Fire on the Family Altar - Chapter 1

I will never forget the moment. I was on stage at a large church conference, about to lead prayer for revival in America. As I stood quietly, the Holy Spirit suddenly spoke to me in a resounding, almost audible voice.

I nearly fell over! His words rang out with a force and urgency that shocked me:

This came entirely out of the blue. No one at the conference was talking about the family. It wasn't even remotely what I expected to hear from the Lord.

As these words reverberated through me, I couldn't help but think of all the cultural depravity and complex problems facing America. How could something as simple as families praying, reading the Bible, and worshiping together bring spiritual life to an entire nation?

"Your plan sounds rather simplistic," I replied to the Lord.

No sooner had I said this than a young man walked onto the platform and began to pray the exact words I'd just heard: "Lord, restore the family altar in homes across America!"

Wow! What a confirmation!

At that moment the heavens seemed to open before me, and I saw a vision of the nation covered in deep, impenetrable darkness. Suddenly, as I looked closer, I saw a few homes begin to light up, glowing like stars across the dark night sky. The fireplaces in these homes were burning brightly where families were sitting together passionately praying and praising the Lord. Then, all at once, homes everywhere across the nation exploded with light as the families inside were worshiping and praying. This spread like wildfire until the whole nation was ablaze with the power and presence of God.

I could only stand in awe—what I saw took my breath away!

"Lord," I cried out, "Could it really be? Is family the very key to unlocking the revival we've been praying for?"

In the days that followed, the Lord began to speak to me that He is coming to visit households not only across America, but around the world. The Lord showed me that as families worship Him and invite His Holy Spirit into their homes, He will revive them—bring them back to life. His presence and power will fill their lives and households, igniting a passion and hunger for God that will spread to those around them.

This would not be the first time God has used the family altar to spark a revival. In the late 1600s, a Puritan minister named Thomas Boston was burdened by the state of his church in Scotland, which was not only spiritually cold but practically empty.

He began visiting in the homes of his members and asking them specifically about their spiritual needs. Baxter discovered that some of his people were not even sure they were saved, and he led many to Christ. In each home he read the Bible and prayed and challenged the head of the house to begin a family altar each day. In a matter of months, a revival broke out in their community that filled the church and changed the people's lives forever. It all started with a family altar.

In the times in which we are living, God is calling His people to once again light the family altar—to establish our homes as places to regularly meet with and encounter Him. He is saying, "I want to come into your home in a fresh, new way!" I believe as God's people respond to this invitation, it will usher in an unprecedented move of the Holy Spirit, filling households with healing, restoration, and a renewed love for God and one another.

In fact, in my vision the Lord showed me "fire from Heaven" falling on families, spreading to the family of God—a concentric move of God that starts in our own hearts as the Holy Spirit prepares us to once again become a place where He is welcome.

The fire of God is coming to purge sin—everything that separates us from God and one another. He will ignite righteousness and passion for the Kingdom! This will awaken the nation spiritually like nothing before it, lighting a fire that burns deep in the hearts of families and throughout the family of God.

The Holy Spirit will bring a deep work as believers repent of their wrong attitudes toward God and one another. This will provoke tangible demonstrations of love, unity, and honor among God's people.

Offenses will be laid down as believers repent of jealousy, unforgiveness, bitterness, and competition. This holy fire will burn up everything that had been built on a foundation of wood, hay, and stubble, so that our lives and homes are built on a firm foundation (see Rom. 14:10-12; 1 Cor. 3:11-15).

It is interesting to note that one definition of revival is "to return to its original intent, condition, or purpose." That is what the Lord will do in this next great move of the Holy Spirit. He will restore our homes and fill them with His presence—the same way that the first family, Adam and Eve, lived and communed with God in their garden home.

I know you may feel, as many people do, that your life, family, nation, or "_________" (fill in the blank) is too broken to be restored.

But this simply is not true! The Bible speaks of this hope through the many stories of broken lives and a nation (Israel) seemingly too far from God to be restored. Yet, when His people called to Him, seeking Him with all their hearts, the Lord always answered. He restored.

