Building Personal Prayer Altars

Pr Julius Suubi

25-06-2016

Daniel 6:10
¹⁰ Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went into his house; and his windows being open in his chamber toward Jerusalem, he kneeled upon his knees three times a day, and prayed, and gave thanks before his God, as he did aforetime.

An altar is the link between the physical world and the spiritual world.

An altar is a place of worship. This is the church altar.

An altar is a place of communion. The most powerful altar is the heart. It is in your heart where you commune with God. This is the personal altar. Personal prayer altar is about your personal lifestyle, your personal relationship with God.

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It is important to pray in church. That is powerful. To pray as a family is also powerful. The first altar that you must raise up is your own personal prayer time. 

Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were taken captive by the Babylonians. Babylon was a super power at that time. They controlled the economy and their military might was powerful. 

The hand of the Lord was upon Daniel. 

Before he was taken to Babylon as a captive, Daniel was strongly influenced by the teachings of Jeremiah to live a holy life, a life that is uncompromising, and a life that is pure. He used to be a eunuch in the palace. Jeremiah would prophesy and teach the Word of God in the palace. 

Before you have a divine visitation in your life, there must be divine preparation.

God is preparing you to be Daniels in the mighty name of Jesus. 

Raise up your prayer altar. Raise up your relationship with God because God will never use anybody that He has not prepared. So read the Word and pray. 

Because Daniel and the three had learned the principles of seeking the Lord and the principles of living a holy life, Daniel was able to rise up above the presidents. He was appointed to be next to the king because the Babylonians said the Spirit of God was inside him. He had a very strong relationship with the Lord. 

The Babylonians became jealous of Daniel because he was rising up. He had an excellent spirit. He was getting promotion.

They tried to look out for ways to accuse Daniel but they couldn't find anything because the man was too smart. If you have a relationship with God, you'd be too smart. Praise the Lord.

Daniel realised that the only way to deal with him was to find fault concerning his relationship with God.

There was a decree that there would be no other name that's to be used for petitioning in Babylon but the name of the king. This means that everybody should worship the king.

Daniel would not accept that because of Exodus 20:3 which states "Thou shalt have no other gods before me." 

Because Daniel refused to bow down to the king, the priests planned to throw him into the den of lions.

Daniel began to pray three times a day with the windows of his house opened because he was not ashamed of the gospel. He made it known that he would not worship any other gods but the God of heaven and earth.

Daniel was not praying with anybody else. He was praying by himself. 

The scriptures speak so much about Daniel having wisdom. We need wisdom. Wisdom is the application of knowledge. We need to know how to use the knowledge. 

How did Daniel get the wisdom? The wisdom that Daniel got came from his relationship with God. It came from his worship.

Worship is the foundational pillar of your life. If you spend time with God, God will give you wisdom. And wisdom will give you power. 

Daniel became so powerful that he became the prime minister in the Babylonian kingdom, a kingdom that hated the Jews with a passion. It came from the first pillar of his life which was worship.

Look at Esther. She became the Jewish queen of the Persian king Ahasuerus and she could change the constitution of the land because she had wisdom. Haman plotted to destroy the Jews. After praying and fasting for three days, Esther received wisdom on how to change the king's heart from killing the Jews. She prepared a very good meal for the king. She even invited Haman to the banquet. That was dangerous but that was also great wisdom.

The first thing to do in the morning is to pray. Have a time of communion with God to draw the presence of God to yourself. You are a covenant child of God. On the day that you believed Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Saviour and He came into your life by faith, you entered into a covenant, not an agreement. Covenant is powerful. It is unbreakable. You are now a child of God and God will never leave you. He will never break that covenant relationship with you. Your name is written in the palm of His hand. God walks with you. God loves you. 

You are a child of God. You share the blood of God. You are made in heaven and manifested in your place of birth on earth. Your blood group is the blood of Jesus. 

We have a covenant with God. The covenant has promises and conditions. The covenant is the Word of God. It is the Old Testament and the New Testament.

God has given promises in the covenant of a long life. You should not die before your time. 

The covenant promises us of prosperity, blessings, divine health, favour and supernatural power. 

These promises of God will not come to pass automatically in your life. You have to pray. The personal altar activates the covenant promises into reality. It converts spiritual promises and spiritual blessings into physical things that we can touch, experience and enjoy.

You can have happiness in the world but not joy because joy comes from the Lord. When you face challenges, the joy of the Lord becomes your strength.

If you want to have the joy of the Lord, pray. When you pray, the supernatural power of God comes upon you even if you're having challenges. The joy of the Lord will be activated in your life. 

That is about altars and covenants. Covenants must be activated. The only way it can be activated is through prayer.

James 5:13

¹³ Is any among you afflicted? let him pray. Is any merry? let him sing psalms.

Pray. Don’t cry. Prayer strengthens your inner man. When you’re going through challenges, the challenge may not go away immediately but prayer is going to give you supernatural strength inside of your heart. There are things that you go through that could make you lose your mind. Prayer empowers you to continue being sober in the midst of challenges and making the right decisions even though you're under so much pressure.

