Having An Altar (Prayer Closet) At Home :: By Keith Watts

Published on: by RR10 Category:General Articles

The link to the message is below

https://youtu.be/pnyXKMWnQFA

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.

  1. Do you have an altar at home for your family?
  2. Do you spend time with the Lord one on one?
  3. Has your child seen you on your knees praying?
  4. Has your child seen you reading the Bible?
  5. 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.

  1. Libya: September 29, 2022, over 7,076,517 precious souls
  2. Cabo Verde: September 29, 2022, over 593,149 precious souls
  3. Central African Republic: September 29, 2022, over 5,008,417 precious souls
  4. Mauritania: September 29, 2022, over 4,909,012 precious souls
  5. 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

When Will He Come for Us? :: By Nathele Graham

Published on: by RR7 Category:General Articles, Ron & Nathele Graham

If you are reading this, you are probably as anxious as I am to hear that call to “Come up hither.” The Rapture will be exciting for those of us who love Jesus and yearn to go Home. When will it happen? Even though Scripture gives no specific time for it to happen, most of us have opinions. The only opinion that matters and is correct is God’s.

Maybe someone will guess correctly, but all date-setters are only guessing. Remember, the Rapture will happen at the very least 7 years prior to the Second Coming, and these are two very different events. The Rapture will take Christians safely away prior to the judgments of God and before His wrath begins.

Enoch is an Old Testament “picture” of the Rapture. “And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him” (Genesis 5:24).

God “took” him prior to the Judgment of the Flood. I hope you are walking with God and will be taken in the Rapture. By that, I don’t mean that I hope you intellectually know God exists but that you have truly been born again and walk with Him.

The Second Coming will happen after Daniel’s final week. Those final seven years will be filled with God’s wrath poured out upon a God-rejecting world. At the end of that seven-year period of time, the Jewish people will finally recognize Jesus as their Messiah.

The Rapture is when Christians meet Jesus in the clouds “For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord” (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17).

At the Second Coming, we will return to earth with Him. The evil powers on earth during the Tribulation are arrogant enough to think they can fight a war against Christ and win. “These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful” (Revelation 17:14).

The Rapture won’t cause the Jewish nation to repent and turn to Jesus, but the judgments of the Tribulation will. The Second Coming will happen after the Tribulation when the Jewish nation has repented and recognized Christ as their Messiah. He will then return to fight the final battle. The victory is His.

Many Christians look to Rosh Hashanah as the likely time for the Rapture. I’m not sure why they choose this very Jewish holiday, but possibly it’s because of the fact that the activities surrounding this holiday include the ceremonial sounding of the shofar. Rosh Hashanah was established by God in the book of Leviticus.

“Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, In the seventh month, in the first day of the month, shall ye have a sabbath, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, and holy convocation. Ye shall do no servile work therein: but ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD” (Leviticus 23:24-25).

Rosh Hashanah is also known as the Jewish New Year. It is a very solemn time for Jewish people, and they seriously look at their life over the past year and strive to draw nearer to God. According to http://www.jewfaq.org/rosh_hashanah:

“On Rosh Hashanah, we renew the crowning of G-d as a sovereign of time and space (melekh ha-olam) and renew our relationship with Him with celebration and blasts of the shofar (a ram’s horn trumpet). This theme is seen in the popular prayer/songs Avinu Malkeinu (Our Father, Our King, a powerful penitential prayer) and Ha-Shem Melekh, Ha-Shem Malakh, Ha-Shem Yimlokh L’Olam Va-Ed (The L-rd is King, The L-rd was King, The L-rd will be King Forever and Ever). Those songs and themes continue in the liturgy through Yom Kippur.

As I read this, it seems to me as if this is much more likely to be fulfilled by the Second Coming rather than the Rapture. Those who believe that the Rapture will occur on Rosh Hashanah are very excited right now because, this year (2022), it will be celebrated very soon, from sunset September 25 to nightfall September 27. Could the Rapture happen then? Absolutely, but it doesn’t have to. The Rapture isn’t a Jewish event, but if God wants it to happen on Rosh Hashanah, then I’m ready.

