Last week I wrote part 1 of this blog post about creating an altar. Then someone asked me, “How do you create an altar? Do you create a physical one or a spiritual one?” I thought about that, and I will try to answer those questions with this post.
In part 1, I talked about Jacob creating his altar when he met God after he had fled from his brother Esau. Jacob piled rocks on top of one other and poured oil upon them. He called that place Bethel. Time and time again when Jacob was in great distress, he would swing by that place and talk to God. That was his altar. Yet it was so far from where he was staying at times, that he couldn’t always go there. But that didn’t stop him from talking to God. Even when he was far away and needed the Lord, God would appear to him in his dreams and talk to him. As a matter of fact, it was through a dream that he got the courage to finally leave his in-law’s home and go back to his family, and face his brother after twenty years of being away from them.
Creating an altar is both spiritual and physical. Each morning I have an altar I go to in my study room, where I sing and play my guitar to the Lord and talk to Him. In this room I have a daybed and a desk. I sit on my daybed when I sing to the Lord, and kneel down before it when I start to pray and talk to Him. I don’t know how to explain it but I don’t feel like I can really connect with the Lord unless I’m in this room. Lying down in bed in my bedroom or even kneeling down before it, feels different than being in my study room. I feel freer to talk to the Lord here and feel like He’s there before me, sitting in front of me on the daybed, and I can commune with Him freely. I also will lie down on my daybed and commune with the Lord during the afternoon. I feel closer to Him here than anywhere else in the house. But that doesn’t mean I only choose to talk to Him here. As much as there is a physical place for me to come to Him during the day when I want to pray, I also have an altar in my heart whenever I go and I see Him there. When I’m preparing meals or doing chores, or even when I’m traveling in the car, I also talk to Him and find Him in my heart. When I go on vacation, I also try to create a place where I can meet with the Lord. Usually by my bedside I have my guitar, my Bible and notebooks. This is very important to me. I must have a place and a time where I can meet and talk to the Lord. I don’t feel like I’m myself if I have not spent time with the Lord. So it’s very important to me to always create an altar where I can meet with Him in the morning when I arise, and in the evening before I go to sleep. If I get too busy to talk to the Lord during the day, at least I know I have talked to Him in the morning, and I will find Him again at the end of the day before I lay down on my bed.
The apostles created an altar for the Lord too. They went to the temple to pray but they also prayed at home. Wherever they went they didn’t hesitate to pray. Whether they went to the temple during the hour of prayer or they met house to house and prayed there, they created an altar where they could meet with the Lord. Basically an altar is a place where we can meet and talk with God. Whether it’s a physical place or a spiritual place, create it and make sure of it in your life so that God will always be a part of you.
King David, the chosen king whose lineage carried and revealed to us Jesus Christ the Messiah, had an altar too where he would meet with the Lord and talk to Him. When the Prophet Nathan told him that the Lord delights in blessing him, David went to the tabernacle he had created for the Lord and talked with the Lord. David sat before the Lord and talked with Him and told Him how he felt.
That’s the amazing thing about King David, he didn’t just talk to the Lord when things went wrong. He also talked to the Lord when he was thankful. He would sing to the Lord and praise Him with a verbal worship and dance to Him. Basically David talked to the Lord all the time. You can imagine why the Lord delighted to bless David very much. Here is a person that didn’t acknowledge God in his life only when he needed Him. He acknowledged the Lord all the time. Whether in good times or in bad times, the Lord heard from David continually. The Lord loves to hear from us, His creation. I find that the more people talked to Him (in the Bible), the more God blessed them.
Case in point: Daniel, who prayed three times a day even in the land of Babylon where he was a captive. An angel of the Lord told him he was greatly beloved by God. Even though he was a captive and a servant to the king, he made sure he had an altar in his home where He talked with God. Three times a day he would kneel before a window and open it and pray to the Lord. He prayed so much God blessed Daniel with great favor in the eyes of all the kings he had served. There were at least three kings he had served in his lifetime, and every single one of them promoted Daniel to be their advisor and counselor. God also revealed dreams and the end times to Daniel. God loved Daniel so much because he talked to the Lord all the time. God saved Daniel too from wicked men who had him thrown in a lion’s den. An angel of the Lord shut the mouths of the lions so they did not hurt him. The wicked men that connived to place him there were later thrown in there and perished.
This is why it is so important to create both a physical and spiritual altar where we can consistently meet the Lord in prayer. We may never be spared from all the heartaches the world will throw at us, but if we have an altar where we meet God all the time, He will come through for us and save us. Not only will He save us from our troubles and comfort us through our heartaches, He will also delight in blessing us. He loves those that love to talk to Him and acknowledge Him in their lives. He will always be there for them because they are always coming to Him and trusting in Him. He loves it when we come to Him all the time because He loves us so much and gave His life for us.
Trust in him at all times; ye people, pour out your heart before him: God is a refuge for us. Selah. {Psalm 62:8}
O thou that hearest prayer, unto thee shall all flesh come. {Psalm 65:2}
And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart. {Jeremiah 29:13}
If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land. {2 Chronicles 7:14}
Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man. {Luke 21:36}
Evening, and morning, and at noon, will I pray, and cry aloud: and he shall hear my voice. {Psalm 55:17}
Blessed is the man that trusteth in the LORD, and whose hope the LORD is. {Jeremiah 17:7}
Prayer
Lord Jesus, I thank You Father, for Your great and undying love for us. I thank You that You never ever change and You will never ever fail us. I thank You for giving Your life at Calvary so that we can find salvation in You today. Without You Lord Jesus, we are lost and we are nothing. We need You today Father, each and everyday.
I pray Your continued grace and mercy upon my soul Lord and please continue to help me not only to create a physical altar where I can meet with You all the time, but also create an altar here in my heart where I can talk to You wherever I go. You are everything to me in this life Lord Jesus. Without You I am lost. This life would be pointless and meaningless. You have come through for me again and again in time of need and trouble. You mean the world to me. I love You so much Lord Jesus, I thank You for Your great love for me. I thank You for always being there for me when I pray. I pray Your continued blessings upon my life Father, in Your most wonderful and precious name, Jesus. Thank You, Father. Amen.
