Fireproof. It is a word that produces images of safety and security, but spiritually it is a destination to ordinary. Though natural dwelling places are desired to remain fireproof, the one dwelling place that is not to be found in this state is the temple of the Holy Spirit: you. The body of Christ is desired by God to show proof of fire rather than fireproofing. You were designed to turn the world upside down with God’s untameable fire. “Christians may look tame, but so does an electric cable—until you touch it.”
While reading this statement and the pages following in Reinhard Bonnke’s latest book, “Holy Spirit: Are we Flammable or Fireproof?”, one can sense the fire of God burning in one’s belly, responding to words testifying of the Spirit of God. Anyone intimately acquainted with the Holy Spirit will recognize the nature of their best friend on the pages of this book and sense His presence. You are God’s electric cable, the conduit for His fire and His glory, and you are made to come alive in response to His power found within. The world is powerless, but you are called to be, as Bonnke so eloquently states, “the grid system for transmitting the power of God.”
God’s children were never meant to be tame. When we surrender to Jesus Christ, we welcome the Holy Spirit to abide in us, and He is anything but tame. The Holy Spirit leads us on rescue missions in the world, fanning the flame of the fiery dove. Bonnke shares the secrets of his life and ministry in this book regarding the Holy Spirit so that you can show proof of fire rather than flame resistance. The Holy Spirit wants to send you on fiery exploits. Bonnke’s nuggets of wisdom, found in fire points he has constructed within the pages of this book, allow you to receive knowledge in moments that has spanned decades.
Two thousand years ago on the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit crowned each of the one hundred and twenty with fire, and they were never the same. Their baptism of fire on that day brought forth “God and man rejoicing together as one in the charismatic language,” the first preached message, and 3,000 salvations. These were not asbestos Christians, as Reinhard Bonnke likes to call those who seem fireproof to the touch of the Holy Spirit. Every one of those in the upper room that day was found flammable for the kingdom of God. You and I are to be no different. The fire of God knows no boundaries. It knows no limitations. How He introduced Himself 2,000 years ago is how He wants to invade your being today. The Holy Spirit wants you to be the burning bush through which He speaks and releases His power.
Maybe you have tamed the flame upon your life. You have contained it, keeping it safe. No one is getting burned, including you. But you are not called to be safe. You are called to partner gloriously with a God who is an all-consuming fire. You are called to burn with the fire of the Holy Spirit, a fire that is passionate for the things of heaven and dangerous to the things of hell. Bonnke reminds us that there is no amen to finalize the Book of Acts. What the Holy Spirit kindled with the early apostles, He desires to continue today through each one of us. We are still the Acts church. We are His earthen vessels, crafted to dispense His presence, His glory. We are to pour Him out, and when we do, we demonstrate that we have “bathed in liquid fire.”
This book has one destination. It is designed to set the temple of the Holy Spirit on fire, and that temple is you. Reinhard Bonnke’s desire for this book is God’s desire, and that is for you to know the Holy Spirit and to burn without apology and with intention. Your passion will be kindled and intensified as you read from Bonnke’s perspective. You will be fueled to stir God’s passion for souls, for the impossible and for the extraordinary. You will know Him and demonstrate His indwelling as you yield to the instruction presented. Jesus desires for people to see Him in your eyes. The Holy Spirit is a person, and He longs to commune and to cohabit with you. Bonnke says, “We are to live in the reality of His constant presence.”
To live in that reality is to remain flammable. As you read this book, shake off any residual asbestos and refuse to be anything but flammable for God!