Ananias with his wife Sapphira, sold a piece of their property, and with his wife’s full knowledge, they kept some of the proceeds back and brought only a portion of the profits to Peter and the other apostles. When Peter asked if they brought all they sold, they both lied at different times without the presence of the other. The couple thought they were lying to the apostles, not knowing that they were lying to the Holy Spirit. Ananias fell and died, three hours later the wife also died the same way.
Acts 5:1-11
Now a man named Ananias, together with his wife Sapphira, also sold a piece of property. 2 With his wife’s full knowledge he kept back part of the money for himself but brought the rest and put it at the apostles’ feet.
3 Then Peter said, “Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit and have kept for yourself some of the money you received for the land? 4 Didn’t it belong to you before it was sold? And after it was sold, wasn’t the money at your disposal? What made you think of doing such a thing? You have not lied just to human beings but to God.”
5 When Ananias heard this, he fell down and died. And great fear seized all who heard what had happened. About three hours later his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. 8 Peter asked her, “Tell me, is this the price you and Ananias got for the land?” “Yes,” she said, “that is the price.”
9 Peter said to her, “How could you conspire to test the Spirit of the Lord? Listen! The feet of the men who buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out also.” 10 At that moment she fell down at his feet and died. Then the young men came in and, finding her dead, carried her out and buried her beside her husband”.
The congregation was afraid and scared because of this. And great fear and awe gripped the whole church and all who heard about these things, the whole church and all heard about these things that happened by the hand of the apostles. “11 Great fear seized the whole church and all who heard about these events”.
People were afraid, because of the fire they experienced from the apostles, and even unbelievers dared not associate with the church. They did not go near the church because of the kind of fire and fear that was present. They held the church and the apostles in high esteem, no one dare goes near the apostles. “13 But none of the rest [of the people, the non-believers] dared to associate with them; however, the people were holding them in high esteem and were speaking highly of them”.
As followers of Christ of today, do we still have that kind of fire? Or unbelievers are mocking your God, and you are sitting together rubbing shoulders side by side when we are meant to be crying out for revival of fire to come back into our churches.
Is there any fire anymore? Do you still have fire? Are you still on fire for God? Is there still fire in our churches today? Is there still fire in the life of believers today or has the fire gone out?
Just like you put a wood in the fire and the wood is not burning, it means there is no fire, fire is meant to burn the wood, but when a wood is in the fire and refuses to burn, then the fire is not effective.
We need fire in our churches today! We need fire in our lives. The fire that chases away demons and principalities, the fire that convicts’ unbelievers to make them fruitful, and the fire that brings the lost to the saving grace of Jesus Christ.
We must pray for A REVIVAL OF FIRE !!!
