Fire
I believe in the Fire of the Holy Spirit!
I last checked in here on July 19th, about six weeks ago. My spiritual mentor and friend from Nigeria, Brother Augustine, came to visit us during this time. Brother refers to his time in the United States as a “healing retreat.” It was sad to see him leave this week to return to Nigeria. Please pray for Brother because life in Nigeria is very difficult, especially for Christians.
At the beginning of August, the two of us traveled to California at the request of a local prayer group there to conduct a week-long program. It turned out to be eight nights in a row of prayer meetings and ministry. This was quite an adventure for me, as I had to spend my days working remotely on Eastern time and then ending the day with a meal at 5 pm and the prayer service starting at 7 pm. By the time we returned to Virginia, I was exhausted!
In the middle of the week, Brother asked me to deliver the talk for the evening. A rough transcript of the talk is below. At the bottom of the post is a link to a recording of the talk and prayers on Soundcloud. I hope that the talk and prayers bless you!
Fire Talk (August 2025) Los Angeles, CA [Rough transcript]
[Introduction by Brother Augustine] I wish to introduce my friend and a member of our ministry for a long time. We have been together on this journey for 20 years. So it's long. He's a lawyer by profession and man of God. And he has written two or three books. I brought some of them here on family and prayer. So you have to listen as he talks to you with his experience in this work. In Jesus' name. Amen.
[Start of talk] Thank you, brother. In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen! Come, Holy Spirit. Fill the hearts of thy faithful and kindle in us the fire of thy love. Send forth thy spirit and they shall be created and thou shalt renew the face of the earth. Amen.
I believe in the fire of the Holy Spirit. Do you believe? Yes, amen. But how about this? Are you on fire? Do you need more fire? Yes. That's why you're here this week. This healing and deliverance week. To prepare for the fire to come and minister to you. One of brother's teachings is that if the fire of the Holy Spirit comes into your life, or in your heart, you will never be the same again. Amen.
Many years ago, I met someone that had that impact on me. I went to a holy hour at church one night. And when we came out of the church, there was a young man there who was a Franciscan brother. He had the brown robes on. He was with EWTN, the Catholic TV. When I walked up to him, I shook his hand. And I looked in his eyes. And his eyes were very, very, very intense. He was pushing out God's love out of his eyes. And as I looked at him, my heart began burning inside of me. I was very confused because I had just come back to being a Catholic. I didn't know what was going on. But what I knew is that I wanted what he had. I wanted to have that.
He handed me a rosary. And as I walked away, the rosary was burning my hand. It was very hot. Again, I had no idea what was going on. This encounter with this young man changed the direction of my life. I started praying the rosary every day. I started reading about Mary and the church.
What did this young man have that touched me? I believe he had the fire of the Holy Spirit. It was burning in him. And it touched me.
It's like the apostles or the disciples on the road to Emmaus after Jesus died and rose from the dead. He was walking with some disciples on the road. And at the end of the story, they say, were not our hearts burning within us on the road? This is what happens when we encounter Jesus and the fire of the Holy Spirit.
The Bible teaches us, our God is a consuming fire. So how does fire work in the natural world? We build a fire with wood or coal. And the fire consumes it. We also purify gold with fire. We melt it. And impurities rise to the top. So in our world, fire purifies and consumes.
But the fire of God does not consume things in the natural world. We see this in Exodus Chapter 3. It says Moses was keeping the flock. And he led his flock in the wilderness and came to the mountain of God. And the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. Moses looked and the bush was burning, but it was not consumed.
This fire of God, this anointing of God, is not going to burn up things in the world around us. But the fire of God is going to burn up things in the spirit that do not belong to God. Amen. It is going to purify us.
Depending on where we are in our spiritual journey, the fire will feel different. The saints teach us that the fire of God is what you experience in purgatory. In purgatory, it hurts because the fire is purifying us. That same fire is what we will have in heaven. But in heaven it will make us happy. I read somewhere that it said, “God is a raging fire of love and holiness. It is warming and purifying to the saints. But it is searing and punishing to the sinner.”
I told you about the hot rosary. At the time that happened to me, I was just starting my journey, my spiritual journey. And after I met Brother, he invited me to Nigeria. I traveled to Nigeria and spent time with his ministry there. They invited me to an all night prayer vigil.
You all know how Brother prays. Very aggressive. The all-night vigil, they did that for hours. For hours, they were praying fire. I've never seen anything like that. As the night went along, I became very uncomfortable. My legs became very heavy. I started getting tired. I had trouble staying up. I sat on the sofa praying with them but I was not happy. Years later as I have learned more, I have come to understand that I was still being purified. And this meeting with real fire was a confrontation to the things that were still in me. But that was part of the process.
After knowing brother for 25 years or more, my experience of the fire has changed. Today, when I am in the presence of the fire of the Holy Spirit, I feel joy. I'm happy. But it was a process of many, many years. I'm sharing this story with you so that you do not become discouraged if the fire is a little painful or it makes you uncomfortable. The fire of God does not always feel good. But don't worry. It's working in you. Amen?
