Skip to main content

The Altar - A Place of Demonstration

 II Chronicles 7:1 - “When Solomon had finished praying, fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices; and the glory of the Lord filled the temple.

God demonstrates His power at the altar. In Genesis 8 when Noah came out of the Ark, he built an altar. Genesis 8:21-22 says, “And the Lord smelled a soothing aroma. Then the Lord said in His heart, “I will never again curse the ground for man’s sake, although the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth; nor will I again destroy every living thing as I have done. While the earth remains, Seedtime and harvest, Cold and heat, Winter and summer, And day and night Shall not cease.” In Genesis 9:1-3 God pronounces a blessing on Noah and his sons.


In II Chronicles 6-7 Solomon dedicates the temple.  In II Chronicles 6:12 Solomon stood before the altar and prayed.  His prayer is recorded in verses 13-42. When he finished his prayer, fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offing and the sacrifices, and the glory of the Lord filled the temple. II Chronicles 7:2 says, “And the priests could not enter the house of the Lord, because the glory of the Lord had filled the Lord’s house.” What happened?  God demonstrated His power at the altar.  


In I Kings 18 the Prophet Elijah met the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel.  Listen to the challenge he issues in verses 23-24, “Therefore let them give us two bulls; and let them choose one bull for themselves, cut it in pieces, and lay it on the wood, but put no fire under it; and I will prepare the other bull, and lay it on the wood, but put no fire under it. Then you call on the name of your gods, and I will call on the name of the Lord; and the God who answers by fire, He is God.” So all the people answered and said, “It is well spoken.”  


In I Kings 18:32 Elijah rebuilt the altar of prayer. He put the sacrifice on the altar, poured four barrels of water over the altar, and prays a sixty-three-word prayer.  What happened? Verse 38 says, “Then the fire of the Lord fell, and consumed the burnt sacrifice, and the wood, and the stones, and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench!” 


The altar is a place of demonstration. The Lord will demonstrate His power to us when we make the altar of prayer a priority in our Christian walk of faith.

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Rebuilding the Broken Altar of Prayer

In Matthew 21: 12-13 , “ Then Jesus went into the temple of God and drove out all those who bought and sold in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves. 13 And He said to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you have made it a ‘den of thieves.’” Jesus made this declaration, “My house shall be called a house of prayer!”  I believe that God is calling us back to the altar of prayer.  For several weeks the Lord has dealt with me about rebuilding the broken altar of prayer in our personal and corporate lives.  If we are going to see spiritual breakthrough in our churches and communities then we must rebuild and return to the altar of prayer. Wayman Rogers writes, “The ministry of prayer is the most important of all ministries in the church.  Prayer creates the atmosphere and binds the powers of darkness so the gospel of Jesus can go forward and the church can prosper....
Post a Comment
Read more

The Shout of a King is Among Them

Numbers 23:21 - “He has not observed iniquity in Jacob, Nor has He seen wickedness in Israel. The Lord his God  is  with him, And the shout of a King  is  among them.” In this passage of Scripture, the king of Moab had hired the prophet Balaam to speak a curse over the children of Israel.   He saw Israel as a threat to his kingdom.   Numbers 22:2-3 – “Now Balak the son of Zippor saw all that Israel had done to the Amorites. And Moab was exceedingly afraid of the people because they were many, and Moab was sick with dread because of the children of Israel.” When the enemy sees the people of God rising up in faith, he becomes very concerned and moves to keep us from fulfilling our assignment.   We learn in Numbers, Balaam could only speak what the Lord gave him to speak.   Instead of a curse he speaks a blessing. The enemy seeks our destruction, but God!   Listen to the conversation between God and Satan in ...
Post a Comment
Read more

They Turned Back in the Day of Battle

Psalms 78:9 – “ “The children of Ephraim, being armed, and carrying bows, turned back in the day of battle.”             Ephraim was the younger of two sons of Joseph.   His first born was Manasseh.   It was Ephraim that received the blessing of Jacob.   The tribe of Ephraim became the largest of the ten northern tribes of Israel.   Many times the Bible used the name Ephraim to represent the whole nation of Israel.             In verse 9 they are armed and carrying bows.   They are dressed, equipped, and ready to battle.   Yet we learn that they turned back in the day of battle.   The Bible identifies this as sin.   To turn back in the day of battle was displeasing to God.               To be armed meant that they were equipped with armor, a sword, and a shield. ...
Post a Comment
Read more