Learn how to pray by yourself. There are times that you’re having challenges and you watch television the whole day. Eat and watch television. Eat and watch television. Eat and watch television. Until television begins to watch you. Don’t be like that. You’re going to watch and watch and watch and the problem is still there. Cry and cry and cry and the problem is still there. Get into the prayer closet. Learn how to pray by yourself. It is good for people to pray for you but learn how to do it yourself. That is personal prayer altar.

Psalm 142:1

I cried unto the Lord with my voice; with my voice unto the Lord did I make my supplication.

The most powerful prayer is the prayer that comes out of your own voice.

The Englishmen have a saying, “He who puts on the shoes knows best where it pinches most.” Your neighbour could say that you have nice shoes but that pair of shoes could be squeezing you. You who are going through the situation know the pain that you are experiencing more than anybody else so use that pain to pray. Hallelujah! Use that situation that you’re going through to take it into the presence of God and cry and pray to God. Don’t just take it to people. Don’t just ask people to pray for you. Many times you ask people to pray for you and they say I’ll pray for you but I tell you, they’re not praying. Do you know what they’re doing? They just make a mention of you. They go, “Bless me, Lord! Bless me, bless me, bless me, Lord! And finally, remember my friend.”

You need to pray for your nation with a passion. Praise the Lord.

Nobody can pray for yourself the way you can pray for yourself because you have the first hand body.

Learn how to fast for yourself. Not fasting television. That is separation. Fasting has to do with stomach. God hears personal prayers. Young people, you need to rise up and activate your personal prayer altars.

James 5:14

¹⁴ Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord:

¹⁵ And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him.

That is asking people to pray for you because you are sick. At times when you’re going through situations that you need prayer support, you need to involve other people to pray for you. At times when you get sick, it becomes so challenging that your faith can go down. That is why everybody is encouraged to get a prayer partner.

Corporate prayer is very powerful. Corporate prayer releases corporate power. You cannot just pray alone and say that you cannot participate in the church’s prayer meetings.

We need to have personal prayer altars activated but we also need to involve ourselves in the church corporate prayer meetings. Don’t develop an independent prayer spirit and think that you have too much fire and too much power.

The dynamics of altars operate in such a way that every altar must be connected to another altar. Weaker altars must be connected to more powerful altars.

Your personal altar is powerful. Your family altar is more powerful. The church altar is the most powerful altar. So you need to connect your personal altar to the church altar. The church altar fuels the personal altar. Corporate prayer releases corporate anointing. It releases corporate fire. It releases corporate authority.

Acts 2:1-4

And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.

² And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting.

³ And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them.

⁴ And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.

They were in a corporate prayer meeting and when the Holy Spirit came down, every person that was in that atmosphere, even though some were dozing off but their hearts were right, received the same anointing and the same fire.

Corporate prayer meetings supercharges your personal prayer altars. For some of you, you feel prayerless and tired and when you attend corporate prayer meetings, you jumpstart your prayer life.

James 5:16a

¹⁶ Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed.

Why is it that some people do not receive personal revivals in their personal prayer altars? The scripture talks about confessing to one another. There is a difference between confessing and repenting. Repenting is too easy. After all, you are repenting to God who is far greater than you. Confession is confessing to people. There is no way you can experience a personal prayer revival if you’re having bitterness against people, you’re hurt by people, you’re offended by people and you’re holding them in your hearts.

The East African Revival went on for 50 years and it was started by young people. This young man, Simeon Nsibambi, was so discontented with the state of the church because there was no supernatural power in the church. People came to the church sick and they left sick. They who came were bound and they left bound. He asked the pastors why they didn’t have supernatural powers and they didn’t have any explanation. He began to pray and seek the Lord and the Lord began to anoint him with the spirit of prayer. He began a church prayer meeting that attracted many young people. The impact of spending time in the presence of God is that God is going to deposit a fire inside your hearts. So, they began to move from one church to another. That’s how the East African Revival began. This fire moved all over the whole nation and Uganda was revived. It moved from Uganda to Rwanda, Kenya, South Sudan, Burundi and Tanzania. One person did all that.

Do you have the fire? Do you want the fire? In Kenya, we call it fire yayaya.

Every time you spend in the presence of God in prayer, He deposits the fire inside your hearts and your spirit.

I feel we have fasted and prayed more than Simeon. But why is it that we’re not seeing the revival that took place in those days? The Lord told me to go to the place where the revival began and investigate and find out what were the secrets behind this revival. He told me to begin by visiting the places of covenant that God has poured out much of His presence. I went to Uganda, Kenya and a place in Malaysia called Bario. There was one powerful concept and that was the concept of confession. The people in the East African Revival had this: If you did something to me and instead of keeping it in my heart and if I had been offended by it, I would go and tell you that I was not happy that you did this to me but I forgive you. There were open hearts. Nowadays, people do not have open hearts in the church. People get offended and they do not like one another but they do not tell you.

