LIFE TO THE FULL w/ Nancy Campbell

EPISODE 186: Five Necessary Qualities for End Time Living – Part 8

What is your greatest reason for building your home? You'll hear Solomon's answer in Point 10! We also complete our series today speaking on the last letter of F F P P and K which is KEEPING God's commandments. How do we keep them?

Announcer: Welcome to the podcast, Life to The Full, with Nancy Campbell, founder and publisher of Above Rubies.

Nancy Campbell: Hello, ladies! Now, when you get this, it will be January 4th. Well, you may be listening to it later than that, but it does come out every Tuesday morning. That is January 4^th.  Happy New Year to you today!

I do trust that you have a wonderful year this coming year. Of course, as we face every New Year, we never know what the year is going to bring forth. We have no idea. But the wonderful thing is, we know that we can trust Him. We can trust God who is in control of all things.

We can put a big smile on our faces knowing that we can trust Him. So, keep your heart trusting in the Lord, looking to Him, always praying, always praising, always trusting, and always looking up to Him. Amen?

All right. Now, I think this will be our last session on the F F P P and K, the five things God wants us to establish in our lives as we prepare for end times.

THE REASON TO BUILD THE HOUSE

We are continuing today our last point on the altar of incense. That is point number ten. We’re going to go to 2 Chronicles. This point is this is the reason to build a home. We see this in this passage. It’s the chapter about Solomon building a temple for God.

Solomon wanted to build a glorious temple. It was glorious. 2 Chronicles 2:5: “And the house which I am about to build shall be wonderful, great.” In another passage, he says it’s “for fame and for glory” (1 Chronicles 22:5). So, this is what he wanted to do.

But there was something even bigger, even bigger than making a house that would be wonderful, and great, and glorious, and famous. There was something more. And we read about it in 2 Chronicles 2:4: “Behold, I build an house to the Name of the Lord my God, to dedicate it to Him, and to burn before Him sweet incense, and for the continual showbread, and for the burnt offerings morning and evening, on the sabbaths, and on the new moons, and on the solemn feasts of the Lord our God. This is an ordinance forever to Israel.”

Solomon is speaking here. “I am building this wonderful, great house for God. But the reason I’m doing it is so we can do all these things to Him.” The first one he mentions is the altar of incense that we’ve been talking about for the last couple of sessions. It’s the altar that speaks of coming into the Throne Room. It speaks of prayer, and intercession, and praise, and worship.

You see, this is why I want to build a home, so I can offer sweet incense unto the Lord. We’ve talked about how it is a sweet ministry. The incense they had to burn was a beautiful, sweet incense, made of sweet spices. God wanted that aroma filling the Holy Place, filling the house. He wants it to fill our homes, too.

We go down to 2 Chronicles 2:6. Solomon talks about what he wants to do again. He says: “The only reason I’m doing it is to burn sacrifice before Him.” “But who is able to build Him an house, seeing the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain Him? Who am I then, that I should build Him an house, save only to burn sacrifice before Him?” That was his reason.

Dear ladies, this should be a huge purpose of our homes. Oh, yes, I’m establishing a home. I do want it to be glorious. I want it to be beautiful. I want it to be wonderful. But my whole reason is that it will be a place where we, as a family, can meet with God, where we can meet with Him every morning and every evening.

We can gather our families together, and we can burn incense before Him. Yes, we’ll read His Word, but we’ll burn incense. We’ll pray. We’ll all pray together. Mummies, Daddies, children, right down to the little ones who are just beginning to talk. Yes, as soon as a child can talk, we’re teaching them to join in that prayer, in that beautiful offering of the incense up to the Father in the Throne Room.

That was King Solomon’s highest purpose. This should also be our highest purpose, to establish this altar of incense in our homes. Now, we’re not going to have a literal altar, of course, as they did back in the Old Testament. But we don’t need to have that. We are even more blessed, because we can come into the Throne Room at any moment, any time, wherever we are in our homes, wherever we are, outside our homes. We can do that.

But I do believe it is very important to establish the morning and the evening principle, because that’s what they had to do. God established that. They had to light it, morning and evening. That was an established principle that God gave, because if they did it twice a day, that incense would keep going. If they only did it once a day, it would fade out. They needed to do it two times a day. This is what Solomon established in the home that he built for the Lord.

Before we go on to our last letter, I thought I would give to you, and remind you, about the six different pieces of furniture that were in the tabernacle, and then, later in the temple. Because, ladies, every single one of them affects us in our lives today. They reveal the gospel. They reveal the revelation of God for us in our relationship with Him.

It is important to know them. They reveal the full gospel. Because we often don’t know them, we don’t really understand the fullness of our gospel. We have a very shallow understanding. You see, the believers in the early New Testament who came to Christ, they had a greater understanding of salvation than we have today, because they knew all the laws, and all the patterns of the tabernacle, and the sacrifices, and everything that they did.

It was all just tradition, most probably meaningless to many of them. But when Christ died and rose again, and they saw that Jesus Christ was the fulfillment of everything that happened in the tabernacle and the temple, it was such incredible revelation to them.

It must have just about blown their minds to see it all actually fulfilled in Christ because everything that was written . . . You read through the book of Exodus and Leviticus. It may seem boring to someone not understanding. But every single thing is revealing Christ. It’s so wonderful.

When we understand the foundation of it, we have more understanding of our salvation. I think back to Luke 24:27. In that beautiful story of when Jesus had risen from the dead, and He was going to Emmaus. There were two disciples going to Emmaus, along the road, and He caught up with them. As he talked, they were so sad, because Jesus had died, and they didn’t know He had risen again. They were all forlorn. Jesus came along and asked them, “Why are you so sad?” They said, “Don’t you know that He that is going to redeem us and deliver us has died? That’s it. That’s the end.”

But then Jesus began to speak to them, and it tells us here, Luke 24:27: “And beginning at Moses,” that means beginning at the Torah. The Torah is the first five books of the Old Testament, including Exodus and Leviticus and all the revelation of the tabernacle. So “beginning at Moses, and all the prophets, He expounded unto them all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself.”

They didn’t have the New Testament back then. They only had the Old. But Jesus revealed Himself from the Torah, and from the prophets. Do you remember in John 1:45? When Phillip found Nathaniel, both of them were disciples. He said to Nathaniel, “We have found Him, of Whom Moses in the law, and the prophets did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.”

So, they knew! Wow! When He came, they had a revelation that He was the One. Paul also shares. Romans 15:4: “For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope.”

1 Corinthians 10:11: “For they are written for our admonition, upon Whom the ends of the world are come.” So, all these things that were written, they are for us now.

All right. There were six pieces of furniture in the tabernacle.

Number one: the brazen altar. When you came into the tabernacle, the very first thing you saw was the altar, the brass altar where they sacrificed the animals. They sacrificed a lamb every morning and every evening, every single sacrifice pointing to the Lamb of God who would be the sacrifice for the sins of the world.

When Jesus died, there never had to be another sacrifice for sins, for He was the one sacrifice, the only One Who was worthy. That was a picture of Christ.

Then the next thing you came to was the brazen laver. It was a brass laver filled with water. It speaks of baptism and the washing of the water by the Word of God. When you first came in, you had to be at the brazen altar where they sacrificed. That’s where you start. You can’t even go any further until you’ve been redeemed by the blood of Jesus. Then they came to the water, where it speaks of baptism. Also, as I said, we get washed as we read the Word of God.

Number three: OK, that was the outside. Now you go into the inside, to the Holy Place. On the left was the golden lampstand. That speaks of the ministry of the Holy Spirit, shining His light on the Word, which was the table of showbread.

On the right-hand side there was the table of showbread. On the table were 12 loaves of bread. They were called the Presence bread, speaking of the Presence of Christ, and speaking of Christ as the bread of life to us, and how that in Christ are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. And how all our sustenance, all our strength, and our salvation, and our healing, and our help, and our sufficiency, is all found in Christ. That is found in His Word. We find the revelation of it is in His Word. Then we experience it as we feed on Him and fellowship with Him.

Then the fifth one was what we’ve been talking about, the golden altar of incense. The prayer, and praise, and worship, and intercession. As you’re saved, and baptized, and you move into the feeding of the Word, you come into prayer and praise.

Then, of course, in the Holy of Holies was the Ark of the Covenant. The shekinah Presence of God, which we now have the privilege of coming into every day through the precious blood of Jesus. Amen!

That was just a little quick sharing. Of course, if we had time to really look into them, we would be having to spend a couple of sessions on each one. But we won’t do that, because we want to go to our last point and finish that today.

KEEPING GOD’S WORD

We’re up to letter K, aren’t we? We’ve talked about FEARLESSNESS, FAITHFULNESS, PERSEVERANCE, PRAYER. And now it’s KEEPING THE WORD OF GOD. Let’s look at Revelation 1:3: “Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand.”

Revelation 12:17 talks about the remnant “which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.”  In this Scripture it says that it is the remnant who keep His commandments and keep their testimony. My. Is it only the remnant? There is a remnant, you know. That’s not everyone who thinks they are saved. The remnant are the ones who endure to the end, the ones who keep His commandments, and keep their testimony to the end. I pray that I will be part of the remnant.

Revelation 14:12, we’ve shared this Scripture: “This demands the perseverance of the saints who keep God’s commandments, and their faith in Jesus.” Now, this word “keep,” what does it mean? The Greek word for “keep” is tereo, meaning, “to watch, to guard from loss or injury, to keep your eye upon.”

In Revelation, we are commanded to keep the words of the Lord. We’re to keep the words of the prophecy of Revelation. That’s something, because at the moment, we are reading through Revelation in our evening family devotions. We don’t always understand everything that is going to happen. But it is such a powerful book. We’re reading it through for the second time. We just couldn’t take it all in one time. Maybe we’ll do it a third time!

But it’s good to read through Revelation. If you haven’t done it yet while we’ve been doing this series, take time to read it. Let it fill your soul. Read it personally, but you may like to do like we are doing, do it in your family devotions. Do a chapter each morning or each night, or both, whichever you would like. I know it will be blessing to you.

So, how can we keep the Word of God? Three points I have here.

No. 1. YOU MUST KNOW IT TO KEEP IT

1 John 2:3: “And hereby we do know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments.” Yes, we will know that we know Him if we keep His commandments. You’ve got to know the Word.

Just a casual reading of the Word is not enough. It’s not enough to keep us from deception. To keep us from deception, we’ve got to really know the Word. We get to know it by pursuing it, and reading it, and studying it.

I believe we would most probably have more Bibles in this country than at any time in all of history. I mean, there are millions of Bibles in the USA. But how many of them are being read? I always love that quote by Horace Greeley:

“It is impossible to mentally or socially enslave a Bible-reading people.”

And yet, we saw last year, and this year, many of God’s people have been enslaved. They have caved into tyranny. They have caved into whatever the government says.

Oh, by the way, I was just reading yesterday how that it is now completely proved, and a known fact, that our government, along with the vaccine manufacturers, own these vaccines. They are all part of the great money-making deal of these vaccines and are part owners. So many have caved into this tyranny.

