Altars

And David built there an altar to the Lord. I Chronicles 21:26 Everyone has an altar....everyone brings offerings. Chris Tiegreen There was a time when most evangelical churches, particularly holiness churches, had an altar at the front of the sanctuary. It was to be a place of prayer, of consecration, a place to offer ourselves completely to Him. In many churches, they have disappeared, and that can be a topic for another writing, but their disappearance does not for a moment take away the truth of Tiegreen's statement. Everyone, including you and me, has an altar and we bring our offerings to it. It can be an altar dedicated to pleasure and comfort. It may be an altar that we bring our offerings and sacrifices to for success, money, and fame. As Tiegreen writes, We have no shortage of gifts to bring to our altars, because the world has no shortage of altars. Throughout their history, Israel kept the Lord's altar in the Temple while at the same time erecting countless other altars to all the false gods and idols they were also worshipping. Where in our lives are we doing the same? Some of them are painfully obvious, as listed above, but others are not so easily identified. They cloak themselves in religious "robes." Perhaps one of the most deadly is "ministry success." Countless pastors, teachers, and worship leaders have visited this altar, including myself. We come to His altar, but in our hearts there exists another, a rival to Him; our work, our ministry. Our recognition. We can hunger for that. Oftentimes more than we hunger for Him. There is only one legitimate altar we may come to; His. All others are counterfeits. There is only one acceptable offering we may bring to His altar; ourselves. In response, He will send His holy fire upon the offering. The result will be revival. Renewal. Awakening. Watchman Nee said that without the altar there will be no heavenly fire. Nor will there be without the proper offering of our lives. All of our lives. There's an old hymn with the lyric, "I never will forget how the fire fell when the Lord sanctified me." May we have such a testimony and may we have such a result. Bring us to Your altar Lord. Send Your fire. Send it now. Blessings, Pastor O