Placing It All Upon The Altar of God

Many in the Body of Christ at large are feeling God say "Wait upon Me." Not "do nothing at all." But, "Wait upon Me."

Many are feeling as though God is, in a way, holding them back in this season. Some are experiencing impatience and frustration through this process. But most of us are finding ourselves turning to God and asking Him,

"Father, what are You doing in all this?"

To A Trickle
Many believers have been desperately praying for an open door to be able to do, at His bidding, that which He seems to have placed within each of our hearts to do. Many have prayed these prayers over the course of years.

And now some are seeing those prayers answered, and are rejoicing in His faithfulness to perform before our eyes that which He Himself does first birth in our hearts. Rejoicing in it and stepping forward in it only to, after a season, hear Him say, "Now, wait upon Me." And it's as though He turns the faucet of that prayed-for outpouring down to a trickle.....or to seemingly nothing at all.

And again, one might ask, "Father, what are You doing in all this?"

A friend recently shared with me how they had been sharing in this kind of journey. Though the Spirit of their faith is unquestionable and their love for God enormous, they shared that, in essence, their human emotions were trying to make them feel as if God was "shutting me out." And when my friend shared this with me, God's Spirit spoke to me, "I'm not shutting all of you out. I'm shutting all of you in."

He is shutting us inside the throneroom of His presence without all of our "stuff." Without the flesh, sure. But without even the purposes and callings and ministries which He may have birthed within us. He is shutting us in with Him alone.

Giving The Gift Back To God
We read the story of Abraham, who prayed fervently for many years for a son. Finally, in his old age when God's answer to his prayer must have been sweetest of all, Abraham received the answer to his prayer; a son, Isaac.

Abraham revelled in his relationship with his beloved son for a season. But then one day, God said, "I want you to offer Isaac to me." God was coming and saying "I want you to kill the gift." And so God's Word tells us that Abraham rose up early the next morning, traveled to the mountain of God, built an altar with his son, and prepared to kill that for which he had prayed for so long. All because God, inexplicably, said he should.

At one point, Isaac looked at Abraham and said, "Father, we have an altar and we have the wood for the fire. Where is the sacrifice?" Most of us fill with compassion when we hear that question that was asked of Abraham. We can sense in our Spirits that it was a challenge from satan, through innocent Isaac, to Abraham's faithfulness. Would he heed his normal human emotion and immense love for his son, or would he obey God? We know Abraham's faithful response was that "God is able to provide a sacrifice", but Isaac's question teaches us an important Truth.

When we're about to kill that for which we have prayed for so long, it will talk to us.

We need to know that, and be ready for it.

God is asking many of us to place those purposes and callings and ministries - maybe even a person - for which we have prayed for so long upon the altar of His presence. He is asking us to prepare to kill the gift that He alone gave us, so that we will be left with Him alone. Will that be enough for us? Will we obey? God knows the answer already. Just as he did with Abraham, He is asking us to do the same so that we will see what is really in our own hearts.

As we step forward in faith, rising up early to obey God, and obeying Him to the end, even that which He has birthed in us (and which perhaps, unbeknownst to us, may have come to have some fleshly hold upon us through our own pridefulness) will be put in its proper place....in utter submission to Him.

Are we ready to offer it all upon the altar of God?

Where Do We Gather?
There is another reason that God is bringing many of us through this season of "waiting" and "sacrificing."

He has called us to the highways and hedges to compel those that are there to come to His wedding feast. We have been sent "outside of the city" to extend an invitation of Christ's Love so that our Father's table may be full.

We know that satan opposes us in this. We know that we have purposed to crucify the flesh and repent of our sin, as they, too, seek to oppose us. But there is an enemy so insidious that we do not so quickly see, an adversary hidden away in the recesses of our hearts. It is spiritual pride for the very gifts which God has birthed within us.

Please pray over what I am about to share. Please search it out in the Scriptures. Go to your concordance and prayerfully research what God has given me to share next.

We all know that new church growth (in other words, the conversion and discipleship of those who are brand new believers) in the Unites States is at all times lows. We all know that church growth in the US is largely comprised of the "re-shuffling of the deck" amongst churches. In other words, the vast majority of what is categorized as "new church growth" in US churches is actually existing believers leaving their old church and beginning to attend a new one.

And none of that takes place in the highways and hedges. It takes place amongst the vine. We know this is wrong. Perhaps it is more wrong than we have known.