Dear ladies, we can’t be people who just go along with the crowd, or what everyone’s saying. We’ve got to get into the Word. We’ve got to know it, know what God says. I am amazed. Every day I open the Word, I find God showing me understanding about the very everyday things of life. In just the little interesting things that we face, oh, I’ll find an answer in His Word.

I noticed some. I didn’t bring them with me, or I would have shared them with you. Maybe another day. Just some very practical things. I’m always discovering these practical things. They’re in the Word. Sometimes they’re hidden away, but you find them, and it’s just so exciting. It’s like finding gold, like finding treasure.

But let’s be people who know the Word. Because when we do, we won’t be enslaved, and we won’t be deceived. The Word of God is what keeps us from deception. It reminds me of that dream I shared with you last session, how that I was being led into the dark with a group of believers. But how I had to run from it! We’ve got to run from darkness and run to the Light! Amen?

No. 2. YOU MUST SPEAK IT TO KEEP IT

Oh, I’m a great believer in this, dear precious ladies. If you don’t speak the truth, you’ll lose it. You speak it, you’ll keep it. The Psalmist said in Psalm 116:10: “I believed, therefore have I spoken.” If you believe what God says, you speak it, even if you haven’t got anyone else to speak it to. Just speak it out loud.

But mothers, you can share it with your children, share it with your husband, share it with friends. But that Scripture is not only in the Old Testament, it’s in the New. 2 Corinthians 4:13, It’s repeated: “I believed, and therefore have I spoken; we also believe, and therefore speak.” If we truly believe, we will confess. When we confess, the truth becomes stronger in our hearts and lives.

I find myself, it’s the truth. It’s the Words of the Lord that I speak about. I am blessed to speak to women, because the more I speak the truth, the more I experience it. The more I share it, the more it becomes part of me. It is so true that what you speak is what becomes part of you. You can read something, and you can affirm it, and even nod with your head. But it is truly only what you speak that you will keep. Can I encourage you to do that?

Actually, you’ll soon be getting the new Above Rubies. It is printed. I am so sorry that everything takes so long. Even now it’s printed, I’m waiting now for the company to send it out. Now at this stage, wow, well, perhaps you’ll have it by now, seeing you’re in the new year. I do hope so.

You will see in this magazine that I have advertised my two new devotional books.  I have written previously 100 DAYS OF BLESSING, Volume One and Volume Two. And now I’m publishing Volume Three and Volume Four. I know you’re going to be blessed, so blessed.

In Volume Four, I have a little study there that goes on for a few days. I found, can you believe it ladies? I found 75 different things that God wants us to do about His truth and His Word—75 different attitudes to it. Oh, it’s unbelievable! He wants us to be truth-confessors, and truth-continuers, and truth-declarers, and truth-speakers, and truth-readers, and truth-heralders. And it goes on, and on, and on.

And, of course, truth-keepers. Yes, that’s one of the biggest ones. Truth-keepers. I read here in the Word . . .  go back to the Old Testament now. We learned about the Greek word. Well, the Hebrew word for “keeping” the word in the Old Testament is shamar It means, “to guard, to protect, watch over, take heed, observe.”

I found a number of things of how we’re to keep the truth. I won’t give you the references, but when you read the transcript, if you get around to reading it, or if you need to check it, I’ll put the references there for you.

But God’s Word tells us we are to keep God’s truths always, not only when it suits us. Not only when it fits in with our ideas, or with our circumstances. No, always.

The Word reminds us to keep God’s truth diligently. Three references for that one. It reminds us to keep His truth to a thousand generations. We’re passing it on from one generation to the next.

 It reminds us to keep God’s truth unto the end. Remember, those who endure to the end shall be saved.

It reminds us to keep His truth with our whole heart.

It reminds us to keep His truth continually forever and ever.

It reminds us to be a companion of those who keep God’s truth. We hang out with those who love the Word of God. We make sure our children, that their friends are those who love the Word of God. We’re to be a companion of those who love it.

And even for the nations. Isaiah 26:2: “Open ye the gates, that the righteous nation which keepeth the truth may enter in.”

Let’s be keepers, ladies, keepers of the truth. You’ll be able to enjoy those beautiful devotionals, Volume 3, and Volume 4, when you get them.

Isn’t that amazing that I found 75 different things about keeping God’s Word? Maybe I didn’t exhaust them all.

No. 3. YOU HAVE TO OBEY IT TO KEEP IT

This of course really means much the same thing, doesn’t it? Yes, we do keep it when we obey it. Just a couple of Scriptures now, as we close.

Let’s go to John 14:15: “If ye love Me, keep My commandments.”

John 14:21: “He that hath My commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth Me: and he that loveth Me shall be loved of My Father, and I will love him, and will manifest Myself to him.”

John 14:23: “If any man love Me, he will keep my words: and My Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.” Isn’t that amazing Scripture? Oh, the ones who keep His commandments, God says, or Jesus is speaking here. He says: “We will come unto him, and will dwell with him.” Do you notice it says “we”? Not I. Jesus didn’t say “I.” He said “We,” the triune God. “We,” the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit, “will come unto you and dwell with you.” How absolutely glorious!

Revelation, over to the last book that we began with and the last chapter. In the very last chapter, we read again about seeking God’s words. Revelation 22:6: “And he said unto me, These sayings are faithful and true: and the Lord God of the holy prophets sent His angel to show unto His servants the things which must shortly be done. Behold, I come quickly: blessed is he that keepeth the sayings of the prophecy of this book.”

Verse 8 tells us how John fell down to worship at the feet of the angel, but in verse 9, the angel says to John, “See thou do it not: for I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren the prophets, and of them which keep the sayings of this book.”

One last Scripture, 1 John 5:3: “For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments: and His commandments are not grievous.” Amen.

So, of course, we’re now going to practice getting God’s Word into our hearts, and into our minds, and into our mouths. We’re going to be speaking it forth. We’re going to keep the sayings of God’s Word right unto the end.

“Dear Father, we thank You so much for your precious Word, and how You show us the way. Help us to be keepers of Your Word, and Lord, all the 75 other things that the ladies can find out about when they get 100 DAYS, Volume 4. Oh, God, there is just so much, so much. And Your Word is so precious, that you have 75 things You want us to do about it. I can hardly believe it. Oh, it’s amazing.

“And Lord, I pray that, as I pray for each mother, and each child, and each young person listening today, that You will, Lord God, You will make them people of Your Words, lovers of Your Words. Oh, Lord, that they’ll just love it, and they’ll want to explore it, and study it.

“Oh, God, I ask, Lord, that You will mightily bless them. I pray that you’ll make each family so strong, Lord God, as they prepare, Lord, for whatever we face ahead. Here we are, speaking at the beginning of this new year. We don’t know what is ahead, Lord God, but we pray that You’ll make us strong, You’ll make us ready.

“We pray that You will, oh, God, give us these wonderful qualities of fearlessness. Fill us with faith and strength and courage, in the Name of Jesus. Lord God, help us to be faithful, to persevere, to become prayer warriors, and keepers of Your Word. Lord God, I know that strong families like this will make such a powerful, strong nation. This is the only way to make a strong nation, is strong families. So, strengthen these precious families today, I pray, in Jesus’ Name. Amen.”

Blessings from Nancy Campbell * www.aboverubies.org

Transcribed by Darlene Norris * This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

P.S. January 4^th is my daughter, Serene’s birthday, 45 years today.

It was also my mother’s birthday who would be 106 years today if she was still living.

And I also had a new grandbaby born today, baby Ezra to our daughter Mercy.

SCRIPTURE REFERENCES FOR TRUTH KEEPERS

Deuteronomy 5:29 reminds us to keep God’s truth “always,” not only when it suits us.

Deuteronomy 6:17; 11:22; and Psalm 119:4 remind us to keep God’s truth “diligently.”

Deuteronomy 7:9 reminds us to keep God’s truth “to a thousand generations.” We must be

             faithful to pass it on from one generation to the next.

Psalm 119:33 reminds us to keep God’s truth “unto the end.”

Psalm 119:34 and 69 remind us to keep God’s truth with “my whole heart.”

Psalm 119:44 reminds us to keep God’s truth “continually, forever and ever.”

Psalm 119:63 and 115 remind us to be “a companion” of those who keep God’s truth. We make

friends with those who keep God’s truth.

WE HAVE NOW COMPLETED EIGHT SESSIONS ON THIS SERIES, THE FIVE NECESSARY QUALITTIES FOR END TIME LIVING. DID YOU GET THEM ALL?

DON’T FORGET TO TELL OTHERS ABOUT THIS PODCAST, “LIFE TO THE FULL” WITH NANCY CAMPBELL.” DON’T KEEP THE BLESSINGS TO YOURSELF.

LIFE TO THE FULL w/ Nancy Campbell

EPISODE 185: Five Necessary Qualities for End Time Living – Part 7

Two more points today about the Golden Altar of Incense which speaks of prayer and intercession. Point 8: It's the "take it wherever you go" ministry, and 9: It's the "closest to the Throne" ministry. We also check out some Scriptures for the years 20:20, 20:21, and 20:22!

Announcer: Welcome to the podcast, Life to The Full, with Nancy Campbell, founder and publisher of Above Rubies.

Nancy Campbell: Good morning, ladies. Or, good evening, wherever you are. Now I’m recording this podcast before Christmas, but I realized you’re not going to get it until the week after Christmas. So, I’m not even able to say, “Happy Christmas” to you. But I do hope you have a lovely Christmas with your family. Or Hanukkah, whichever you like to celebrate.

We’re celebrating family here, so we like to celebrate both. We celebrate Hanukkah and we did enjoy a beautiful Hanukkah season this year. When we have Hanukkah, we like to read each day, each morning and evening at our family devotions all the different Scriptures about the light.

It’s so wonderful to see how much God has written about light in His Word. The Hanukkah festival was also called “The Festival of Lights.” In John’s gospel, it tells us how Jesus went up to Jerusalem to celebrate that festival.

It was called “The Festival of Lights” because it celebrates the lighting of the menorah. This was a dark, dark time in Israel’s history when Israel was nearly wiped out as a nation. But God raised up these very brave and courageous Maccabees who fought and fought. They were able to gain back the kingdom. They gained back the Temple.

The Temple was in a terrible state. It was desecrated. They had to spend so much time cleaning it all out. Of course, they dedicated it again. That’s what “Hanukkah” means, “to dedicate.” That’s the word in the Hebrew.

They dedicated the Temple and they had to repair everything again. When they went to light the menorah, the seven-branched candlestick, they only had enough oil for one day. They couldn’t use any oil, because the Bible is very specific about the recipe for the oil that must be used.

While they were preparing it, tradition tells us that the light kept burning for eight days until they were ready with the new oil. That was a miracle. That’s what Hanukkah is all about. So, we really enjoy that time.

It’s interesting, ladies, that that Scripture in Proverbs 22:6, where it says: “Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old, he will not depart from it.” The word “train” there in the Hebrew is chanak. It is the same word used for Hanukkah, “to dedicate.” That is very interesting.

