Ashes on your altar
Further Instructions for the burnt offering.
“Then the Lord said to Moses, “Give Aaron and his sons the following instructions regarding the burnt offering. The burnt offering must be left on top of the altar until the next morning, and the fire on the altar must be kept burning all night.”
In the morning, after the priest on duty has put on his official linen clothing and linen undergarments, he must clean out the ashes of the burnt offering and put them beside the altar. Then he must take off these garments, change back into his regular clothes, and carry the ashes outside the camp to a place that is ceremonially clean. Meanwhile, the fire on the altar must be kept burning; it must never go out. Each morning the priest will add fresh wood to the fire and arrange the burnt offering on it. He will then burn the fat of the peace offerings on it. Remember, the fire must be kept burning on the altar at all times. It must never go out. [Leviticus 6 : 8 - 13 NLT]
Many many moons ago, I heard a great man of our great great God recount the story of how he began to take his call to intercession seriously. Pastor Jerry Eze is his name, a man renown for his love of God and remarkable, highly sacrificial service to the body of Christ. Reflecting on how it came to pass, he told the story of a much younger version of himself serving in what was then called the ”Prayer Warrior” team in his local church. Back in those days, he said, the church in Africa was a place where you saw all sorts. The sick, the maimed, bruised battered and beaten … all under one roof. It was as though you had to prove your ministry by operating in deliverance and so in that era, very obviously demon-possessed people would come into the church -shouting and cackling notwithstanding- and fellowship along with everyone else. One day, the story goes, a young lady (“very mad girl” in pastor Jerry’s words) came into church. To his everlasting horror, his pastor’s wife assigned him as the prayer warrior in charge of her. Felicia was her name.
The ensuing saga is a funny one indeed. Suffice it to say the very mad Felicia derived great pleasure in the young Jerry’s discomfort. She tormented him to the point that some Sundays, he avoided going to church. Anytime the young prayer warrior walked in to the building, no matter which corner of the room she was in and having not even laid her eyes on him, Felicia would start screaming his name. Clearly demonic possession was at play. Funny thing though, was that whenever she spotted the pastor’s wife, Felicia would scurry away in a great big rush and hide herself away, only to reappear once the coast was clear. Not so for the young Jerry, though. For him, she reserved aggressive threats in Igbo, “if you come near me boy, I will beat the living daylights out of you!”
This went on for some time until one day in frustration, Pastor Jerry approached his pastor’s wife and asked, "Why is it that whenever Felicia sees you she runs away, but she doesn’t react that way to other people?” Mama looked him dead in the face and said, “There are ashes on your altar. Clear the ashes.” That epiphany forever altered the course of his life and probably kick started the trajectory to the man we know him to be today. To cut a long story short, pastor Jerry began to engage in midnight prayers with his mother, growing stronger in his ability to pray for longer stretches of time. One day as he walked into church, Felicia (having perhaps not even spotted him) began to scream as though in agony As he walked up to her, the young prayer warrior felt the power of God come over him and he rebuked the evil spirit that had tormented that poor young girl. “I command you evil spirit, leave right now in the name of Jesus and never return!“ As pastor Jerry narrates the tale, in that instant, Felicia fell down flat … and woke up sane! Does not the Bible promise us that at the sound of Jesus’ name, demons will tremble and that when we resist the devil he will flee?
As funny as this story is, the truth is that for many of us, particularly those called to intercession, there are ashes on our altars. In my walk with God, I have come across two types of intercessors. Those that are excited about their call and walk it out to the fullness of their ability. Yes they may go through peaks and troughs but the commitment burns steady. Then there are those intercessors that are highly reluctant to operate in their call. It always cracks me up when I recall the time I met one such woman. I consider myself fortunate and honoured to have been blessed by the Holy spirit with the gift of prophecy. One time, I was on a prophetic platform speaking the heart and mind of God to His children when the Holy Spirit highlighted a young lady with the call to intercede. As I closed my eyes and entered the spirit, the Lord revealed that she needed to take the call seriously. Indeed as I scribbled the download from the Holy Spirit on my notepad , the words I heard were “build me an altar and see if I will not bless you.”
I glanced at the young lady, quite a stalwart little lass from the look of things. As I began to speak over her, I gently steered the prophecy in the direction of intercession. “I know I’m called as an intercessor”, she pouted, waving her hand rather disinterestedly “but that’s not what I want, that’s not the gift I want.” I had to stop myself from giggling out loud. Can you imagine what she looked like in that moment in the spirit? Like a reluctant child of God nursing a grumbling heart, almost throwing a bit of a tantrum even. I gathered myself together and as I spoke, God revealed to her that intercession is a beautiful thing. As you pray, you carry the heart and mind of God as the Holy Spirit reveals secrets to you : things you should pray for and against, and how to pray. And so God asked our young lady to build Him an altar and see if He would not bless her. As soon as the words left my mouth, I saw the look on her face. The words had genuinely stirred her spirit. I was sure she would take it seriously now that the Father had pointed it out so clearly. After the session ended, I giggled to myself as I recalled what I too had once imagined intercession to be - a long drawn out process, something I was definitely not cut out for. Couldn’t have been more wrong.
Ladies, too many of us are sleeping at our posts. Haven’t you heard? Have you not heard? From the days of John the Baptist, the Kingdom of God suffereth violence and only the violent take it by force. I love Pastor Jerry Eze and his straightforward, straight talking ways. In collaboration with his wife Pastor Eno Jerry and pastor Uguru, the trio run an apostolic prayer platform called the New Season Prophetic Prayers and Declarations (NSPPD, or if you’re Nigerian and that “H factor” game is strong, HNSPPD).
One day during our morning prayer calls, pastor Jerry gave a rather funny prophetic word. “Look at you” he shouted, spreading out both arms in dismay. “I see you in the spirit, lying there looking lazy. You are called as an intercessor but you are sleeping on the job! Can’t you see? Your answer is in your assignment!“ I really laughed out loud as I considered the image God had given him of someone lazing about in the spirit. Was it a sloth he had seen? I wondered. To be fair though, I did feel a twinge of guilt as the prophecy could well have applied to me on my less-than-stellar days.
The mandate is simple. Pray and keep praying. Don’t simply stop at building God an altar. Fan the flames on that altar to life, keep them burning always. God instructed Moses, “remember, the fire must be kept burning on the altar at all times. It must never go out.” Applying this instruction to our lives, that means we cannot afford to go through seasons (can you imagine, entire seasons!) when we live a prayer less life. We are only hurting ourselves!
For those of us that don’t yet have the ability to walk and move in the spirit, mysteries unleashed by prayers shall for now remain just that - mysteries. However, we should be encouraged by all the testimonies and stories told by people that have the gift of sight, the seers. That when we pray, things shift in the spirit, there is a quaking. When we pray, we are contending, warring for our birth right, covering those around us with the blood of Jesus and diverting the weapons formed by the enemy. When we pray, we are strengthening the angels assigned over our lives to bring God’s will into fruition. I urge you. Clear the ashes from your altar today. The sound of the trumpet has arisen and we have the backing of the Lord of heaven’s armies. Consider this a battle cry as you march forth into victory.
Stay blessed.