June 13, 2008

• Raising Godly Altars by Pastor Danquah

  Pastor Danquah reminded us to keep our faith up, because sometimes God does not manifest a healing instantly, but as we continue believing in faith, healings will manifest.

  One of our praise teams, God’s Word Worship Band (see picture below), brought so much to the service and brought the anointing down. We have five praise teams at our church each with a different sound.

  

  Here is a picture of Pastor Danquah preaching. My husband did not use flash as he did not want to disrupt the teaching, but the lighting was such that it was hard to capture a good image, so this was the best picture.

  

  He had us read two Bible passages which I am including here. Pastor Danquah uses KJV of the Bible.

  Numbers 23:1-6 And Balaam said unto Balak, Build me here seven altars, and prepare me here seven oxen and seven rams. And Balak did as Balaam had spoken; and Balak and Balaam offered on every altar a bullock and a ram. And Balaam said unto Balak, Stand by thy burnt offering, and I will go: peradventure the LORD will come to meet me: and whatsoever he sheweth me I will tell thee. And he went to an high place. And God met Balaam: and he said unto him, I have prepared seven altars, and I have offered upon every altar a bullock and a ram. And the LORD put a word in Balaam’s mouth, and said, Return unto Balak, and thus thou shalt speak. And he returned unto him, and, lo, he stood by his burnt sacrifice, he, and all the princes of Moab.

  2 Samuel 24:18-25 And Gad came that day to David, and said unto him, Go up, rear an altar unto the LORD in the threshingfloor of Araunah the Jebusite. And David, according to the saying of Gad, went up as the LORD commanded. And Araunah looked, and saw the king and his servants coming on toward him: and Araunah went out, and bowed himself before the king on his face upon the ground. And Araunah said, Wherefore is my lord the king come to his servant? And David said, To buy the threshingfloor of thee, to build an altar unto the LORD, that the plague may be stayed from the people. And Araunah said unto David, Let my lord the king take and offer up what seemeth good unto him: behold, here be oxen for burnt sacrifice, and threshing instruments and other instruments of the oxen for wood. All these things did Araunah, as a king, give unto the king. And Araunah said unto the king, The LORD thy God accept thee. And the king said unto Araunah, Nay; but I will surely buy it of thee at a price: neither will I offer burnt offerings unto the LORD my God of that which doth cost me nothing. So David bought the threshingfloor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver. And David built there an altar unto the LORD, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. So the LORD was entreated for the land, and the plague was stayed from Israel.

  Balak was the king of Moab, and he was afraid of the Israelites. He hired Balaam to curse the people. Even a heathen king like Balak believed the word of the prophet of God. The Prophet’s words will have an effect on you whether good or bad. Balaam told Balak to build seven altars . This was a major undertaking, because a platform had to be raised, and the altars had to be built. It required a sacrifice to go before the Lord.

  David had committed a foolish action and God’s anger was being expressed on the children of Israel. David prayed to God to stop and punish him and his family because it was he who sinned. God gave David three options, and David chose to have God punish him. A plague went out among the people of Israel, and then a prophet of God instructed David to build an altar. God averted the calamity.

  RAISING GODLY ALTARS.  It is imperative for every Christian to build an altar. Even the ungodly, demonic worshippers have altars. What happens in the spiritual also occurs on the physical. There are preachers who are God’s servants and then there are also demonic influences that can influence people. We do not want to speak against God’s servants, for it is their words that help us to avert the power of the devil.

  WHAT IS AN ALTAR?

  1. AN ALTAR IS A PLACE OF WORSHIP. It is not a piece of furniture, not built just to beautify the church. It is a place to give reverence to God. To come and worship the Lord. Every form of worship, Godly or ungodly, has altars. The Hindus, Buddhists, Muslims, and all spiritual people have altars. Remember that satan imitates what God does.

  2. AN ALTAR IS A PLACE OF SACRIFICE. There is no altar, pagan or Godly where people don’t sacrifice. Jesus died on the cross 2000 years ago and opened the gateway for us to be able to approach the altar. Before that, only the High Priest could approach the altar to worship. Today, Christians do not have to sacrifice rams and lambs before an altar, we bring a different sacrifice.

  Romans 12:1-2 NKJV I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

  (Heather’s note, I put this one in NKJV, because when he told us this passage, we all started reciting it from memory – it is an important memory verse for discipleship and leadership, and most of the church knows this verse by heart. Pastor Danquah was pleased that we knew this so well).

  Our bodies are a living sacrifice. And our bodies are also an altar of the Lord, so we need to be sure that what we are doing pleases God. Wherever we go we carry our altar (body) with us. We are always in the presence of the Lord wherever we go. We do not need to sacrifice an animal, that is a dead offering. Romans 6:11 Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.

  We die to sin, and yet live through Jesus. We carry God’s altar wherever we go. God is in our Spirit. We can’t take God’s altar to commit adultery, to steal, to do any sin. We are too holy to go there. We have to remember that we are the Temple of the Holy God, and must act accordingly.