You have been praying all week now to prepare to receive fire. When you make a fire, if the wood is wet, will it burn? No. It's the same thing in the spirit. You need to be dry wood.
What brother has been teaching you is you have to repent. Turn away from your sins. And choose to follow Jesus. Once you have that conversion you will be purified.
There's another story in the Bible that I think illustrates that. King Solomon built a temple, the house of God. In 2 Chronicles, Chapters 6 and 7, it tells us about Solomon's prayer to dedicate the temple. When Solomon's prayer was over, it says, fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices and the glory of the Lord filled the temple.
Are we a temple of the Holy Spirit? Amen. When the fire comes down on us, it is going to consume our sacrifices. The fire will consume our sufferings. It will burn up our failings. And then the glory of the Lord will fill our temple.
This is a lifelong process. We keep becoming more and more like Jesus. So, no matter where you are in your journey, turn away from sin. Ask God to send His fire into your life. Have faith in Jesus.
We need the fire of the Holy Spirit in our life. We need it in our prayer life. One writer says, we need the fire of the Holy Spirit to come against powers of spiritual wickedness. You have to have the fire of the Holy Spirit to be in spiritual warfare.
When you pray fire in the Spirit, the fire moves. It's real. I discovered this the first time I tried praying Holy Ghost Fire. I was praying with a healing ministry and we were praying for a young woman who had problems. Only one of us was praying out loud. The rest of us were praying in silence. And as the prayer went on, I was praying in the Spirit: Holy Ghost fire. Holy Ghost fire. Holy Ghost fire. And after a little while, the girl started yelling, “I see fire everywhere.”
I believe in the Holy Spirit! The fire of the Holy Spirit! It is real. And the fire will move when you pray. We can pray that the fire would consume our spiritual enemies. The prophet Isaiah prayed to God: Let fire devour thy enemies.
If you don't know where to start to pray like that, they have copies of Brother's booklet here, Release Me, O Lord Jesus. This is a deliverance prayer. It's very powerful and it will teach you how to pray this way. I would encourage you no matter where you are in your journey to pray this prayer. It will help you.
This crusade, this week, is a great opportunity for you. To have Brother Augustine pray with you. Did you know that one of his nicknames in Nigeria is Brother Fire? Yes.
Maybe 20 or 25 years ago, a member of our ministry in Washington D.C. went to Nigeria. There were no cell phones back then. We had the old fashioned cameras with film. She brought one of these cameras to Nigeria. And one day she was taking pictures of Brother after a prayer service when he was walking down the street in his habit. When she got back to the United States, she took the film to be developed. And she was surprised that there was a pillar of fire following him down the street. I have a copy of that picture of my house.
I believe in the fire of the Holy Spirit. Do you believe? I believe that the fire of the Holy Spirit is going to change your life this week. Do you believe? Yes, amen.
Let's stand up and pray. Father, we thank you for bringing us together tonight. I ask you all to focus your mind on Jesus and to pray after me. Thank you, Jesus, for bringing me here tonight. I am sorry for my sins. Please forgive me. I desire to know you more. I ask for you to fill me with your fire. I ask you to heal me with your fire. I ask you to deliver me with your fire. Jesus, release me from every attack of the enemy.
(Singing)
Send down fire, Holy Ghost Fire, send down fire, Holy Ghost fire. Send your fire now!
Send down fire, Holy Ghost Fire, send down fire, Holy Ghost fire. Send your fire now!
Send down fire, Holy Ghost Fire, send down fire, Holy Ghost fire.
[Prayer resumes]
Begin to pray for yourself now. Begin to pray that the fire of God will begin to work in your life. Pray that it will begin to burn away everything in you that's not of God. Pray, Father, send that fire now. Begin to burn away everything not of you. Begin to burn away any demonic attack. Begin to burn away any occultic manipulation.
Come Holy Spirit with your fire. Begin to move now. Begin to touch the people now. Begin to touch them now. Begin to burn away every cobweb in their brain. Burn away every satanic attack. We're going to burn it away now. Receive it now. Holy Ghost fire. Holy Ghost fire. Holy Ghost fire. Take the fire now. Take it. Fire of the Holy Ghost.
We're going to confront every obstacle. We're going to burn away every obstacle in their lives. Anything blocking you from receiving the fire, we're going to burn it up. Remove every blockage in the name of Jesus.
Pray, pray pray. Pray for yourself. Receive it now. Receive the fire. Receive it now. Receive it now. Receive it now. Receive it now. Fire. Holy Ghost Fire. Holy Ghost Fire. Fire. Take the fire now. Touch them Jesus. Thank you Jesus.
Thank you, Jesus. Father, we thank you, we praise you, we bless you. I pray for everyone here that they will be prepared to receive the ministry of fire. I pray that their lives will be changed in the name of Jesus. I pray that they will be healed in the name of Jesus and I pray that they will be set free from the enemy in the name of Jesus. Amen.
I cover you all in the blood of Jesus. In Jesus' name. Amen.
(Closes with Singing)
Eric A. Welter is an employment lawyer and trial attorney with a long-time devotion to intercessory prayer. He is a Catholic Christian who has been involved with intercessory and healing prayer ministry for over twenty years.