1) The Personal Altar

Introduction:

Four Altars of Prayer

Based on the book, “In Jesus’ Name”: 5 Altars of prayer

Actually 5; combining two altars for simplicity & time

Encourage you to purchase one; $12 (Kindle cheaper)!

Easy read — good to fill in any gaps I’ll miss.

Book begin w/ vision Rev. Rick had where He was taken into Heaven; reminded of OUR >>

Access to God’s Throne Room

Revelation 4:2–4 “At once I was in the Spirit, and there before me was a throne in heaven with someone sitting on it. And the one who sat there had the appearance of jasper and ruby. A rainbow that shone like an emerald encircled the throne. Surrounding the throne were twenty-four other thrones, and seated on them were twenty-four elders. They were dressed in white and had crowns of gold on their heads.”

Kind of a smilar scenario auth. given priv'ge of seeing/envisioning [w/e].

Bib Examples: Moses, Jacob, Micaiah, Isaiah, Zech, Ezk, Stephen, Paul, John — MORE!

Carried/ zapped/ get to see into this spir’l realm of God’s domain {where YH calls them or reveals things, or meets them, etc.}

Ancients (even NT times) had the view that the supern’l world & ours overlaps; supern’l worldview.

Certain 2T Jews even dreampt up corresp’g jobs for spir’l beings!

While we can take to pt. of superstition, I believe it’s still true — maybe even truer in light of X’s res — that >>

‘Heaven’ is closer than we think.

Auth of Heb. tells us that, as Xians, live in a spir. reality wherein we parti. in God’s throne room!

Hebrews 12:22–23 “But you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God, the Judge of all, to the spirits of the righteous made perfect…”

One of the key components we see in this reality is an altar >>

What is an Altar?

An altar is a place of death and new life.

Intentionally set aside for sacrficing. Daily, weekly, monthly, ann’ly

Millions upon millions sacrifices made at altars across Isr. up to AD70.

Wosrhipers bro’t best of livestock so they could meet w/ God; receive His favor/face. Personal [painful] sacrifice.

Might been attach’d, lg. loss, most val’ble… dead!

In John’s heavenly vision of the culmination of God’s plan for Heaven/ earth >>

Revelation 8:3 “Another angel, who had a golden censer, came and stood at the altar. He was given much incense to offer, with the prayers of all God’s people, on the golden altar in front of the throne.”

This symbolic vision hilghts a unique purpose for an altar in heaven: the place where our prayers are received & offered.

Note: no need for animal sacrifices, but holy spot for our petitions to engage YH.

Prayer is way we experience/ connect 2 this heavenly reality; this spir’l truth.

Much like ppl in Bible, we make space to meet w. God on own altars. First one >>

#1: The Personal Altar:

We are still requied to make a sacrfiice today!

Any time you get on your knees and pray to God, it’s a sacrifice! AP says:

Romans 12:1b “…Offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.”

AP cmds us to live every mom. of day as sacrifice, laying down - denying, killing.

Rev. Dubose: “Often, people fail to pray because they can’t say no.”

Praying requires denying y'self, sacrificing time/ schedule/ focus/ nrg.

4 general parts to ancient sacrifice, relate them to our pers. pryr life today >>

A Part Removed

Leviticus 4:11–12 “But the hide of the bull and all its flesh, as well as the head and legs, the internal organs and the intestines—that is, all the rest of the bull—he must take outside the camp… and burn it there in a wood fire on the ash heap.”

Tuck this verse away for when u making your weekly sacrfice.... hehe

Read RIGHT over it. if ever read’g thru WHOLE bible (annually?!) but real truth contained:

Ev’ry sacrif. made, had have some’g removed!

There are parts of each of our lives—desires, drives, distractions—that need removing as part of our daily sacrifice.

Constant daily process. Regular discipline of examinig ‘self’ and lett’g JC purge it from your heart; taking steps to avoid or counter flesh behav!

This is God’s will for you today, Xian! Tom., next day, NEXT!

btw, if u think you don’t need this ‘pruning’, you’re wrong! Dangerous place!

Little by little, or leap by leap, Jesus makes us holier. Inv’s either HS or you (both) looking within & doing work on it!

Hebrews 10:14 “For by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.”