You know, we read the Word, “train up a child,” and think that it really means “training,” which, of course, it does. If you’re dedicating your child to God, you are training your child for God. But it does put a new understanding upon it when we understand that this is the word “to dedicate unto God.”

It’s a beautiful thing to remember. Every day, when you’re training your children, as you’re raising them, teaching them, looking after them, and caring for them each day, you are dedicating them in every action. Every word is seeking to dedicate them to the Lord.

Your whole understanding of how you train them will be, “Is what I am doing dedicating them to the purposes of the Lord?” That will determine how you train your children. That will determine how you educate them. That will determine where you will send them to be educated because you are dedicating your children to the Lord. That’s your whole purpose of mothering. Dedicating them to the Lord.

So, talking about the light, Hanukkah being the Festival of Lights, of the light being restored to the Temple, I had a dream the other morning. I'm not a person who has dreams at all. Oh, sometimes I’ll dream, and they’re all stupid and I forget about them. But I woke up after this dream, and oh, I was so affected. I knew it was a dream that meant something.

It was very powerful to me. It affected me powerfully in the dream. I had been with beautiful believers that I know. Somehow, it was at some kind of a gathering. I got disconnected from them and ended up with some other believers and was sort of hanging out with them. As I was with them, we were being drawn along to someplace. This was apparently the next thing that we were meant to go to.

So, I just followed along. Now I look back and think, “Why was I following along?” We have to be careful about just following along and getting in the groove with others, don’t we? We always have to know where we’re going. But I followed along, and it eventually led us into this building. We went into this building, and it was very dark. They closed the doors, and it was black.

Wow! Why is it so dark? And what are we going to hear in this place? But the more I realized and became aware this place was not God’s kingdom. It was the other kingdom. It was Satan’s kingdom. I knew I had to get out. I knew if I didn’t get out quickly that those doors would be locked, and I would be stuck.

So, I went to the door, and I opened the door. Sort of sunbeams of light came in as I opened the door. I just felt this urgency and I called out with this loud voice, “If there are any Christians in this place, get out now!” And I ran for my life.

I wasn’t even aware whether any others followed me or not. But thinking about it later, I just realized that this was a warning dream, how we have to be careful that we do not get deceived. That we do not just follow along with the crowd. It can even be a Christian crowd.

Sometimes a Christian crowd can be taking us in the wrong direction. We must constantly come back to the Word of God which is the Light. What does it say in Psalm 119:105? “Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.” We need the constant, everyday guiding of the Word to keep us walking in the Light.

We must know everything that we do, or wherever we’re going, or wherever we’re being led in life, we must know it lines up with His Word. If it doesn’t, well, it’s not the Light. I mean, God’s Word is the Light. You can read everything else you want to and a lot of it can be good. A lot of it is not good. But it’s the Word that’s the Light.

I am a great believer in black and white. I’m not a person who goes in the grays. It’s black or white. I believe we’re either in God’s kingdom or Satan’s kingdom. We’re either living in God’s kingdom, or we’re living in Satan’s kingdom. So, let’s be those who walk in the Light. Amen?

I was talking about Hanukkah and Christmas. We haven’t yet, because we haven’t experienced it yet, because I’m doing this before Christmas, we haven’t enjoyed our Christmas time. But we love Christmas, not for the Christmassy festivities. For us, it is always such a beautiful family time of many family get-togethers. That’s what we love about it.

Also, the remembering of the birth of Christ. Now, I know that Jesus was most probably not born at Christmas time. I think most people believe it would have been at the time of the Feast of Tabernacles in the fall. That would have been the time of his Birth.

I think this time, this Christmas time, would have been the time of His incarnation, His being conceived by a virgin. The Holy Son of God coming to a virgin by the power of the Holy Spirit. That was just so incredible. Oh, the incarnation. It’s so miraculous, so powerful, so beyond our human comprehension, isn’t it?

Then the birth of Christ. To think, ladies, to think that Christ, Jesus, the One to whom one day every, every knee will bow, this One came into this world, not with pomp, not with ceremony, not in a great chariot. No. He entered this world through the birth canal of a woman. He came forth into the world as every little baby comes forth, coming through the birth canal of a woman.

It is so beyond our understanding. We sometimes, we take it all for granted. We don’t take time to think of how powerful was the birth of Christ. I mean, every birth is powerful. In fact, I think that birth is perhaps the most, the most raw, the most primal, and yet, the most powerful of all things that happen in this earth. There is nothing more primal. There is nothing more powerful.

I think a woman is at her most primal when she’s giving birth. Everything else is forgotten but bringing this baby into the world. It comes with gutterings and groanings. It’s powerful. It can have pain, but the pain ends in such joy. It is just such an incredible thing that comes with blood and mess.

And God, the Son of God, came into this world with blood, and in a manger, for the purpose of shedding His own very precious blood to save us from our sins. How amazing! Oh, I think it is important to have a time of the year when we remember this most amazing and miraculous and powerful night in all of history.

In fact, I think there should always be some moment in this time where we do bow, where we fall on our knees before Him. As the beautiful carol says,

“Fall on your knees, O hear the angel voices.

O night divine, O night when Christ was born.”

Anyway, I do hope you had a beautiful time at Hanukkah and Christmas.

Now let’s get onto our study. We are going through this series, F P P and K. We’ve been talking about prayer. Talking about prayers, we’ve been going back to the altar of incense, because in the Bible, it speaks of prayer and worship. In Revelation, this is where we’re coming from. We’re looking at what John saw in Revelation. He saw the altar of incense. He saw the prayers going up to the Father.

Prayer, we know, is something that is so important. It must become part of our lives. Not when we face that end time, but now! It’s part of our lives now, so that when we come to more difficult times, it’s just part of our lives. It’s a habit. It’s like our breath. We’re not having to suddenly get into prayer. We’re already prayer warriors.

Now, do you remember last week? I talked to you about how the altar of incense is a golden ministry? It’s a sweet ministry. It’s a come-up-higher ministry, a morning and evening ministry, a horning ministry where we really gore and bore into the devil and come against the works of darkness. It’s a four-square ministry.

And now, three more points today because there are ten points.

TAKE IT WHEREVER YOU GO ALTAR

So, this is number eight. This one is, take it wherever you go ministry. Now, where do I get that? Of course, I get it from the Word of God. In Exodus 30, it tells us about the altar of incense and how they were to make it. God told them, “You’ve got to make two gold rings that you’ll put under the altar. Then you’re to make two staves or carrying poles.”

They were to be made out of acacia wood and then covered with gold because everything on the altar was covered with gold. The reason that they had to do this was so that they could carry it, wherever they went! When God said, “OK, time to go! Everybody pack up! We’re moving on!” The priests would have to get the altar of incense and put the staves in it so that four priests could carry it wherever they went.

Now everything that is written about the altar of incense is for us today. Everything that’s written in the Old Testament is for us today, ladies. It’s not just something written back there. God wants us to take prayer and intercession and worship with us wherever we go. No matter where we’re going, we don’t leave it behind. Even when you go on vacation!

Sometimes you can be tempted when you go on vacation to forget about it. Reading the Word, prayer, take a vacation from that. But the Bible shows us that this is something we don’t take a vacation from.

I remember, way back in New Zealand, in the days when we were living there, raising our young children there. Every Christmas time, because back in New Zealand, our vacation time is about three times throughout the year. We don’t have the big summer holidays like you have here in the States. But our main vacation time is over Christmas, when that’s the biggest holiday of the year Down Under, because it’s summertime then.

So, every year we would go away at this time. We would go as a family. My parents would come and other members of our family. But we would tell all our church folks where we were going. And you’d never believe it! Half the church would come with us!

So, off we’d go, this great entourage of families. It was so great and so wonderful. Our children so loved it because they had all their friends. They had their cousins and then they had their church friends. It just made such a beautiful time for them.

I remember one year we went up to Pauanui which was one of our favorite places to go. Beautiful beach up there. One of the ladies from the families of the church said, “Now, why don’t we continue our prayer meetings like we do back home?” Because what we would do, was every morning at six o’clock, there was a prayer meeting for those who could get to it in the church. We had this six o’clock prayer meeting every morning.

So, she suggested, “Let’s keep it going while we’re here.” I thought, “Oh my, I think I’d just like a holiday.” But what could you say? You couldn’t say no to her! So, we established this prayer time every morning. We’d gather in one of the tents and we would pray. Pray for the needs and pray for the safety over everyone.

I do believe that God was with her, bringing that suggestion up, that we actually all got with it, and obeyed. Because during that particular holiday, we had a very, very serious boating accident with a couple of our families. Many could have died. It was totally miraculous that everyone came out whole.

We know, because we were praying every morning. We hadn’t left the altar of incense behind. We took it with us. We kept praying, and we were also praying for safety, which you always do when you’re on holiday with children, out in the surf, and boating, and skiing, and doing all these things. God did answer our prayers. I know He saved lives that day because we were praying.

Remember that dear ones. That’s another part of the altar of incense. You take it wherever you go. You don’t leave it behind.

CLOSEST TO THE THRONE ALTAR

Number nine: it’s the closest to the Throne ministry. In Exodus 30:6, God told them that they had to place the altar of incense just outside the curtain that separated the Holy Place from the Holy of Holies where God dwelt in all His shekinah glory. The altar of incense was right next to the curtain, the closest, closest piece of furniture to the Presence of God.

Then in Revelation 8:3, and this is now John looking into the heavenly realm, he saw the golden altar, which was before the Throne. Right before the Throne of God! Now, in the heavenly realm, of course, there is no curtain there. In fact, that curtain was torn from top to bottom when Jesus died upon the cross.

Now there is access into the Presence of God, into the Throne Room of God. So, in heaven, there’s the altar of incense. It’s right next to the Throne. Oh, dear ladies, when you come to the Lord in prayer, you are right next to the Throne of God! And as you cry out to Him, and you bring your petitions, you bring your longings, and your cries, and your prayers for your children and your husband, and all the needs that you have upon your heart, you bring them before the Father. He’s right there. He’s right there, dear ones.

The altar of incense is right before the Throne. Isn’t that wonderful? Oh, what a privilege we have. We have access. We can come in boldly, having access to the Throne of God. Isn’t it amazing how we belittle prayer? I mean, no, I wouldn’t say that we belittle it. We would revere it, I know.

But we don’t really put a lot of time into it, do we? How much incense goes up to the Father from your home? In that passage in Revelation 8, it says that “much incense is going up.” Because prayer is so powerful, and we have this privilege of coming into the Throne Room of God, let’s just come, all the time, whenever there’s a problem. Come to the Throne Room.

Oh, there’s so many needs you face during the day. Oh, even just mothering your children, there’s always challenges all day long. Well, look, bring them in your heart to the Lord. You just come into the Throne Room. He’s right there. And He will give you wisdom, and He will show you the way. Oh, such a wonderful blessing.

Yes, and of course we know that praise and worship are also part of the altar of incense. Prayer and intercession and praise and worship. Because prayer and praise are twins. They go together, don’t they?

