The Power Of Family Altars

This is another write up am sharing. It was delivered by "John Mulinde" of World Trumpet Mission.


“The Power of Family Altars”

We learned about the corporate Prayer altar beginning with the family. Today we see the church
surrendering territory and everyday we allow ourselves to take lower standards and values. It is so
disheartening and very discouraging. God is saying, “Arise My remnant I am not through with the
nations.”
Read All of Genesis 19
I pray that the Holy Spirit will help us so that the word we read in scripture will continue to unfold in our lives. I want to talk to you about the great responsibility we have primarily as parents in a land so filled with wickedness. In Genesis 13 when Lot was with Abraham, there came cause for strife and
Abraham said to him, “If you go east I go west,” Lot decided to go east and they separated. The Bible
says Lot went down to the plain in the east near the city of Gomorrah and then it goes on to say the
people of Sodom and Gomorrah were exceedingly wicked and sinful before God.
The Lord does not give us information for nothing. He is not extravagant with words. When God
makes a statement He knows its significance. He was warning us what kind of environment Lot was
going into. He was not in Sodom but outside it; but in chapter 19 as the angels go into Sodom he was
inside. He was outside yesterday and today he is inside. He is even seated at the gate. He had status
and found a place of acceptance and influence. He had worked his way into society and had found a
place of honor and sat among the elders at the gate.
We live in a society where evil takes over the minds of men and women. It is easy to think our
Christianity and homes are safe havens simply because we live and teach Christianity. The Bible
does not call Lot a wicked man. His heart was after God. Peter the apostle says he groaned for the
evil in the city. What about his wife? It was the responsibility of the wife in those days to raise their
children. Lot makes a statement that, “I have two daughters who have not known men.” They had
raised them in purity, not following the way of the world. They preserved them to the age of marriage
and they knew no man. When it came to instruction, their children had good instruction.
There is more to our walk with God. We are not dealing with an academic world or a world operating
in the material and physical alone. We deal with spiritual forces. We don’t fight against flesh and blood but principalities, powers and rulers of darkness in the world and hosts of spiritual wickedness in high places.
Today we have many who love and worship God, come to worship every week give service to
the Lord and all they are seen to do is instruct their children in a good way of life, then they wonder
why these lovely sweet trusting kids grow up and as soon as they are teenagers and into adulthood,
they go away from God into all manner of manifestations of wickedness. They become “dead-heads”, join cults and secret societies, go into drugs and all manner of substance abuse and addiction, sexual immorality and deviant sexual behavior. Their parents watch helplessly and hopelessly wondering why they choose the way of the world and go into the way of the land. It is as though something arrested them and drew them to follow the way of the world. Unable to handle the onslaught of wickedness their children launch into, many parents try to justify the wickedness and accommodate it as much as possible into their lives e.g. homosexuality, lesbianism, cults and secular humanistic ways of life.
Many parents groan deep inside and think on how they instructed their children faithfully in all ways
possible, even encouraging them to join the right company and all that. I want to say it is very good to instruct our children; however, the letter kills but the Spirit gives life. Instruction alone is not enough.
What we are learning is that the best thing that can become an anchor is to come into the presence of
the Lord daily, not only to speak and talk to Him and make petition, but seek further communion so
that, the ‘Spirit of God comes upon us like waves’ as the psalmist says in Psalm 42.
The Lord spoke to us back in Uganda when we cried out under the scourge of AIDS. He said, “Stop
praying about problems and pray for My purposes. Fill the land with prayer, teach My people to seek
My presence. Don’t do it in churches only. Teach people to take prayer back home and raise prayer
altars at home. Bring children at home to the altars. Stop praying for kids sugar coated prayers when
you lay them in bed and then come to Me and bare yourself in private saying, “God I need Your help.”
Come with your kids before Me. Let them hear you cry before Me, plead your case before Me; let
them see you express your trust and confidence in Me. When you are frustrated and have no hope let
them see that frustration. Don’t act strong before the kids and lay them in bed with a one minute
prayer then you come and break down before Me.” Let them see you before God.
