{"id":61712,"date":"2023-01-15T18:11:31","date_gmt":"2023-01-15T18:11:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/?p=61712"},"modified":"2023-01-15T18:11:31","modified_gmt":"2023-01-15T18:11:31","slug":"the-seven-altars-of-balaam","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/?p=61712","title":{"rendered":"The seven altars of Balaam"},"content":{"rendered":"

From: The Preacher<\/strong><\/p>\n

And he brought him into the field of Zophim, to the top of Pisgah, and built seven altars, and offered a bullock and a ram on every altar. Numbers 23:14<\/p>\n

1. How Many Altars Make a Curse?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Balaam was a famed prophet of international repute whom kings often hired to curse their foes. He was so highly ranked that, like flocking insects to a night lamp, nobles were his clients (Numbers 22:4-17). He was a man of such aura that even animals took up a human voice in his sessions (Numbers 22:28-30). That was whom Balak the king of Moab consulted to cast a spell over the Israelites in transit from Egypt. To do that effectively, Balaam raised seven consecutive altars in each of three separate locations, making a total of twenty-one altars, to wage just one battle of a curse. Unfortunately, those many altars with their lavish sacrifices failed against his innocent and unaware targets (Numbers 23:1, 11, 14, 29). How many altars make a potent curse?<\/p>\n

2. How Much Knowledge Wins the War?<\/strong><\/p>\n

The innocent Israelites were oblivious of Balaam\u2019s many altars against them, yet their not-knowing did not make them vulnerable. You need not know of every curse to be untouched by it. You need not know about every altar for them to be powerless against you. Every knowledge does not help every battle. Knowledge is strength, but not every knowledge is. We do not have to investigate every altar to be able to defeat them. Some things are better unknown until they are over.<\/p>\n

3. How Many Prayers Kill an Altar?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Some altars don\u2019t need prayers to be silenced. The oblivious Israelites prayed no prayers against Balaam\u2019s altars. They were not even aware of Balaam\u2019s devices; how could they have prayed about what they did not know? God answered for them \u2013 or their clean hands did.<\/p>\n

There are some altars we investigate only to waken old wars and worries. There are many battles from which God delivers us without our knowledge, because He _\u201chath not beheld iniquity in Jacob, neither hath he seen perverseness in Israel\u201d_ (Numbers 23:21), _\u201cAnd who is he that will harm you, if ye be followers of that which is good?\u201d_ (1 Peter 3:13). Clean hands are powerful (Psalm 24:4). You are the most beneficiary of your breastplate of righteousness (Ephesians 6:14).<\/p>\n

4. The Size of an Altar<\/strong><\/p>\n

According to the spiritual sensibilities of Balaam the ancient prophet, one altar is sometimes not sufficient for some spiritual tasks, and one location is not advisable for all the altars. Consecutive altars in scattered locations become an option, each fortifying the others. Abram raised an altar in Bethel and in other parts of the land of Canaan, then Isaac followed, then Jacob: three consecutive generations on the same land (Genesis 12:7; 13:3-4; 26:25; 28:18; 33:20; 35:1-3). Centuries later, their children continued (Exodus 30:28).<\/p>\n

On the flip side, intercessors sometimes erroneously assume that one altar destroyed is the end of all battles, whereas there could be six more related altars, and other sets of seven altars, or more, poised in other scattered places. Every victory is important, but some victories are merely a stepping stone to the next crucial conflict. Don\u2019t be so distracted by one altar overcome that you become a victim of the next (1 Kings 13:1-5, 18-26).<\/p>\n

Small matters might require small altars, but matters of national magnitude might require firmer altars. Notwithstanding the rank of the priest, one prayer does not answer all matters, sometimes. Balaam knew this well. Jesus also taught that repeating some prayers is faithful insistence rather than faithless flippancy. Persistence is because God hears, not because it is thought that He is deaf (Matthew 26:44).<\/p>\n

5. A Prayer<\/strong><\/p>\n

O Lord, rebuke every hired and hasty Balaam. May their many altars in scattered locations not answer them against Your people. _\u201cSurely there is no enchantment against Jacob, neither is there any divination against Israel.\u201d_ We declare unto Balaam, _\u201cthou shalt not curse the people: for they are blessed.\u201d_ We declare, you cannot curse _\u201cwhom God hath not cursed?\u201d_ You cannot defy _\u201cwhom the LORD hath not defied?\u201d_ God has blessed, and a million Balaam altars _\u201ccannot reverse it.\u201d_ Amen (Numbers 22:12; 23:8, 20).<\/p>\n

O Lord, You cannot be bribed by many bulls on many altars. May their money and many altars perish with them. May their curses this day be processed through Your special \u2018machine\u2019 that turns curses into blessings for Your people, making them more blessed despite Balaam\u2019s increasing desperate curses. Amen (Deuteronomy 23:5).<\/p>\n

\u25aa\ufe0e The Preacher can be reached at +2348035115164; +2348035115025; info@thepreacher.info;<\/strong>
\nhttp:\/\/thepreacherdiary.com\/; <\/strong>
\nhttps:\/\/facebook.com\/www.thepreacher.info\/<\/strong>
\nwww.thepreacher.info;<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From: The Preacher And he brought him into the field of Zophim, to the top of Pisgah, and built seven altars, and offered a bullock and a ram on every altar. Numbers 23:14 1. How Many Altars Make a Curse? Balaam was a famed prophet of international repute whom kings often hired to curse their […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":61713,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5772],"tags":[5461,5462,5463],"class_list":["post-61712","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-faith","tag-altars","tag-balaam","tag-curse"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61712","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=61712"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61712\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/61713"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=61712"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=61712"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=61712"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}