It is interesting to note that Rosh Hashanah is followed by the Days of Awe, a ten-day period of introspection. Following the Days of Awe is Yom Kippur, which is the Jewish Day of Atonement. The Shabbat, which occurs within the Days of Awe, is known as Shabbat Shuvah (the Sabbath of Return). For more information, see http://www.jewfaq.org/special_sabbaths#Shuvah. I would encourage everyone to study the Jewish feasts and holidays because they are all prophetic of Jesus Christ.

Others think the Rapture will happen on Pentecost. To my thinking, if (and I strongly emphasize “if”) it does happen on a Jewish feast day, this would be more likely than Rosh Hashanah. There are many reasons I see it that way, but since only God knows when it will happen, my reasons aren’t important! The absolute truth is that there is no reason for it to happen on any particular day, so to a well-informed Christian, every day should be one of great anticipation. It could happen today! Or maybe tomorrow.

There are many exciting signs that should create excitement. The Jewish Temple must be in place prior to halfway through the final 7 years. There is much in the news lately that the Temple will be built soon. Since the Rapture will happen prior to the Tribulation, Christians have every reason to be filled with anticipation. A reward will be given to those of us who look forward to His coming.

“Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing” (2 Timothy 4:8).

Other translations say “…for all who eagerly look forward to his appearing” (NLT), “…who have longed for his appearing.” (NIV), “…who have set their affection on his appearing” (NET).

If you love the Lord, I’m sure you are longing for His call to take us Home. Is there anything we can do to speed it along? Some mistaken Bible teachers believe it’s up to Christians to force God into returning. Oh my, that’s another sign… false doctrine. How arrogant and prideful to think we can force God to do anything. The day is known to God, but we can help to hurry (not force) that day. How? The Apostle Paul tells us that the nation of Israel has been blinded. When Jesus came to earth as a babe in a manger, He came to God’s chosen people… the Nation of Israel. They rejected their Messiah. As a nation, they are blind to who Jesus is. He was their Messiah then, and one day He will return as their Messiah. There are many Jewish People who have individually accepted Jesus as their Messiah, and that’s a blessing.

How long will the blindness of the nation last? “For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in” (Romans 11:25).

“Fulness of the Gentiles”? There is a pre-set number, known only to God, of Gentiles who will accept Jesus Christ for salvation. The way to bring the fulness of the Gentiles about is to witness and share the Gospel.

Paul is such a good example of how to spread the Gospel: boldly, honestly, and straightforwardly with no gimmicks. Paul knew there is a crown for soul-winning. “Therefore, my brethren dearly beloved and longed for, my joy and crown, so stand fast in the Lord, my dearly beloved” (Philippians 4:1).

It was Paul who established the congregation in Philippi and brought many Gentiles in many cities to salvation through Christ. He was a true soul-winner. We can all spread the Gospel to lost sinners, no matter what their ethnic background is, by boldly speaking His truth and by living to honor God.

We may not know the day or the hour that Christ will call us Home, but we can be aware of the signs and the seasons. Everything is falling into place and pointing to the events of Daniel’s 70th week being on the very near horizon. Before the judgments begin, Christians will be called Home.

Chapters 2 and 3 of Revelation are seven letters from Jesus which describe the history of Christianity in advance. When the final letter is fulfilled, the Rapture will happen. “After this I looked, and, behold a door was opened in heaven: and the first voice which I heard was as it were of a trumpet talking with me; which said, Come up hither, and I will shew thee things which must be hereafter” Revelation 4:1.

The words “after this” and also “hereafter” come from the Greek words “meta tauta,” which means first something happens (the church age), then something else happens (the Rapture and then God’s judgment on the earth).

We are living in the final time before the Tribulation. False teachers fill pulpits; Jesus isn’t welcome to enter into the congregation but is on the outside, knocking to be allowed in. Many Christians are outraged that prayer and Bible reading are banned from public schools, but they sit silently in their pews as the preacher tells jokes, quotes atheists, and has more knowledge of sports teams than of Scripture. Jesus isn’t allowed into many congregations today, and we are the generation that will hear Jesus call us to “Come up hither,” no matter what day that might be.

When will He come for us? I have no idea, but I am absolutely sure it will happen. I yearn for His appearing. How about you?

God bless you all,

Nathele Graham

twotug@embarqmail.com
ron@straitandnarrowministry.com

Recommended prophecy sites:

www.raptureready.com
www.prophecyupdate.com
www.raptureforums.com

All original scripture is “theopneustos,” God-breathed.

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