The Day I Was Baptized with Fire


It was exactly one year after Darkness Departing ’97 — the crusade that shook our village and sent darkness fleeing.

We were back home again for another revival. This time, it was the 19th of December, 1998.

Brother Sunday and I had invited a dear friend, Brother James, to minister with us. The air that night was thick with hunger — not physical hunger, but a spiritual craving for more of God. We had seen His power before, but deep down, I knew there was something more.

When it was Brother James’ turn to minister, he opened his Bible to Matthew 3:11 and read with fire in his voice:

“I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I… he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire.”

The words hit me like thunder.

Something leapt inside me. Fire. I wanted that. I didn’t just want to speak in tongues or feel goosebumps — I wanted the fire of God burning in my bones.

So when it was time to pray, I bowed my head and whispered a desperate plea:

“Lord, baptize me with fire.”

Then Brother James began to pray.

And heaven responded.

The atmosphere changed. The air grew heavy. My body trembled as if invisible hands had rested on me. Suddenly, I began to see fire — not imagined, not symbolic — but vivid flames, swirling all around me.

I opened my eyes in fear… but the fire didn’t disappear.

Everywhere I looked — fire.

I shut my eyes again, thinking it was my mind. But the same fire burned behind my eyelids — bright, fierce, alive.

For days after that night, whether I closed my eyes or kept them open, all I could see was fire.

It was as though God had wrapped me in a wall of flame — the kind Zechariah spoke of:

“For I, saith the Lord, will be unto her a wall of fire round about, and will be the glory in the midst of her.”

From that day forward, I knew the difference.

The baptism of the Holy Ghost gave me power, but the baptism of fire gave me purity, passion, and protection.

That night, I didn’t just receive an experience.

I received a mantle.

God became my wall of fire — and I, His burning vessel.

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