What does it mean to be baptized with fire?

The context of the above verse has to do with separating the wheat from the chaff and burning up the chaff with fire.

This tells us that the Lord Jesus will baptize His Church not only with the Holy Spirit but also with a fiery judgment that will remove what is not of Kingdom worth.

The baptism with fire is taking place today. God's people are full of chaff. It needs to be burned away.

Perhaps you have been a Christian for many years. All of a sudden the bad things you have been doing are being revealed. You have considered yourself a strong Christian but now you are seeing that you are a self-willed gossip. You are proud, critical, you lie on occasion, you steal, you become angry and sullen. You never could see this in yourself before but now it is apparent.

You are being baptized with fire and the fire is revealing what is in your personality.

Don't despair. The Lord still loves you. In fact it is because He loves you that He is showing you all this stuff. As many as He loves, He rebukes and chastens.

But wasn't all this taken care of when I got saved? When you received Christ, your past sins indeed were blotted out. But you still have a sinful personality.

What are you to do? Do what the Bible says. Confess your sins to the Lord. Ask Him to remove them. He will! Some bondages will flee as soon as they are recognized and confessed. Others take a while because there are a lot of little branches throughout your personality.

Remember Israel! God told them to conquer the land. They did this until the going got tough. Then they compromised.

Never compromise with sin! Keep telling the Lord about it until He removes it. It is His determined will that you be in this world as He is. Isn't this what the Book says?

Do not become moody or introspective just because you have found out you are not perfect and your bad disposition has caused others to stumble. Keep your eyes on Jesus. You are without condemnation as long as you are abiding in Him each day. Satan may accuse you of things you never have done and never intend to do. Shake yourself and keep on after Jesus.

We are moving past Pentecost to the feast of Tabernacles, so to speak. The adamic man remains alive until we move past Pentecost. The next move of God deals with who we are. Who we are must be crucified and the new man is to come forth. Part of this process involves the judgment of the sin of the old nature and that is why the baptism with fire.

Some may argue that all our sins were removed when we came to Jesus. Right. If this is the case, why are you still practicing the sins of the flesh?

If there is no devil in you why are you acting like the devil?

Let's get real. The world is waiting to see Jesus in the churches. When the chaff has been removed, they will see Jesus and believe in Him.

This is what you want so let God baptize you with fire.