PODCAST TRANSCRIPT | EPISODE 183: FIVE NECESSARY QUALITIES FOR END TIME LIVING - PT 5
LIFE TO THE FULL w/ Nancy Campbell
EPISODE 183: Five Necessary Qualities for End Time Living – Part 5
We begin the second P which is PRAYER AND PRAISE. The apostle John looks into Heaven and sees the GOLDEN ALTAR before the throne of God. What is this GOLDEN ALTAR and how does it relate to us in our homes?5
Announcer: Welcome to the podcast, Life to The Full, with Nancy Campbell, founder and publisher of Above Rubies.
Nancy Campbell: Hello, ladies! We’re still continuing our series of the five qualities God wants us to have in our lives as we prepare for end times. We’re currently looking at our second P, which is prayer. PRAYER AND PRAISE.
At the end of our podcast last week, we were looking at Revelation 8:3. I’ll give it to you again, so we can get into the whole theme of this Scripture. We’ll talk more about it. John is looking into the heavenly realm, and he sees in Revelation 8:3: “And another angel came and stood at the altar, having a golden censer; and there was given unto him much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne. And the smoke of the incense, which came with the prayers of the saints, ascended up before God out of the angel’s hand.”
John was looking at the altar of incense in heaven. You see, the altar of incense in the tabernacle on earth was made after the pattern of the heavenly one. The heavenly one is still there. And Christ is interceding at that altar for us, night and day. He wants us to also participate in this altar of incense.
Everything that was given back in the Old Testament was written for us today. It wasn’t for nothing. It was to show us how we are to live today. So, we see quite a number of things about this altar of incense.
THE GOLDEN ALTAR
First of all, number one, it was called “the golden altar.” We see that also in Exodus 30. That’s where we first begin to read about it. There are many, many Scriptures which I won’t give you in this podcast, but if you get to read the transcript, I will give them to you. I have a whole paragraph here of Scriptures where the altar of incense is mentioned in the Bible, in the Old Testament, and in the New. You can look them all up if you get to read the transcript (Scriptures at end).
We’ll only look at one or two Scriptures today. In Exodus 30, God is telling Moses how He wants him to make this altar. It was to be made of shittim wood, or it’s sometimes called acacia wood, which was a very common wood there in the wilderness, in the desert where they were travelling through. It speaks of man. It was common.
But it was overlaid with gold. Exodus 30:3: “And thou shalt overlay it with pure gold.” And they were to overlay it on the top, and on the sides, and on the horns, and all over. It was to be covered with pure gold, speaking of God and His divinity.
It’s a beautiful picture of we, who are man and fleshy, and who cannot really do much without God. We come to this altar of incense to cry out to God. It is a place of prayer as it tells us in Revelation, that it is speaking of “the prayers of all the saints.” In Revelation, which we just read, it talks about “MUCH incense,” coming up before this golden throne. It is a golden ministry.
Have you ever thought of prayer being a golden ministry? Well, that’s what it is, ladies. It’s a golden ministry, a wonderful ministry that you can be part of. And God wants the altar of incense to be operating in your home. He doesn’t want a little bit of incense going up to His throne. He wants a lot of incense, much incense, a great quantity of incense.
One translation says . . . I wonder how much incense goes up to the Father, to His throne, because when you’re coming to the altar of incense, when you come to that place of prayer, you are coming into the very throne room of God. How incredible! Oh, what privilege we have, to come in through the precious blood of Jesus that was shed for us!
And through the power of His Name, we can come into the very throne room of God, where He is, in all His glory, and intercede before Him, for our own needs, and especially the needs of others, and the needs of the world. Oh, what a glorious privilege! How much incense goes up in your home? Is it a little trickling bit that goes up every now and then? Or is it “much incense” going up every day toward the Father? That’s what the Scripture talks about, “much incense.” Yes.
I believe we are in an hour in history where we need much incense. We need much prayer. Oh, there is just so much happening. There are so many needs, not only around us, of people in your own home, maybe, and people you know. But in the whole of the world, oh my. And yet, are we truly praying?