This is not the time to give up on your spouse, child, or grandchild. God hasn't given up on our families, so why should we? This is not the time to give up on your nation. This is the time to cry out to God, to make your home an altar of prayer and worship to Him, and watch how He releases His power from Heaven to earth.

There are things the Lord wants to say to us and our families during these extraordinary times.

I hear the Lord's urgent call to His Church, "Get ready, get your houses in order, and make room for My Spirit to move with power!" This is a clarion call for us to get into position for an outpouring of His Holy Spirit that will fill and overflow our homes, bringing in a great harvest of souls.

I feel a strong, weighty urgency of the Lord to draw near to Him—to get off the proverbial hamster wheel of our everyday lives, to get quiet long enough to hear His voice and be willing to do what He's asking of us. If we are running ahead too quickly and not listening to the Lord's voice, if we are holding too tightly to "what was" or what is comfortable, we will miss what the Lord is saying and what He is wanting to do in and through our households. We must pay attention!

I feel this is what the Lord is asking of all of us: "Are you willing to make the changes needed? To change and shift as I lead? To speed up when I say, 'Go quickly'? Will you welcome Me to make the changes when I say, 'Behold, I am doing a new thing'? Will you slow down and wait patiently when I impress upon you, 'Be still and know that I am God'?"

We all must be willing to change, to allow Him to put things in right order—to give our families a divine reset.

It is possible to make your home a storehouse of God's glory, presence, and provision in times of cultural crisis.

You also may desire to connect with other praying families as "houses of prayer" to erect a canopy of God's presence. You and those around you can create communities of refuge, much like the land of Goshen was for the Jewish people in Egypt. For the Israelites, Goshen was a place of God's special protection and provision. God told His children, "You shall dwell in the land of Goshen, and you shall be near me, you and your children and your children's children, and your flocks, your herds, and all that you have" (Gen. 45:10 ESV). Goshen became a flourishing place of refuge in the time of God's judgment when the angel of death passed through the nation—and they were spared (see Exod. 12).

This is not a call for the Church to hide in our homes; it is a time for the Church to arise and shine, as the prophet Isaiah proclaimed: "Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you" (Isa. 60:1 ESV). The Lord is signaling that there is coming a fiery move of His Spirit within homes that will bring rapid revival and a move of His Spirit in communities, cities, and nations.

The days we are living in are filled with tremendous stress, and the Scripture tells us this will only increase (see 2 Tim. 3:1). People will be looking for those who know how to touch God on their behalf. As the revival spreads, many new believers will need more of God's Good News—the "basics" of the Bible.

This is why the Lord is calling us to prepare our homes to be a habitation for Him, filled with His presence, so that it is a warm and inviting place to disciple the harvest.

In this next season, as followers of Christ, we are going to need each other as never before. The enemy of our faith will push back against this move of God with all his might and power. The Lord is calling us to reach out to friends and neighbors—to invite them into our homes for times of Spirit-filled worship, prayer, and sharing God's faithfulness in our lives. Even as we see in the Acts of the Apostles when the early Christians were persecuted for their faith, they met together daily in homes, sharing meals and drawing courage by praying and worshiping together (see Acts 2:42-47).

They left these times of encounter with the Lord empowered to preach the Gospel boldly (even with the threat of imprisonment or death), heal the sick, and raise the dead.

Just as we saw in the early Church, the gift of hospitality will be a vital component of this next great move of God.

Nothing is more effective at drawing people into the Kingdom and discipling them than nurturing friendships in a warm home setting. A friend of mine, Merrily, and her husband, Paul, regularly invite friends to their home for meals and to do life together. Sometimes these are friends from church or parents of their kids' friends from school, soccer, or gymnastics—most of whom are not yet believers in Christ.

Merrily had been talking about the Lord with her personal trainer, Jen, and with the children's babysitter, Christina. So, when Merrily and Paul planned a night of worship with extended family and friends, they decided to invite Jen and Christina.

