![Seeing the Urgency of Growth in Life Unto Maturity for God to Gain His Army [In the Picture: The more we pray at the incense altar, the more we will prealize that the need for maturity is desperate, adn the greater will be the urgency to pray for the growth in life unto maturity.]](https://i0.wp.com/agodman.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/pray-incense-altar-we-need-maturity.jpg?resize=750%2C494&ssl=1 "Seeing the Urgency of Growth in Life Unto Maturity for God to Gain His Army [In the Picture: The more we pray at the incense altar, the more we will prealize that the need for maturity is desperate, adn the greater will be the urgency to pray for the growth in life unto maturity.]")
I am still pondering over Exodus 30, where God gives precise instructions on how to make the incense golden altar, and then immediately after that there’s the numbering of the people of Israel.
This shows that the intercessory prayer at the incense altar issues in the numbering of God’s people that they would form an army to fight for God’s interest on earth and defeat God’s enemies. Without such an army, the answer to the prayers at the incense altar cannot be poured out on the earth, and God cannot move.
This army is formed only of the strong ones, the males of 20 years old and older, who can fight for God. We need to see the desperate need for us to grow in life unto maturity so that we may be qualified to be enrolled in God’s army to fight against His enemy and for His interest.
At the incense altar, we need to pray for our growth in life and the other saints’ growth in life unto maturity so that we together may be formed into God’s army!
How much did we grow in life in the last weeks or months? How much did we grow unto maturity this past year? We need to tell the Lord,
Lord, make us desperate to pray for the growth in the divine life unto maturity. Lord Jesus, grow in us. Lord, grow in all the saints. Bring us on unto maturity. May we not remain infants and immature, but be those who grow in life to reach maturation that we may be qualified to be in Your army. Lord, grow in us for the army to be produced! Lord, grow in all the saints so that You may gain the army to fight against Your enemy!
The Need for Maturity in Life
Not everyone can join the army, no matter how much they want to; only those qualified, mature, and ready can be enrolled in the army.
On the one hand, all God’s people can freely enjoy Christ as our redemption (the Passover lamb), but on the other hand, not all of God’s people but a small number of them are qualified to be part of God’s hosts, His army, to fight for His interests on the earth (Exo. 30:14).
We need to grow in life unto maturity – leaving the word of the beginning of Christ, let us be brought on to maturity (Heb. 5:14—6:1; Phil. 3:15).
Being mature is not related to being wise or intelligent in our mind, but rather to growing in the divine life and allowing Christ to make His home in our hearts to the uttermost (1 Cor. 2:6; Eph. 3:16).
All God’s people are redeemed back to God – we all are qualified to be redeemed back to God and enjoy Christ as the Lamb of God. But most of God’s people are still infants, and there is a great need for growth in life unto maturity!
Out of more than two million people in Israel at that time, only 603.550 were qualified to be God’s army – less than a third of God’s people.
We need to be those who pray at the incense altar one with Christ for our growth in life and for the growth in the divine life of the saints unto maturity.
There is an urgent need of growth in life unto maturity that many of God’s people would be formed in God’s army to fight for God and His interest on earth!
Will You Grow in Life Every Day?
The Lord is calling today and He is asking us,
Will you grow in life today? Will you grow unto maturity until you become one with Christ in everything and in every way? Will you become one who through the growth in life and maturation is qualified to fight for the Lord?
Today is the day in which God is calling His armies, His mature people who are full-grown in life and who will go forward to fight for the Lord. He has been desiring to gain His army for 2000 years, and He is still waiting for His people to grow in life.
We need to see the urgency of prayer for the growth in life of all the brothers and the sisters to be part of God’s army! Without God’s army He has no ground and no way to operate on earth and accomplish His economy in a full way.
![We need to see the urgency of prayer for the growth in life of all the brothers and the sisters to be part of God's army! Without God's army He has no ground and no way to operate on earth and accomplish His economy in a full way. [In the Picture: Lord, I mean business with You about this matter of prayer. I call heaven and earth to witness that from this time forth I will have a life of prayer. I will not be a prayerless person. Rather, I will be a praying person. ]](https://i0.wp.com/agodman.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/lord-i-mean-business-with-you-about-prayer.jpg?resize=800%2C519&ssl=1 "We need to see the urgency of prayer for the growth in life of all the brothers and the sisters to be part of God's army! Without God's army He has no ground and no way to operate on earth and accomplish His economy in a full way. [In the Picture: Lord, I mean business with You about this matter of prayer. I call heaven and earth to witness that from this time forth I will have a life of prayer. I will not be a prayerless person. Rather, I will be a praying person. ]")
Only when such an army of matured ones is formed will God be able to move on earth for His purpose, and nothing can stand in His way to accomplish what He desires to accomplish.
If we see this, if we see that our growth in life hinders or helps God in His endeavor to bring in His kingdom and build up His Body to consummate this age and bring in His eternal kingdom, how much more will we desperately pray!
All God’s chosen people, all the saints in the church life, all believers in Christ, and all the genuine Christians need to grow in life unto maturity to be formed as God’s army to fight for His interest and defeat His enemy on the earth! Who will pray for this?