Everybody just goes, “It’s okay, it’s okay.” And then they come into the presence of God and say, we are going into the Holy of Holies. When God looks at these hands, He sees a bunch of hypocrites. So His presence cannot come down. Even in family altars, husbands couldn’t even tell their wives that they are sorry. Even some wives are not wives. They are knives. I pray that the Lord will not give you a knife. Some husbands are not husbands. They are hammers. They’re just hammering their wives. We cannot have revivals in the family altars unless we confess our sins to one another. Repentance is very easy but it takes humility for you to go to someone and tell them, “I was wrong. Please forgive me.” That is real humility. We’ve been confessing to one another and building a culture of openness. That is one of the things that brings revival. Otherwise, we can come and pray and cry out to God but God is looking at us as a bunch of hypocrites. Look at your neighbour and tell your neighbour, “Today, you hurt me but I forgive you. I release you from my heart. You stepped on me when I stood next to you but I forgive you.” If you have bitterness in your heart, confess it and release it. Speak it out. Even if it’s your momma or your daddy, or your brother or your sister. The Bario revival began with confessions. Young people opening up and confessing their sins.

James 5:16b

The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.

Note the words: Effectual fervent. In Greek, fervent means “to boil.” How does food boil? It goes blub, blub, blub, toko, toko, toko. When food is boiling, it does not boil in secret and in silence. You can hear the sound of food boiling. That means, when you pray, you should open your mouth. Open that mouth of yours. You are anointed through your mouth. The fire of prayer enters you through your mouth. As you open your mouth, fire is released into you. That’s why in Acts 2, when the fire came, something happened to their mouths. It was not their eyes or their eyes or their hair. So pray with your mouth. Let the prayer meetings be like a boiler. Your voice is so powerful. The bible says, “Open your mouth wide and I will fill it with good things.” (Psalm 81:10 NLT)

James 5:17

¹⁷ Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months.

Elias (or Elijah) did not perform miracles because he was a prophet. He performed miracles because he prayed. Your position as a child of God or as a leader or a pastor does not qualify you to operate in miracles. It is only prayer that qualifies you to operate in miracles.

What makes our altars strong? Altars are not on the same level. Some are very weak. Others are too powerful.

Sacrifice!

2 Kings 3:26-27

²⁶ And when the king of Moab saw that the battle was too sore for him, he took with him seven hundred men that drew swords, to break through even unto the king of Edom: but they could not.

²⁷ Then he took his eldest son that should have reigned in his stead, and offered him for a burnt offering upon the wall. And there was great indignation against Israel: and they departed from him, and returned to their own land.

Israel was fighting against the nation of Moab. Israel was so powerful that they overran the nation of Moab. They were winning the battle but the king of Moab did something. He sacrificed his firstborn son who was supposed to have taken over as the king. When he sacrificed, there was a turnaround in the battle. Israel lost the battle.

The scripture is showing us the power of sacrifice. The dynamics that rule altars is about sacrifice. Little sacrifice will draw little supernatural power. You cannot pray and seek God because it is a convenient time for you. When you are tired, that is the time to pray and read the word of God because that becomes a sacrifice. Everybody says, “I’m tired” but you have to sacrifice if you want to see the power of God in your life. Wake up early in the morning. 4am or 5am. Let that be your hour of sacrifice to the Lord. Have an hour of covenant where even the angels in heaven know you are praying at this time. If you want to see power, live a life of sacrifice. In Jesus, God gave the best sacrifice—His only begotten Son. So, go on a fast. You are going to experience power. The new covenant is so powerful because of the blood of Jesus Christ. The devil can also sacrifice a man of 33 years but there is no blood that can compare with the blood of Jesus because Jesus is the only human being born without sin. He had no iniquities nor transgressions. Adam was not born; he was made. He was created. Adam never grew up.

Because of the sacrifice that was given by Jesus, many are coming to the kingdom. The altar of Jesus Christ heals every manner of sickness. If you want to have an impact in this generation, you need the presence of God.

Exodus 33:21

²¹ And the Lord said, Behold, there is a place by me, and thou shalt stand upon a rock:

Moses wanted to seek the face of God. How many of you want to see the glory of God? Moses said to God, “I want to see Your glory” and God said, “You cannot see My glory from where you are. Leave and come to a rock and stand upon a rock.” A rock is very uncomfortable to stand on. It has sharp points and edges. God was telling Moses that he was not going to see God’s glory on his bed. You are not going to see the glory of God from the comfort of your bed or your sofa seat in front of a television set or when you’re enjoying your McDonald’s. The rock is a place of sacrifice. So, if you want to see the supernatural power of God in your life, you have to move to the rock. The rock may be spending an hour in prayer every day. Reading the word of God can be uncomfortable. You don’t sleep when you read novels. You don’t sleep when you watch TV soaps. But bring out the bible and immediately the blanket anointing comes. Let’s be real. How many of you experience that? Even when you feel like you’re not enjoying it, force yourself to read it and you’ll begin to enjoy it. The hour looks so long but pray, pray in the Spirit. Praying in tongues makes it so easy.

Activate your personal prayer altars.