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Matthew 6:6 “But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.”
Jesus said, “enter into thy closet.” I am talking about spending time with the Lord – you and the Lord, and also time with you, your family, and the Lord. The hardest thing for a Christian to do is enter the closet. Then Jesus said, “shut the door.” Leave the world outside of this closet. It is so hard to pray to your Heavenly Father when you are thinking about everything else that is going on in your life. Do you have a prayer closet? (A spot where you meet with God in prayer). How much time a day do you spend in the prayer closet?
The weakest part of the Christian life should be the strongest part, and that is your prayer life. On a scale from 1 to 10, where is your prayer life? (10 being the strongest). So many want to do all of the rest of the jobs in the church, but so few line up to be prayer warriors. Why is this? Because this is the hardest job for a Christian. Pastors and preachers are too busy for Jesus to spend time with Jesus in the closet, shutting the door. When I am on my knees, and the Bible is open, and I am studying for a message, that is when the message comes from above. The Holy Spirit shows up, and God Almighty moves upon his preacher and upon his people. I tend to find myself opening up to all of these other books when I study for a message. But it seems to me the messages the Lord has used the most are the ones where I am on my knees in prayer the most.
Noah: Genesis 8:20, Sweet Savor
Genesis 8:20 “And Noah builded an altar unto the LORD; and took of every clean beast, and of every clean fowl, and offered burnt offerings on the altar.”
The first thing Noah did after coming off the Ark is to build an altar unto the Lord. He had one altar to the one true God. Many people have an altar at home, but it is for an idol, or it could be that they worship and bow to themselves, or for a career or money. Whatever you put in front of God becomes your idol.
To Noah, the most important thing in his life was his God.
Noah offered burnt offerings on the altar to the Lord. It was a sweet savor to the nostrils of God. Sweet means restful, pleasant, delight. Savor means odor, scent, and smell. When you pray to the Lord, is it a sweet savor to the nostrils of God? When you pray, does it put a smile on the Lord’s face? Many prayers go up that are not a sweet savor.
Abram (Abraham): Genesis 12:7-8
Genesis 12:7 “And the LORD appeared unto Abram, and said, Unto thy seed will I give this land: and there builded he an altar unto the LORD, who appeared unto him.”
Genesis 12:8 “And he removed from thence unto a mountain on the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent, having Bethel on the west, and Hai on the east: and there he builded an altar unto the LORD, and called upon the name of the LORD.”
In verse 5, Abraham entered the promised land; in verse 7, he built an altar unto the Lord.
Does the Lord meet with you when you pray? When I look back at my life, so many times when I would pray, the only one showing up was Keith Watts. Why was this? I was not entering into the closet and closing the door so that the world would not get in while I was praying. For many years, I was not even getting into the closet to pray. We so need the Lord to meet with us; He is longing to meet with us. When was the last time you entered into the closet and closed the door?
Verse 8: Bethel means House of God. What did Jesus say? You have turned the Temple into a den of thieves instead of a house of prayer. People have turned the Lord’s church into a gathering of people for entertainment and everything else instead of a house of prayer.
Abraham had an altar to the Lord. If you look at his family tree, you will see an amazing story of the relationship with his family and with God Almighty. So many are in Heaven today.
Scripture does mention that Lot had an altar to the Lord. Let us take a look at the results. Lot was counted as righteous because of his faith in God (mentioned in 2 Peter 2:7-8), but he was selfish in choosing to move to Sodom, seeking wealth and prosperity. He was tormented by the sins of Sodom, but he stayed there. He compromised his testimony, and he lost everything. And it was ungodly of him to offer his daughters to the men of Sodom to do with what they wished. And later, his family tree was compromised through incest plotted by his daughters while he was drunk.
Timothy’s mother and grandmother had an altar at home by spending time with him to train him up in the Lord, and this had a major effect on his life.
2 Timothy 1:5 “When I call to remembrance the unfeigned faith that is in thee, which dwelt first in thy grandmother Lois, and thy mother Eunice; and I am persuaded that in thee also.”
2 Timothy 3:15 “And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.”
Please, for the sake of your children and their children, set aside time to spend with them in the Bible and in prayer.
In closing, Joshua 1: 7-8 and Joshua 24:15
Joshua 1:7 “Only be thou strong and very courageous, that thou mayest observe to do according to all the law, which Moses my servant commanded thee: turn not from it to the right hand or to the left, that thou mayest prosper whithersoever thou goest.”
Joshua 1:8 “This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.”
The only way to be successful in this life is to have the Lord in your life every day and in your family’s life. The Word of God should guide us in everything we say, do, or think. The Lord told Joshua to meditate on His Word day and night. We are so busy with life that we don’t have time to meditate on the Word of God. When you do read the Bible and don’t get anything out of it, this is why we need to not only read the Bible but also meditate on it and pray over it; that is how the Holy Spirit will reveal truths to you.
Joshua 24:15 “And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.”
Joshua had chosen the Lord. Many of us serving the Lord forget to have altar time with our family. What a difference having an altar at home makes for your family! In closing, I want to ask you some questions.
- Do you have an altar at home for your family?
- Do you spend time with the Lord one on one?
- Has your child seen you on your knees praying?
- Has your child seen you reading the Bible?
- Has your child seen you singing and worshipping the Lord?
Soon it will be too late for you to do this. The Lord is coming very soon to take up his church to heaven. How many in heaven right now wished they had a prayer altar in their home?
I pray that this message has been a help to you.
I ask all prayer warriors from around the world to join us on behalf of these 5 nations for a day of prayer, fasting, and repentance. We believe we are moving the heart of God. I ask you to post these dates. Please join with us and be a part of the harvest of lost souls.
- Libya: September 29, 2022, over 7,076,517 precious souls
- Cabo Verde: September 29, 2022, over 593,149 precious souls
- Central African Republic: September 29, 2022, over 5,008,417 precious souls
- Mauritania: September 29, 2022, over 4,909,012 precious souls
- Algeria: September 29, 2022, over 45,608,960 precious souls
My Facebook group: Prayer Warriors 4HIM Online Ministries
My email: Bkwatts64@yahoo.com
Keith Watts
Online Missionary to the world