Becoming Males, those Strong in Spirit
In the aspect of fighting for God’s interest by being formed as God’s army, we need to be the males, those strong in the Lord, over 20 years old, mature in the divine life. Both brothers and sisters, in God’s eyes, need to be those strong in spirit and mature in life to be the males in God’s army.
Just as the brothers need to be the females in the divine romance, allowing our Husband to court us and woo us, so the sisters also need to be males in the spiritual realm to fight for God’s interest as part of God’s army.
Too many brothers are “females” in the aspect of the army, not being mature in life yet. We all need to grow and be strong in spirit, no longer being tossed away by waves of teaching in the slight of men (Eph. 4:14), but rather being those who intercede before God at the incense altar for growth in life unto maturity!
You cannot “make yourself grow in life”, but you can open to the Lord and learn to cooperate with Him by praying in spirit, at the incense altar, for God’s growth and increase in your being!
Lord Jesus, grow in us unto maturity for You to obtain an army. Lord, form the army today on earth to fight for Your interest and defeat Your enemy. Lord, raise up many saints who would pray at the incense altar for their growth in life and the for the growth in life unto maturity of all the saints! Gain many more mature ones! Lord, gain many more who are strong spiritually and are mature to fight for You as Your army!
References and Further Reading
- Sharing inspired from brother Benson’s sharing in the message and portions in, Life-study of Exodus (msgs. 149-152), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on Prayer and the Lord’s Move, week 3 (entitled, Praying at the Incense Altar for the Formation of an Army to Fight for God’s Move on Earth).
- Further reading: The Experience of Life (by Witness Lee, chapter 19).
- Hymns on this topic:
# Arise! the holy bargain strike— / The fragment for the whole— / All men and all events alike / Must serve the ransomed soul. / All things are yours when you are His, / And He and you are one; / A boundless life in Him there is, / And kingdom yet to come!
# Let Your life within me saturate, / Let Your life within me permeate. / May all Your fulness be expressed through me / And my being be conformed to Thee.
# “Amen, Jesus,” is our prayer / To the purging work, whate’er; / Now Thy church must desperate be / More the growth in life to see. - Pictures source: with permission via, Inspiration Unlimited (Prayer and the Lord’s Move set).
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The prayer offered at the incense altar is for God’s move. This intercessory prayer issues in the numbering of God’s people to form an army to fight against God’s enemies, who oppose His move, that is, against the rulers and authorities in the heavenlies, typified by the inhabitants of the good land (see footnote 1 on Exo. 23:23). When God has such an army, He is able to move on earth for His interests. Thus, there is a direct relationship between the expiation silver and the incense altar. (Exo. 30:12, footnote 1)
ARE WE MATURE ENOUGH TO PAY THE PRICE?
Exo 30:12 When you take the sum of the children of Israel, according to their numbering, every man shall give a ransom for himself to Jehovah…
14 Each one who was enrolled among their numbering, from 20 years old & over; shall give the heave offering.
This allegory in this portion of the Bible also says that out of approximately 2 million believers only less than 1/3 were qualified to pay the silver heave offering. What makes us spiritually weak or strong is a matter of spiritual maturity in the growth of life in God. ‘The need for maturity is desperate.’
Oh Lord, let us pay the price in order to become qualified mature ones so there is a way for You to move towards Your hearts desire & bring in the new Kingdom age here on earth.
Amen
God’s army can formed from God’s chosen people, and only males who have reached the age of twenty are qualified to be part of this army. Spiritually speaking, this means only those who are spiritually mature and strong in spirit can be numbered in the military census of God’s army. Saints, if we would be in the army to fight for God’s move, we need to mature! We need to GROW in life until we come to the spiritual age of twenty. The intercession offered at the incense altar is for this growth and maturity so that the army can be formed. Only when such an army has been formed will God be able to fight against His enemies and move on earth for His purpose.
Amen Lord, cause us to grow day by day unto maturity be your bridal army. Both the bride and the army needs maturity in life. Don't forget a fighter is a lover. Lord, grant us normal growth in 2013 so that we can be enlisted in your army to fight for your move on earth.
Lord, open our eyes to see how necessary it is for us to pray intercessory prayers at the incense alter! Make us those who pray with You as our center that we may grow and mature in life. Do show us that there is such a desperate need to mature in life – that we may become those qualified to be a part of Your army!
I am very touched by the fact that everyone, including the infants, could participate in the Passover Lamb, but only males aged 20 or older were qualified to give a ransom silver for himself to Jehovah. And I am very impressed that the intercessory prayer at the golden incense altar issues in the numbering of God’s people to form an army to fight against God’s enemies, who oppose His move on earth. For God’s people to reach incense altar is a very significant thing. They had to pass through various stations, enjoying different aspects of Christ in the Outer Court, the Holy Place and Holy of Holies, and they arrived at the incense altar to pray for God’s move and His interests. In the wilderness eating manna could not issue in the formation of the army, but enjoying Christ as the tabernacle with different items issues in the intercession for the formation of the army of God. The golden incense altar is our destiny and our destination. Here we pray for the growth and maturity in all the saints, including ourselves, so that an army of the Lord can be formed to fight against His enemies, who are against His move on earth. ‘O Lord, impress us deeply, the matter of maturity and Your urgent need of an army…”
We need a Gods army means His people to defeat God enemies,we need a spiritual prayer for the incense altar.Need prayer of maturity in life.Christ our redemption !