In Matthew 5, beginning in verse 15, Christ speaks to us about false prophets. He says Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Ye shall know them by their fruits. The church has long conjectured about the specific meaning of the fruit that Jesus was talking about. But verse 16(b) tells us.

Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?

First of all, the word "men" or "people" is not in the actual text at all. You can easily confirm this in your concordance or inter-linear Bible. Furthermore, the word "do" actually means "whether [or 'do they'] at all." So here's what the literal text of verse 16(b) says:

Do they at all gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?

So this verse is not asking us whether or not men or people in general "gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles," it is asking us whether or not false prophets gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles. Let's read on.

In Verse 17, Jesus says Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. The word even is not in the original text at all, and the word "so" literally means "in this way." So Jesus says in verse 17:

In this way every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit.

In this way good trees bring forth good fruit. In what way? Well, the only way Jesus has been talking about is by "gathering grapes from thorns and figs from thistles." Jesus is saying that good trees bring forth good fruit by gathering grapes of thorns, and figs of thistles, and that false prophets - corrupt trees - do not.

Where did Jesus first find you and I? He did not find us growing on a good tree. He did not find us growing upon the Vine. He found those that are His in the thorns and the thistles. And then He grafted us into Himself, the Vine, where the established believers abide, are pruned, and grow more fruitful.

In God's Word, where is Jesus repeatedly sending His disciples? To the highways. To the hedges. Has He not sent us amongst the thorns to gather grapes and into the thistles to gather figs? He has.

But false prophets do not gather grapes from the thorns, and figs from the thistles. Where do false prophets gather their fruit?

From the Vine.

False prophets seek to gain followers from amongst established believers. They care nothing for the establishment of the Kingdom of God. Their hearts do not rejoice in anticipation of the grapes and figs of lost souls being harvested by Christ's faithful disciples from amongst the thorns and the thistles. False prophets want what their father satan wants; worship.

And we will know them by their fruit.

In verses, 18-19, Jesus re-affirms the concept of good trees (Christ's faithful disciples) and good fruit (souls plucked by Christ's faithful disciples from the thorns and thistles), reminding us again that we will know both by their fruit.

And then in verses 21-23, Jesus tells us about the final end of both kinds of trees.

Are We Searching Among The Thorns, Or Gazing At The Gifts?
Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.
Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?
And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.
Matthew 7:21-23

Jesus continues his teaching on good prophets, trees and fruit and those that are bad by sharing that, on the day of judgment, there will be those who will say that they had prophesied, cast out demons, and done miraculous works in Jesus' name.

These, who measured themselves by their own and others' gifts, are those who were constantly seeking a place where they thought their gifts could be used (and, in turn, where they would receive a measure of glory), instead of asking God to show them the person to whom He wanted to personally manifest Himself through a broken but obedient vessel. Not much personal glory in that.

These are those who, when God said, "Wait upon Me," kept going with something that seemed "good." These are those who, when God said, "Offer me your Isaac," either listened to their gift's passionate pleas for mercy and didn't prepare to offer them to God, or didn't make it to God's mountain in the first place.

It is from the power of all things - even those things which He has birthed within His children for good and some have misappropriated through pride - from which He wants to set us completely free.

Some believers think that their gifts enable them to effectively go to the thorns and the thistles for Christ. They do not. Those who lean upon that which God has birthed within them, as though it is in any way their own faculty, will find that their gifts will prevent them from effectively going to the thorns and the thistles at all.

Those things that God has birthed within us were intended for one thing; to bring His newly born children from the thorns and the thistles to His banquet table.

What He has birthed within us is simply this; an invitation from God to the lost.

Our Prayer
Heavenly Father, in whatever way and to whatever degree You deem fit for each of us, please strengthen us as we purpose to wait upon You. We ask You to prepare our hearts so that, when You ask us to offer up even Your very answers to our prayers upon the altar to You, we will immediately and willingly obey. We ask You, who have set us free from sin and death, to guard us from the pride that seeks to deceive and ensnare us. Set our hearts, we pray, upon those amongst the thorns and the thistles from which we ourselves came, and let no false pretention or self-deception ever come between us and those who are still wounded and imprisoned there. Please fill our hearts with the compassion that filled Yours, Lord Jesus, as You beheld the multitudes scattered like sheep without a shepherd in the highways and the hedges.

Our faces are at your feet, Father God. Guard us with Your love and Your power, that we may remain there forever. In Jesus' name, Amen.