The story of the Ilorin revival: how the Word of God triggers fire

First and foremost, the revelation of God’s Word both enlightens and sets on fire. When a person’s eyes are opened to see God and His Word, something powerful happens. It’s as if the cares and veils of this world are taken away, and only one thing matters: knowing God, living in and for Him. When you immerse yourself in the Word and ask for fire, it will overwhelm you.

This has also been our experience in God’s work. One of my spiritual daughters, at one season of her life, was emotionally exhausted and broken. She was unstable, both spiritually and emotionally. She was unreliable. But she came to our ministry and immersed herself in the Word of God. She absorbed and drank in the teachings. Before long, she was on fire. A pastor friend of mine had come in my absence to preach for us. He told me afterward that she was unrecognisable, she had been so transformed and set on fire by the Word of God. In the years that followed, she has persevered through numerous challenges and has demonstrated unwavering dedication to God’s work.

Secondly, the Word of God creates a hunger and thirst in us for more of God. This hunger, and the prayer that flows from it, are key ingredients in catching the fire. We saw this earlier in relation to Smith Wigglesworth. His reading of the Acts of the Apostles created a hunger in him that would grow and grow until he received the fire of God.

Revival in Ilorin

Thirdly, the Word itself is fire, and when it is communicated, it releases the power of God that sets men ablaze. A remarkable story of the communication of God’s fire through the Word happened in 1968 in the town of Ilorin, Nigeria. Austen Ukachi tells the story of Ademu Udama, a young man passionate about God’s work and evangelism, and fervent in prayer. He had received an invitation to speak to a group of students on the subject of the Holy Spirit. This was a first for him.

But God, in His grace, enabled him to teach on the subject. At the end of his message, he asked the students to bow their heads in prayer, and things took an unexpected turn. A cloud descended over the room and suddenly one of the students began to pray aloud in tongues. Others joined him, also praying in tongues. Some shouted, others wept and confessed their sins, and others clapped their hands. Udama, who was dumbfounded, wondered what was going on. In his religious tradition, shouting and speaking in tongues were not customary. He had never seen such a spontaneous outpouring of the Spirit. He tried all he could to quiet things down.

Ironically, he himself had not yet been baptised in the Holy Spirit, nor had he even prayed for it. The news made the rounds of the town. It was said that something strange had happened at the youth meeting. Abraham Adenigba, a secondary school student, asked Udama for the Bible passages he used in his teaching. Later, he testified that when he arrived home, he meditated on these passages and, when he began to pray, the Holy Spirit moved upon him, and he began to pray in tongues. He received the baptism of the Holy Spirit and the fire of God. He then became an instrument of revival on his university campus in Ibadan. It is by their fruits that we can tell who has received the fire and who has not. Later in this book, we will talk about the impact of this experience of fire on his life.

Our part is to prepare ourselves. Hence, the lengthy explanations in this chapter. The release of fire is a sovereign act of God; there is no magic formula. What God truly desires is the pure and wholehearted submission of a heart yearning for Him. Let’s take a leaf out of D. L. Moody’s book. We need to recognise our need and humble ourselves before God. Let us respond to the promptings of the Spirit and not assume that our present experience is the totality of all that God is doing.

This article is taken from the book ‘The Fire of God’. Discover it here.