Strangely and God-incidentally when Kars proposed the idea about recording down the precious moments with God, other than jumping in excitement, the first thing that came to mind which is yeah, this blog shall be our altar unto the Lord :)

However the word ‘altar’ came to mind even without a full realization of its exact meaning other than ‘a place of sacrifice’. Since this blog contains our praises,thanksgivings and revelations.. it’s surely more than just our sacrificial praises.. Also I’ve read on a daily devotional somewhere before that we should build an altar to commemorate the blessings and victories of God.. When I first read it, I couldn’t quite comprehend since :P but since I was reminded of it again, gotta check it out on biblegateway on verses which contain the word ‘altar’.

And here’s what I found… 

Gen 12:7

Then the LORD appeared to Abram and said, “To your descendants (seeds) I will give this land (soil).” And there he built an altar to the LORD, who had appeared to him.

Abraham built an altar to the Lord after He appeared to him with a spoken promise, a spoken word, a spoken blessings of how God will blessed his heritage with a land, how his seeds will bear fruit and multiply in this blessed soil.  And on that same land which God has blessed, Abraham, the father of many nations, built an altar. I searched on the Hebrew origin of altar is ‘sacrifice’ and thus Abraham built altar of burnt offerings to receive the blessings of God. Before every manifestation of His blessings, there has to be a sacrifice and Abraham built the altar even before there were desendants because the altar also serves as a reminder to him of God’s promises.

Moses did the same thing of building an altar of burnt offerings as he knew that altar is very bless where he will find God and where God will appear to receive the sacrficies and to bless him.

Exodus 20:24 An altar of earth you shall make for Me, shall sacrifice on it your burnt offerings and your peace offerings, your sheep and your oxen. In every place where I record My name I will come to you, and I will bless you. With every blood shed by the animals, these men of God enter into a covenant with the Lord.

The altar is the place where God will receive our sacrificies in exchange for His righteousness (burnt offering) and peace, to make a covenant with God through the release of their sins so that they will be blessed as they are no longer in seperation from God. The altar also becomes a special place of agreement with the Lord. 

However in this day and age, we all know that our righteousness and sacrifice does not come from our burnt offerings or works but by grace through faith in the One and for all Perfect, Sweet-smelling sacrifice of our Lord Jesus. Thus this blog altar, shall be the altar where we will partake in the burnt and sin offerings of Jesus’s perfect body and perfect blood, who knew no sin yet become sin for us so that we can be made righteous and perfect in eyes of God. We submit our lack to Him so that we can be filled. Here we receive Jesus as our sacrifice; we cover every confessed Word of God’s promises, testimonials, revelations, victories with the blood of Jesus. When we accept Jesus’s blood to cover us, we enter into an everlasting covenant with God. God has already honoured the sacrifice of Jesus by ressurecting Him thus we will receive our covenant blessings because they are already sealed and already accomplished with the payment of Jesus. It is all made possible because of Him :) and we will experience the fruits of our harvest and miracles in due season :)

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Another beautiful aspect of the altar is that it’s a place where it will remind us of who God is to us, it’s the place where God will write His name as spoke to Moses.

Jacob also built an altar for God and he named it as El Elohe Israel which literally means the ‘Mighty God’ of ‘Israel’ in Hebrew.

Gen 33:20 Then he erected an altar there and called it El Elohe Israel. Jacob also later built another altar which he named it as El Bethel

Gen 35:7 And he built an altar there and called the place El Bethel, because there God appeared to him when he fled from the face of his brother

The altar is a place where we remember, give thanks and honour God’s victories and faithfulness in our lives. Thus all the more this amazing blog would serve an even greater purpose :) God will also reciprocate by imparting faith and writing His name on our hearts.

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The third amazing purpose which the altar serves, it’s a place where we encounter with God, to meet with God. Abraham constantly called on the name of the Lord whenever he’s at the altar.

Genesis 12:8 

And he moved from there to the mountain east of Bethel, and he pitched his tent with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east; there he built an altar to the LORD and called on the name of the LORD.

Gen 13:4 

to the place of the altar which he had made there at first. And there Abram called on the name of the LORD.

And the hebrew word origin for ‘called’ is ‘qara’ which means to meet and encounter! Wow, so your altars and this special blog serves as a realm where you can tap into His sweet loving presence, where you will meet God :)

As we blog, share and confess, here by His grace, we are also building Him an altar where He will not only protect the soil of His seeds, He will also bless them so that His great glorious purpose in our lives will prevail :) Importantly, in His presence we sit at the foot of the altar, at the feet of Jesus, we will find rest and peace because it is all done!

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Thus everytime we remember who God is to us and we thank God for His grace and blessings, that place of time becomes our altar to Him.

Everytime we cover the blood of Christ over our lives in confession/holy communion, that moment becomes an altar moment for you with God.

So build your altars to God wherever you are, whether is it after a victory or in the season of sowing, God is present now and He longs to be in that moment with you which is why Jesus was sent to accomplish as the perfect sacrifice so that you can establish your altar. Because Jesus has become your very sacrifice once and for all, we can build as many altars as want wherever we go, wherever His Spirit brings us. Use this gift of righteousness, this precious, perfect sacrifice of Jesus and come daily into the altar-mode of agreeing,believing,thanksgiving and receving from God :)

God has a time and purpose for everything and we stand in agreement together oh Lord, let this blog, this beautiful altar which upholds the sweet-smelling sacrifice of Jesus, everything that this altar holds, we sign the blog with the blood of Jesus. You shall establish this altar as the pillar of Your truth, pillar of Your body,that it shall serve as a sacred place where we can come boldly into Your presence to receive and to dwell, for as long as Your kingdom come, Your will be in done.

In Jesus’s precious name,

Amen

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