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C A U G
H T I N A F I R E S
T O R M By Georgian Banov, as it appeared in Spread the Fire, Issue #2 – 2005 “Suddenly there was a sound like the roaring of a mighty windstorm in the skies above them and it filled the house where they were meeting. Then what looked like flames or tongues of fire appeared and settled on their heads. And everyone present was filled with the Holy Spirit…” Acts 2:2, 3 – Living Bible |
| If you check The Weather Channel as
often as I do, then you are used to the “storm report.” Whether it
is a blizzard, flash flood or hurricane, these events unleash violent
disturbances on the earth. The sustained winds of a hurricane can cause
telephone poles to snap like toothpicks, and roofs to fly off buildings
like kites. Consider a wildfire during dry summer months. Even when
fire-fighting helicopters drop their load of water over the sea of
flames, it looks like a mere drop in the bucket. The fire is out of
human control, and efforts to quench it seem hopeless. God the Father sent His only Son, Jesus, into the world and unleashed a hurricane of power and glory. He destroyed the grip of sin in people’s lives. He also shook whatever could be shaken. He uprooted false piety and wreaked havoc against controlling rulers. Those in the religious establishment were unable to discern the storm advisories given by their own prophets and plotted His murder. But the brutal death of Jesus on the cross backfired as an earthquake shook the temple and ripped the veil from top to bottom. There was a period of silence for three days, but on the third day, He rose from the dead. Then on the day of Pentecost, it was as though the back end of the storm came and brought God’s power to believers with a mighty wind. The Holy Spirit spread through the ranks spawning thousands of little “tornadoes.” They were filled with God, and the Jerusalem church exploded out of control. Common people were working the same types of healings and miracles that Jesus did. Even more astounding, they were claiming to know God intimately. To the old spiritual world, this was a huge disaster and no Pharisee could put out these flames. Down through the ages, the enemies of the cross would infiltrate the ranks with false doctrines, but in every case, God would faithfully send His winds to fan the church back into the flames of her first love, and restore the truth. Perhaps you have read about these revivals and prayed for something like this to happen in your lifetime. |
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CAUGHT BY HIS FIRE In 1994, my wife, Winnie and I heard rumors of something happening in Florida with a South African evangelist named Rodney Howard-Browne and in meetings in a little church in Toronto. We decided to see for ourselves and decided to go to Florida and Toronto. Little did we realize that we were headed straight into the pathway of a Holy Ghost tornado. Our first stop was the Carpenter’s Home Church in Lakeland, Florida where the revival firestorm had already broken out and had begun spreading all over the world. Next, we visited Toronto Airport Christian Fellowship. As we stepped inside the doors, God dropped us into a fiery whirlwind. |
| The wind of the Spirit was moving violently
upon God’s people, and what we saw blew us away. At the end of each
service, there were thousands of bodies lying on the floor in the wake
of God’s power. People were being tossed by an invisible, dynamic force;
some were vibrating like paint cans on a shaker while others were flopping
like freshly caught fish in the bottom of a boat. I had read about things like this, but had never seen them. Now, they were happening right before my eyes, but the amazing thing was that no one seemed shocked. While the room seemed to be filled with a spiritual power surge, the people on the ministry team continued to walk from person to person calmly looking relaxed and casual, as though everything was perfectly normal. You see, Winnie felt at home with the intensity present in the atmosphere of those first Florida and Toronto meetings. She was responding to the holy chaos as though it were a kind of rhythm, giving in to the experience with childlike trust. For almost a decade, I had been praying for her as she had lost the tangible sense of His presence due to unkind religion. She was in desperate need to come back to her first love with Jesus. Here in the flash flood of God’s love, Winnie got what she needed. On the other hand, I thought, “I was just fine” and had not realized until that moment that I too had become spiritually stale. Now, as I look back, we were both just as backslidden, but in my case, it was more difficult to discern because I had camouflaged my dryness with all of my religious activities. This thunderstorm upset all my carefully manicured messages, while for Winnie it was a lifesaver and a passionate reunion with Christ. Suddenly it became obvious to me that my concept of church as I had known it was over. I had been sorely in need of revival. This encounter was the answer to my prayers; except it had not arrived in the package I had expected. Nowadays I jokingly say, “Before renewal, our life was a tropical depression. Now for the past ten years, we’ve been living in category five hurricane of blessings.” UNDER FIRE It took the fire of God to burn away that religious starch and restore me to my first love. I had had a supernatural conversion and baptism of fire, and yet it took another Holy Ghost storm to set me back on course. We always need His fire. In 1974, I arrived in the United States as a refugee looking for freedom. Born and raised in Bulgaria, I grew up despising the Communist government for their cruelty to people. As a teenager, I expressed my rebellion by forming a rock band. We became very popular but the police shut us down because we were stirring up a cultural revolution. Eventually, I escaped through the Iron Curtain and traveled to America. I met up with the “Jesus people” in California and in a dramatic encounter with the Lord, I was saved. The Jesus people told me to seek the baptism of the Holy Spirit. I experienced an open vision of heaven and saw the throne of God covered with angels. All of them were being overcome with high levels of ecstasy. As each wave of glory passed over them, they squirmed violently as sounds of pleasure came out of them. Suddenly out of their midst came balls of fire shooting at me in the chest. Waves of heat surged through my body like electricity. God was pouring out a steady stream of His liquid substance, a mixture of pure love and joy, directly into my heart. It felt so good that it almost hurt. As this deluge of pleasure passed through me, I did not know what to do other than to jump, spin and make noises. I was alarmed because no one had prepared me for this. I was a new Christian and had never read Psalm 16, which says, “In His presence there is fullness of joy and at thy right hand are pleasures forever more,” and certainly, no one had explained the “tongues of fire.” As I kept seeing the vision, I reached a point of divine saturation. I panicked and screamed, “I’m dying, please stop.” Since then I have learned never to say, “Stop” to God. Instead say, “More Lord, just strengthen my inner man to handle your consuming presence.” In Toronto, I rediscovered that God is a consuming fire. Even though religious forces attempt to put it out, His love always prevails. He faithfully brings us back to single-hearted devotion to Christ. And, in order for us to experience His love fully, we must let Him flow through us by maintaining a constant “give away” motion. God’s love, if it is to be freshly experienced and owned permanently, is a gift to both receive and to give away. LEARNING TO GIVE IT AWAY Not only did we have a fresh encounter with God in Toronto, but we have also
encountered a host of others who were once dead from religious works, but who
are now revived by God’s presence. Missionaries Heidi and Rolland Baker are
among those people. Their friendship has brought a new dimension to our ministry.
Visiting them in poverty -stricken Mozambique where they have planted thousands
of bush churches has started a new fire within us. Months after our first trip
there, I was still choking with emotion, seeing the sweet faces of the orphans
and their little hands reaching out for hugs thirsty for love. Georgian and Winnie Banov are “apostles of joy,” a radical, husband and wife
power team who enjoy ministering at renewal meetings and hosting evangelistic
feeding crusades throughout the world. Although the sounds and flavors of these
‘kingdom celebration feasts’ vary from nation to nation, they find the River
of God’s extravagant love is always all-consuming and irresistible. |
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