I’m always challenged by that Scripture in Jeremiah 10:24-25: “O Lord, correct me, but with judgment” (or “justice,” the word is) “O Lord, correct me, but with justice; not in Thine anger, lest Thou bring me to nothing. Pour out Thy fury upon the heathen that know Thee not, and upon the families” (Oh, my. Families? What families?) “The families that call not on Thy Name.”
To me, this is a very challenging Scripture how God will pour out His fury upon the heathen that are not walking in His ways, but also on His families, His families that do not call upon His Name. Are we a family that is calling upon the Name of the Lord? This is really the defining factor of God’s people.
In the early church, they were known as “the people that call upon the Name of the Lord.” Are we known as those who call upon the Name of the Lord? Is our church known as a people who call upon the Name of the Lord? Do the people around us know that we are a praying people, a praying family, a family that calls upon the Name of the Lord?
Well, if we’re not, we might as well be the heathen, because that’s what separates us from the heathen. The heathen walk in their own ways, and in sinful ways. They don’t call upon the Name of the Lord. But we, as God’s people, we have access into the throne room of God, and we call upon the Name of the Lord. That should define who we are.
In this hour, oh, when there is so much treachery and tyranny happening . . . now here we are, we’re living in Tennessee. Really, at this current time in Tennessee, we are living a beautiful life. There’s no lockdowns or tyranny here, especially out where we live. Here you wouldn’t know that there was any tyranny going on in the world, but there is.
We have dear friends and people we know in other countries who are facing great challenges. My dear friend, Val Stares, who is the director of Above Rubies in Australia, I think I shared this with you in one of my previous podcasts, how the 17th of December in Australia is D-day. If they do not take the vaccination by that day, they will be completely isolated from society, without being able to buy. Their jobs will be wiped out.
This is tough. This is happening in a free society! In a free world. This should never be happening in a free world. But what are we doing about it? Are we praying? We have a responsibility to pray for our fellow believers.
I was just reading last night about what is happening in the Northern Territories of Australia. I could not believe it! I just go to this site here, and it says: “The Australian government of the Northern Territories is now using military soldiers and army trucks to forcibly round up indigenous people, Aborigine people.”
Of course, we lived in Australia for ten years. We lived in this great, free country of Australia, what is called “The Lucky Country.” But now, they’re rounding up indigenous people who have merely been near someone else who tested positive for covid, with families being separated at gunpoint, one of the most horrifying predictions we made has now come true.
Military medical martial law, where innocent civilians are being round up at gunpoint, and taken to what are essentially covid concentration camps. These victims are being forcibly relocated to the Howard Springs Quarantine Camp in Darwin, Australia. They’ve already got these internment camps ready. I have seen pictures of ones in Queensland.
Michael Gunner, the territory chief, admits to the military kidnapping and forced relocation of Australian indigenous people, even disparaging their family structure and implying they are savages because so many members of the community interact with each other like family. So, it goes on and on, of what they are doing to these indigenous people in the Northern Territories of Australia.
Then, we have Victoria, down in the bottom of Australia, which is being locked down. Then we have Queensland, only until the 17th of December. The mandate is, if they’re not vaccinated, well, then that’s it.
Then we have our dear precious friends in Israel. They only have until the 6th of December. If they’re not vaccinated by then, they’re wiped out. They’ve got to clear out of the country, after years and years of pouring their lives out for the Jewish people there in Israel.
And not only them, but Canada, Austria, many other countries, are locked down. They have tyranny coming upon them. Free countries. Now, does that get to you? I don’t know. How can people just carry on life as normally, and not be praying? How can we not pray and cry out for these situations? We have to be crying out for the world at the moment.
Now we know that there will come, eventually, a one-world order, because it is prophesied. But we don’t take that sitting down. No, we push back, and we resist all tyranny. We must resist all tyranny because it is evil. It is not for the blessing of the people, or the country. It is not for their good at all.
There are some Christians who passively give in. They talk about Romans 13, how that we must submit to whatever is happening. No, they are taking that passage in the wrong context, because it is talking there about how that we must submit to the government for our good, and we will receive backlash if we don’t. If we’re not good, if we do that which is evil, we’re going to get our rebuke, and whatever they’re going to do to us, from the government.
