the recovery of living a life of the altar and the tent in the church life today

I was recently impressed with the life of Abraham and our following in his footsteps. Our father Abraham (Gal. 3:7) lived a life by faith – a life of the altar and the tent. God appeared to him when he was still in his father’s house and in his home land, and God called him out!

It is the same with us – God appeared to us and He called us out of whatever and wherever we are! Also, God didn’t give Abraham a map for the road or a destination – He wanted that Abraham would follow God and His presence as his living roadmap…

Abraham – the father of faith

Many believers know this and we all appreciate the matter of Abraham being the father of faith. But he was not a “super-man” or a “giant of faith” as we may think – in himself and out of himself, Abraham was a failure just like us. It was only when the God of glory appeared to him that something was produced in Abraham – therefore he believed. Faith is not something in and of ourselves, and it is not a capacity in us enabling us to “look into the future and believe what we see that will happen”… No! Faith is a reaction to the appearing of the God of glory!

This is what happened to Abraham – the father of faith had faith because the God of glory appeared to him and infused faith into him! Abraham was a man just like us, but he had a continual appearing of the God of glory, and something happened: he believed!

This believing as a result of God’s appearing was acknowledged by God as being righteousness! Faith means that GOD IS AND WE ARE NOT. God is, and we are not! To believe is to believe that God is – and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek for Him (Heb. 11:6).

Abraham as the father of faith did not have faith of himself – he had the appearing of the God of glory and this infused faith into his being…

Transfusion, infusion, and saturation

When God appears to us, when we see Him face to face, something of God is being transfused into us – His element is now transfused into our being.

Once this transfusion takes place, there’s something going on in us – the element of God is being infused into every part of our being!

Before God appeared to us, we did not have faith or we did not even think of God and His purpose; but when He appeared to us, we have His element transfused into us and infused into every part of our inner being… Slowly, this element saturates us so that we cannot help it but believe!

This is faith: the element of God transfused into use, infused into us, and saturating us!

A life of the altar

What does it mean to have a life of the altar? This altar is not a sin-offering altar but a burnt offering altar, the altar on which the fire should never go out. The altar signifies our consecration – daily, we need to consecrate ourselves to the Lord.

He loved us so much that He died for us so that we would no longer live to ourselves but to Him who died for us! Every morning we need to consecrate ourselves to the Lord afresh by giving Him more ground in our being, by giving Him the consent to operate in us and do whatever He wants to do in us.

Our daily life as believers is a life of the altar. This means that we do not live according to what we want or what we think it is right or wrong, but we take Christ as our life and lay our hands on His head to be identified with Him!

We no longer live by ourselves and no longer walk by ourselves – we forsake everything we are and can do by our natural man, and take Christ as our life and His presence as our living road map (Gal. 2:20).

Saints, daily and even many times during the day, we need to consecrate ourselves – with all our activities, desires, emotions, situations, members, etc – to the Lord, giving Him the ground to operate in our being!

A life of the tent

The life of consecration issues in a life of the tent. What is a life of the tent? We are here on earth not as earth dwellers but as sojourners and strangers, just like our father Abraham (see Heb. 11:8-10).

We sojourn on earth as pilgrims and foreigners, since our country and our commonwealth is not here – our country is in the heavens, and our city has the foundations – the New Jerusalem (Phil. 3:20)!

The spontaneous issue of living a life of true consecration daily is that we realize we are sojourning on the earth, ready to move where the Lord wants us to be, following the Lamb wherever He may go!

The Lord Jesus when He was on the earth said that He has no place to lay His head, and the apostles themselves were sojourning and traveling (Matt. 8:20; Luke 9:58). When the church in Jerusalem got comfortable and didn’t spread outside of Jerusalem, the Lord had to send persecution (see Acts 8:1).

This world is not worthy of us – we are the saints of God! We are here as citizens of another kingdom, the kingdom of God! We are here for the interest of our God, and we need to be ready to move whenever He wants us to move and wherever He wants us to move! He never gives us more than we can bear, nor will He ask us to go where He won’t be our continual supply for the way and the stay!

Not being set, settled, and occupied

One last thing concerning the story of Abraham and its practical application to our life – we need to NOT be set, settled, and occupied. To be set means simply that we don’t want to change – we can’t change. To be settled means that we don’t want to move – we can’t move for the Lord!

To be occupied means that we are not available – we are too busy! Those who live a life of the altar and the tent are NOT set, settled, and occupied. They are open to change, they are ready to move, and they are available for the Lord to do what He wants to do in them and with them.

May the Lord recover the living of a life of the altar and the tent in the church life today.

[sharing inspired from a recent message on, The Recovery of Living the Life of the Altar and the Tent and Planting Church Trees for the Corporate Expression of the Triune God as Life (given in 2009 in a conference). Picture source: The Life of the Altar and the Tent, Watchman Nee.]

Lord Jesus, make us the real descendants of Abraham, those who walk in his footsteps. We love Your appearing, Lord, and we want You to appear to us again and again. We do not have faith in ourselves – it is Your appearing that causes a reaction in our being! Lord, transfuse us, infuse us, and saturate us with Your element and Your heart’s desire! Under Your continual saturation we can live a life of the altar and the tent!