Anyone who works in Ministry can tell you it's not easy. Behind the scenes, leadership meetings, planning events, petty drama, and corrective measures can feel like a bloodbath. We can have the best intentions and a great vision but still fail to fulfill the Great Commission. We can read all the leadership books, go to all the launch conferences, research all the branding content, fill out the correct paperwork, and receive from all the best fathers of the faith. If God is not at the center of the ministry, it will not have a lasting impact.
Psalm 127:1-3 ESV "Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. Unless the Lord watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain. It is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious toil; for he gives to his beloved sleep."
Unless the hand of the Lord is upon the strategies we are using, we build in vain. How many ministries have built beautiful buildings with intricate details and have poor leadership skills? How many are extremely amazing at community outreach but have failed to keep people because of their lack of love? How many beautifully arranged and perfectly timed performances have occurred on our church stages that lack spiritual depth and impact and are merely a form of entertainment? How many of us have built altars for the Lord but failed to keep the fire burning upon it?
The Lord will sustain what we build in the spirit according to his will, but we ultimately have to sustain what we build in the flesh, which will lack God's touch. We often build fireless altars because we have good intentions but do not truly seek the Lord's direction or understanding. What is the point if we are building, moving, organizing, or executing ministry ventures without God? We could find ourselves doing good things in the name of the Lord without realizing that his hand is not actually upon it due to our own unintentional or intentional disobedience.
In Exodus 33:15-16 NLT, Moses said to God, “If you don’t personally go with us, don’t make us leave this place. How will anyone know that you look favorably on me—on me and on your people—if you don’t go with us? For your presence among us sets your people and me apart from all other people on the earth.”
In everything we do for the Lord, his presence should be evident because it is the presence of the Lord and the favor and blessings that come from him that set us apart from others. Not only did Moses tell the Lord that he would not move forward without him, but he simply said that he would stay put and not do a thing unless the Lord was leading him and with him the entire time. This was not just for Moses specifically, but for the entire nation he was leading.
Hebrews 12:29 tells us that our God is a consuming fire. And if there's anything we can learn about the consuming fire of the lord, it's that he falls upon sacrifices placed upon altars dedicated to him.
In Leviticus 6:12-13 NLT the Lord gives Moses instructions for the Levites and the altar. "Meanwhile, the fire on the altar must be kept burning; it must never go out. Each morning the priest will add fresh wood to the fire and arrange the burnt offering on it. He will then burn the fat of the peace offerings on it. Remember, the fire must be kept burning on the altar at all times. It must never go out."
Leviticus 9:24 NLT says, "Fire blazed forth from the Lord ’s presence and consumed the burnt offering and the fat on the altar. When the people saw this, they shouted with joy and fell face down on the ground."
Just because someone starts something with the Lord doesn't mean that they will always finish in obedience. If we want the fire of the Lord to fall upon our ministries continuously, we need to sacrifice our flesh at his altar constantly and allow him to guide us each step of the way. If we allow ourselves to get sidetracked and allow our flesh to influence how we build, things will not turn out as God intends. And if his presence is not tangibly upon us, then what exactly will set us apart in the eyes of the world?
I know of a church that started out extremely on fire for the Lord. They would go deep in worship, people would get completely rocked and have divine encounters at the altar, and the ministry itself was thriving. Over several years, the leaders of this ministry began to listen to petty complaints from people and gave in to fleshy suggestions. Essentially, the fire on their altar stopped burning, and since then, there has been a history of church splits, people leaving an offense, and unstable attendance and support.
On the other hand, I know of another church that meets weekly to pray with its leadership, and the presence of God is the center of everything it does in Ministry. Within a period of two years, it has grown exponentially and is reaching thousands of people each week through multiple ministry programs and outlets. We shouldn't just seek the Lord to start the building process but must continuously seek Him for constant building and reconstruction. Otherwise, our moves are made completely in vain without his guidance and direction.
A ministry's fire can go out when it loses sight of the vision God gave it in the first place, or it never makes time to seek the Lord before making changes. Or it may never actually catch fire because it is so busy trying to build the altar according to its own specifications.