But this is not for anybody being evil. This is what they’re doing to those who are good! And what does it say in Daniel 11:32 in the context of persecution? “And the people that do know their God shall be strong and DO EXPLOITS.” (King James Version).
Other translations say: “The people that do know their God shall be strong and TAKE ACTION.”
Some translations say: “The people that do know their God shall be strong and RESIST.” Of course, I believe, more than anything else, we pray! Oh, let’s be praying. Oh, prayer works wonders, but as I look around, I see most people carrying on as usual. They have not intensified their prayer life. They have not called corporate prayer meetings.
I believe we should be calling corporate prayer meetings to pray. Yes, and if there is not one near you where you can go and pray, if they don’t have one in your church that’s praying for this situation, and for the countries of the world, well, start one in your own home. It’s a wonderful thing to have a prayer meeting in your home. I think it’s the most wonderful thing in the world. I don’t think we have ever been without a prayer meeting in our home all throughout our married lives.
At the moment, well, we have two corporate prayer meetings a week here, on the Hilltop. We have one in our home, and also one in Serene and Sam’s home. Last night, Wednesday night, we were at the prayer meeting at Serene and Sam’s home. Oh, sometimes you never know what’s going to happen at a prayer meeting. Usually, we are really storming the gates of heaven on behalf of all those who are suffering and that are under tyranny. We’re crying out to God for the needs all around us. But last night, what happened?
We ended up praying for all the children and it was the most beautiful night. You see, we have the children in our prayer meetings. And, dear, precious moms, if you have lots of children, then, “Oh, how can I have a prayer meeting in our home with all the children? What will I do with them?”
Well, you make them part of the prayer meeting! That’s the best thing they can ever be part of, is to be part of prayer meetings! And if you have a little baby, and you’re nursing your baby, well, just nurse your baby. Just have a nursing shawl, a nursing cape. You can nurse discretely. Just nurse your baby and your baby will go off to sleep.
Your little toddlers can be around. We have our toddlers all around us. If you don’t feel you can cope with yours, well, maybe you can make sure they don’t have a sleep in the afternoon, and they get to bed early. But otherwise, they can learn to play very quietly. Then, when they get tired, Daddy or Mummy take them on their knee, and they just cuddle in and go to sleep. That’s what happens with our little ones. Then, of course, the children.
Well, last night, one of our little ones, a little three-year old, he had hurt himself badly during the day, and they were nearly going to take him to ER, but they didn’t. They prayed instead. All the blood that was coming out of his mouth soon stopped. God was good. They wanted us to pray over him again at the prayer meeting.
So, that was the first thing we did. My husband anointed him with oil and prayed over him. And then, it just began. Each little child came and knelt down, and my husband and others began to pray over them, all the little ones. Then the big ones, and even the teens. It took the whole prayer meeting, but it was such a beautiful night.
So, when you start a prayer meeting, you make your children part of the prayer meeting. Children should be part of prayer meetings. They should grow up in the midst of prayer. It should be part of their lives. Yes.
Not a little part, no! A big part of their lives! The Word of God says “much incense,” not a little bit of incense, but “MUCH INSENSE.”
Malachi 1:11: “For from the rising of the sun even unto the going down of the same, My Name shall be great among the gentiles; and in every place incense shall be offered unto My Name.”
This is not talking to the Jewish people. This is talking to the Gentiles! “Among the gentiles, and in every place” (EVERY place, EVERY home) “incense shall be offered unto My Name, and a pure offering: for My Name shall be great among the heathen, saith the Lord of hosts.” Amen?
Well, number one: this altar is a golden altar.
THE SWEET INCENSE ALTAR
Number two: it is also called “the altar of sweet incense.” (Leviticus 4:7). Yes, all the spices that were used to make the incense were beautiful, sweet spices. You’ll get all the Scriptures about that in the transcript when you get to read it.
THE HIGHEST ALTAR
Number three: this altar of incense was the highest piece of furniture in the Holy Place. It was higher than the table of showbread and higher than the golden candlestick, which were also very important pieces of furniture. But this one was the highest. God wants it to be the HIGHEST PRIORITY in our lives.
