The Couple s Altar

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Telephone numbers 0703 03636 59 0703 76811 98 Email address lsmedia at livingseed.org Or visit our website at www.livingseed.org Let us sit back and listen as the servant of God brings forth the Word of Life. The couple's altar. I want you to say it after me, couple's altar.

Yes, couple's altar. And we'll be looking at some very familiar scriptures to guide our thoughts before we pray this morning. And I'm keying it to the prayer that my brother prayed the other day.

Even though these scriptures are very familiar, we pray that new wine will come out of them to us as couples in Jesus' name. The first scriptures I want us to read is Matthew chapter 18. Matthew chapter 18.

And we read from verse 18. It says, Verily I say unto you, that's Jesus speaking. Whatsoever you shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven.

And whatsoever you shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Again, I say unto you, that if two of you shall agree on earth as touching anything that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven. For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.

Hallelujah. We'll read the next scripture in Luke. In Luke chapter 18.

We have just read Matthew 18. This time around we are reading Luke chapter 18. Verse number 1. Jesus again is the one that is speaking.

And he spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray and not to faint. Men ought always to pray and not to faint. I will read two more scriptures and then we'll take off from there.

The other scripture that I'm sure you can quote easily is found in 1 Thessalonians chapter 5. 1 Thessalonians chapter 5 verse 17. It says, pray without ceasing. Pray without ceasing.

And then the last for now is 1 John. 1 John chapter 3. 1 John chapter 3. 1 John chapter 3 and I will read verse 22. It says, and whatsoever we ask, we receive of him because we keep his commandments and do those things that are pleasing in his sight.

And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him because we keep his commandments and do those things that are pleasing in his sight. Hallelujah. Corpus alter.

What is corpus alter? We can describe corpus alter as a time or moment that is deliberately set apart by the couple to meet with God. To have fellowship with God and with themselves. The two of them, husband and wife, very deliberately setting apart or moments together to meet with God.

To worship him. To share scriptures. To intercede.

And to supplicate. Corpus alter. A time that once you get married, you need to constantly set apart.

Two of you. To meet with God. To worship him.

To fellowship with him. To share scriptures. To receive instructions from him.

And to pray. You know, some of us, especially those of us that, you know, were Christians, were born again before we got married. And we had the opportunity to enter into proper courtship.

What I would call proper courtship. I know that somehow when we were at that level of attending corpus, when we were still attending, we did set apart at least maybe one day in a week. That we decided that this day we must meet to pray and to study the Bible.

I'm sure that several of us did that. Can I confirm that? Did you do that kind of a thing during your courtship? Yes, some of us did. And I knew that it was a good time.

We were always looking forward to it. Even some of us that were not necessarily staying in the same town during the courtship. That was not a problem.

We still set apart and say, on Friday, every week, we must, you know, join our spirit and our hearts together wherever we are. And talk to God concerning our future home. And probably listed out common prayer points.

I still see a lot of attending corpus doing that. Especially now that the communication has become easy. Some people, they will be praying on phone.

Extra cool. Some even exchange a particular network whereby the cost is not much. And they make an arrangement that they can be on the phone praying and talking for hours.

Some, they set apart maybe early in the morning or late in the night. And they did that. That was good.

But I can also imagine that as soon as the marriage now took place. Somehow, somehow, somehow. That arrangement began to suffer.

In a classical Christian home, there are supposed to be these three critical altars that must never be allowed to suffer. Which, already we said, is the personal altar that was dealt with yesterday. This critical altar of the couple.

And then, of course, the family altar that God will be speaking to us later. None of this altar is expected to suffer. None of this altar should be allowed to go down.

And I want those of us that are particularly still new and fresh in our marriages. Maybe you are still one year, two years, three years old. I want you to pay particular attention.

Because your journey is long. And you need to gather enough momentum. If by this time, when you are just one year, two years, you cannot have a proper couple's altar.

Then, it will not be too good. And even for those of us that, by the grace of God, we have been on for some years. And if we look as if now, things have become normal and maybe monotonous.

And we are no more doing it. I also want to say to you this morning. That we are going to cry to God together.

To collect grace to revive your couple's altar in Jesus' name. Now. In the couple's altar.

It is a very great opportunity. For the couple to interact with themselves and with God. That first scripture that we read in Matthew chapter 18.

Anytime I read that scripture. Even though Jesus was talking to the disciples. I look as if at it in this way.

Verse 18 says, Yes. That power is given to the church. From here, the church derives its power to bind and to lose.

Just like we are here now as the church of Jesus Christ. We can bind, we can decree, we can request and God will heal us. But in this verse 19.

I personally believe that it is of a more advantage to couples. This verse 19. Verse 19 says, When I see this kind of scripture.

I was asking myself, I said. Yes, there are usually many, many tools of people that can be formed. Maybe two friends.

