LENT WEEK 5: DAY 32

Each and every one of us is attached to an altar and that altar either speaks for or against us. Where there is worship, there is an altar. Just like we have altars raised for the worship of God (Exodus 20:24) and the good of the people, so too there are evil altars raised for the devil and the enslavement of the people (1 Kings 18:28). You might not know but when the evil one wants to pin you down or hinder your life, he raises an altar against you and that altar begins to speak against you (Numbers 23:1-3). Notice that, to curse the people of Israel, Balak built seven altars and if not for God’s intervention in asking Balaam to rather bless, those altars would have been speaking evil against the people of Israel. In the same way, when Jesus wanted to save mankind and draw all men to himself, he mounted the altar of Calvary once and for all which to date still speaks for us (Hebrews 9:25-27). How many altars have the evil one built against us? We just wouldn’t know and that is why, praying to destroy evil altars is important and essential. There are so many families destroyed by evil altars raised against them, so many children whose lives have been rendered useless by evil altars. There is a call to pray and tear down the evil altars. I know a family whose life was torn apart by the altar raised by an uncle to render all the males of the family useless and the females unmarried, it took a series of battle prayers for that altar to be destroyed. Note that some altars that were raised are still being serviced daily by the evil one to hold you down while others that have been abandoned are still speaking against you because of the sacrifice that was made there and the spirit summoned to torment your life. Simply defined, an altar is a high place of worship and if we go by this definition, altars could be any place set aside by someone for worship or other religious practices. As children of the light, we must arise and tear down the evil altars, so that the work of evil where we are will be destroyed and their effects upon the land be cancelled. When Israel was entering the promised land, one of the instructions given to them by God was to tear down the evil altars (Deuteronomy 12:3-4). You cannot comfortably live in a place where evil worship is carried out and you prosper, it will affect your life and your stay there. The rising of evil altars brings evil and curses upon the land and hinders the growth and well-being of the people who live there (Jeremiah 19:3-9). When the curse falls upon the land where you live, you will also suffer it and that’s why you should either tear down the evil altar or come out of it (Apocalypse 18:4). I sure know that this first part won’t mean much to many of us because we haven’t built any altar and do not know much about them but I need you to know that the altar your fathers built will still speak against you and your family until you tear it down (Judges 6:25-27). Just like Gideon, you must tear down the evil altar in your family and set your family free from the curse that comes from such. You must also pull down and destroy the idols and evil images that come with the altars (Deuteronomy 12:3) because they represent the evil in your midst. Many families have idols they keep, idols that have been handed down from generation to generation and it stay in the family bringing down upon them the curse of God. Tear them down. An idol can be anything you place your trust it and or direct your worship to. Even a religious object that you give more value to than it deserves can become an idol and must be destroyed just as the bronze serpent was destroyed by Hezekiah because the people started worshipping it (2 Kings 18:4). Whatever it may be that you value and cherish and think it can protect and save you instead of God, that thing is an idol and should be destroyed. Many people today keep idols and call them good luck charms and instead is trusting in God they trust in the power of that thing to grant them good luck. That thing you must know has become an idol to you. If you are among those who leave the house and notice they forgot something they are used to carrying along with them for protection or whatever and you feel so uncomfortable and scared to move on because you have left it behind and go through your day moody, then know that you must pull down that idol in your life. If it is that thing that makes you feel you are secured and protected by God, then, know you that, it is an idol you must pull down. Another thing that is common today among Christians is the practice of listening to horoscopes, fortune tellers, necromancers, mediums, and much more. These practices are an abomination before God (Deuteronomy 18:10-12) and you must tear them off and free yourself from them. They are sources of curses in your life and they hold you in bondage and captivity. How many of you live in the bondage of going to consult this or that before engaging in anything? Pull down that evil idol and move on. You have to put away every idol among you and purify yourself (Genesis 35:2) separate yourself from them and do not be like Rachel who held onto her father’s gods and died (Genesis 31:31-32). You must flee from idolatry (1 Corinthians 10:14) and I want you to know that there is more to idolatry than just external things and St Paul says to some people their god is their belly and earthly things (Philippians 3:19) and I want you to ask yourself what is the idol in your life? You must know that your body is a temple and, in every temple, there is an altar, what is the altar in you? Is it a divine or an evil altar? You must check that out but by the fruit you produce we shall know which altar is found within you (Matthew 7:20). Whatever comes from within comes from the altar you have within and if it is an evil altar then sin and wickedness will speak from the depth of your heart (Psalm 36:1-4). Today to live a life of joy and freedom, you must pull down the evil altar and the idols living in and around you. While destroying the altar that is outside, do not spare what is inside. May our good Lord help us to pull down all evil altars. In Corda Matris.

Resolutions

I resolve to pull down every evil altar in my life and family.
I resolve to destroy the work of darkness growing around me.
I resolve to raise altars of prayer and counter the altars of evil.

Prayer

Heavenly Father, I come to you this day to beg for the grace to be strong and to pull down all the evil altars that surround my life and those on the land in which I live. Send your Holy Angels to assist me in this battle so that with them on my side I may put an end to the work of evil around me and raise your name higher. Amen.