REPAIR
THE ALTAR
Memorise
My
little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man
sin, we have an advocate with the
Father, Jesus Christ the righteous:
1 John 2:1
Read
1 Kings 18:29-34
18:29 And it
came to pass, when midday was past, and they prophesied until the time of the
offering of the evening sacrifice, that there was neither voice, nor any to
answer, nor any that regarded.
18:30 And
Elijah said unto all the people, Come near unto me. And all the people came
near unto him. And he repaired the altar of the LORD that was broken down.
18:31 And
Elijah took twelve stones, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of
Jacob, unto whom the word of the LORD came, saying, Israel shall be thy name:
18:32 And
with the stones he built an altar in the name of the LORD: and he made a trench
about the altar, as great as would contain two measures of seed.
18:33 And he
put the wood in order, and cut the bullock in pieces, and laid him on the wood,
and said, Fill four barrels with water, and pour it on the burnt sacrifice, and
on the wood.
18:34 And he
said, Do it the second time. And they did it the second time. And he said, Do
it the third time. And they did it the third time.
MESSAGE
When the Bible says that we are the temple of God
in 1 Corinthians 6:19, it implies so many things with respect to the features
of the temple. One of the features of the temple of God is the altar. The altar
is very significant in worship, in the sense that it symbolises the throne of
God. The altar is where God abides and does whatever pleases Him. It is the
place where He issues out decrees and orders the events that must take place in
the universe. It is therefore interesting to realise that we are living temples
and carriers of the throne where God exhibits His majesty. No wonder the Holy
Spirit in 1 Peter 2:5 said:
“Ye
also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to
offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.”
In our Bible text, Elijah repaired the altar of God
before offering sacrifice on it. There are a good number of lessons we can
learn from this passage. For instance, there is the possibility of the altar of
God being broken down. When a man, particularly a child of God sins, he or she
breaks down the altar of God, since we are the temple of God. The fellow needs
to repair the broken altar before he or she can make progress spiritually and
physically. From the example of Elijah, you can see that it is possible for a
broken altar to be repaired. Elijah repaired the broken altar before he offered
his sacrifice on it. The result was answer to his prayers that came by fire.
People of God must know that sin is alien to walking with God and so we must
have zero-tolerance for sin. In case a child of God slips into sin, what should
he or she do? The fellow must not stay in that fallen state and mourn his
spiritual calamity. He or she must arise and repair the broken altar like
Elijah did on behalf of the people of Israel. There are many altars in the life
of a child of God that the devil may want to destroy. These include the altar
of praise, the altar of prayer, the altar of faith, to mention just a few. By
the time you finish repairing the altar, your insufficiency becomes history.
When you repair the altar, your weakness becomes strength. As you repair the
altar of your faith today, the impossible will become possible for you (Matthew
17:20). As you repair the broken altar of God in your life today, may the Lord
turn your lack to abundance in Jesus’ Name.
Action
Point
Take an inventory of your life and see where the
altar of God has been broken down. Repair it by way of repentance, make
restitution and cry to God for complete restoration.
BIBLE
IN ONE YEAR
Esther 4-7
Ecclesiastes 10:8-20
Lord please help me to repair every alter that needed to be repaired in my life and family in Jesus name amen.
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