Two friends. Two boyfriends. Two girls that are friends.

Maybe you are close to your mother. You pray together. Or you are close to your father.

You pray together. And sometimes you have a prayer partner. But you know this other arrangement that I am mentioning.

Very soon it scatters. Even if you were praying with your mother. A time will come that you will not be able to stay with her again.

Even if you had a prayer partner. Very soon you will separate. Even if you have.

Even if you have. You know a friend. That you are so close.

Very soon something will separate you. So who else. Are the two people that should take maximum advantage of this.

This scripture. The answer I am getting every time I read it. Is that it is for husband and wife.

It is for you and your wife. I want you to turn to your wife and your husband and say. See this scripture is meant for us.

This scripture is particularly meant for us. Look at Jesus and say. Again I say unto you.

That if two of you shall agree on half. As touching anything. Anything.

This should be a motivation. This should serve as an encouragement. For every Christian couple.

To want to pray and to agree on things. All the time. But.

Experience has shown that. Of the three authors. That have.

To be maintained in a Christian home. The personal author. The couples author.

And the family author. The one that suffers most. Is the couples author.

And I am asking myself. Why is it so? Something is quietly telling me that. He is the devil.

The devil seems to have read this particular verse. The devil seems to have understood this particular verse. Much more than some of us.

So. He is saying that. Look at the kind of provision that.

Master Jesus has given to the church. Especially husband and wife that are married. That if they shall agree on anything.

If they shall ask anything. And then. I can imagine that the devil and his demons.

They are always holding meetings. To strategize. To see how to make sure.

That many, many, many, many, many, many couples. Do not agree. Do not pray together.

So you find out that. Several, several, several, several couples. They don't pray together.

There are some couples that are trying. In their quiet time. Their own personal devotion.

No problem. There are even many of them that have been helped. Somehow.

To have. A family author. Because.

Children are around. Other people are around. So.

Assignment has been given. At a particular time. Somebody will.

Start the. Family devotion. Like in my.

In our home. Family devotion is six o'clock. And whether I am still in my room.

Or my wife is still in. In the room. Somebody would have started it.

So even if we are not yet ready. We have to join them. There are some.

Families that are like that. But. This particular one.

Couples author. Suffers most. He looks as if the devil is saying.

I will not allow them. To be together. To pray.

And to agree. Therefore. You will discover.

Several. Several. Several.

Several couples. That are not praying. Together.

And there are several reasons for that. You know. One day we were doing.

A small. Marriage seminar. And this matter came up.

And as we were talking about it. There was a small group of couples. And then we said.

Couples are supposed to have. Prayer. Author.

Individual prayer author. Couples author. And family author.

And we are all listening. Then we said. I don't know why it happened.

I said. How many of you here. Are having.

Family author. Raise up your hand. I hope I will not be tempted.

To do that kind of thing. Here this morning. And.

We were shocked. To see. Few families.

Then I said. We said. Okay.

How many of you here. Are having. Couples author.

Time when. Two of you. Pray together.

In fact. That was even more shocking. The number reduced.

Then we started asking. Excuse me. Brother.

Why are you not having. Time to pray together. What the answer that.

We were receiving that day. I have not recovered from it. You know because.

It took us back to. Genesis chapter. Three that we have been studying.

That. When they asked Adam. Why did you do this.

He said. The woman. Now we're asking the man.

We're asking the woman. Who said. Excuse me sir.

What happened. That you are not having. Prayer time.

With your wife. He said. When you ask somebody.

To come let us pray. And somebody is not ready. So what do you do.

You have to pray. Your own prayer. And go.

Then we asked the. Woman. Excuse me man.

Why are you not. Praying with your husband. He said.

Excuse me. When somebody say. You want to pray with you.

Somebody is now using Bible. To flog you. What.

That is the kind of answer. We are receiving. Somebody wanted to pray.

And then the other person. Is sleeping. So what do you do.

Somebody say. You want to pray. And the other person.

Is not ready. The first question. I was asking.

Excuse me. Who is this somebody. That was.

I said. This thing. That started.

From the garden of Eden. He said. My wife.

He said. The woman. So this thing.

Has not stopped. This is the two of you. You are saying.

Somebody. And you are talking about. Your husband.

You are saying. Somebody. Somebody.

I hope there is no somebody. Here this morning. So for some people.

It is. Just such. Flimsy reasons.

May I. Tell you that. No reason is enough. To stop.

Your couple's altar. And. Some other people.

Is not that they are quarreling. They don't have. Somebody says.

Somebody this. Some people. As a. Entitled in marriage.

They became. So busy. So busy.

So. They go out. And.

Somebody. One of them. Is outside.

For a long time. And then. He comes back.

Very tired. And then. The man.

He. Comes back. And then.

