It’s time to repair the altar

1 King 18:30 And Elijah said unto all the people, Come near unto me. And all the people came near unto him. And he repaired the altar of the Lord that was broken down.

2 Chronicles 7:14 If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.

James 5:16 Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.

When I have preached and taught from this text, I have always said that Elijah built an altar. But the truth is that he repaired the altar of the Lord that was broken down.

It once was an altar there, but for some reason it was now broken down. It could be lack of maintenance, or it could be that they had taken stones from the altar to build other things. We really don’t know. We do know that the people had drifted away from God, and didn’t care about the altar anymore.

The altar represents your prayer life. Have you checked the status of your altar lately? Is it run down? Do you maintain it daily, or has it been too long since you prayed? Have you taken stones from it, and used it other places? The time you should have used in prayer, you now use for other things. Maybe it is time to build up the altar again, and bring back the stones where it belongs.

When Elijah had repaired the altar, the same people that earlier didn’t want to listen to him was now ready for guidance and direction. Do you have family and friends that are unsaved? Do you have friends and family that don’t listen when you share the gospel? Take some time to work on your altar, and have it repaired, and you will soon find out that they will turn to you. Prayer will bring them home! Pastor Gøran Andreassen

Additional scriptures for further study: 2 Chronicles 33:10-20; Psalm 18:6; 145:18; 139:23-24; Jeremiah 29:12; Ezekiel 33:11; Hosea 10:12; Zechariah 1:3; Acts 3:19; Ephesians 6:18; Colossians 4:2; 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18; 1 Peter 4:7.