There is either an UNHOLY priesthood or a HOLY priesthood in control of your territory. Which is it?

Even as believers are taking their place in intercession across this nation, the enemy of our soul continues to establish unholy altars in our communities that draw the forces of darkness. These altars of political correctness, humanism, paganism, and party and racial divides, attract the enemy and block the flow of God’s presence.  If we don’t step up and counter these ungodly altars, we will be giving over our communities and cities by default.

View Comments (0)

In I Peter 2:9, Christian believers are called …a chosen generation, a royal priesthood… There is a biblical principle of priesthood and the establishment of holy altars through prayer and worship. In Hebrews 7:12 we are told that … the priesthood being changed, of necessity there is also a change in the law. In other words, whichever priesthood is strongest in the land will rule the land. Ugandan pastor, John Mulinde, who experienced national revival in the early 90’s, co-authored the book, Prayer Altars with American pastor, Mark Daniel. They describe the need for prayer altars to be built and established in a community in order to override the prevailing darkness. The authors state,

There is no such thing as neutral spiritual ground. Either there will be a predominance of holy altars drawing the presence of God or unholy altars drawing the powers of darkness…the altar that is most active will control the territory and will influence everything in that territory.

Altars are gateways to the spiritual realm and can be established anywhere that someone draws the attention of spiritual forces – good or bad. Abortion clinics, streets filled with crime, corrupt establishments, cultic and New Age businesses, ungodly leadership, etc. All these are forms of unholy altars that draw the presence of evil into a community. Until the priesthood of believers establishes holy altars to counter these ungodly gateways, the darkness will prevail due to the number of unholy altars built and maintained. Quoting from the same book:

When the altar of the Lord is not being maintained or is in disrepair – not functioning properly or even not functioning at all – altars of darkness start to come into the land to fill the void…The only way to turn things back around is for someone in the land to rebuild the altar of the Lord.

This means consistent maintenance of the prayer altar through people who give themselves to prayer, worship, repentance, covenant relationship, and walking in holiness as unto the Lord. This is not just another prayer meeting, but an intentional drawing of God’s tangible Presence to displace the dark forces at work. This cannot happen through special services, one-time events, or Sunday morning services. It cannot happen in just one congregation or under one leader. (If that would work , we would have seen changes by now!) This is a call to a lifestyle to build and maintain prayer altars of His Presence throughout the city and throughout the week, both personally and corporately.

In order for transforming revival to come, the spiritual atmosphere and authority of the city must change.

Do we, as churches and believers, truly know how to draw the tangible Presence of the Lord? Are we trying to draw people to our own ministries or congregations, or have we laid our “destinies” on the altar for a greater purpose? Are we willing to pursue His Presence at all costs?

God is looking to establish a place of His Presence in homes, churches, cities, and regions. But we must work together to build holy altars that burn with purity of heart and humble repentance. This means pursuing God, not as a spiritual discipline, but with a deeply felt heart-cry, pressing in through worship and prayer until His Presence overshadows us. It’s there that we find the authority to pray effectively.

God has not called us to fight the enemy. Criticizing his works and decrying his schemes won’t change much except to give him attention. There needs to be a shift of authority. All God is asking is that we build a place for Him to come and dwell. Let’s not lose our territory to the enemy by default. The longer we work apart, the more ground we are yielding to an illegal intruder.

• By Wanda Alger, IFA Field Correspondent