He's tired. He want to eat. And bath.

And go and sleep. So the wife. May not want to.

Disturb her husband. So. Somehow.

Somehow. Activities have. The activities.

Of the husband. And wife. They don't rhyme.

So they don't. Have time. And for some.

Couples. They don't pray together. Because.

They are careless. They are just. Simply careless.

It's not as if. They are so busy. And it's not as if.

They are quarreling. Maybe because. God has made things.

So easy for them. They don't even see. The need.

To. To sit together. To pray.

The man would have. Done his quiet time. Very well.

And goes. Goes away. And then the woman.

Would have. Also done. Taking her time.

To do. Her own quiet time. She's okay.

And then. They may even have. A family altar.

So. Somehow. They think that.

That is sufficient. And they neglect. This.

Great. Provision. In this.

Retreat. God has repeatedly. Said to us.

That. Every couple. Every couple.

That God. Puts together. God.

Put them together. For. A specific.

Specific. Peculiar. Assignment.

That. They are. Supposed to.

Undertake. For heaven. During their.

Lifetime. And. There is no.

Number. Of time. That.

Can be said. That is too much. It looks as if.

Several. Couples. Do not understand.

Marriage. Like that. That look.

Oh. This marriage. First.

There. One. Divine.

Assignment. That. God.

Expect. Us. To.

Accomplish. With. This.

Marriage. Every. Other.

Thing. Is. Queuing.

Behind. The. Issue.

Of saying. Companionship. And.

Children. And then. Emotional.

Satisfaction. And all that. They.

Queuing. Behind. This.

Divine. Assignment. And you know.

That. If we understand. It.

That way. We also know. That when you have a divine assignment.

A divine assignment. Is. Not.

Easy to be accomplished. On. Earth.

Satan. We. We.

We. We. Make.

Sure. That. Create.

Lot. Of. Bottleneck.

There. Is. Never.

A. Time. God. Give.

A. Man. Divine. Assignment.

Even. Though. That.

Assignment. Is. Still.

Going. To. Be.

Accomplished. Through. The.

Power. Grace. Of.

God. Yet. The.

Man. On. Ground.

Has. A. Role. To.

Play. To. Make.

Sure. That. That.

Assignment. Succeeds. That's.

Why. God. Was.

Telling. Joshua. Even.

Has. Told. Joshua.

That. As. I. Was.

With. Moses. So.

Will. I. Be. With.

You. No. Man.

Will. Be. Able.

To. Withstand. You.

All. The. days of your life, even when he's finished saying that, he still said, God's you be strong and be of good courage.

Why? Because you are going to face situation that are very frightening, that will make you want to collapse. So each and every one of us today, first you must catch what God has been echoing over and over again since we came here, that look, your marriage is meant to accomplish a divine assignment and that divine assignment does not come cheap. Accomplishing it does not come cheap.

That then calls for serious, consistent, concerted prayers between the two of you. I am never tired of looking at the life of Mary and Joseph, the mother and the earthly father of Jesus Christ. I can just imagine when God gave them that assignment before they entered the marriage.

Thank God they knew the assignment for them before the marriage. Some of us maybe we didn't even know what was going to be our assignment, but now that you are married, if you have not known, please try to know. Mary and Joseph, they understood that the principal reason for that marriage was that the two of them will be used to bring the Messiah, not only for the children of Israel, the Messiah and the Savior of the whole world.

They have been saddled with that responsibility to raise Jesus. They are to make sure that nothing go wrong with that young man, that the years he's going to spend in their home are. And I can imagine Mary and Joseph, how did they handle that assignment? Do you think they are the people that this one will sleep and the other one will sleep and this one will not pray and say, eh, since you are not ready.

How bad. I can imagine what that did to their prayer life. Is it when just a few days after the dedication of Jesus, news came that somebody is seeking the life of that child.

And Mary has not even fully recovered from the bath. And they have to run, not run from one city to another city within it. They have to run across the border to another country.

And they became refugees. And when they were in Egypt, they were not even in a country that is friendly with Israel. You can imagine that they were high.

Do you think it was time for them to be relaxed in the place of prayer? I don't know whether they were praying for the man to die. You know, nowadays, they said, all those who say, I will not, eh, be this, fall down and die. I don't think they were praying that prayer.

But at the same time, they were praying that God, you will take us back home. When it is time. I don't imagine that they joke with that assignment.

That is why at every spot, at every point of their assignment, you will see the serious temptation they face, serious challenges, and somehow, somehow, somehow, they will overcome it. Until Jesus was released. I don't think God is expecting anything less from us.

That I have a divine assignment on my hands. And my wife and I, we are the principal partner here on earth for this particular assignment with God. And God is going to hold us responsible.