God went on and said to us, “When you are not there and they are alone when they are being forced
to turn away from Me, when circumstances are too overwhelming and they are being cornered, they
will remember how much their parents depended upon God and God proved faithful. It is no use for
your child to come to you and say, “mom I need school fees” and you cover them with a short prayer
and then go and breakdown desperately saying to Him, “God you know how broke I am. You know I
have no means. I am desperate. I need help.” And you spend hours interceding until breakthrough
happens and you come out in faith knowing He will be faithful to bring your petitions to pass. When
you come home the next day, somehow God has intervened and you provide for your child that need.
They will never know how much God helped you and how you model your life with prayer. When they hear your cry until the spirit touches the Almighty God, and see the travailing that takes place, thenthey will know that it is not an instant thing. Let your prayer not stop with petitioning. Let it not stop with expressing desire but seeking the presence of God. Every time you pray and worship and stay there and press in, not only looking for answers but for the God who gives answers and when that presence comes in the prayer room you know a breakthrough has happened then they too will learn.
Let your children learn how to woo the presence of God, let them learn the sweetness of that
Presence, the Aroma of that Presence, how to tread softly with that Presence, so that in their own
time when you are not there they will hunger after that Presence and not settle for less. When they
think they have done everything they think is enjoyable they shall come home and yearn for that
sweet Aroma. Nothing else will satisfy them. No drugs, no sexual immorality, nothing the world offers them will quench that deep yearning for the real presence of God.
When we have nothing but good instruction, we shall be kept as long as we have stamina, boldness
and ability to stand. However, every man has a breaking point when we say, “I know what is right but
can no longer do it because I don’t see any other way.” People don’t do things because they don’t
know what is good to do; they know it, but don’t see a way out. If we were brought up and saw how
much God can make a difference then we would turn to Him. If all we have is good instruction, we
have to sadly yield to pressures of the moment.
I look at this holy man Lot. He knew right and wrong, brought up his children in purity of spirit even in the midst of the lifestyle in Sodom. He stood until that moment when all men young and old were
pressing against his door, to draw out his visitors and defile them, abuse them sexually. Under
pressure, Lot made an offer that was totally against his values. He said, “I have got two daughters. Let me bring them to you. Do what you want to them, but don’t touch these men under my roof.” This is a parent who knew better. He did not know what to do under pressure but only that which was totally against his conscience.
How many parents today know very well the evil that their children are walking into, but are totally
unable to stand with them. Their children make all sorts of decisions that are totally ungodly; even as
Christians, and yet, the parents have to bow to these decisions against their conscience and clear
understanding of what the Bible says about these things.
The angels pulled him back. That is an expression to say it was not God’s solution to the problem.
Today we try to solve spiritual problems with human solutions. We have things in the physical that
have nothing to do with physical solutions. The angels dealt with the problem that was spiritual in
nature with a spiritual solution and in a moment there is no problem.
The threat was now no longer from people pressing into Lot’s house but God. The angels told him
“Quickly find those who you love and get them out of this city because God will destroy it.” Lot goes to his sons in law who were pledged to marry his daughters and told them. He sounded like he was
joking. Today we speak to people and we sound like we are joking because we have not broken
through in our prayer. Words are wonderful but they do not change people. The letter kills bur the
spirit gives life – only God changes people.
Lot could not save the lives of his sons-in-law but he was lifted out of the city with his wife and two
daughters. Again his faith is not in God but his ability – like many of us today. We take our spiritual
problems to the psychologist rather than to God. We want to reason with God’s instruction in the very face of His miraculous intervention in our lives. Even when with miraculous intervention his faith is in his ability he says “Don’t take me to the mountains I will perish. Allow me to go to Zoar it is small and I will not perish.” He was not looking to his God but his ability and what made sense to his mind.
That is typical when one has not built a lifestyle of being in the presence of God.
The people who spend time in presence of God come to a moment when they are beyond themselves
and say “my God is able.” We said that those who have broke through in prayer, do not look at the
circumstances and panic. They have a deep assurance as to their God’s ability. Daniel, Meshak,
Shadrack and Abednego all reached those moments and said “I know my God is able. But even if He
does not come through I will not bow to the circumstance.” They surrendered to the ability of God and ignored their own ability or lack thereof.”
