Nov 3 – THE FAMILY ALTAR!

“Arise, go up to Bethel and dwell there and make an altar there to God” (Genesis 35:1).

God said, “Dwell there and make an altar.” But in the New Testament, the altar of family prayer remains as the one which God likes. Family prayer is essential for the children of God to lead a life with fellowship and peace.

In the Old Testament, God gave a command to Jacob. That command is “Arise, go up to Bethel and dwell there.” The meaning for this command is that God waits for you there when you offer Him the sacrifice as a family.

A house without family prayer is not a dwelling place despite its grandeur and magnificence. It remains as a vehicle without wheels and a house without a roof. The root cause for many families being afflicted with problems, fights, quarrels and suspicions is the lack of family prayer in them. When there is family prayer, everyone in the family is getting blessed.

There is an old song in Tamil which says, “When the height of the furrows increases the quantum of water increases; when the quantum of water increases the yield of paddy increases; when the yield of paddy increases the people prosper and when the people prosper the kingdom prospers.” Similarly, “When prayer increases the family flourishes, when the family flourishes the church flourishes and when the church flourishes the entire nation flourishes.” Hallelujah!

Once a servant of God said, “The headquarters for the Indian Nation is not Delhi but the homes which have family prayers.” How true this is! A youngster was appointed as pastor to a big church. To bring a revival in the church, he presented many sermons, built a big building and made arrangement for numerous souls to be brought there and conducted redemption meetings by bringing well-known evangelists but everything ended in futile.

In the end, he humbled and prayed to God to show him the way to bring the revival in the church. Do you know what idea God gave him? God asked him to counsel each believer of the church to have a family prayer in his home. Accordingly, when all the families had their family prayers, God blessed the church and commanded a great revival.

The best of all the wealth a parent can leave for the children is the divinity. The best way to feed the same to the children is to involve them in family prayers.

Dear children of God, initiate the family prayer in your families from today. Teach the children to read the Scripture. Your family altar should never get broken in any way. If broken already, will you reconstruct and raise it?

To meditate: “Your wife shall be like a fruitful vine in the very heart of your house, your children like olive plants all around your table” (Psalms 128:3).