Remember, the fire must be kept burning on the altar at all times. It must never go out. – Leviticus 6:13
One of the great deceptions in the World’s Operating System is to make you believe that the real you is the one you see in the mirror.
This “you” operates in a physical realm, has to struggle to make ends meet, is subject to natural laws and consequences, and is defined by what it looks like, what it owns, what it wears, what it does for a living (i.e its “job description”).
And the reason for getting you to believe that this “you” is the real one, is because the physical “you” is easy to control and manipulate.
Thankfully though, the Word reveals to us that we are born of the Spirit. The moment you got Born Again you were transformed from a living soul separated from God (1 Corinthians 15:45) into a life-giving spirit that is now one with God. (1 Corinthians 6:17)
In other words, you used to be a caterpillar, but now you are a butterfly.
You are a new Creature, something that has never been seen before (2 Corinthians 5:17). And you operate freely between the Earthly realm and the Heavenly realm…the visible world and the invisible world.
You are seated in Heavenly places in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 2:6), meaning you are Authorised to operate and effect change in the Heavenly realm.
You also carry the original mandate of God to mankind to “Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it.” (Genesis 1:28)
You also carry the Great Commission given by the resurrected Jesus:
“…All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen.” – Matthew 28:18-20
Or as 1 Peter 2 v 9 puts it:
But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light:
That’s who you really are, and that’s why the way you operate in the physical realm is very different from those who are still crawling around like caterpillars.
(Aside: they do this because they are still caterpillars, or because they still carry the mind of a caterpillar in the body of a butterfly.)
In the light of the Truth of who you really are, it’s clear that your priorities, goals and daily activities carry a different tenor from those being presented to you by the World in which you operate as a Stranger.
And one of your activities that you’ve been assigned as a royal priesthood…is to keep the fire burning.
In Leviticus 6:8-13, the Lord emphasises that: “the fire on the altar must be kept burning all night”. He combines this with specific instruction on how this is to be achieved:
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. [Emphasis added]
“Each morning”…”add fresh wood to the fire”…”at all times”…”It must never go out.”
In other words, putting fire on the altar is not a one time event or something to be done in crisis…it’s a daily, lifelong institution: like marriage.
And just as a marriage involves God joining two to become one flesh (Mark 10:8), the assignment of keeping the fire burning represents a marriage in at least two dimensions.
There’s the marriage of fire and wood, where the fire is your prayer…and the wood that sustains it is the word of God.
There’s also the marriage of Heaven and Earth, where Earth provides the fire and Heaven uses that fire to burn up the incense on the golden altar (Revelation 8:22).
And just as the Sun faithfully burns billions of gallons of gas every second to shed light upon the earth and sustain all life within it…as the light of the World, you are called to allow the Word to burn within you, sending a fire into the Heavenly realm that releases Light into the Earthly realm.
Remember: the fire must be kept burning on the altar at all times. It must never go out.
Keep the fire burning.