  3. AN ALTAR IS A MEETING POINT. Idol worshipping humans also go to meet the spirits. Christians also go to the altar so that our spirits can meet God. Idol worshippers meet spirits and demons, but we go to the altar to meet God. Church is not just a place of fellowship, but it is a place where we go to meet God at the altar. Every person has altars in their life, whether for good or evil. We go to the altar so that what God can put in our life may come to fruition. We never forget the day we came to God. God can open a way for our righteousness, prospects, favor, and relationship with Him.

  4. AN ALTAR IS A LINK BETWEEN MAN AND THE SPIRIT WORLD. We are spirits that live in a body and have a soul. 1 Thessalonians 5:23 And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Spirit connects to spirit. Because we are a spirit, we need to connect with the Spirit of God, with the Holy Spirit. If we are not connected to the Holy Spirit, then we are open for other demonic spirits to come in. We want to connect with God’s Holy Spirit so that other spirits cannot take over.

  2 Corinthians 5:16a Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh… We need to be careful who we choose to connect ourselves with. We want to be careful who we pick as friends, some who we meet in schools, on the internet, and in our lives are not children of God, but are satan’s children. They can be placed in our lives to draw us toward demonic influence, so make sure that your friends are godly.

  5. AN ALTAR IS A CONSECRATED PLACE WHERE MAN DRAWS SPIRITUAL STRENGTH. Even idol worshippers can draw strength from their altars through changing, meditation, etc. Our strength is weak, and we need the altar of God to strengthen us for our lives. The Word of God spoken from the altar can give us strength. We can get filled with the power of the Holy Spirit.

  Jesus was led by the spirit into the wilderness for 40 days and nights. When Jesus began His ministry He came in the power of the Spirit. We need to go from just speaking in tongues to deeper in the power of the Spirit where the devil sees you and flees. When we have God’s power in us and draw power from Him it causes satan to fear us. We need to release the anointing of the Lord on our lives and the Glory of God that is on us will trouble the devil.

  No Christian needs to fear any demonic spirit or death, or cancer, or HIV, or any other trouble. There is power in the NAME OF JESUS! 1 John 1:4b …because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world. We can pray for spiritual strength today.

  Do you have a personal altar in your home?  A place where you and your family can lift up the name of the Lord, and God can intervene in your life and the life of your family? Pastor Danquah told us that every Saturday he and his family gather to pray and share the Word of God. He has older children with busy schedules, so they make a time each week to worship together. He does not want the devil to come and take away the blessings on his household.

  We need to build an altar, a place where we talk to God and draw strength from Him. We also need to remember that we also have an altar within us, and worship God daily in our walk. We not only sing in the Spirit, but are always praising Jesus and carrying God with us. When we come to Church, we should come prayed up, already lifted up in the Spirit, so that we can add to the worship. We pray in the morning, pray in tongues, pray all day, and be ready for when the fire of the Lord falls upon you so that you can do what you need when you need to. If we only read the Bible on Sunday, the demons can knock us over with a tiny puff of air. We need to be on fire for Jesus, and in His Word and in prayer daily, so that we are a force to be reckoned with.

  Remember the seven sons of Sceva?  Acts 19:13-16 Then certain of the vagabond Jews, exorcists, took upon them to call over them which had evil spirits the name of the LORD Jesus, saying, We adjure you by Jesus whom Paul preacheth. And there were seven sons of one Sceva, a Jew, and chief of the priests, which did so. And the evil spirit answered and said, Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are ye? And the man in whom the evil spirit was leaped on them, and overcame them, and prevailed against them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded.

  Arm yourself, worship God, and not just for your own selfish purposes. Remember that God is not there to serve only us, but so that we can serve others. Some people have been in the Lord many, many years, some 12 years, some 6, some 2, and they are still wearing diapers, are still spiritual babies. God is wanting us to not only drink milk, but to have the meat of the Word, and to become a threat to satan’s kingdom. God wants us to grow up. In these last days, God wants us strong in Him to avert the works of satan.

  Living Word Chapel in the end times will be a place where demons flee, a place of deliverance.

  Every altar has someone represented on the altar. Idol worshiper’s altars are represented by priests of the demons and spirits, Muslim’s altars are represented by the Imams. Priests represented the altars for the Israelites. Pastors and priests represent the altar of God. Priests will inform us of what sacrifice is needed to worship God, or god. Is it a goat, money, a personal sacrifice?

  In Living Word Chapel, Pastor Don declares the Word of God to us. Pastor Danquah or any other teacher cannot preach at Living Word Chapel without Pastor Don’s permission. Pastor Don speaks life to us, we receive miracles, and teachings to equip us to do God’s will. If you are in a Church and you have no connection to the altar you have a problem. In the role of pastor or priest, the person is representing God. We are not to get angry at the pastor. If we gossip and speak negative about our shepherd, we are breaking a link with God and no blessing can come from that.

  This was a long talk, so I am going to continue this tomorrow with more about altars.

  Hoping your day is blessed.

  Heather

  • 6:56 am
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