How are we going to handle it? And you know, in carrying out divine assignment on earth, there are so many things that money cannot handle. You know, some of us think that with money, we can do all things. No, no, no, no, no, no.

You know that money cannot handle several things. At least, I have known it from my own, our own assignment. Imagine that we are in Lagos.

And God has said, you and your wife, for the time you are going to be here, you must ensure that this city receives some respite. These people that are behaving like this, behaving like this, behaving like this, disciples must be made among them. You must make disciples among the bus driver, the this, the police, the this.

Is it money that is going to handle that kind of work? Is it money that I need? How can I not, you know, embark on serious prayer every day as I see them, as I see the whole thing going up and down, confusion everywhere? I cannot afford not to, you know, have time and my own prayer alone is not sufficient. So, when I see my wife and I, we are praying together, I become a little bit more relaxed, more confident. So, husband and wife, you will rise up from here today to revive your person, your couple's altar.

Hallelujah. Now, in your couple's altar, there are some things that you handle there that are not meant for the family altar. You know, in the couple's altar, you are dealing with the marriage itself, you are dealing with the family, you are dealing with the children, you are dealing with the assignment on your hand, you are dealing with the church, you are dealing with the nations, you are dealing with the disciples and all the people that have asked you to pray for them.

And in all these issues that affect either the marriage or the children, the family member, the disciples that are around, there are some issues that may be concerning them that you cannot present at the couple's, at the family altar. If, for instance, even one of the children is misbehaving and he or she is not behaving very well and the child has already grown, you may have rebuked the child. You cannot bring it to the family and say, hey, let's pray for Kemi, that the way she's going around with words, the way she's doing this, let's pray for her.

You don't do that at the family altar. You may pray general prayer and say, let's pray for all the children that God will help them to do well. It is at the couple's altar, you bring out the little, little things and say, Kai, the way this girl is dressing nowadays, the way she's putting on this, putting on this one, how do we talk to her? She's not hearing us.

And then you pick it up as father and mother and you present it before the Lord. There are so many serious, silent, secret issues that you cannot handle alone. It's not sufficient to handle it alone.

It is not proper for you to bring it at the family altar, but the two of you are the appropriate persons who are having the biggest stake to handle it. Hallelujah. Now, I want to deal with the issue that I think I said some women were saying during that seminar that I cited, that one of the reasons why they find it difficult to sit with their husband to pray or to share scripture is that many times when they sit down, that is the time that the man, the husband will look for a scripture to bring out all the sins and all their, all her weaknesses.

If you actually in a marriage setup, such temptations are very, very rife because the many, many, many things that are going on between the two of you, you see each other's weaknesses and things like that. When you sit down as husband and wife, especially when you want to study scripture, husbands, let me call you husband, answer me. Husbands.

Say, husbands. You don't preach to your wife. In fact, you don't even say, you don't even say, I want to teach you.

You don't teach your wife. What do you do when you open scripture? You share. What did I say? There's a difference between preaching, teaching, and sharing.

Like I'm doing now, I'm preaching to you now, and you can't answer me. So, a wife, a marriage atmosphere is different from that. For instance, you sense that your wife has been stubborn and is not obeying you, and all that, and all that.

And then, when you now have the opportunity to sit down to do couple's altar, and say, hey, Ephesians 5, 20, 22. You don't start from 21, no. You know, before 22, there is 21.

What is 21? Submitting yourself to another in the fear of God. Many husbands, they don't normally see that one. They go to 21 and say, wives.

Submit yourself to your own husband as unto the Lord. Submit to him in all things, even as the church is subject unto Christ. And then, you start hammering on that and say, yes.

And I know that I, as far as I am, as this marriage is concerned, I am the head. And you are preaching, you are preaching, you are doing everything. First, you will notice that your wife is already tuned off.

She is not getting that message. She is only waiting for you to finish. When you, the mother and the earthly father of Jesus Christ, I can just imagine when God gave them that assignment before they entered the marriage.

Thank God, they knew the assignment for them before the marriage. Some of us, maybe we didn't even know what was going to be our assignment. But now that you are married, if you have not known, please try to know.

Mary and Joseph, they understood that the principal reason for that marriage was that the two of them will be used to bring the Messiah, not only for the children of Israel, the Messiah and the Savior of the whole world. They have been saddled with that responsibility to raise Jesus. They are to make sure that nothing go wrong with that young man, that the years he's going to spend in their home are.

And I can imagine Mary and Joseph, how did they handle that assignment? Do you think they are the people that, this one will sleep and the other one will sleep, and this one will not pray and say, since you are not ready. I can imagine what that did to their prayer life. Is it when, just a few days after the dedication of Jesus, news came that somebody is seeking the life of that child.

And Mary has not even fully recovered from the bath. And they have to run, not run from one city to another city within it, they have to run across the border to another country. And they became refugees.

