“From the altars of our hearts Oh God, let flames of worship rise.”
That is a line from a Matt Redmond song called “Flames.”
“The fire on the altar is to be kept burning; it must not go out. Every morning the priest will burn wood on the fire. He is to arrange the burnt offering on the fire and burn the fat portions from the fellowship offerings on it. Fire must be kept burning on the altar continually; it must not go out.” [Lev 6:12-13 HCSB]
“Keep the altar of private prayer burning. This is the very life of all piety,” Charles Spurgeon wrote. He added, “God loves to see the hearts of His people glowing towards Himself.”
Sometime my heart is burning, glowing in prayer and in praise and in worship to God, but other times my heart has seemed lukewarm, cold even. With the pull of this world upon us, busy schedules, problems, aging or health issues, relationship failures, or financial troubles, it can be difficult to keep our hearts burning. Too often the flames of worship become little more than cooling embers.
The key to keeping those flames burning brightly is in God’s instructions to the priests above. They were not to wait until the fire died and then re-start it, but every morning the priests were to refuel the altar. The fire burned continuously because it was constantly and consistently fueled. It was one of the priests’ most important tasks.
Our prayer and worship are some of our most important tasks. We need to be consistent and constant in our private prayer – that is what will keep the flames of worship rising continuously from hearts that are on fire for the Lord.