Did you know that it’s the highest priority of Jesus now? The Bible tells us that He is continually interceding for us, which is the altar of incense. Let’s read, shall we? Romans 8:34: “Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, Who is even at the right hand of God, Who also maketh intercession for us.”
Let’s go to Hebrews, shall we? Hebrews 7:25: “Wherefore He is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him, seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for them.”
Over in Hebrews 9:24: “For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the Presence of God for us.”
Also, prayer and praise. You see, it’s not only prayer, but also and praise and worship that the altar of incense speaks of. It takes us up to great heights.
Isaiah 40:31 tells us of how those who “wait upon the Lord shall mount up with wings as eagles.” We mount up in the Spirit when we go to the place of prayer. Oh yes, personally and corporately. There is much power in corporate prayer. I believe in personal prayer, but I also believe in the power of corporate prayer.
In Matthew 18:20, it tells us how that if two or three of you are gathered together, I will be with you. I will be in your midst. Amen?
Isaiah 2:3: “Come ye, and LET US GO UP to the mountain of the Lord.” That’s the place of prayer. “The mountain of the Lord.” We’ve got to go up to it, ladies, go up to the mountain. Now, it’s not always easy getting up a mountain. Have you ever climbed a mountain? Well, sometimes you get pretty tired going up that mountain. It can be steep. It can be rough, and you’re puffing, and you’re getting tired, and you’re getting worn out. But you keep going. And you get to the top.
Oh, what a beautiful view from the top! How exhilarating! And it’s the same in the place of prayer. You’ve got to come up to the mountain. “Come ye, and LET US GO UP to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob: and He will teach us of His ways, and we will walk in His paths; for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the Word of the Lord from Jerusalem.” And so, we come up to this place of prayer and of praise.
Talking about praise, the other week we were invited to a meeting to listen to this speaker. In one part of his message, he was speaking a most wonderful message about praising God in the midst of our difficulties. He went through the Scriptures, showing the places where the different people of God, and how they were going through the most terrible circumstances. But in the midst, they kept praising God. This is also part of the altar of incense.
He took us also to 2 Chronicles. I’d like to take you to it. 2 Chronicles 20:1. It’s the story of when King Jehoshaphat, who was a good king of Judah, and the enemy came against him. It says here: “that the children of Moab, and the children of Ammon, and with them other beside the Ammonites.” Actually, another place tells us where there were another lot of people, too. Yes, and also the inhabitants of Mount Seir.
All these enemies came against him, “a great multitude.” And Jehoshaphat was scared. They didn’t have an army like that. They couldn’t even . . . what were they going to do? That army was too big for them to fight. They were going to be wiped out!
So, what did he do? Well, we see here in 2 Chronicles 20:3: “And Jehoshaphat feared, and set himself to seek the Lord, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah.” So, number one, he began “to seek the Lord.”
I believe that’s what all God’s people should be doing in this hour. We are facing a battle. We’re facing an enemy that’s bigger than us. This is a huge, evil enemy that we are facing. We have to seek the Lord, because we can’t fight it on our own. It’s only the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of heaven, who is able to bring us the victory.
So, number one, they began “to seek the Lord.” And he proclaimed a fast. 2 Chronicles 20:4: “And Judah gathered themselves together, to ask help of the Lord: even out of all the cities of Judah they came to seek the Lord.” They came corporately. They didn’t just back in their cities. “Oh, goodness, we can’t travel all that way! Oh, help! Goodness me! No, we’ll just stay home and pray.”
You know, many people say that about prayer meetings. “Oh, we’ll stay home and pray. It’s too difficult to get to the prayer meeting. I don’t really feel like going out. Oh, I feel too tired.” Actually, that is very true. At the end of the day, you can feel very tired. In fact, many times, at the end of the day, I feel worn out. I have busy days. I can feel worn out, and its prayer meeting night. I say, “Oh, help, how am I going to make it to the prayer meeting? I’m nearly falling asleep.”
But I go! When you go into that place of prayer, into the mountain of the Lord, you are rejuvenated. I was thinking of my dear friend Nadia. Nadia has seven children. Her youngest child at the moment was born with a very rare, rare disease where one side of her body is perfect. The other side grows these huge tumors. On top of that, recently she was diagnosed also with stage four cancer.