And when they were in Egypt, they were not even in a country that is friendly with Israel. You can imagine that they were hiding. Do you think it was time for them to be relaxed in a place of prayer? I don't know whether they were praying for the man to die.

You know, nowadays, they said, all those who say, I will not be this, fall down and die. I don't think they were praying that prayer. But at the same time, they were praying that God, you will take us back home when it is time.

I don't imagine that they joke with that assignment. That is why at every spot, at every point of their assignment, you will see the serious temptation they face, serious challenges, and somehow, somehow, somehow, they will overcome it until Jesus was released. I don't think God is expecting anything less from us, that I have a divine assignment on my hands.

And my wife and I, we are the principal partner here on earth for this particular assignment with God. And God is going to hold us responsible. How are we going to handle it? And you know, in carrying out divine assignment on earth, there are so many things that money cannot handle.

You know, some of us think that with money, we can do all things. No, no, no, no, no, no. You know that money cannot handle several things.

At least, I have known it from my own, our own assignment. Imagine that we are in Lagos, and God has said, you and your wife, for the time you are going to be here, you must ensure that this city receives some respite. These people that are behaving like this, behaving like this, behaving like this, disciples must be made among them.

You must make disciples among the bus driver, the this, the police, the this. Is it money that is going to handle that kind of work? Is it money that I need? How can I not, you know, embark on serious prayer every day as I see them, as I see the whole thing going up and down, confusion everywhere? I cannot afford not to, you know, have time. And my own prayer alone is not sufficient.

So when I see my wife and I, we are praying together, I become a little bit more relaxed, more confident. So husband and wife, you will rise up from here today to revive your couple's altar. Hallelujah.

Now, in your couple's altar, there are some things that you handle there that are not meant for the family altar. You know, in the couple's altar, you are dealing with the marriage itself, you are dealing with the family, you are dealing with the children, you are dealing with the assignment on your hand, you are dealing with the church, you are dealing with the nations, you are dealing with the disciples and all the people that have asked you to pray for them. And in all these issues that affect either the marriage, the children, the family members, the disciples that are around, there are some issues that may be concerning them that you cannot present at the couple's, at the family altar.

If, for instance, even one of the children is misbehaving and he or she is not behaving very well and the child has already grown, you may have rebuked the child. You cannot bring it to the family and say, hey, let's pray for Kemi, that the way she's going around with words, the way she's doing this, you don't do that at the family altar. You may pray general prayer and say, let's pray for all the children that God will help them to do well.

It is at the couple's altar, you bring out the little little things, the way this girl is dressing nowadays, the way she is putting on this, putting on this one, how do we talk to her, she's not hearing us, and then you pick it up as father and mother, you present it before the Lord. There are so many serious, silent, secret issues that you cannot handle alone. It's not sufficient to handle it alone.

It is not proper for you to bring it at the family altar, but the two of you are the appropriate persons who are having the biggest stake to handle it. Hallelujah. Now, I want to deal with the issue that I think I said some women were saying during that seminar that I cited, that one of the reasons why they find it difficult to sit with their husband to pray or to share scripture is that many times when they sit down, that is the time that the man, the husband, will look for a scripture to bring out all the sins and all her weaknesses.

If you actually, in a marriage setup, such temptations are very very rife because the many many many things that are going on between the two of you, you see each other's weaknesses and things like that. When you sit down as husband and wife, especially when you want to study scripture, husbands, let me call you husband, answer me. Husbands.

Say, husbands. You don't preach to your wife. In fact, you don't even say, you don't even say, I want to teach you.

You don't teach your wife. What do you do when you open scripture? You share. What did I say? There's a difference between preaching, teaching, and sharing.

Like I'm doing now, I'm preaching to you now, and you can't answer me. So, a wife, a marriage atmosphere is different from that. For instance, you sense that your wife has been stubborn and is not obeying you and all that and all that, and then when you now have the opportunity to sit down to do couple's altar, I say, hey, Ephesians 5, 20, 22.

You don't start from 21, no. You know, before 22, there is 21. What is 21? Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God.

Many husbands, they don't normally see that one. They go to 22 and say, wives, submit yourself to your own husband as unto the Lord. Submit to him in all things, even as the church is subject unto Christ, and then you start hammering on that and say, yes, and I know that I, as far as I am, as this marriage is concerned, I am the head, and you are preaching, you are preaching.

First, you will notice that your wife is already tuned off. She's not getting that message. She's only waiting for you to finish.

When you finish it, I also have a revelation of that scripture. If you check verse 24, I say, after verse 22, 23, 24, that same scripture says, husband, love your wife as Christ what? Loved the church and gave himself for it. So, there has to be a balance.

If I must submit to you, then you must love me. So, no love, no submission. The equation balance.

