Just a little context to this post. As I have grown in hearing the voice of God in the last 7 years, often I sense the Lord speaking when I journal from his heart and perspective. I have been thinking of altars the past week or so, and then read the story of Elijah twice on Saturday and some phrases in that spoke to me. I was planning on writing a bit on the story and connected to altars, but then felt the these words well up in my heart. I sent the word to be confirmed and tested by a few close friends. With every prophetic word, we are to test them all.
I am longing to burn and fill my people with presence. I am longing to pour out my fire on the land. I am longing to answer the groans and prayers of my people. My Son is groaning and interceding for this moment. He is longing to return to be King (Isaiah 42:13-14). I have aligned so many things for this moment in history. Just as my disciples waited in the upper room before I answered in fire, I have put my people in a time of waiting. What they are going to do with this time is the question. Are they responding in repentance? Are they responding in prayer and partnership with my ways? Or are they giving up hope and turning to old habits, old ways. This is the time of the divine reset. This is what my children have been crying out for. They are asking me to come and move in power and release fire. Many are crying out for revival. I am hearing the cries. It is time for me to move. But here is what I am longing for with my people.
I am wanting to repair the altars. I have moved in spite of the disunity, the brokenness. This is a sign of my great mercy and love. I can’t help myself. I love my children so much that I have been pouring out my Spirit. But now the terms are different. I am wanting to partner with a pure and spotless bride. I want to send my Son back to marry the bride. But the bride must be ready for my Son, and she hasn’t prepared herself. Oh I have heard the cries. I have seen the prayers. But I need to ready my people.
Here is what I am doing. I am repairing the altars. I am tearing down the false altars, the false places of worship. My children have had so much mixture and compromise in their hearts. Where are the people of God that are peculiar and set apart (1 Peter 2:8-9)? Where are the sons and daughters who will stand as priests that will minister before the Lord and weep between the portico and the altar and plea for mercy? Where are my priests who agree with my heart and my promises (Joel 2:17)?
Let’s repair the altars and the places of worship. This is the downfall of my people. They have longings and are created to worship. But they go to so many false places of worship. Just as in the days of Elijah, there is compromise in the land. There were those who we were eating at the table of Jezebel, eating her false pleasures and false delights. They were false prophets. I am concerned that my children are worshipping false gods. They are eating at the table of compromise. They eat from these idols and then show up to my altar and try to worship me. Do you want to know why I am not showing up in power in my church and why my children aren’t carrying my presence in their homes? It is this issue right here, this issue of false idols. They must repent of the mixture of humanism and false pleasures. They have made money, sports, food, time, and agendas their gods. They have created services and churches around their best efforts. But that is not my design. It is not my heart. I long for my church and my people to be centered around my presence. This was my heart throughout the Old Testament. It was always about my presence and my dwelling with my people. My instructions were clear to the Levites: don’t let the fire go out on the altar. There must be a continual tending to the place of worship.
My altar now dwells in the human heart. I long to touch the human heart deeply with my presence. This is why my Son came to bring deliverance and freedom from sin--so that I could abide in my children through the presence of the Spirit. This is no small deal. But oh, how my children make it about so many things. They are so flippant about the gift of my Spirit. They argue and try to decide which gifts are for today. Enough of the disagreements. Enough of the fighting. I am burning and longing to release so much of myself on my people. I truly long to abide in my children. I am breaking false doctrines. I am breaking off fear. I will answer those that are pure, holy, and hungry for me.
I am going to break the spirit of competition off my Church. My people will no longer compete to have better programs and more numbers, but I will release radical unity in them.
My question is the same today that I asked through Elijah. “How long will you waver between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him; but if Baal is God, follow him.”
I am repairing the altars in this season. I long for true worship in homes and in churches. Will you agree with my heart? Will you be willing to tear down anything that I didn't ordain or create? Will you allow me to do the hard work in your heart? This is painful. Things can die or burn up. But then I heal and release my fire, power, and glory in greater ways, and it’s all worth it.
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