I mean, how much more can this little darling go through? She has not only had chemotherapy; she’s now facing radiation and stem cell replacement and so on. Poor Nadia. She’s back and forth to the hospital, sometimes staying there all the time, and then back and forth in the day. She has so much on her plate with all her children and this precious little one.
But Nadia doesn’t miss a prayer meeting! If she’s not in the hospital, she’s at the prayer meeting. Monday night, she was here at the prayer meeting. She sort of dragged herself up the stairs. I could see she was so tired. And she was sharing with me last night. She said, “I was just so worn out. I could hardly walk up your stairs. I could hardly keep my eyes open.”
But she came! She came! And as she prayed, she was rejuvenated. Even last night, there she was, second prayer meeting of the week, and she’s there, with all her seven children!
And there are people who don’t even have children who say, “Well, I don’t think I can get to the prayer meeting. I think I’ll just pray at home.” But they don’t pray at home. There’s something about getting up and going and getting together with the saints. This is what they did here. They came out of all the cities of Judah. They came to seek the Lord.
Yes, and then Jehoshaphat prayed this amazing prayer. 2 Chronicles 20:6: “O Lord God of our fathers, are not Thou God in heaven? And rulest not Thou over all the kingdoms of the heathen? And in Thine hand, is there not power and might, so that none is able to withstand Thee? Are not Thou our God, who didst drive out the inhabitants of this land before Thy people Israel, and gavest it to the seed of Abraham Thy friend forever?”
And so, he goes on with his prayer, right down to verse 12: “O our God, wilt Thou not judge them? For we have no might against this great company that cometh against us; neither know we what to do: but our eyes are upon Thee.” Hallelujah! That’s a great prayer. That’s why we come, because we don’t have the answer ourselves. Our eyes are upon the Lord.
And this is what we do, when we go through our difficulties, our trials, our persecutions. We go through them with our eyes upon the Lord.
So, OK, all the people came, and now we find out something else they did. Whoo! They not only came to pray together corporately, but verse 13 says: “And ALL Judah,” it doesn’t say some of the people of Judah. “ALL Judah stood before the Lord.” Most probably there was not enough room for them to sit down. They weren’t sitting on lovely sofas like we often sit at our prayer meetings. No, they stood before the Lord. And get this, I’m going to read the next little bit. Listen for it, ladies.
“And all Judah stood before the Lord, WITH THEIR LITTLE ONES.” And if you look that up in the Hebrew, the actual Hebrew meaning of “the little ones” is “the tripping gait of little children.” It’s the little toddlers. Oh my, those are the ones we don’t want at the prayer meeting. Oh goodness me, what will we do with them? Yes, they’re tripping around, and they can’t keep still!
Well, God says, “I want them there.” Yes, and they came with all their families, “with their little ones, their wives, and their children.” So, the husbands came, and the wives came. The wives didn’t stay at home! The wives came, with their little ones, and most probably they had nursing babies. They wouldn’t leave them at home. They were with them too! Nursing babies, in the prayer meeting! Whoo! And all their children! Every age group was there, to cry out to God.
I wonder, what it is going to take for the people of God really want to come and pray? To even want to go to a prayer meeting? Because I find that most people in the body of Christ don’t really even want to go to prayer meetings. Oh, they go to the theaters to watch a movie. They can stay home and watch a movie. They can go out to this entertainment. They can go out to this, out to that, out to everything. Yes, and running here and there all the time.
But they don’t want to go to prayer meetings. These people came. As families. Everyone. Husbands, wives, little toddlers, nursing babies. Children of all ages, the teens, everyone was there, to cry out to the Lord. It reminds me of Joel. Oh yes, over in Joel.
So, here was another prayer meeting. Joel 2:15: “Blow the trumpet in Zion, sanctify a fast, call a solemn assembly: gather the people, sanctify the congregation, assemble the elders, gather the children, and those that suck the breasts: let the bridegroom go forth of his chamber, and the bride out of her closet. Let the priests, the ministers of the Lord, weep between the porch and the altar, and let them say, Spare Thy people, O Lord, and give not Thine heritage to reproach, that the heathen should rule over them.”