Shall we share the grace? Praise the Lord. So, how do you handle those situations? Whenever you have time to share scripture with your wife as a man, as the head, nobody is arguing with you. It's not a debatable matter whether you are the head.

You are the head. You simply bring out this, even if the scripture is pointing at her, point the scripture to yourself. Say, the way this thing is touching me, I just felt that, Kai, even as a person, I'm looking at Jesus, how he submits to God and I hear Jesus saying that, even the statement he makes, he has to first of all hear it from the Father.

Even the miracles that he does, he has to first of all see the Father. Look at me here, I talk, you know, just, I don't even subject my statement to my Lord. I don't even ask the Holy Spirit, should I say this, should I say that? This issue of submission, I need prayer.

My wife, I need you to pray for me. Excuse me, when you are sharing it like that, if the Holy Spirit is in your midst, by the time you finish, your wife is likely to say, actually, it's not even you that I'm seeing in that scripture. You can even see that that scripture is saying, wives.

You say, no, no, no, no, no, I'm not talking about wife now. I'm talking about, let's deal with the issue of submission. Look at verse 21.

So that is how to share scripture with a wife. You don't preach, you don't teach her. You share, you discuss, you discuss, and as you do that, you discover that it will be enriching your oneness, your, you know, your willingness to be together.

So don't use, don't wait. During your moment of prayer, that's when you are going to use scripture. Now, there are other things, one other thing that you do during your couple's altar.

Now, for instance, if you agree like, by the grace of God, I agree with my wife right from the beginning that before we sleep, we must pray. Now, assuming it is like that, you will discover that maybe during the day, there are little, little, little differences here and there that must have happened. When you now come together and say, let us pray, it's possible that the man may have forgotten, or he doesn't know that the wife has something, or the wife doesn't know that he has something, the husband has something.

It is that time you would have had grace to say, before we pray, they say, Martha, I think we should resolve. Say, you know, in the morning, this, this, this, this, that happened, and the way you handle it, I was not too comfortable with it. Ah, you say, okay, I am sorry.

That settles the matter. Do you know that if your partner is bringing a matter at the couple's altar, and he says, look, this is what you did in the morning, and you didn't, you didn't answer me well, you just shouted at me. I say, uh-huh, when I was calling you, and you didn't, you didn't hear me.

I, that's why I shouted. Then, you are open chapter two. You are open chapter two.

You are not likely to have that prayer anymore. So, it is a time to resolve. When you are going to, when you, when there is a matter to be, to be discussed, at the back of your mind, it is not to heighten the quarry.

It's not to quarry anymore. It is that, ahem, I have an opportunity now to do what? To resolve a matter that has been troubling me since morning. So, when you do that, then you will be able to pray.

Sometimes, it is like, one of you went to bed, and you are waiting, and you are waiting, and you are waiting. The other one is still moving up and down, and all that, cleaning the kitchen, doing that, and you're almost sleeping off. By the time she comes in, you say, excuse me, I've been waiting for you.

Why didn't you? I've been waiting for you, and you know I want to sleep. If the woman does not have grace to say, oh, I'm sorry, sir. Actually, I'm here now.

I'm sorry. Let's pray now. If she didn't have grace to sit down and say, is that why you are shouting at me? Don't you know that I'm, I'm busy? You just came from work, and ate, and went and, and, and lie on the bed, and then, should I leave the kitchen like that, and, and, and, and, and just come, and come here? Ah, she has polluted the atmosphere.

Then, the man say, why are you talking to me like that? I'm telling you that I've been waiting for you, and you are, you are coming to tell me like that, and then, he turned the other side. The prayer has ended. You know, normally, quarrels, what I've noticed, that quarrels between husband and wife, they are never planned.

Oh, have you ever planned to quarrel with your wife? No, they are never planned. They are never planned. It is that, why did you bang that door just now like that? You see, I didn't bang the door.

I just closed the door. So, bang and close. It's becoming an argument.

So, these little, little, little, little, little things, when it is time to pray, be on guard, because a little, little matter, very little matter that you never planned will just come up. By the time you say, you, you didn't come on time, and I've been waiting for you, even if you are going to pray that prayer, you will need to have, again, calm down. You cannot, when you have finished the argument, you cannot just say, okay, let us pray.

It doesn't go like that. So, we will, so that these little, little, little, little issues create problems for the couple's altar. You will rise from here this day with grace to revive your couple's altar.

May I tell you that when you have a couple's altar, and couple's altar unlike the family altar, family altar is a little bit regimented, because it involves many people. You say, it's better to do it in the morning or in the evening. The couple's altar is not like that.

It's a little bit more flexible. It is anytime that you can find a space to be alone, like some of us now, we travel. Whenever you are able to travel with your wife for a day or two away from, away from the children and from the home, and maybe you are a preacher or something, you will have, you will discover you have some chunk of time.