Jesus’ own sacr. pd. for our laying down that which doesn’t belong to His will

Little by little, being holified! An act which finds its inception at the cross.

Where else do we go to learn how to say “no”, to mature in Christ, to voluntarily give up things that are holding u back? — personal altar of prayer!

At our personal altar, we need to bring that which needs removed; and another [part] >>

A Part Consumed by Fire

Leviticus 4:8–10 “He shall remove all the fat from the bull of the sin offering—all the fat that is connected to the internal organs, both kidneys with the fat on them near the loins, and the long lobe of the liver, which he will remove with the kidneys… Then the priest shall burn them on the altar of burnt offering.”

This part of the offering was the part that was to be a sweet arome, pleasing to God.

This offering of the fat of the animal was totally consumed, was thot to ascend heavenward.

U know the intoxicating smell of bacon frying?

Yeah - that was God’s sweet aroma. You get it now, right? Makes sense!

In our secret place, personal altar, where we connect to that heavenly place.

There is thot - when u get to reward in heaven - somet’ng fam. about it!

“The time you spend alone on your knees in prayer is time spent crossing the threshold of the place prepared for you in God’s presence.”

King David must have written Psalm 139 in this same personal alone-time with God — or he wrote it out of habit of spending time there.

He writes:

Psalm 139:13–18 “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. How precious to me are your thoughts, God! How vast is the sum of them! Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand— when I awake, I am still with you.”

There is a secret place you were formed by God. We also enter into that secret place to reconnect with our creator!

Questions like “Who am I? What’s my purpose? What’s my value?” are answered by our Father in secret.

The world’s answers— “look inside, what do feel, ask stars”— all insufficient and inward-focused.

Need to poll our CREATOR to determine our worth/ special purp!

Psalmist prayed:

Psalm 139:23–24 “Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”

We need the one who knows us the most to give us confid. in who we are.

In secret place, part of off’g is removed, part is consumed in heaven, and >>

A Part Shared

Did u know: the sacrfices were also the priest’s income? livelihood?

While every sacrifice covered over the sins or dirtiness of the ppl, also sustained someone else:

Leviticus 6:25–27 ““Say to Aaron and his sons: ‘These are the regulations for the sin offering: The sin offering is to be slaughtered before the Lord in the place the burnt offering is slaughtered; it is most holy. The priest who offers it shall eat it; it is to be eaten in the sanctuary area, in the courtyard of the tent of meeting....”

See, when we truly make our personal pryr altar prior, God uses us for others’ benefit!

Diff. to swallow (we nat’lly seek our own good, comfort) but God places us in life for OTHERS. Sometimes others we don’t even know rly well.

“Dying to ourself means living for others.”

When Jesus was baptized, he was laying down His divine rights.

He didn’t need cleansing; didn’t need this sacrement; had no reason to be renewed in waters — but he did it.

Jesus submitted His will to the Father’s.

Submitting in the waters was His starting pt. for his submission on the cross (bc he didn’t deserve death either!)

Symbolically, Jesus made his life food for others (communion makes that physical connex.)

Luke 9:23 “[Jesus] said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.”

When you and I submit our wills, we renouce our wills, our rights — for Jesus.

God makes us food for others.

Work this out in own ways… but important that you each >>

Build Your Personal Altar

Psalm 119:147 “I rise before dawn and cry for help; I have put my hope in your word.”

Jesus’ disc. came to him & asked: “How should we pray like you?”

Didn’t spit in faces and say: YOU CAN’T!

No, took the time to teach them how to pray!

Jesus wants to connect with us so much that he taught us how…

Note: Really practical guide to help you fast this wk!

1. Set a Time to Pray

Find a consistent time to pray that you are most free? that hurts challengs you?

Commit/sanctify a spot in your day that you can develop a habit!

It takes 21 days to est. a new habit. U should want to est. that habit.

Set a time when u can dedicate to God. Go to pers. altar.

2. Set a Place to Pray

If your best time is at work, find a diff. place to go.

Best time is at home, NOT in warm bed under covers — won’t last long!

Anecd: @TBC, prayer closet was maint. closet

Find some place where you can call ‘prayer home’.

Maybe has Bible & hilighter ready; prayer journal;

3. Start with the Word

John 1:1 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”

lkj

4. Write it Down

l j

Matthew 6:9–13 “‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.’”