeed in their evil activities. They will say, "Man of God, we have a
business, please pray for us. And the so-called man of God would ask them to kneel down
and would pray without finding out what sort of business they are talking about. I have had
such experience before. Sometime ago, three girls who were below 20 came to see me.
They said, "Man of God pray for us so that our business will prosper. When I asked them
what kind of business they were into, they said they needed prayer so that men would keep
coming. I screamed and said, "You mean that you are prostitutes? They said, "No we are
just commercial sex partners. I made them to understand that they would all end up in hell
fire with that kind of business. I also made them to understand that they would not prosper
with it, and that their family members they claimed to be helping with the filthy money they
were making were being ruined.

Whatever you do in the house of God and is not energised by the Holy Spirit is useless as
far as God is concerned. Some people who claim to have received the baptism of the Holy
Spirit have not actually received the genuine one. They speak in tongues but still have
demonic dreams and lack the fire and zeal of God. Some cannot even remember the last
time they told anyone about Christ, while others are still living in sin even though they
speak in tongues. The baptism in the Holy Spirit should be an experience that ought to
revolutionize a persons life. The reverse is the case with present-day believers. Some
ignorantly wear materials dedicated to demons and some have employed house girls who
are snakes.

If you want to become an intimate friend of the Holy Spirit, you must create time for it and
put in everything into it otherwise you would be joking. Many people have been elevated
beyond their spiritual level in their churches and as a result, their lives are being destroyed.
If you were made a chairlady of a group because of your good personality and comportment
or because of the British hats you wear to the church and not because you have the power
and fire of God in your life, then do not be surprised when the demonic members of your
group begin to deal with you.

When the fire of God comes upon your life, certain people will not visit you again since they
know they will receive arrows if they dare come. Arrows from where you may ask? They are
arrows from the angels of God, simply because you are on fire. If you are not known as a
Christian in your place of work, your street and your home, it is because there is no fire. It
is not to the glory of God when your neighbours make bad remarks about you as a
Christian. You should have a good testimony anywhere you are as a Christian.

ARE YOU ASHAMED OF CHRIST?
A lot of people hide their Bibles in their bags for fear of being called fanatics. This explains
why some people refuse to paste their churchs stickers on their cars. They dont want
people to call them fanatics, whereas Jesus was called a mad person. Those who have fire in
them are ready to declare that "Jesus is the way to anybody. Those who lack fire are
cowards. They are always disturbed when they see strange things, for example, sacrifices
around them. Instead of dealing with these things, they will be looking for a man of God to
help them. If when you come to the house of God you present a picture different from what
you are outside, then something is really wrong with your life.

Other ways of knowing a Christian who lacks fire are:
1. When a Christian finds it difficult to pray on his or her meals before eating.
2. Uncontrollable tongue.
3. Unforgiving spirit.
4. Hypocrisy.
5. Lack of interest in Bible study and prayers.
. Jealousy and envy.
7. Seeking the praise of men.
8. Fear.

Sometime ago, I was travelling to somewhere in the western part of Nigeria, and the driver
of the vehicle I was going with was very reckless. A man who was sitting behind him tried to
caution him about his dangerous driving, but he got annoyed instead, stopped the vehicle
and asked the passenger to get down and take back his fare. The man ignored him and he
continued with his dangerous driving. Then, the passenger turned to me and said,
"Youngman, you are sitting by this man in the front and you cannot caution him. I said,
"Let him continue speeding, if he crashes, I will get out and he will die. When the driver
heard my statement, he slowed down without anybody telling him again to do so.

It is when the fire of the Holy Ghost comes upon you that you will start enjoying God. The
most exciting experience you can have is to experience Gods power. As you read through
the book of Acts of the Apostles, you see the demonstration of power and excitement that
thrills one more than the disco hall. You see wonders upon wonders, impossible cases
receiving solution and hypocrites being exposed. This is what God wants His church to be.
When everyone that comes to church collects Gods fire, the enemy will be in trouble. But if
the percentage of those with wet wood is higher than those with fire, the fire will be put out
easily.

Do you have a fire extinguisher in your life? If you do, do not cover it up, expose it. Follow
the example of that pastor who came to me with a bread and said, "Doctor, this bread is my
wife, and I said, "What does that mean? He said, "I sleep with the bread. There was also
another man who brought a duck and confessed that he used to sleep with it. If they had
covered it up and came to pray and sing: "Let the fire fall on me, it would have been a
waste of time.

WHAT ARE THE FIRE QUENCHERS?
1. Sin: Sin is a fire quencher. The Bible says, "She that liveth in pleasure is dead while she
liveth.
2. Television and video sets: Some people are so addicted to TV that they put it first before
the things of God. We must also do away with all the worldly and demonic films because
they are all fire quenchers.
3. Depression: When you are heavy hearted, depressed and easily fed up with everything,
you are inviting fire quenchers into your life.
4. Anger.
5. Lack of love: Jesus says, "By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples when ye
love one another. For example, if you do not see a fellow brother or sister in your house
fellowship for a long time, do you find out why he or she has not been coming? The love of
God in you would prompt you to go and look for the person.
. Hypocrisy.
7. Lust.
8. Laziness.
9. Prayerlessness.
10. Idle talks and lying: Gossips are satanic advertisers, and the reason we have them is
that there are those who listen to them. Some people are professional listeners who are
ready to listen to everything they are told. They should know that if they want their ears to
be full, it would take them to hell fire. Do you know that the devil can drag people to hell
fire through any of their sensual organs such as the ear, mouth, eye and nose? And if you
have a friend who is a gossip, be sure he will gossip about you too.

A long time ago, this country was in thick darkness. Human sacrifices were very common
(even though they are still doing it up till now). People were living in fear. People could not
trust one another and in many of our towns and villages, witches operated in the afternoon
and boasted openly. At that time, nobody knew how to pray fire prayers. Idols demanded to
be worshipped and anyone who refused would be punished. Anyone who seemed to be
living well and dressing nicely died suddenly in his or her sleep. Some parents with about 20
children hardly had any survivor. One day-old babies were used to prepare concoctions to
prolong lives. Evil spirits dwelling in trees roamed about in villages and towns victimizing
people. Whenever hunters fired shots at animals, they saw to their dismay human corpses
instead. Eventually, some men of God collected fire and began to disgrace all these evil
powers. That is why you and I can now serve God more conveniently than the Christians of
those days.

You need to ask for that fire today, and if you are serious about it, you will get it. If you
have anything to sort out before the Lord, it is high time you did that. The Lord Jesus Christ
is waiting for you. Tell the Lord to remove every fire extinguisher from your life. I want to
assure you that as you do so, the good Lord will visit you in a new way, in Jesus name.

PRAYER POINTS
1. Oh Lord, revive your church and begin with me, in the name of Jesus.
2. Holy Ghost fire, make my life your raw material, in the name of Jesus.
3. I receive fire to quench every fire of the enemy, in the name of Jesus.