The Altar of the Heart
One time, I was on a ministry trip with a friend who is a preacher and has the gift of prophecy. We stopped for the night at a motel in a small town. She quickly fell asleep, and I began to seek God. The glory of the Lord came in the room like a fire, and I sat up in bed. Suddenly, I saw an old-time altar, a stone altar, such as people built in Bible days. It was high and obviously designed for offering sacrifices.
The altar was suspended about two feet in the air, and it was on fire. Flames were visible all around the approximately four-foot-wide structure, but it wasn’t being burned up. I got out of bed, and as I looked at the altar, I saw a vision of the presence of God. Books were open in front of Him as He spoke to me:
My child, I’ve called you and chosen you to have dreams, visions, and revelations in order to show you mysteries. I have shown you heaven. I have shown you what happens to people when they go to hell. All over the land, I have shown you these things; yet all over the land, many places are not preaching the truth. They do not tell the truth to the people. They have polluted altars. I have appointed you to go through the land and rebuild the altars. “Stand in the ways and ask for the old paths, where the good way is, and walk in it.” (See Jeremiah 6:16.) You are to rebuild the old ways and reopen the old paths. You are to rebuild the altars of God.
As God spoke to me, the appearance of His presence kept flaming up, and I thought, The altars of God can never be burned up. They can never be destroyed. The wicked altars will fall. They are tempered with inferior mortar and bad bricks, and they are going to crumble.
God began dealing with me about the altars of the heart. He said that when people kneel in church and seek God for themselves, each person is all alone with God and is saying, “God, here I am at the altar; this is me, Lord. I have these problems. I am a sinner. I’ve done this; I’ve done that.” Then God said to me,
As they pour out their hearts to Me at the altar, they are making themselves an altar to Me. This is the altar of the heart. I want to clean out the altars in the hearts—the idolatry, the witchcraft, the sorcery, whatever evil they are doing. I want it out of them. I want those who seek Me to tell Me the truth because truth and righteousness can meet together. I want them to tell Me the truth so I can set them free through My Son, Jesus Christ.
As they begin to confess these things to Me and make a new commitment to Me, I will wash away the debris by My fire, by My Spirit, by My Word. They will feel light and happy because deliverance will have come in the name of My Son, Jesus Christ. When they arise from that physical altar, they will have built a new altar to Me.
When you go over the world and talk about hell, the judgment of God, the
fierceness of God, and what happens to people when they go to hell, this helps them to understand that they must be sincere with Me and with their souls. This helps them to understand who I am and what I mean. I’m a holy and righteous God, and they shall have no other gods before Me.
Child, many people are never taught these truths. They have ears to hear but do not hear, and eyes to see but do not see. But to you revelations, mysteries, knowledge, and truth shall be revealed. The Scriptures will back up the revelations I will give you, and these Scriptures shall be very important to the world. The Word of God is in action, and this book on angels in action shall bless many to give them strength and encouragement.
In the Bible, God wanted people to repent and tear down the unclean altars in their lives. I began to understand that this is exactly what the visions are all about. God is calling His people to tell the truth and tear down the altars of idolatry.
This is God’s divine purpose for all ministries. All ministers, in particular, are called to do this—to obey God and His Word, to go forth and speak His judgments in right ways, and to be faithful in telling people to repent and get right with Him. May this book accomplish what God intends!
The Power of the Word
Another phenomenon I saw in my travels really amazed me. I would see a true prophet of God speak, and he would be covered with a transparent flame of fire. I would see an image of the Bible opened up in his heart, with the Word written there. An angel would be by his right shoulder, and this angel would pour fire on the prophet’s head. The fire would go down to the Word in his heart, and he would begin to prophesy. As the Word came out of his mouth, it would turn into a sword. (See Ephesians 6:17; Hebrews 4:12.) Inside the sword was the written Word of God.