Several guests brought instruments—a keyboard and guitars—and everyone joined in worshiping the Lord. It wasn't a formal program, but rather just a casual time of friends getting together to focus on Jesus.

Jen, who had never been inside a church, said later that her experience was so profound that she could barely stand; she felt "like Jell-o." She thought she might at any moment burst into tears. At the time, Jen was separated from her husband and was ready to file for divorce. But as a result of that encounter, Jen came to faith in Christ. She began to pray for her husband and her marriage. Shortly after that her husband reached out to her asking if they could talk. He agreed to go to counseling and the two of them reconciled.

Christina also encountered the Lord that night and began asking Merrily a lot of questions. She wanted to know more about God and what a personal relationship with Him looked like. At the time, Christina was under a lot of stress at school, and her relationship with her boyfriend, Josh, was stuck in an unhealthy cycle, filled with arguing and fighting.

One morning at two o'clock, Christina called Merrily, crying. Christina and Josh had been out late drinking, and Josh had gotten in a fight with another family member. When Christina tried to step in and stop them, she inadvertently got struck in the face and there was blood everywhere.

Merrily drove to pick up Christina. She brought her back home, cleaned her up, and put her to bed in the guest bedroom. The following morning, they prayed together. That same week, Paul reached out to Josh, and over the next few months began to meet with him regularly for prayer and Bible study.

The troubled couple started going to church with Merrily and Paul. They accepted Christ and were water baptized and filled with the Holy Spirit. They put their relationship under the lordship of Jesus Christ and were married. Today, Christina and Josh are one of the happiest couples you will ever meet. They beam with love for each other and the Lord. And they've expressed they want to do for others what Merrily and Paul did for them.

These are the same kinds of encounters the Lord wants all of us to experience regularly in our homes. He wants to be the center of our marriages and families. He wants His Holy Spirit to be like a fire burning in our homes, so that everyone who walks through our front door will encounter His tangible presence.

As our families become saturated with God's heart and filled with His hope, joy, and love, we will reignite in others that which was reignited in us.

Whatever the season of life you and your family are in, there is an urgency in this hour for us to prepare our hearts and homes for this extraordinary move of God.

I hear the Lord's urgent call, even a promise, to our families and to the family of God today: "If you will build an altar, I will come—with awakening and revival fire—to your family and to your nation!"

The practice of dedicating a home to the Lord has been common since Old Testament times. We are not only dedicating the house to God for His purposes—the walls, doors, rooms, and objects—we are dedicating all the activities within it. Joshua said before the people of Israel: "As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord" (Josh. 24:15 NKJV). We can make this same declaration.

Ideally you will do this with your spouse and children, but you can do this alone if they are not quite ready. You also may want to invite friends from your Christian community to join you. You don't need a priest or pastor to dedicate your home, but they would be a wonderful addition if you'd like to invite them.

1. Gather your family in one central location, such as your living room, and pray a prayer of dedication for your home. The prayer can be as simple as this: "Lord, we dedicate this house to You for Your purposes. Surround and fill our home with Your love, and may it be used to show Your love to all who enter here. Help us to reflect You in our hospitality. May we seek, honor, and encounter You here every day."

2. Pray for God's protection over your home. You might say something like this: "Lord, we ask You to protect our home from all evil. Watch over every member of our household and over all our possessions. We ask You to send Your angelic hosts to surround our home and to put a barrier around every gateway into our home."

3. Then go through all the rooms of your house and pray an individual blessing in each room, using anointing oil, if you like. Anointing oil may be purchased at a Christian bookstore or website, or you can simply use olive or cooking oil. You may want to anoint (put a smudge) on all the gateways into your home such as doors, windows, fences between you and neighbors, the TV, and internet lines.

4. You may like to ask God to give you a special Scripture to pray over your home. If your children participate, they can choose a special Scripture to pray over their own room.

5. Record the Scripture and date by writing it on a doorframe, under a threshold, on a plaque, in a family Bible, or some other place of significance.