By Bisi Daniels
For several days in October, the tireless 77-year-old General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), Pastor Enoch Adeboye, was overseas, preaching and praying for God’s fire to fall. Most recently, he was in Manchester and Ireland. Before then, he visited Russia, the country of Orthodox Christians and the United Arab Emirates.
Back in Nigeria but not to rest, he is today, Friday, hosting thousands of worshippers at the November Holy Ghost Service of the Church at its expansive Redemption Camp. Being the first day of a special month-long fasting, the service promises to be special, according to a church official, who also expects high attendance.
The services overseas, called the Festival of Life, are also Holy Ghost Services, which many people look up to for the characteristic miracles, signs and wonders which have become hallmarks of the revered pastor.
But to him, the priority is strengthening and growing the faithful spiritually; and winning more souls
All these, and oftentimes revivals, are obtainable when the Fire of God falls. In Ireland, noted for strong historic revivals, Pastor Adeboye prayed specifically for a revival.
“When the Fire falls tonight, revival will begin in Ireland because wherever the Fire touches becomes a holy ground. This is a nation that has witnessed revivals and used to send missionaries out. Revival will begin again,” he prophesied.
In Manchester, he also said: “When Fresh Fire falls, Revival will come to the land. Whether the devil likes it or not; United Kingdom will know Revival again.”
There are many accounts of the wave of revivals in Ireland years ago. According to one of them: “A man travelled from Ireland to observe the London meetings of Reuben Archer Torrey.
His assignment: to report to his grandfather whether this was ‘a real work of God.’
“Years earlier, the grandfather had been part of a commission sent to America to study revivals sweeping America. They concluded that these revivals were real moves of God.
“Encouraged, many Irish people, including four men from Kells, started praying every Saturday for years for revival in their country. The grandfather was one of those men. But nothing seemed to happen.
“After the grandson reported that Torrey’s crusade was of God, the men decided to preach in an effort to bring about revival. But ‘their attempt did not yield immediate results, so they went back and kept on praying.’
Finally, ‘the fire of God fell.’ God had “rewarded their persistence.”
Lives were changed dramatically. ‘Courts adjourned because there were no cases to try; jails were closed because there were no prisoners.’ Many ‘notorious and hardened and hopeless sinners’ were ‘converted.’ People were so consumed by the things of God that they had no time to attend even to ‘ordinary’ matters.”
Today, that seems unrealistic, but nothing shall be impossible to God.
Preaching on October 25 at the packed Luttrelstown Castle Resort, Castleknock, Dublin with the theme, “Let the Fire Fall,” Pastor Adeboye used the experience of Moses with the burning bush to explain what happens when the Fire falls.
He said from this story, the first time that the Fire of God fell for Moses, he saw something new. But not only did he see something knew, he heard from God, who called his name and said he had seen him.
God also said he had heard the cry of the people. God told Moses, “I have seen the suffering of my people; I have heard their cries.” And then He said, “I know their sorrows.”
Going back in time to remind Moses He was the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, signified that He remembered His covenant with them.
According to Pastor Adeboye, the best part of the encounter was God’s assurance that He would deliver His people, which is what happens when God’s Fire falls.
“You know God has a time table for everything. When you read 1 Samuel 17:16-51, for 40 days, Goliath terrorized a whole nation, but when God was ready, He sent a small boy, David, to put an end to all the enemies had been doing.”
Then he assured the congregation: “It doesn’t matter how long your problem had been; the moment He is ready, the problems are over!”
He also cited a personal testimony:
“We have a programme like this and I was about to end. So, I asked everybody to ask for something special from God.
And there was this lady there who was already past childbearing age and had not married because nobody approached her for marriage.
Her prayer was simple: ‘God you know my problem; I have been praying to you about it for all these years and there was no response. It is now too late and I won’t bother you again. I will just keep on praising you anyway.’
God heard that and remembered her.
Few days later; one brother came and said: ‘Sister thus sayeth the Lord; you are my wife.’
She looked at him and said, ‘you better go and pray again.
He said he had prayed and the lady was the choice.
But she looked at him again and said: ‘Don’t you want children? I am passed childbearing age.’
The man said: ‘Ah, Glory be to God. You are the one because I have already had children. I lost my wife and I don’t need more children. But I need a wife: somebody that will keep my company, somebody who will help me look after the children that the other woman left behind – you are the one.’
So, they got married and that very month that they got married, she became pregnant. She gave birth to a set of twins.
Later, on October 27, Pastor Adeboye presided over the RCCG Republic of Ireland 9th Ordination and Graduation Service. Unlike the ordinations at the Redemption Camp held for thousands of people, the relatively small numbers in Ireland afforded Pastor Adeboye to lay hands on each of them.
He said: “In the case of the ones ordained today; I even came down, after I had done the anointing; after I had laid hands on them; after I had made the proclamation and prayed. I still came down to shake hands with them – one by one.”
But he warned that the effectiveness of each ordained person depends on how seriously the Fire of God is taken.
Manchester
Pastor Adeboye was earlier, on October 18, in Manchester for the RCCG Festival of Life in The Midlands and North of England. According to the transcription of all the sermons by the Discovery Media Crew, this time, he used the story of Elijah on Mount Carmel, where he directly prayed for the Fire of God to fall over his sacrifice.
According to parts of the story: “At the time of sacrifice, the prophet Elijah stepped forward and prayed: ‘Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, let it be known today that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant and have done all these things at your command. Answer me, Lord, answer me, so these people will know that you, Lord, are God, and that you are turning their hearts back again.’
“Then the fire of the Lord fell and burned up the sacrifice, the wood, the stones and the soil, and also licked up the water in the trench.
“When all the people saw this, they fell prostrate and cried, “The Lord—he is God! The Lord—he is God!”
Drawing inferences from the story, the General Overseer explained what happens when the Fire falls.
When the Fire falls:
The potential in the wood was the fire, just as inside every individual there is a potential! – A potential to be great; a potential to be famous; a potential to become mighty. When the Fire falls, potentials are activated;
The rock was consumed, which signifies the end of hardship when the Fire of God falls because rock stands for hardship
Pastor Adeboye spoke at length aboutpurpose.
According to him: “God never created anybody without a purpose.”
Using a personal testimony, he said: “I had my own plans; I thought I was going to become the youngest Vice Chancellor Africa had ever known; that was what I wanted to be.
But the Purpose of God for my life was different. He allowed me to study Mathematics for many years and then He blocked my way and said: “I want you to be a Preacher.”
As a Vice Chancellor, I would have been a blessing to a University; as a Preacher, by the Grace of God, I am a Blessing to the world.
God never created anybody without a Purpose. You were not born as an accident; you came into this world for a purpose.
The sad thing however is that many people believed that they came into this world without a purpose.
So, they lived and died without fulfilling their purpose.
The purpose God has for your life is a Good One, according to Jeremiah 29:11.
He said that: I know the thoughts that I think towards you – thoughts of good, not of evil, to have an Expected End.
God has a purpose for our life; that purpose begins to find fulfilment the moment the Fire of God falls.”
During all the sermons, there was time to share testimonies and the one thing Pastor Adeboye cannot do without – the call to the altar. Several people responded to that.