Day 6: The Fire Must Not Go Out
Week 1: Awakening & Consecration
“The fire on the altar must be kept burning; it must not go out. Every morning the priest is to add firewood and arrange the burnt offering on the fire and burn the fat of the fellowship offerings on it. The fire must be kept burning on the altar continuously; it must not go out.”
When God first lit the fire on the altar in Leviticus, it was supernatural. However, from that moment on, the priests were responsible for tending it. They had to add wood every morning, remove the ash, and stay alert. If they neglected their duty, the fire would die down. This was not because God had changed, but because they had stopped responding.
Tending the Flame
In the same way, many of us can point to times when God lit a fire in our hearts. It might have been a conference, a youth camp, a Sunday service, or a season of breakthrough. The real test is not whether the fire once burned, but whether we have learned to tend it.
In his book Why Revival Tarries, Leonard Ravenhill warns that much of the church has grown "content with a neat little blaze" rather than contending for a holy fire of God’s presence.
How Do We Keep the Fire Burning?
Leviticus hints at two specific requirements.
1. Fresh Wood For us, this looks like daily prayer, daily Word, daily obedience, and daily worship. This is not about legalism; it is about rhythm. Just as a fire needs constant fuel, our spirits need constant input from the Holy Spirit.
2. Sacrifice The burnt offering speaks of surrender. In his book The Pursuit of God, A.W. Tozer speaks of the "blessedness of possessing nothing," which means laying everything on the altar so that nothing competes with God in our hearts. Where there is ongoing surrender, there will be ongoing fire.
Rebuilding the Altars
At the "Battle for Britain" conference, there was a strong sense that God is rebuilding altars of prayer across the nation. ANCC is meant to be one of those altars. Our public gatherings, our prayer meetings, our Life Groups, and our personal lives are all fire points.
The enemy will always try to extinguish the fire through distraction, division, discouragement, and sin. Our job is to resist him and keep putting logs on the altar.
Let Us Pray
Heavenly Father, thank You that You lit the fire in my heart. I do not want it to go out. Forgive me where I have neglected the altar and where I have let ashes build up and logs run out.
Teach me, by Your Spirit, how to build a daily rhythm of seeking You. Help me to offer myself afresh as a living sacrifice. Let ANCC be a house where Your fire burns day and night, a refuge for the weary, and a sending place for the called. In Jesus’ precious name, Amen.