Wow. That’s the prayer we need to pray, isn’t it? “O Lord, give not thine heritage to reproach, that the heathen should rule over them.” We are facing in many areas in the world today, and even here in the States, we are facing where people are seeking to rule over people, rule over their bodies, take dominion over their bodies. This is against God. No one is meant to rule over someone else’s body.
God made us free people. And we should be praying against this tyranny over lives. It says: “wherefore should they say among the people, Where is their God?” But do you notice that when they called this solemn fast, that, well, in fact, if your pastor or minister was to call a solemn fast, he would usually say, “Well folks, we’re calling this solemn fast, so I think you’d better get babysitters. We can’t really have the children all there, because this is a very solemn occasion.”
But no, God is not like that. He’s always incorporating the children, no matter what’s happening. Here’s a solemn fast, and He says, “OK, I want the children. I want the little toddlers. I want the nursing babies. I want everyone.”
And then, goodness, this is a solemn occasion, because even the new bride and bridegroom have got to come out of their closet! Whoo! Well, actually, just before I close, maybe I should tell you this little story, because this actually happened to Colin and me.
When we were first married, Colin went out fulltime for God when we were engaged. We were involved in a wonderful ministry called “Tell the Nations Crusade,” where those who were involved took a gospel of John to the door. Not putting it in the letter box, but to the door of every home in New Zealand.
My husband was involved in that. From that, the leader of this ministry, Campbell McAlpine, a very holy and wonderful man of God, felt God calling us to the mission field, and that we were to do the same thing. Take a gospel of John to the homes in the Philippine Islands. So, we actually did that. After we were married, we went to the Philippine Islands.
But on our wedding day, it had been planned that those who were in the ministry would meet for three days prayer and fasting. Unbelievably, it was going to start the day after we were married. So, of course, Colin and I never even entertained the thought that he would go, even though he was fulltime in that ministry.
We had our glorious wedding. It was a beautiful wedding. But at the end of the day, this man, Campbell McAlpine, came to my husband, and he said, “Colin, I have a Scripture for you.” It was this Scripture, Joel 2:16: “Let the bridegroom go forth of his chamber, and the bride out of her closet” in order to fast and pray and seek the Lord.
So, we’re going away on our honeymoon, and driving along. Colin says to me, “Well, Campbell gave us a Scripture.” I said, “What is it?” He said, “The bridegroom and the bride have to come out of their closet and seek the Lord and fast and pray. What will we do?”
I said, “Well, I guess there’s nothing else we can do, but obey!” So, we had one night together, and then Colin went off with all the rest of the guys for three days’ prayer and fasting. I went and stayed with Joy and Jim Dawson, who were then living in New Zealand. They now live in the States.
I went down to her prophet’s chamber, which she had in her basement, and had three days’ prayer and fasting, seeking the Lord there. That’s how we started our married life, separated for three days’ prayer and fasting. But I think it turned out a pretty good way to start.
Anyway, let’s pray. I haven’t finished yet, ladies. More exciting things to find out about this altar of incense in our next session next week!
“Dear Father, oh, we just thank You, that we have the privilege to come into Your presence, Your throne room. Oh, God, give us a love to come there. Lord, I pray that You will stir Your people to become pray-ers. Lord God, that we will seek Your face, Lord God.
Oh God, Lord God, there is so much that is happening. Lord, we have no answers, except that we seek Your face. I pray, Lord, the whole church of God, Lord, to begin to seek You, to come together to pray and to cry out to You. We ask You for this in the precious Name of Jesus. Amen.”
Blessings from Nancy Campbell * www.aboverubies.org
Transcribed by Darlene Norris * This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
SCRIPTURES NAMING THE GOLDEN ALTAR
Exodus 30:1-10; 26-29; 34-38; 31:8; 37:25-29; 39:38; 40:5, 26, 27; Leviticus 4:5-7; Deuteronomy 33:10; 1 Samuel 2:28; 1 Kings 6:22 (AMPC); 1 Chronicles 6:49; 23:13; 28:18; 2 Chronicles 2:4; 13:10, 11; 29:11; 32:12; Psalm 141:2; Malachi 4:11; Luke 1:9-11; Revelation 5:8; 6:9; and 8:1-5.
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