Let us seek after the presence of God, not just praying and speaking to God or worshipping and
seeking but that heart that seeks to come to a place of communion with God, You are meeting with
God, the presence comes in your own house, prayer closet and you know you have met with God. He
says no word but you know that you know that you have encountered with your God. That is the most precious thing He is calling us to. We build that atmosphere in our family prayer altar – at home and where we spend time in occupation. The people who know their God will be strong and do exploits.
We live in times when no human stamina will stand. The system gets tighter and tighter and pressures more and more. Everyone who knows what is right and wrong is challenged and everyday we are giving a bit of ground and compromising a little, and we continue to surrender territory. If we continue in our mental ability and understanding we shall be retreating, our nations will continue to rot, and moral standards will go lower and lower. I want to say to you, in the name of our Lord, God is seeking out a people who will say “no” to the dictates of society, people who will say “We choose God’s way.”
The only way we choose His way is by His strength. We shall therefore seek Him. We shall not seek
to do right because we know we have a breaking point, but we will find Him and when we find Him He will make us able. If we don’t do that, without realizing it the spirit of the land changes us. (Ref.
Transforming Your World – John Mulinde)
This holy man Lot saw it acceptable to offer his children. Something had crept deep inside him
unawares. It went deep and he could lower his standards at an impossible situation. Something
happened to Lot’s wife when there was nothing to save and desire in the ashes of Sodom anymore.
God had said, “Don’t look back,” but something had gone so deep in her heart, totally unawares, and
she looked back and lost her destiny there and then! We may think it is not fair; but it goes deeper
than turning back.
The taking of Lot and his family out of Sodom and Gomorrah is likened to the rapture. When the
Christians are caught up with Christ at His second coming, it will not be something so simple. There
are those who will be taken up with Christ, but just like Lot’s wife, they will look back to the things that hold them here on earth – “oh what about my property? What about my children? What about the office? What about this and that? And like Lot’s wife, they too will lose their destiny and remain
behind.
Even Jesus mentioned her and said, “Remember Lots wife”. In heaven it is a big deal. Where is your
heart? The Lord who is saving you, is saying “Come to Me, I make a way of safety before you. Don’t
turn back.” But the heart was drunken with things of Sodom and Gomorrah. It turned back and was
judged.
What about the daughters who were brought up with good instruction? They ended up with their father in the mountains and one said to the other, “Hey is this how we will die without children? Let us make our dad drunk and have sex with him and have children by him.” Is this natural passion!? Is this something they learnt or saw anywhere? Definitely not in the house of Lot but possibly in Sodom where the sexual immorality was abominable with homosexuality, lesbianism, incest and all manner of deviant sexual habits. The spirit of the land had penetrated unawares into their hearts. The mind was fine but their spirit was defiled. One daughter lay with the father and said, “I did it! Let us do it again for you.” That is how far their spirits were corrupted and they did it. Out of Sodom and Gomorrah no soul was redeemed. Lot lost his marriage, lost his children lost his wealth and lost his destiny.
Beloved I want to end with this - Look at your nation today, the land you live in, the forces of darkness bargaining for the souls of the people of the land. Everyday pressures increase and everyday our stamina is being challenged - not only yours and mine but our children’s; those innocent kids we bring into the world raising them up for tomorrow. I want to say to you beloved, together with all good instruction and good teaching and standards you put in their lives, let us together seek to bring our children to daily seek the presence of the Lord in the family altar. That is not dependent on your ability but on God. If you don’t know how to seek Him cry out to Him and say “Teach me to seek Your face, to hunger after You and love Your presence until I can’t do without it.
Don’t despair if your children are going in the world; with God all things are possible. Even if they went that way if we turn to Him, the Bible says in Psalm 91 he has put his trust in me therefore will I redeem him.
Let us pray and ask God to teach us to make it a priority to bring our families to Him. Let us ask God
to teach us how to raise up a family altar and overcome all barriers that hold us back because His
presence is our insurance. Let us ask Him for that. The children are never too young. Bring them from  the one suckling on the breast to the eldest including all others who are under your household.
Where is it Biblical to bring children to the altar? Gen 22:6-8, 26:62-63, Jer 9:20, Joel 2:16-17

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