That is a time to, to, to gather all the areas, you know, of time that you have missed to pray together. It can be, it doesn't need to be, when you are at home, the couple's altar doesn't need to be one hour, because the time may not be there. It can even be five minutes, two minutes, one minute.

For instance, those of you that are young, who are having children, when your wife is pregnant, and she's normally wanted to be tired and all that, she's, she managed to land on the bed. No problem. You don't have to say, let's kneel down.

Let's pray. While you are lying down, you place your hand on her, on the tummy, and you say, let us pray, and you pray. Pray for the baby, pray for your wife.

That is couple's altar. Any time that you can have, that is between the two of you, is not morning, is not evening, is not, any time, any time. Then also, if you have serious assignments like some of us have, then it means that, apart from the flexibility of time that you are using, morning, afternoon, any time you travel, you need to deliberately create holiday, a time, one week, three days, to be out somewhere.

You don't have to go to France. If you have money, you can go to France, but just go to somewhere, the next city. It will give you opportunity.

When you get there, lodge with the family, they will lodge you in a room. Out of the three, four days, you can spend a whole day, and you bring out all the issues that, that are confronting the family, and you are, you are discussing, you are looking at scripture. Sometimes, it's your quiet time.

Things that you have been gaining as individual, that you think your wife should know, you bring them and say, Kai, the Lord has been speaking on this matter. Isaiah here, this one here, this one here. What did you, you will discover that, somehow, the same thing that God has been speaking to you, He has also been speaking to your wife.

Has it happened to some of us like that? Yes, it does happen. So, you must create time to be away for a few days every year. Don't say you are too busy.

Create time, and, and clear the backlog of all the, because there are things that you, you just need time to fast and pray. Hallelujah. When your couple's altar becomes vibrant, I discovered that it builds your oneness more stronger.

It builds your oneness that we are dealing with in this meeting. Very, very stronger, very, very, because you are always, you know, together to pray, and because you cannot pray with iniquity in your heart, it means that you have a very good rapport with your spouse, who knows that, look, we need to pray now, we need to pray, and there's no, nothing, I don't have anything against my husband, I don't have anything against my wife, and with that, it is used, couple's altar is used to service your consecration. So, with the, the constant time of praying, you discover that your consecration keeps going, going, you are not, don't allow anything to hang all around you.

There are issues to discuss, to trash out, and, and to pray, and when you pray together like that, Jesus said, anything you ask, you discover that that prayer of agreement brings much, much, much, much results. May the Lord help us to build our couple's altar. May the Lord pour grace upon us that from today, your couple's altar will not suffer, and for couple's altar, the two of us, we have equal stake.

Don't say, if my husband doesn't call me, ah, you didn't call me to, for us to come and pray. No, no, no, no, no. Any of you that, once you, there is a spiritual atmosphere that gives the two of you, uh, opportunity, any person can initiate and say, ah, see, my husband, look, we have the next one hour here, and no, we are not, let's, let's pray.

There are some issues that have been bothering my mind. Let's, let's pray. So, you don't leave it for the other couple and say, my husband didn't call me, or my wife didn't call me.

Hallelujah. As we rise to pray on this, I want us to agree that the enemy will no more succeed. In separating us, you know, there is another quiet thing that I think is a remote, uh, reason, but I hope it is not common amongst us here, but I'm seeing it among church people that probably are not as committed as some of us are.

They have houses, they build houses, or they, they are living in big houses. The, the man is living in the master bedroom, and the woman is, is living in the madam's room. So, where you separate rooms, and you are not sleeping together, no time to talk together, it will affect your couple's altar, because you can always meet at the sitting room for family altar, and you can always pray in your room, and then she pray in her room, but time to meet together is no more there.

So, if you are here, God has blessed you with many, many rooms. Please, I will advise you, for the sake of this matter, collapse, uh, your, uh, madam's room, bring your wife into your bedroom, so that you can always rub on each other, even in the place of prayer. Shall we rise? Shall we rise? Couple's altar, a time set apart deliberately to meet with God.

I want us to begin to talk to God, and say, Lord, I thank you for the opportunity of having, you know, this kind of provision. If two of you, there are not two people that have so much at stake, like husband and wife. I don't have so much stake, anything, too much at stake with my parents, even when they were still alive, as much as I have with my wife.

I don't have any much stake with, uh, any brother, as much as I have with my wife. Stake about the assignment, stake about your children, stake about your going to heaven, stake about several, several things. Will you want to thank God that God knew all this, and he made this provision? If two of you shall agree, can you begin to pray and say, Lord, I thank you for this provision, and I want to key it into it.

I want to key into it, that from today, I will not allow my couple's altar to suffer. Maybe some of all, we did not even know, nobody has talked to you about it. Today, your eyes have opened.