I must share a little thing with you. A few weeks ago, my husband and I were blessed to hear a man of God give a wonderful message. We went to this place to hear him. And he took us to 2 Chronicles 20. Well, that wasn’t the only Scripture. Of course, this preacher spoke of many, many, many Scriptures, but this was one that he gave us. 20:20.

It’s the story of Jehoshaphat and how he had this great multitude come against him and he just didn’t know what to do. But, of course, he sought the Lord and he called all of Judah together, and all the families came, and the children came, and the toddlers came, and the nursing babies came. They all met together to seek the Lord. God miraculously showed them what to do.

2 Chronicles 20:20. No, 21. Oh, goodness me! I’m taking you to 2 Chronicles 20:21, because this preacher was telling us, this is the year of 2021. What should we be doing in 2021? Well, it says: “And when he had consulted with the people, he appointed singers unto the Lord, and that should praise the beauty of holiness, as they went out before the army, and to say, Praise the Lord; for His mercy endureth forever.”

And he was talking about whatever you’re going through, in all the tough times, what do you do? You praise, and sing, and worship. We all know this amazing story, of how when the singers went out before the army, and they worshipped and praised the Lord, that God gave them the victory. There is such victory in praise and worship.

So, he gave us that Scripture for 2021. But when I came home, I was looking at these Scriptures, and I looked at the one before and the one after. I got this little thought. Now, I’m going to share it with you. But you have to know, it’s just my thoughts, so you can take it how you like.

But 2020, I thought, “OK, let’s see what 2 Chronicles 20:20 says, because 2020, last year, was a very, rather amazing year. I mean, this was the year of the plandemic. Yes, and although we had a 99% cure, or even more, many people did die. Yes, they did. But most of those who did die often had other illnesses. And also, they were given the wrong medicine.

Maybe you are aware, but Fauci was the one who prescribed to every hospital that they must give their patients remdesivir. That was really a medicine for death. It causes the kidneys to shut down and if anybody got that medicine, well, they would most probably die. Most people did.

Every hospital in the USA was told that they must not use hydroxychloroquine, or ivermectin, or budesonide. None of those were allowed to be used, but they have all been proved to be complete healers of this thing that’s been going around.

In fact, there’s a doctor in Texas. He prescribed budesonide, and he has not had one death. Not one! Not one. But it was a horrific year. As you know, many people did die, through being given the false medicine. It was all a plan.

Sadly, the whole plan now, and even of these vaccinations, is to depopulate the world. Of course, we had shut down the churches, locked down, masking, social distancing, all this junk that is so ridiculous, and so against how we’re meant to live life.

So, what did it say in 2 Chronicles 20:20? “And they rose early in the morning, and went forth into the wilderness of Tekoa: and as they went forth, Jehoshaphat stood and said, Hear me, O Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem; Believe in the Lord your God, so shall ye be established; believe His prophets, so shall ye prosper.”

That was the word for 2020. And I thought, “Yes, now when you look back, there were many, many prophetic words for 2020. Actually, they were given in 2019, and even earlier, before. Many people who have a prophetic anointing prophesied that Donald J. Trump would be president, a second term. Now, that didn’t happen.

Well, it did, actually, because we know that Trump won the election by a huge majority. But it was stolen from him. It was true, he won, but he did not become the president for a second term at that time.

However, I’m one of these people, I love to believe what the Word says. So, I take that Scripture for 2020, where it says: “Believe His prophets, so shall ye prosper.” I still believe those prophetic words, because they weren’t given by one person, but by many, many prophets.

In fact, way back in 2007, yes, that far back, when President Trump had never thought of being president, it was prophesied that he would be, and would have two terms. So, I still believe that that can yet happen. God can yet work miraculously and supernaturally, because I believe His Word.

Then we have 2021. That is to be praising the Lord. Is that how you got through this last year? Whatever you had to go through, did you go through it praising and worshipping? We keep on doing that. We keep on praising, keep on worshipping, and keep on praying, and keep on calling upon the Lord. Are you doing that?

We are calling upon the Lord daily. We are still crying out for deliverance, especially for many countries that are more locked down even than the USA. We think of Australia, New Zealand, Israel, Austria, Canada. Many of these countries are facing incredible lockdowns. And we keep crying out and praying for them.

But let’s see what 2022 has to offer, shall we? You won’t be quite in the New Year when you hear this, but we’re just about there. 2 Chronicles 20:22: “And when they began to sing and to praise. . .” Remember what’s happening? “When they began to sing and to praise,” we keep praising, keep worshipping. “The Lord set ambushments against the children of Ammon, Moab, and mount Seir, which were come against Judah; and they were smitten.”

OK. Wow, that’s what I’m trusting for 2022, that the enemy will be smitten! That’s a good promise to take, isn’t it? Yes, oh, there is so much evil in our land.

Oh, how we have to be praying daily, coming against this evil, this evil of abortion, which is murder, which is human sacrifice. Oh, are you praying for the Supreme Court judges as they are debating on Roe vs Wade? Let’s be in prayer for that.

We must keep praying against the sex trafficking which is horrific. How can we even bear to think about it? These precious, beautiful girls being sold into this tormenting, degrading, terrible lifestyle! Oh, how we must keep praying.

But we keep praying against the enemy. We keep praying against the deceptions of our government and our media, and how they’re trying to bring the nation into deception. We pray that they will be smitten! And God will have the victory! Amen?

Well, let’s pray now, shall we?

“Dearest Father, we thank You that we can come into Your Throne Room. Oh, Lord God, You’re not far away. As we move into the realm of prayer, we are right in Your Throne Room.

“And we come this morning, we come, Lord, we come in the mighty powerful Name of Jesus against the evil that is coming upon this world. We push it back in Jesus’ Name. Oh, God, we pray, Lord, that all evil will be brought down, all evil speaking, all deception, everything that is false, Lord God.

“We pray that righteousness will prevail, that justice will prevail again. Oh, God, we cry out to You for this. We cry out for a revival in our nation. Oh, for the people of God. Lord God, we have faced so much in this nation in these last two years, and yet, even yet, Your people yet, on the whole, are not crying out to You. Lord, prayer meetings haven’t doubled or tripled.

“What is happening? Oh, God, what do You have to do with us, Lord, to get us to really seek Your face? So, we pray, Lord, that You will just wake up Your people. Arouse Your people to prayer, Lord God, that we will be people of this golden ministry, right now, that we will be people of prayer. Lord, we know that this is one of the greatest things that prepares us to face whatever is ahead. I pray that You’ll make each one of us, Lord, more and more prayer warriors. In the precious Name of Jesus, Amen.”

Blessings from Nancy Campbell * www.aboverubies.org

Transcribed by Darlene Norris * This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

DON’T FORGET TO TELL OTHERS ABOUT THIS PODCAST, “LIFE TO THE FULL” WITH NANCY CAMPBELL.” DON’T KEEP THE BLESSINGS TO YOURSELF.

LIFE TO THE FULL w/ Nancy Campbell

EPISODE 184: Five Necessary Qualities for End Time Living – Part 6

The ALTAR OF INCENSE is a Golden ministry, a Sweet ministry, a Come Up Higher ministry, a Morning and Evening ministry, a Horning ministry, a Crowning ministry, a Four-Square ministry, and more next week. How do these things affect our day-to-day lives in our families?

Announcer: Welcome to the podcast, Life to The Full, with Nancy Campbell, founder and publisher of Above Rubies.

Nancy Campbell: Hello, ladies. We’re still going on our series, Five Necessary Qualities for End Time Living. We are up to P, Prayer and Praise. We’re still talking about that. I want to continue talking today about the altar of incense, because there are many aspects to this which really affect us in our lives right now.

To catch you up, we found out that it is a GOLDEN ALTAR. Number two, it is an ALTAR OF SWEET INCENSE. Number three, it is the HIGHEST PIECE OF FURNITURE in the tabernacle.

MORNING AND EVENING ALTAR

Now, number four, they had to attend to the altar of incense, the golden altar, every morning and every evening. It talks about that in this passage in Exodus 30:7, 8: “And Aaron shall burn thereon sweet incense every morning: when he dresseth the lamps, he shall burn incense upon it. And when Aaron lighteth the lamps at evening, he shall burn incense upon it, a perpetual incense before the Lord throughout your generations.” It wasn’t only something that they were to do back then in Exodus chapter 30. It is something for all generations.

So, why did they have to come morning and evening? Because God wanted this beautiful, sweet incense to be a perpetual incense, never going out. Always filling the Holy Place. And He also wants that beautiful, sweet incense to fill our homes too. He doesn’t want it to ever go out.

In fact, the morning and the evening principle is a very important principle in the Word of God, especially as we read about it in the tabernacle because they had to come to the brazen altar. That was outside the actual tabernacle and that is where they sacrificed the animals every morning and every evening. A lamb in the morning, a lamb in the evening.

They did lots of other offerings as well. But this was one that had to be conducted every single day. It was something that God wanted. He wants this morning and evening principle. It’s very precious to Him. They did this lamb for sacrifice right up until Jesus came. In fact, they kept on doing it even after Jesus was crucified. But when the Temple was ransacked in AD 70, that was the end of the sacrifices then, because the Bible tells us that Jesus was sacrificed ONCE AND FOR ALL

But at that time, it had to be morning and evening. Just as they would come every morning and evening to do it, and every single sacrifice pointed to Calvary, pointed to the ultimate and final sacrifice of the pure, spotless Lamb of God upon the cross, I love to look back and not forget. Every day, when we pray together at our family devotions, I love to remember to thank the Lord for His sacrifice. I don’t think we can ever be thankful or grateful enough, because I don’t think we’ll ever even understand, even in eternity, the enormity of His sacrifice for our salvation and to redeem us. So, I love to look back and thank Jesus for His incredible sacrifice to give His life to save me, someone so unworthy.

Then you went into the tabernacle, and they had the candelabra, the seven-branched candlestick. That had to be lit every morning and every evening because the light was never to go out. They had to pour the oil in the lamps, and to attend to the wicks, and get rid of all the junk and the burned stuff every morning and evening.

Also, they had to attend to the altar of incense every morning and evening too. It was a principle that God established. That’s why we love to have our family devotions, or whatever you call it in your home. It doesn’t matter what you call it, as long as you do it. Some people call it worship time. Some people call it Bible time. Whatever you like to call it, as long as you do it.

We call it family devotions. It used to be called “the family altar.” I don’t think anybody calls it that today. It’s sort of a forgotten phrase, but actually, it is a biblical phrase. It comes from the Word of God. I think it is, if I go over to it, in Leviticus 6:8-13. Here Moses is speaking about establishing the altar.

The brazen altar was made of brass on which they would do the sacrifices. He tells them there, that was another thing they had to do morning and evening. They had to attend to the fire on the altar every morning and every evening.

So, he says, in Leviticus 6:8: “And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying. . .” It wasn’t Moses’ idea. It’s God’s idea. “The Lord spake . . . Command Aaron and his sons, saying, This is the law of the burnt offering: It is the burnt offering, because of the burning upon the altar all night unto the morning, and the fire of the altar shall be burning in it.”

