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
Author: Pastor E.A ADEBOYE
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