Say, Lord, I'm rising from here with my wife, with my husband, to go and build couple's altar. Yes. We are going to pray, because of time, we are going to pray two prayers simultaneously, two prayers.

It's the same prayer, but we are praying it in two ways. One, we will hold our hands, those of all that maybe you have been having couple's altar regularly, you will still hold your hands to say, Lord, one more grace on us, to make our couple's altar more vibrant. Then, those of all that our own is irregular, you are going to also hold your hands and say, Lord, we have seen our mistakes, but we are rising from here.

One more grace upon us. Then, the other set of people, maybe you are here, quarries have separated and destroyed your couple's altar. You know that the altar is broken down, and before Elijah could cause rain to fall, he has to build the altar, and maybe you feel like coming to the altar here, you and your spouse, and say, Kai, our own is beyond just standing there.

Would you want to come to the presence of God and say, Lord, actually, we have no altar anymore. We want to renew. We want to rebuild our altar.

You want to come forward here to kneel down just very briefly to cry to God and to make this place as a mark that you are rising from here to build your couple's altar. You will come forward. So, you understand the prayer strategy.

So, open your mouth and begin to pray while you are holding your hands and say, Lord, today with my wife, with my husband, more grace. More grace on us. More grace on us.

More grace on us. Grace to pray together. Grace to join hands.

Grace to see what is before us. No reason. No reason.

No reason. From now on, I will not shy away from it, and if you are a couple down there, you know that your altar has broken down. You know, you know that God need to help you.

Please come forward. This is, this is one place that you can receive help. Come forward and kneel down before the Lord and say, Lord, our own couple altars, there's no need to, we want to start afresh.

Yes, Lord. Yes, Lord. Father, in the name of Jesus, we are crying out to you today.

Oh, the enemy seems to have known that if two of us agree as touching anything, it shall be done for us by you, and he kept dividing us asunder. We kept arguing. We kept giving reasons.

This money, oh God, we cry to you. Anything that seek to divide us from today, you will scatter it. Nothing will scatter us again.

It is that reason that we scatter. It is that, that, for whatever it is, we didn't marry to come and be disagreeing. We marry to produce synergy.

We marry to do, to advance God's kingdom. Father, please, as you are coming, join your hands together and say, Lord, just as Elijah build, rebuild the altar at Mount Carmel today, we are building, we are starting to rebuild our altar here. Our couple's altar will not suffer again.

We say couple's altar is not a place to heighten quarrel. It is a place to resolve. So today we will use our couple's altar to resolve every differences, not to quarrel, not to apportion blame, not to quarrel.

Brothers and sisters that are standing in the congregation, can you pray and say, Lord, use our couple's altar to bring down something, to bring down your kingdom. Say, let your kingdom come. Your will be done.

Those of all that are doing well, Lord, help, use us to bring down your will, to bring down your will like Joseph and Mary. Oh, they pray together. I can imagine the prayer they invested on Jesus to make sure that they didn't fail in their assignment.

Lord, Father, there is a need, critical need for us to pray. Let us pray together. As you join those hands, even those of us standing there, you can see that the couple's altar is a great provision for us to accomplish our purpose on earth.

Let us ask God now that every attack, every little, little misunderstanding that turns our back on each other, let it be quenched now in the name of Jesus Christ. Lord, as your servants, your children, these couples are kneeling before you. Lord, we are praying that today it will be a new beginning.

The yearning to pray together, release it to them now. The patience with which to carry one another along, the patience not to be marking each other's English, each other's statement. Sometimes it is in the prayer itself that the other person says, so you are reporting me to God.

This money, that spirit of oneness and love with which to stand in agreement before you, to cause eternal things to happen on the face of the earth, release it upon us in the name of Jesus Christ. Those that you have helped, but it has suddenly died out, restore it in the name of Jesus Christ. Those that activities, much work, much destruction has gradually made them to become strangers to themselves.

This morning, Father, we are asking, restore unto us that altar where we agree together in the name of Jesus Christ. We can agree on our beds. We can agree at any time.

Lord, let it come back. Lord, I'm just trusting you that this couple's retreat will release men from whose altars great things are being established. We're going to be talking about our children this morning in prayer, yet we know that we agreed to bring them to earth.

How could we not agree to raise them in the place of prayer? Lord, this morning we are asking, release the spirit of prayer upon us, cause these altars that we are re-establishing this morning to become vibrant, to grow from strength to strength, to grow from intimacy to intimacy. We ask, Lord, that from this morning nothing will be strong enough to separate us again. The couples that kneel together, they stand together for a long time.

Lord, cause us to learn to kneel together so that we can stand shoulder to shoulder together and fight our battles together and see our victories together and see our purpose coming to pass together and see the glory of God coming upon our lives together. Thank you for hearing our prayer. In Jesus' name, we have prayed.

Amen.