And we go down to Leviticus 6:12: “And the fire upon the altar shall be burning in it; it shall not be put out.” It was never to go out. And He repeats it again in verse 13: “The fire shall ever be burning upon the altar; it shall never go out.”

To keep it going, they had to keep attending to it, every morning and every evening. Come and take out all the ashes and get rid of all the junk. That’s what we have to do in our lives, too. Put on the wood to keep it burning. So, we read the Word of God to our family, to fuel our souls and fuel their souls, and keep them burning.

The only way we can keep the fire of God burning in our lives, and in our families, is to keep to the morning and evening principle. Once a day, the fire will go out. If we light the lamps only once a day, the light will go out. If we light the incense altar only once a day, the incense disappears. It’s not enough, once a day. It’s morning and evening. This is the principle, to keep the fire of God burning, to keep the light of God burning, to keep the sweetness of the incense of the aroma of the presence of God continually in our homes. This is what it takes to make these things a continual thing.

This phrase, “the family altar,” was taken from this very passage. This altar of the fire upon the altar. The idea of, yes, we want to keep the fire of God burning in every member of our family. We’re going to also have a family altar.

I remember many years ago going to an Above Rubies family retreat. Colin and I walked in. We were a little late getting there because of our transport. The people were singing, and they were singing this great old hymn. To tell you the truth, I had never heard it before. But I loved the words. And I’m going to read them to you, because I think it’s a wonderful hymn. It also has a line in this hymn which is rather interesting.

1. God give us Christian homes!
   Homes where the Bible is loved and taught,
   Homes where the Master’s will is sought,
   Homes crowned with beauty Your love has wrought;
   God give us Christian homes;
   God give us Christian homes!
2. God give us Christian homes!
   Homes where the father is true and strong,
   Homes that are free from the blight of wrong,
   Homes that are joyous with love and song;
   God give us Christian homes;
   God give us Christian homes!
3. God give us Christian homes!
   Homes where the mother, in caring quest,
   Strives to show others Your way is best,
   Homes where the Lord is an honored guest;
   God give us Christian homes;
   God give us Christian homes!
4. God give us Christian homes!
   Homes where the children are led to know
   Christ in His beauty who loves them so,
   Homes where the altar fires burn and glow;
   God give us Christian homes;
   God give us Christian homes!

Now, that sounds like a real Christian home, doesn’t it? We have lots of Christian homes today in name only, like we have RINOS, Republicans In Name Only. I think we have a lot of CHRINOS, Christians In Name Only.

This is not actually the testimony of every Christian home, but there was a line there that I picked up and heard everyone singing it.

“Homes where the altar fires burn and glow.”

“Wow,” I thought. “That’s amazing. I know what that’s talking about. I wonder if anybody here singing it knows.”

So, they ended the time of praise and worship. I got up to say hi to everybody. I said, “I wonder, folks, does anybody know what this line means? You’ve all been singing, “Homes where the altar fires burn and glow.” Who knows what we’re singing about?”

Well, do you know, there was not one hand that went up! Not one person knew what they were singing about! That’s a bit sad, isn’t it? But they were singing about the altar fire, the family altar, because back when that hymn was written, it was the norm for Christian families to have the family altar where the family gathered together morning and evening.

They didn’t gather around an actual, literal altar. We don’t have altars today. But we have a time. We have a place where we choose in our home where we’re going to meet together. It can be different in different homes. We don’t all have to do it the same. As long as we find our altar, the place where we want to be, the time when we want to meet.

In our home, we love to do it at mealtimes because that’s a gathering time of the family anyway. I find, as I was raising our children, that it’s pretty hard to get them together, especially as they’re getting older. It’s very easy when they’re all little. Even that has challenges.

But, you know, getting them to the table, getting everyone together, especially as they get older, and they’re all doing their different things, and going here and there, it’s quite a challenge to get everyone together.

But the table, the meal table, is a drawing place, because everybody wants to eat, especially if you make a lovely, nutritious, beautiful meal, with lovely spices and aromas. It smells so wonderful, and the aromas are filling the house. Everybody wants to come. They are drawn to the aromas and to the kitchen.

So, you draw everybody to the meal table. To me, the meal table is very important anyway. I love to gather the family. I’ve never, ever allowed our children to sit around to eat in front of the TV, eat where they like, when they like. No, we eat at the same time, together. Together, at the family meal table.

Because we’re gathered there, at the end of our meal, we will have our family altar, or our family devotions, where we’ll read the Word, and we will pray together and worship and sing. I have found it a wonderful secret to make it happen by doing it at the table.

In fact, as we come to the end of our meal, guess what, ladies? We don’t even clear the table, because I find that if we do clear the table and everybody gets up, and they start scraping their dishes and taking them to the counter, by the time they get to the counter, help! I can’t even get everybody back again! So, I don’t even let them go! That’s why I do that. I have found that we have the time, and we never really notice the dishes are there.

My husband will begin to open the Word and read to the family. Then we’ll pray together and sing a song or hymn or worship song. So that is the family altar, where we’re coming to meet God. The altars that they made back in biblical times, when the patriarchs made altars, they built those altars as a place to cry out to God and to hear Him speak.

Now, this is the same thing we’re doing. We’re not building a physical altar, but we’re committing to a time and a place where we’re going to listen to God. We’re listening to Him speak from His Word, and we’re going to call out to Him, and pray and intercede.

Now, lovely, precious ladies, if we’re really, truly Bible-believing, God-fearing families, to do that twice a day is the least we can do. I know many families who do it three times a day, just as Daniel prayed three times a day. David said: “Morning, noon, and night, I cry out to God” (Psalm 55:17).

You can do it three times a day if you would like to. That would be wonderful. But two is actually a minimum. We at least gather together morning and evening to the family altar.

All right. And it says, “Homes where the altar fires burn and glow.” You see, that keeps people in the home burning and glowing with the fire of the Lord.

Everything was not just for fun. Everything spoke of some aspect of our salvation or understanding of Christ. The four horns on the brazen altar speak of salvation for every person right to the four corners of the earth. Not one is missed out. Jesus died for all.

Then, there are four horns on the four corners of the golden altar too. That speaks of prayer and praise, because that’s what it represents, prayer and praise going up from the four corners of the earth. And also, prayers for people right out to the ends of the world, to the four corners of the earth.

Our prayers should not only be for ourselves, and for our little family. They should reach out to the nations, reach out to the four corners of the earth. As we’re teaching our children to pray, we teach them how to pray beyond their little world.

That’s a big thing that we have to teach, dear mothers. But that’s something we need to do, is to broaden the understanding of the needs of the world to our children so they can become interceders. Children can become interceders. Wow! Children love to pray, and God hears their prayers.

That’s why I love to have prayer boxes in our home. I find them such a blessing. I’ve talked to you about prayer boxes before. I wonder, are any of you doing it? Have you made any prayer boxes? Oh, I hope so, because you will find it such a blessing, especially for your children.

Well, I find it a blessing too, because often when I come to pray, there are so many things on my heart. But there are often things that I miss because I don’t think of them. But when I take the card out of the prayer box, it reminds me.

Currently, I have ten different prayer boxes in our home on all different subjects. When I started doing this with our children, I started with our family prayer box. That was the first one I ever started with. In that, I put the names of all our family, Mummy and Daddy, grandparents, aunties and uncles, and the extended family around us so that we could faithfully remember to pray for one another.

It’s good for the children, learning to pray for one another. Maybe one of the boys has had a fight with Johnny just before he came to the meal table. Now, as the box goes around the table, out comes his name! He’s got to pray for him. Well, that’s good, isn’t it, because we have to pray for one another, even when we are not feeling too happy about one another.

But then, as with everything, I think we start little, and everything grows. Do you find that? That everything, you get an idea, you get a revelation, you get something that God puts on your heart. And you do it. You’re faithful to do it. As you do it, then it gets bigger and bigger. So now, we have ten different prayer boxes.

I’ll tell you the ones we have. We have our family prayer box.

Then our cities, capitals, and countries prayer box. The countries in the world, and the cities and capitals which are the most strategic in the world, we have a lot of them in that box. That’s a wonderful way for your children also to get to know about the world. Sometimes they can’t even pronounce the name of a particular capitol or country. You have to teach them. You can teach them about it, and what are the needs of those countries, and we pray for them.

We have our world-changing prayer box.

We have our nation-changing prayer box. Well, actually, this one is not a box, because a friend of ours brought us a little miniature Liberty Bell. So, we keep all our nation-changing cards in our Liberty Bell. We use this very frequently, because, oh my, how we need to be praying for our nation at the moment! I trust you are praying every day for this nation. Oh, yes.

In fact, on Thanksgiving, after our big Thanksgiving dinner, we always have toasts. Well, really, that’s speeches. Different ones will get up and toast to something or someone that they feel they want to talk about. This particular Thanksgiving, I think every speech was a political speech, but a very positive, wonderful one. They were great speeches.

One guy got up and he said he felt it would be great if we could sing

God Bless America, land that I love.

Stand beside her, and guide her

Through the night with the light from above.

From the mountains to the prairies,

To the oceans white with foam.

God bless America, my home, sweet home.

So, we all sang that together. And he was saying how, with so much negativity coming upon our nation, how important it is to pray a blessing upon her. We’re planning to do this regularly, along with our singing another hymn or worship song, to sing that prayer over America as we come together every day.

We have our Israel prayer box. We’re commanded to pray for Israel. Yes.

And the persecuted church prayer box. We are commanded to pray for the persecuted church. I hope that you remember to do that. How can we let a day go by when we don’t pray for our fellow believers who are suffering?

I mean, we are one body, and even if our little toe, you’re walking by something, and you kick a chair by mistake! Oh, it’s awful, isn’t it? You feel that pain, and your whole body goes out to comfort your little toes. It’s the same in the body of Christ when our precious brothers and sisters are being persecuted and tormented. Their bodies are being hurt. They’re hungry and they are cold. They’re even being martyred. Are we praying for them?

What does it say in Hebrews 13:3: “Remember them that are in bonds or in prison as though you are in prison with them, and them which suffer adversity, as being yourselves also in the body?” In other words, you’re feeling their pain even in your body. That’s how we’re meant to pray for them.

I might have told you this story before. It was a while ago, about a year ago. Serene was coming down a ladder from the top story of their house because their house is always being added to. We say their house is the house that Sam is building because it never stops. It’s always something new he’s doing.

She was coming down the ladder with a long skirt on. It got tangled and she fell to the ground on her back. It was a very hard fall. She thought she may have broken her back. She was in incredible pain. She said to me, “Mum, oh, I was in such terrible pain! But the first thing I thought of was the persecuted church, because, you see, I don’t know how to pray for them. I feel so good, and I feel so amazing, and I don’t know how to feel their pain. But I was in such pain that I just cried out for the persecuted church!”