When the prophet of God spoke, the Word would shoot out into the congregation, and the congregation would become alive and animated. The Lord showed me that when He speaks, He speaks things into existence, and things begin to happen.
For example, I saw a prophet prophesying, saying,
I am the Lord thy God who healeth thee; I, the Lord, am here to do great works with thee. I am here for thee, to set you free, to undo your burdens. I am here to rebuke thee, to love thee, to lift thee up.
Everything the prophet said would move out over the congregation and fall on the people. Truth and righteousness had met together, and things began to happen. Angels appeared all around and began ministering to the people, some of whom would fall down under the power of God.
On some of the people, I saw black spots. The angels took the power to these afflicted people. They would lay the fire on the black spots, and it would burn out the sicknesses. People were healed, and people were “slain in the Spirit.” Through these experiences, I began to understand revelation knowledge of God’s Word in 1 Corinthians about the gifts of the Spirit. (See chapter 12.)
It was wonderful to see what God did—and is doing. It is awesome when the joy bubbles up in us and the laughter begins to come as we see the acts of almighty God and those of His angels at work. The Word and the Spirit work together with the vessels God chooses to minister through.
In a service in Ohio, some people took pictures of me while I was preaching about the living Word of God. I reminded the people that we must believe God’s Word, repent of our sins, and turn back to God—that we must believe the blood of Jesus will cleanse us if we’ve sinned.
When one of the photos was developed, you could see the outline of a large open book in the picture. It was huge—it looked as if it were about ten feet high. The book was pure white, and it was lifted up over the heads of the people in the congregation. I knew that it represented the living Word of God.
I also have a photo of a little girl from Big Piney, Wyoming, who was about twelve years old and who wanted the baptism in the Holy Spirit. We actually captured on film a white cloud rolling in over this little child, coming near her as she was baptized in the Holy Spirit.
When the cloud came over her, she was lying on the floor, praying. Her little friend was sitting beside her and praying with her. She seemed to go to sleep in the Lord for quite a while. When she got up, she came to me and said, “Mrs. Baxter, can I preach?”
I saw the glory of the Lord upon her, and I asked, “What is it, honey?”
She said, “Well, when I was down there, Jesus came and talked to me. He took me and showed me hell. He showed me how awful hell was, and how we have to believe. We’ve got to believe it because it’s real. It’s a true story.”
She began to weep, and all the other children began to cry with her. The Holy Spirit fell on them, and they began to groan and travail in the Spirit, praying for people to be saved and to be born again. I could see angels above and around the children.
As we witnessed the works of God, I knew that we were to give God all the glory and praise for them, and to understand that His Word is still marching on, no matter what!
The Word and Salvation
One time, I had been praying to the Lord concerning my family members who were unsaved. Perhaps you, too, have family members who are not ready to meet the Lord, and you are concerned about their souls. While I was seeking God that day, He gave me a special revelation.
I could see sacred books. The angels would open up a book and turn a page, and I could see the written Word of God on it. Flames came out of the book, along with what looked like a mist. It seemed as if glory and power were intermingling with white and red flickers of fire. I knew this meant that I was seeing the living Word of God.
I believe the purpose of this revelation was to convey that what God has said in His Word, He will accomplish. He has promised us, “Great shall be the peace of your children” (Isaiah 54:13). He has said that He will “love you and bless you and multiply you; He will also bless the fruit of your womb” (Deuteronomy 7:13). That is exactly what my blessed Lord does! Keep believing that God will save your loved ones, and give Him the glory for it.
The Word’s Power over Satan
I have seen visions in which demon powers and evil spirits were fighting with angels. The angels would always win because they would quote the Word of God. The Word is “the sword of the Spirit” (Ephesians 6:17) and defeats the enemy. Remember that Jesus quoted the truth of the Scripture to Satan during His wilderness temptation. The devil had no more ammunition and had to leave Him.