1 Kings 18:36-39 NLT says, "At the usual time for offering the evening sacrifice, Elijah the prophet walked up to the altar and prayed, “O Lord, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, prove today that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant. Prove that I have done all this at your command. O Lord, answer me! Answer me so these people will know that you, O Lord , are God and that you have brought them back to yourself.” Immediately the fire of the Lord flashed down from heaven and burned up the young bull, the wood, the stones, and the dust. It even licked up all the water in the trench! And when all the people saw it, they fell face down on the ground and cried out, “The Lord —he is God! Yes, the Lord is God!”
I would like to point out the key part of the scripture when Elijah says, "Prove that I have done all this that your command." This means that God guided Elijah throughout the entire process of building the altar, choosing the sacrifice, and even gathering the people. He did not build an altar for himself and then ask the Lord to affirm him. He did not try to mimic the altars of others. Instead, Elijah leaned into the Lord and followed step-by-step directions. By following step-by-step directions, both Elijah and Moses saw the fire of the Lord come upon their altars and consume the sacrifice, which became a sign and a wonder to all who witnessed.
It's not a bad thing to desire to start a ministry; you just need to make sure that the hand of the Lord is upon it and that you're listening to his guidance on how to do so. Otherwise, you have a man-made ministry built on a foundation of flesh that may be good, but it's not God. It's not bad to read scripture for head knowledge, but also make sure that you are continuously asking God to speak to your heart through it. Otherwise, you can quote scriptures left and right and have all the certificates and ordinations without carrying the deep spiritual understanding, divine wisdom, and life applications it should come with. Man has the ability to ordain and approve, but God has the ability to anoint someone with purpose and a divine assignment.
May we never forget the anointing we carry. May we never forget the assignment we were commissioned with. May we never forget why we have started building. May we never build in vain.
If there's one thing I've witnessed with churches and ministries, it's that building altars without the fire of the Lord will eventually lead to ministerial burnout. If the fire of the Lord is not the center of a ministry, you will exhaust yourself advertising, organizing, planning, and trying to start your own fire. And if you build it in the flesh, you must sustain it yourself. But if you sacrifice the flesh at the altar of the Lord, He will provide the fire and fall upon whatever you have built with him and for him.
Ministry books, conferences, and meetings can only do so much. But we truly need the presence of the Lord and the fire of Heaven to come upon the works of our hands as we truly build with Kingdom strategies and Divine assignments. Less reading books and more reading scriptures. Fewer conferences and more consecration. Fewer potlucks and more impartation. Less self and more Spirit. That's how we become less pathetic and more prophetic. That's how we become more fiery and less fleshy.
If we want to influence culture, we need to ensure that we are under the influence of the Kingdom. Otherwise, we are building in vain and exhausting ourselves, trying to be productive when all we need to do is ask the Lord for fire.
Set aside the good ideas and ask the Lord for God's ideas. Stop wasting your time, energy, and resources on unfruitful events, and seek the Lord for strategies to be more productive for His Kingdom. Stop perfectly timing services and worship setlists and start truly travailing at the altar of the Lord, begging for him to send the fire upon each service. If we want the Lord to continue moving in the temple, we must sacrifice the flesh daily to keep that fire going.
If you've had your life drained and you've burned out in ministry, you can be recharged once again. If you realize that what you have built is not of God, tear down the altar and start again, this time with God's guidance. What you build may not look like what others are building. Moses built an altar indoors and had an audience of believers. Elijah built an altar outdoors and had an audience of non-believers. Ignore what others are building when God has called you to build according to his perfect will, not the will of others.
You may be exhausted because you were building the wrong kind of altar. You may be burned out because you continuously tried to set the fire yourself. You may find yourself feeling cold and fireless because you never placed a sacrifice for the Lord to burn.
This word is for Ministry leaders, Church planters, and those who feel the call to devote their lives to full-time Ministry. May the fire on your altars never burn out, and may you never build in vain. May your eyes always be focused on the Lord, your ears always inclined to his voice, and you never forget your first love, Jesus. Ignite the altar and keep the fire burning!