I thought, “Wow!” That was challenging to me. Wow! When we’re in pain, we can really then pray and intercede for them, can’t we? It was only a week or so later that I also fell and broke a couple of ribs. Of course, you know what broken ribs are like. They mend, but, oh, they’re terribly painful. So, I had much opportunity to pray for the persecuted church. That’s an important one too, isn’t it?

We have our salvation and healing prayer box, where we’re praying for those who need Jesus, and those who need healing.

We have our Above Rubies ministry prayer box. I certainly need a lot of prayer for Above Rubies.

And our Above Rubies helpers, all the helpers that have been with us over the years.

We have our Hilltop fellowship House of Prayer families. We pray for them.

So that’s ten prayer boxes we have. It’s so great because there’s so much to pray for, that we can forget about so many things. Especially prayers for children, because often, especially little children, they’ll just pray their little prayer, “Thank You, Jesus, for this lovely day. Give us a good night’s sleep. Amen.”

But if they get a card, you can explain it to them, and they’ve got something new to pray about. That’s a very important thing.

A HORNING ALTAR

We’re talking about how the altar of incense is an altar of horns. All right. Now, what do horns speak of in the Bible? They speak of power and authority. Therefore, the horns on the altar of incense are of power and authority. It’s in the place of prayer that we have authority and power with God. Power over demonic forces, and power over evil, something that we cannot have power over ourselves. But in the place of prayer, we’re coming into God, and we get with His power and anointing. There is power and authority in the place of prayer. We need to take it up.

The devil knows that, dear ladies. That’s why he has, I believe, dehorned the horns of the church. He doesn’t want the church praying. You know, I think that even affects us, as mothers, because our society has caused us not to live the way we’re meant to. The way we’re meant to live as a family is that, as evening is coming on, the mother is in the kitchen, preparing the meal for the family to gather round. That is a basic thing of family-ness, a powerful thing in keeping the family together.

But today, everything seems to happen at that time. All the football practices, and the basketball practices, and the music, and this and that, and everything. And the mother is running around in the car, taking her children to this and that. Help! How do you get home in time to prepare the meal? Wow! There’s hardly time, and you’re just having to get some fast food, and everybody is eating in the car.

You’re not having family devotions, because you’re not home in time. “Whoo-hoo!” says the devil! “Got them away from the prayer time tonight!” And he seems to get them away from the prayer time nearly every night, because there’s something on, and everybody’s going here and there.

We’ve got to establish a family life where we gather the family together. As we prepare the meal, because I have found, as you’re making an altar, not a literal one, but you’re making a time and place, the meal is part of that, very much. I have realized that if I don’t prepare the meal because I’m just doing something, or going somewhere, we will not gather to read the Word and pray. We do that because I prepare the meal. I gather the family. We’re there together. I’ve made the altar ready for us to hear from God and to cry out to Him.

We have to watch. Don’t let the devil dethrone your horns and take your horns away from you. Oh, my. We’ve got to keep up the horns. Let me read you some Scriptures about horns, shall I? I didn’t really mean “dethrone.” I meant “dehorn.” That’s what they do, often, to animals. They dehorn them so they can’t push and shove and gore.

But that’s we want to do in prayer! We’ve forgotten how to gore and how to push against the enemy in prayer! Prayer is not just some little, sometimes it is just a little prayer from our heart, but in times of storm and stress, we have to gore and push against the enemy! And we’ve got to use our horns! OK?

This is Bible. 1 Samuel 2:1: “And Hannah prayed, and said, My heart rejoiceth in the Lord, mine horn is exalted in the Lord: my mouth is enlarged over mine enemies; because I rejoice in Thy salvation.”

Psalm 75:10: “All the horns of the wicked also will I cut off; but the horns of the righteous shall be exalted.” Ladies, it is a marvelous thing to take the Scriptures into the place of prayer. Pray the Scriptures. When you’re praying the Scriptures, you’re praying in the perfect will of God.

I love to pray this Scripture: “Lord God, cut off the horns of the wicked!” Oh, there are so many in our nation who are wicked, who are bringing evil things upon this nation. They think they have all the power and authority in the world. But God can bring down their authority. He can bring down their horns. So, we can pray that they will be cut off, and instead, that “the horns of the righteous will be exalted.”

Psalm 89:17: “For Thou art the glory of their strength: and in Thy favor our horn shall be exalted.”

Psalm 92:10: “But my horn shalt Thou exalt, like the horn of an unicorn.”

Psalm 148:14: “He also exalted the horn of His people.”

Micah 4:13: “Arise and thresh, O daughter of Zion: for I will make thine horn iron.”

Do you notice how it talks about how the horn of the righteous will be exalted? That’s what we’ve got to pray for, that the authority of the wicked will be cut off, and the authority and anointing of the righteous and the godly will be lifted up, lifted up and exalted.

Just listen to this prophecy that Moses prayed over Joseph. Deuteronomy 33:17: “His glory is like the firstling of his bullock, and his horns are like the horns of unicorns: with them he shall push. . .” The word there means “to gore, to butt, to go against. “. . . to push the people together to the ends of the earth: and they are the ten thousands of Ephraim, and they are the thousands of Manasseh.” So, let’s take up our horns, dear ladies.

A CROWNING ALTAR

OK, number six: it is a crowning ministry. The altar of incense had a golden crown all around each side.

A FOUR-SQUARE ALTAR

I’ll go on to the next one, number seven. It is four-square. That’s a very interesting thing about the altar of incense, that it is four-square. Each side is exactly the same, whereas the showbread table was rectangular.

The altar of incense, four-square. It’s meant to be that it would have the same priority as other things in the, well, in our Christian life. In things that we do for the Lord, prayer and praise should not be little, or just have a little part. It must take part with the others. It’s four-square. That makes me think of a church meeting!

OK, if we had a really, truly four-square church meeting, what would we have? We would have equal parts of prayer, worship, the Word of God, and fellowship, because fellowship is very important in the Word of God. In Acts, they fellowshipped when they came together.

Well, is that true amongst our gatherings today? No, I don’t think so. I mean, people, when they go to church, the pastor will open with prayer. He will close with prayer. Maybe there’s a bit of other prayer, but I don’t think there is as much prayer as the sermon! The sermon may be for half an hour. Do we all pray for half an hour?

We may worship for half an hour. But let’s get everything in the same order, four-square. OK, four-square gospel. There is a church called the Four-Square Gospel Church. Colin and I actually became members of that when we were missionaries in the Philippine Islands.

But four-square means you’re not belittling one important thing and giving it more to the other. No, they must all have the same. That is very important too.

Oh, goodness. Time has gone, and I still haven’t finished! There are some more things to tell you. So, we’ll have to carry on next week, OK?

Oh, the Lord bless you, dear lovely, precious mothers and wives, in your home. Oh, I hope you can just get a glimpse of this beautiful, golden ministry, this four-square ministry, this horning ministry, this crowning ministry, this coming up higher ministry! This is what it’s all about, and this is one of the things that we have to have very much embedded into our lives and operating in our lives, as we prepare for whatever we will come across in our lives, if we may face end times in our lifetime.

So, do you think you can do it? Do you think you can bring more prayer into your home so it can be the testimony of your home? That there is much incense going up before the Lord? Do you think you can even have a prayer meeting in your home? At least have a great prayer meeting every morning and evening with your family.

If you’ve got a big family, woo-hoo! You’ve got a good, great prayer meeting! You’ve got eight, nine, ten children, you’ve got a bigger prayer meeting than a lot of churches have! Sometimes they only get three or four to the prayer meeting! You’ve got more! Wow! You can have a great prayer meeting, a powerful prayer meeting. You can change this nation. You can change the world through your prayers!

“Oh, dear Father, help us to get the vision, and please help us, Lord, to get on our feet and do it, Lord. Oh God, it’s so easy to just lag behind. But help us to truly say, “Oh, I will get up and go. When Thou sayest, ‘Seek ye My face.’ My heart said unto me, ‘Lord, thy face will I seek.’ Help us to respond, Lord God.

I pray for Your wonderful blessing over every family. Bless them with Your protection. Bless them with Your salvation. Bless them with Your healing. Bless them with Your anointing. And bless them with Your presence in their homes. And, Lord, I pray that the spirit of prayer will come upon them, from father to mother to children. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.”

Blessings from Nancy Campbell * www.aboverubies.org

Transcribed by Darlene Norris * This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

DON’T FORGET TO TELL OTHERS ABOUT THIS PODCAST, “LIFE TO THE FULL” WITH NANCY CAMPBELL.” DON’T KEEP THE BLESSINGS TO YOURSELF.

LIFE TO THE FULL w/ Nancy Campbell

EPISODE 183: Five Necessary Qualities for End Time Living – Part 5

We begin the second P which is PRAYER AND PRAISE. The apostle John looks into Heaven and sees the GOLDEN ALTAR before the throne of God. What is this GOLDEN ALTAR and how does it relate to us in our homes?5

Announcer: Welcome to the podcast, Life to The Full, with Nancy Campbell, founder and publisher of Above Rubies.

Nancy Campbell: Hello, ladies! We’re still continuing our series of the five qualities God wants us to have in our lives as we prepare for end times. We’re currently looking at our second P, which is prayer. PRAYER AND PRAISE.

At the end of our podcast last week, we were looking at Revelation 8:3. I’ll give it to you again, so we can get into the whole theme of this Scripture. We’ll talk more about it. John is looking into the heavenly realm, and he sees in Revelation 8:3: “And another angel came and stood at the altar, having a golden censer; and there was given unto him much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne. And the smoke of the incense, which came with the prayers of the saints, ascended up before God out of the angel’s hand.”

John was looking at the altar of incense in heaven. You see, the altar of incense in the tabernacle on earth was made after the pattern of the heavenly one. The heavenly one is still there. And Christ is interceding at that altar for us, night and day. He wants us to also participate in this altar of incense.

Everything that was given back in the Old Testament was written for us today. It wasn’t for nothing. It was to show us how we are to live today. So, we see quite a number of things about this altar of incense.

THE GOLDEN ALTAR

First of all, number one, it was called “the golden altar.” We see that also in Exodus 30. That’s where we first begin to read about it. There are many, many Scriptures which I won’t give you in this podcast, but if you get to read the transcript, I will give them to you. I have a whole paragraph here of Scriptures where the altar of incense is mentioned in the Bible, in the Old Testament, and in the New. You can look them all up if you get to read the transcript (Scriptures at end).

We’ll only look at one or two Scriptures today. In Exodus 30, God is telling Moses how He wants him to make this altar. It was to be made of shittim wood, or it’s sometimes called acacia wood, which was a very common wood there in the wilderness, in the desert where they were travelling through. It speaks of man. It was common.

But it was overlaid with gold. Exodus 30:3: “And thou shalt overlay it with pure gold.” And they were to overlay it on the top, and on the sides, and on the horns, and all over. It was to be covered with pure gold, speaking of God and His divinity.

It’s a beautiful picture of we, who are man and fleshy, and who cannot really do much without God. We come to this altar of incense to cry out to God. It is a place of prayer as it tells us in Revelation, that it is speaking of “the prayers of all the saints.” In Revelation, which we just read, it talks about “MUCH incense,” coming up before this golden throne. It is a golden ministry.