The following is an experience I had in which God taught me the power of the Word over Satan. One time, I went to Miami with a few others to a Christian convention. There was great oppression in the area; evil powers could be felt in certain parts of the city, and I was grieved. We could feel the oppression mostly when we were eating dinner or at nighttime. I wondered, God, why do we feel such evil when the power of God is so great here in the convention?
There was a woman at the convention who had been scheduled to share a room with me, but for some reason did not. One evening, she came up to me and said, “I’m a witch. I came to your Christian convention acting like a Christian so I could find out what all you Christians are doing. I want to take it back into the coven so we can work witchcraft against this atmosphere and stop what you are doing.”
I said, “Oh, really.” Then I began to quote God’s Word to her. I said, “Listen, lady, there’s nothing you can do to harm me or to harm this meeting. ‘God is for us, who can be against us?’ (Romans 8:31).”
She became angry at me and stormed away. I thanked God that she was prevented from staying in my room. I was in a room alone so I could have a quiet place and the time to better understand the oppression and what we were feeling.
On the way back home, we had to travel by car, and I got into the back seat. I thought I would rest for a while, so I began to pray to God about this situation. As I looked up into heaven, first the glory came, and then I saw a mighty vision of the Lord. He was in the middle of a brilliant white light, with glory and power all around Him. The white light symbolized purity; God is so pure and holy.
I saw Him step out of the heavens and into the sky, and I saw His right hand go down. From each of His fingertips I saw power like I had never seen before; this power turned into swirls of energy and fire. Then he put down His left hand. Again, from His fingers and even His thumb, fire shot out. It also came from the palm of His hand and went through the universe like a river of fire.
He said to me, “I have destroyed their works through this fire and My Word. At times, I will step out and fight for My children Myself.” I began to shout aloud and praise the Lord. He said to me,
Child, when you pray, curse the works of darkness. There will be witchery, sorcery, and other evil things planted against people and their works. I want you to pray for their souls to be saved. Ask Me to have mercy on them and save their souls. You never curse the people, just the works of darkness and their activities. Stand on My Word, and My power and might will fulfill it. Believe Me, and I will send forth this fire, and I will cause the wicked to be ashes under your feet. (See Malachi 4:3.)
I praised Him more! I thanked Him and rejoiced. I could feel a lifting and the presence of God that was so joyful. Then I saw an army of angels coming down from heaven with flags and banners and crosses. They were putting up crosses and claiming the land back for the Lord. I thought, Wow, Lord, how beautiful to behold!
The Word Is Always Accomplishing Something
On another occasion, I had a vision in which I saw the angels holding up the Word of God—a large, complete, open Bible—in the universe. Flames were coming out of it. It was so large and beautiful! “The Word of God” was written in big letters inside the flames on the pages. One of the pages turned into a picture, and what looked like power radiated from it. Then the pages turned into a large horn (it looked like a trumpet) that stretched out a long way. I could see power, glory, and honor coming from the end of the horn. I knew this meant that it was the living Word of God. I thought, Oh, God, You are so wonderful! You are the Word.
I believe that, through this vision, God was telling me to “blow the trumpet in Zion” (Joel 2:15), to “cry aloud, spare not; lift up your voice like a trumpet; tell My people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins” (Isaiah 58:1), so that they will return to Him.
I have seen this large book with its pages open many times in the Spirit. Out of this book would come the Word of God in action. The Word was always accomplishing something for the Lord. Truly, the Word of our God is powerful:
For I am the Lord. I speak, and the word which I speak will come to pass.(Ezekiel 12:25)
For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.(Hebrews 4:12)
We often don’t realize the power of God’s Word. God wants to accomplish many things “by the word of His power” (Hebrews 1:3). We should reverence His Word, as His angels do, believing and obeying it, so that He will bring it to pass in our lives and the lives of those we minister to.
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Recently, I have been seeking God about His fire—the fire of the Holy Spirit. I have learned that it is both a fire of revival, purification, and healing for His people—and a fire of judgment for those who reject Him. John the Baptist said,