Have you ever thought of prayer being a golden ministry? Well, that’s what it is, ladies. It’s a golden ministry, a wonderful ministry that you can be part of. And God wants the altar of incense to be operating in your home. He doesn’t want a little bit of incense going up to His throne. He wants a lot of incense, much incense, a great quantity of incense.

One translation says . . .  I wonder how much incense goes up to the Father, to His throne, because when you’re coming to the altar of incense, when you come to that place of prayer, you are coming into the very throne room of God. How incredible! Oh, what privilege we have, to come in through the precious blood of Jesus that was shed for us!

And through the power of His Name, we can come into the very throne room of God, where He is, in all His glory, and intercede before Him, for our own needs, and especially the needs of others, and the needs of the world. Oh, what a glorious privilege! How much incense goes up in your home? Is it a little trickling bit that goes up every now and then? Or is it “much incense” going up every day toward the Father? That’s what the Scripture talks about, “much incense.” Yes.

I believe we are in an hour in history where we need much incense. We need much prayer. Oh, there is just so much happening. There are so many needs, not only around us, of people in your own home, maybe, and people you know. But in the whole of the world, oh my. And yet, are we truly praying?

I’m always challenged by that Scripture in Jeremiah 10:24-25: “O Lord, correct me, but with judgment” (or “justice,” the word is) “O Lord, correct me, but with justice; not in Thine anger, lest Thou bring me to nothing. Pour out Thy fury upon the heathen that know Thee not, and upon the families” (Oh, my. Families? What families?) “The families that call not on Thy Name.”

To me, this is a very challenging Scripture how God will pour out His fury upon the heathen that are not walking in His ways, but also on His families, His families that do not call upon His Name. Are we a family that is calling upon the Name of the Lord? This is really the defining factor of God’s people.

In the early church, they were known as “the people that call upon the Name of the Lord.” Are we known as those who call upon the Name of the Lord? Is our church known as a people who call upon the Name of the Lord? Do the people around us know that we are a praying people, a praying family, a family that calls upon the Name of the Lord?

Well, if we’re not, we might as well be the heathen, because that’s what separates us from the heathen. The heathen walk in their own ways, and in sinful ways. They don’t call upon the Name of the Lord. But we, as God’s people, we have access into the throne room of God, and we call upon the Name of the Lord. That should define who we are.

In this hour, oh, when there is so much treachery and tyranny happening . . . now here we are, we’re living in Tennessee. Really, at this current time in Tennessee, we are living a beautiful life. There’s no lockdowns or tyranny here, especially out where we live. Here you wouldn’t know that there was any tyranny going on in the world, but there is.

We have dear friends and people we know in other countries who are facing great challenges. My dear friend, Val Stares, who is the director of Above Rubies in Australia, I think I shared this with you in one of my previous podcasts, how the 17^th of December in Australia is D-day. If they do not take the vaccination by that day, they will be completely isolated from society, without being able to buy. Their jobs will be wiped out.

This is tough. This is happening in a free society! In a free world. This should never be happening in a free world. But what are we doing about it? Are we praying? We have a responsibility to pray for our fellow believers.

I was just reading last night about what is happening in the Northern Territories of Australia. I could not believe it! I just go to this site here, and it says: “The Australian government of the Northern Territories is now using military soldiers and army trucks to forcibly round up indigenous people, Aborigine people.”

Of course, we lived in Australia for ten years. We lived in this great, free country of Australia, what is called “The Lucky Country.” But now, they’re rounding up indigenous people who have merely been near someone else who tested positive for covid, with families being separated at gunpoint, one of the most horrifying predictions we made has now come true.

Military medical martial law, where innocent civilians are being round up at gunpoint, and taken to what are essentially covid concentration camps. These victims are being forcibly relocated to the Howard Springs Quarantine Camp in Darwin, Australia. They’ve already got these internment camps ready. I have seen pictures of ones in Queensland.

Michael Gunner, the territory chief, admits to the military kidnapping and forced relocation of Australian indigenous people, even disparaging their family structure and implying they are savages because so many members of the community interact with each other like family. So, it goes on and on, of what they are doing to these indigenous people in the Northern Territories of Australia.

Then, we have Victoria, down in the bottom of Australia, which is being locked down. Then we have Queensland, only until the 17^th of December. The mandate is, if they’re not vaccinated, well, then that’s it.

Then we have our dear precious friends in Israel. They only have until the 6^th of December. If they’re not vaccinated by then, they’re wiped out. They’ve got to clear out of the country, after years and years of pouring their lives out for the Jewish people there in Israel.

And not only them, but Canada, Austria, many other countries, are locked down. They have tyranny coming upon them. Free countries. Now, does that get to you? I don’t know. How can people just carry on life as normally, and not be praying? How can we not pray and cry out for these situations? We have to be crying out for the world at the moment.

Now we know that there will come, eventually, a one-world order, because it is prophesied. But we don’t take that sitting down. No, we push back, and we resist all tyranny. We must resist all tyranny because it is evil. It is not for the blessing of the people, or the country. It is not for their good at all.

There are some Christians who passively give in. They talk about Romans 13, how that we must submit to whatever is happening. No, they are taking that passage in the wrong context, because it is talking there about how that we must submit to the government for our good, and we will receive backlash if we don’t. If we’re not good, if we do that which is evil, we’re going to get our rebuke, and whatever they’re going to do to us, from the government.

But this is not for anybody being evil. This is what they’re doing to those who are good! And what does it say in Daniel 11:32 in the context of persecution? “And the people that do know their God shall be strong and DO EXPLOITS.” (King James Version).

Other translations say: “The people that do know their God shall be strong and TAKE ACTION.”

Some translations say: “The people that do know their God shall be strong and RESIST.” Of course, I believe, more than anything else, we pray! Oh, let’s be praying. Oh, prayer works wonders, but as I look around, I see most people carrying on as usual. They have not intensified their prayer life. They have not called corporate prayer meetings.

I believe we should be calling corporate prayer meetings to pray. Yes, and if there is not one near you where you can go and pray, if they don’t have one in your church that’s praying for this situation, and for the countries of the world, well, start one in your own home. It’s a wonderful thing to have a prayer meeting in your home. I think it’s the most wonderful thing in the world. I don’t think we have ever been without a prayer meeting in our home all throughout our married lives.

At the moment, well, we have two corporate prayer meetings a week here, on the Hilltop. We have one in our home, and also one in Serene and Sam’s home. Last night, Wednesday night, we were at the prayer meeting at Serene and Sam’s home. Oh, sometimes you never know what’s going to happen at a prayer meeting. Usually, we are really storming the gates of heaven on behalf of all those who are suffering and that are under tyranny. We’re crying out to God for the needs all around us. But last night, what happened?

We ended up praying for all the children and it was the most beautiful night. You see, we have the children in our prayer meetings. And, dear, precious moms, if you have lots of children, then, “Oh, how can I have a prayer meeting in our home with all the children? What will I do with them?”

Well, you make them part of the prayer meeting! That’s the best thing they can ever be part of, is to be part of prayer meetings! And if you have a little baby, and you’re nursing your baby, well, just nurse your baby. Just have a nursing shawl, a nursing cape. You can nurse discretely. Just nurse your baby and your baby will go off to sleep.

Your little toddlers can be around. We have our toddlers all around us. If you don’t feel you can cope with yours, well, maybe you can make sure they don’t have a sleep in the afternoon, and they get to bed early. But otherwise, they can learn to play very quietly. Then, when they get tired, Daddy or Mummy take them on their knee, and they just cuddle in and go to sleep. That’s what happens with our little ones. Then, of course, the children.

Well, last night, one of our little ones, a little three-year old, he had hurt himself badly during the day, and they were nearly going to take him to ER, but they didn’t. They prayed instead. All the blood that was coming out of his mouth soon stopped. God was good. They wanted us to pray over him again at the prayer meeting.

So, that was the first thing we did. My husband anointed him with oil and prayed over him. And then, it just began. Each little child came and knelt down, and my husband and others began to pray over them, all the little ones. Then the big ones, and even the teens. It took the whole prayer meeting, but it was such a beautiful night.

So, when you start a prayer meeting, you make your children part of the prayer meeting. Children should be part of prayer meetings. They should grow up in the midst of prayer. It should be part of their lives. Yes.

Not a little part, no! A big part of their lives! The Word of God says “much incense,” not a little bit of incense, but “MUCH INSENSE.”

Malachi 1:11: “For from the rising of the sun even unto the going down of the same, My Name shall be great among the gentiles; and in every place incense shall be offered unto My Name.”

This is not talking to the Jewish people. This is talking to the Gentiles! “Among the gentiles, and in every place” (EVERY place, EVERY home) “incense shall be offered unto My Name, and a pure offering: for My Name shall be great among the heathen, saith the Lord of hosts.” Amen?

Well, number one: this altar is a golden altar.

THE SWEET INCENSE ALTAR

Number two: it is also called “the altar of sweet incense.” (Leviticus 4:7). Yes, all the spices that were used to make the incense were beautiful, sweet spices. You’ll get all the Scriptures about that in the transcript when you get to read it.

THE HIGHEST ALTAR

Number three: this altar of incense was the highest piece of furniture in the Holy Place. It was higher than the table of showbread and higher than the golden candlestick, which were also very important pieces of furniture. But this one was the highest. God wants it to be the HIGHEST PRIORITY in our lives.

Did you know that it’s the highest priority of Jesus now? The Bible tells us that He is continually interceding for us, which is the altar of incense. Let’s read, shall we? Romans 8:34: “Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, Who is even at the right hand of God, Who also maketh intercession for us.”

Let’s go to Hebrews, shall we? Hebrews 7:25: “Wherefore He is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him, seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for them.”

Over in Hebrews 9:24: “For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the Presence of God for us.”

Also, prayer and praise. You see, it’s not only prayer, but also and praise and worship that the altar of incense speaks of. It takes us up to great heights.

Isaiah 40:31 tells us of how those who “wait upon the Lord shall mount up with wings as eagles.” We mount up in the Spirit when we go to the place of prayer. Oh yes, personally and corporately. There is much power in corporate prayer. I believe in personal prayer, but I also believe in the power of corporate prayer.

In Matthew 18:20, it tells us how that if two or three of you are gathered together, I will be with you. I will be in your midst. Amen?

Isaiah 2:3: “Come ye, and LET US GO UP to the mountain of the Lord.” That’s the place of prayer. “The mountain of the Lord.” We’ve got to go up to it, ladies, go up to the mountain. Now, it’s not always easy getting up a mountain. Have you ever climbed a mountain? Well, sometimes you get pretty tired going up that mountain. It can be steep. It can be rough, and you’re puffing, and you’re getting tired, and you’re getting worn out. But you keep going. And you get to the top.

Oh, what a beautiful view from the top! How exhilarating! And it’s the same in the place of prayer. You’ve got to come up to the mountain. “Come ye, and LET US GO UP to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob: and He will teach us of His ways, and we will walk in His paths; for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the Word of the Lord from Jerusalem.” And so, we come up to this place of prayer and of praise.

Talking about praise, the other week we were invited to a meeting to listen to this speaker. In one part of his message, he was speaking a most wonderful message about praising God in the midst of our difficulties. He went through the Scriptures, showing the places where the different people of God, and how they were going through the most terrible circumstances. But in the midst, they kept praising God. This is also part of the altar of incense.

He took us also to 2 Chronicles. I’d like to take you to it. 2 Chronicles 20:1. It’s the story of when King Jehoshaphat, who was a good king of Judah, and the enemy came against him. It says here: “that the children of Moab, and the children of Ammon, and with them other beside the Ammonites.” Actually, another place tells us where there were another lot of people, too. Yes, and also the inhabitants of Mount Seir.

All these enemies came against him, “a great multitude.” And Jehoshaphat was scared. They didn’t have an army like that. They couldn’t even . . .  what were they going to do? That army was too big for them to fight. They were going to be wiped out!

So, what did he do? Well, we see here in 2 Chronicles 20:3: “And Jehoshaphat feared, and set himself to seek the Lord, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah.” So, number one, he began “to seek the Lord.”

I believe that’s what all God’s people should be doing in this hour. We are facing a battle. We’re facing an enemy that’s bigger than us. This is a huge, evil enemy that we are facing. We have to seek the Lord, because we can’t fight it on our own. It’s only the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of heaven, who is able to bring us the victory.

So, number one, they began “to seek the Lord.” And he proclaimed a fast. 2 Chronicles 20:4: “And Judah gathered themselves together, to ask help of the Lord: even out of all the cities of Judah they came to seek the Lord.” They came corporately. They didn’t just back in their cities. “Oh, goodness, we can’t travel all that way! Oh, help! Goodness me! No, we’ll just stay home and pray.”

You know, many people say that about prayer meetings. “Oh, we’ll stay home and pray. It’s too difficult to get to the prayer meeting. I don’t really feel like going out. Oh, I feel too tired.” Actually, that is very true. At the end of the day, you can feel very tired. In fact, many times, at the end of the day, I feel worn out. I have busy days. I can feel worn out, and its prayer meeting night. I say, “Oh, help, how am I going to make it to the prayer meeting? I’m nearly falling asleep.”

But I go! When you go into that place of prayer, into the mountain of the Lord, you are rejuvenated. I was thinking of my dear friend Nadia. Nadia has seven children. Her youngest child at the moment was born with a very rare, rare disease where one side of her body is perfect. The other side grows these huge tumors. On top of that, recently she was diagnosed also with stage four cancer.

I mean, how much more can this little darling go through? She has not only had chemotherapy; she’s now facing radiation and stem cell replacement and so on. Poor Nadia. She’s back and forth to the hospital, sometimes staying there all the time, and then back and forth in the day. She has so much on her plate with all her children and this precious little one.

But Nadia doesn’t miss a prayer meeting! If she’s not in the hospital, she’s at the prayer meeting. Monday night, she was here at the prayer meeting. She sort of dragged herself up the stairs. I could see she was so tired. And she was sharing with me last night. She said, “I was just so worn out. I could hardly walk up your stairs. I could hardly keep my eyes open.”

But she came! She came! And as she prayed, she was rejuvenated. Even last night, there she was, second prayer meeting of the week, and she’s there, with all her seven children!

And there are people who don’t even have children who say, “Well, I don’t think I can get to the prayer meeting. I think I’ll just pray at home.” But they don’t pray at home. There’s something about getting up and going and getting together with the saints. This is what they did here. They came out of all the cities of Judah. They came to seek the Lord.

Yes, and then Jehoshaphat prayed this amazing prayer. 2 Chronicles 20:6: “O Lord God of our fathers, are not Thou God in heaven? And rulest not Thou over all the kingdoms of the heathen? And in Thine hand, is there not power and might, so that none is able to withstand Thee? Are not Thou our God, who didst drive out the inhabitants of this land before Thy people Israel, and gavest it to the seed of Abraham Thy friend forever?”

And so, he goes on with his prayer, right down to verse 12: “O our God, wilt Thou not judge them? For we have no might against this great company that cometh against us; neither know we what to do: but our eyes are upon Thee.” Hallelujah! That’s a great prayer. That’s why we come, because we don’t have the answer ourselves. Our eyes are upon the Lord.

And this is what we do, when we go through our difficulties, our trials, our persecutions. We go through them with our eyes upon the Lord.

So, OK, all the people came, and now we find out something else they did. Whoo! They not only came to pray together corporately, but verse 13 says: “And ALL Judah,” it doesn’t say some of the people of Judah. “ALL Judah stood before the Lord.” Most probably there was not enough room for them to sit down. They weren’t sitting on lovely sofas like we often sit at our prayer meetings. No, they stood before the Lord. And get this, I’m going to read the next little bit. Listen for it, ladies.

“And all Judah stood before the Lord, WITH THEIR LITTLE ONES.” And if you look that up in the Hebrew, the actual Hebrew meaning of “the little ones” is “the tripping gait of little children.” It’s the little toddlers. Oh my, those are the ones we don’t want at the prayer meeting. Oh goodness me, what will we do with them? Yes, they’re tripping around, and they can’t keep still!

Well, God says, “I want them there.” Yes, and they came with all their families, “with their little ones, their wives, and their children.” So, the husbands came, and the wives came. The wives didn’t stay at home! The wives came, with their little ones, and most probably they had nursing babies. They wouldn’t leave them at home. They were with them too! Nursing babies, in the prayer meeting! Whoo! And all their children! Every age group was there, to cry out to God.

I wonder, what it is going to take for the people of God really want to come and pray? To even want to go to a prayer meeting? Because I find that most people in the body of Christ don’t really even want to go to prayer meetings. Oh, they go to the theaters to watch a movie. They can stay home and watch a movie. They can go out to this entertainment. They can go out to this, out to that, out to everything. Yes, and running here and there all the time.

But they don’t want to go to prayer meetings. These people came. As families. Everyone. Husbands, wives, little toddlers, nursing babies. Children of all ages, the teens, everyone was there, to cry out to the Lord. It reminds me of Joel. Oh yes, over in Joel.

So, here was another prayer meeting. Joel 2:15: “Blow the trumpet in Zion, sanctify a fast, call a solemn assembly: gather the people, sanctify the congregation, assemble the elders, gather the children, and those that suck the breasts: let the bridegroom go forth of his chamber, and the bride out of her closet. Let the priests, the ministers of the Lord, weep between the porch and the altar, and let them say, Spare Thy people, O Lord, and give not Thine heritage to reproach, that the heathen should rule over them.”

Wow. That’s the prayer we need to pray, isn’t it? “O Lord, give not thine heritage to reproach, that the heathen should rule over them.” We are facing in many areas in the world today, and even here in the States, we are facing where people are seeking to rule over people, rule over their bodies, take dominion over their bodies. This is against God. No one is meant to rule over someone else’s body.

God made us free people. And we should be praying against this tyranny over lives. It says: “wherefore should they say among the people, Where is their God?” But do you notice that when they called this solemn fast, that, well, in fact, if your pastor or minister was to call a solemn fast, he would usually say, “Well folks, we’re calling this solemn fast, so I think you’d better get babysitters. We can’t really have the children all there, because this is a very solemn occasion.”

But no, God is not like that. He’s always incorporating the children, no matter what’s happening. Here’s a solemn fast, and He says, “OK, I want the children. I want the little toddlers. I want the nursing babies. I want everyone.”

And then, goodness, this is a solemn occasion, because even the new bride and bridegroom have got to come out of their closet! Whoo! Well, actually, just before I close, maybe I should tell you this little story, because this actually happened to Colin and me.

When we were first married, Colin went out fulltime for God when we were engaged. We were involved in a wonderful ministry called “Tell the Nations Crusade,” where those who were involved took a gospel of John to the door. Not putting it in the letter box, but to the door of every home in New Zealand.

My husband was involved in that. From that, the leader of this ministry, Campbell McAlpine, a very holy and wonderful man of God, felt God calling us to the mission field, and that we were to do the same thing. Take a gospel of John to the homes in the Philippine Islands. So, we actually did that. After we were married, we went to the Philippine Islands.

But on our wedding day, it had been planned that those who were in the ministry would meet for three days prayer and fasting. Unbelievably, it was going to start the day after we were married. So, of course, Colin and I never even entertained the thought that he would go, even though he was fulltime in that ministry.

We had our glorious wedding. It was a beautiful wedding. But at the end of the day, this man, Campbell McAlpine, came to my husband, and he said, “Colin, I have a Scripture for you.” It was this Scripture, Joel 2:16: “Let the bridegroom go forth of his chamber, and the bride out of her closet” in order to fast and pray and seek the Lord.

So, we’re going away on our honeymoon, and driving along. Colin says to me, “Well, Campbell gave us a Scripture.” I said, “What is it?” He said, “The bridegroom and the bride have to come out of their closet and seek the Lord and fast and pray. What will we do?”

I said, “Well, I guess there’s nothing else we can do, but obey!” So, we had one night together, and then Colin went off with all the rest of the guys for three days’ prayer and fasting. I went and stayed with Joy and Jim Dawson, who were then living in New Zealand. They now live in the States.

I went down to her prophet’s chamber, which she had in her basement, and had three days’ prayer and fasting, seeking the Lord there. That’s how we started our married life, separated for three days’ prayer and fasting. But I think it turned out a pretty good way to start.

Anyway, let’s pray. I haven’t finished yet, ladies. More exciting things to find out about this altar of incense in our next session next week!

“Dear Father, oh, we just thank You, that we have the privilege to come into Your presence, Your throne room. Oh, God, give us a love to come there. Lord, I pray that You will stir Your people to become pray-ers. Lord God, that we will seek Your face, Lord God.

Oh God, Lord God, there is so much that is happening. Lord, we have no answers, except that we seek Your face. I pray, Lord, the whole church of God, Lord, to begin to seek You, to come together to pray and to cry out to You. We ask You for this in the precious Name of Jesus. Amen.”

Blessings from Nancy Campbell * www.aboverubies.org

Transcribed by Darlene Norris * This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

SCRIPTURES NAMING THE GOLDEN ALTAR

 Exodus 30:1-10; 26-29; 34-38; 31:8; 37:25-29; 39:38; 40:5, 26, 27; Leviticus 4:5-7; Deuteronomy 33:10; 1 Samuel 2:28; 1 Kings 6:22 (AMPC); 1 Chronicles 6:49; 23:13; 28:18; 2 Chronicles 2:4; 13:10, 11; 29:11; 32:12; Psalm 141:2; Malachi 4:11; Luke 1:9-11; Revelation 5:8; 6:9; and 8:1-5.

DON’T FORGET TO TELL OTHERS ABOUT THIS PODCAST, “LIFE TO THE FULL” WITH NANCY CAMPBELL.” DON’T KEEP THE BLESSINGS TO YOURSELF.