At the altar

“At the altar, belief and action kissed, and extremist for love was born.” The belief started in the Lord, the action followed, and the love grew. I believe the altar symbolizes things you have to lay down, sacrifice everything, even what you believe the Lord has promised you. We do not pursue the promises, we pursue God and everything else follows. I do not know which way you are supposed to go, I just felt like I heard the Lord say “bring it to the altar.” Sacrifice is a symbol of worship and puts us in a posture of humility and trust before God for clearer guidance towards His heart and His desires alone.

This was a word from a friend, recently. I had asked her to ask the Lord what I should do about something because I was not hearing Him. I was too concerned with what my thoughts were saying and not listening to Him. When she texted me this I had to stop what I was doing because there was something in those words that hit me. Sacrifice. Guys, I don’t know what it means to sacrifice. I live in America for crying out loud. Everything I could ever ask for is at the disposal of my hands. I have everything I need and can throw out anything I don’t need. I don’t, for a second, know what sacrifice means. Around here we use it loosely. Oh, I sacrificed my time to be with you or I sacrificed going to the movies instead of church. But when I looked up the word, this is what I found:

1.)    the offering of animal, plant, or human life or of some material possession to a deity, as in propitiation or homage.

2.)    the surrender or destruction of something prized or desirable for the sake of something considered as having a higher or more pressing claim.

3.)    the thing so surrendered or devoted.

4.)    a loss incurred in selling something below its value.

(reference from www.dictionary.com)

All of these are about giving up, surrendering something that is of value. It’s not something of value like a car or food. It’s something like Abraham giving up his son because the Lord said to. It’s giving up a reputation like Mary did because she was a virgin giving birth to a child. It’s like giving up a life, just like the man who took on flesh and died for me. Knowing that things could get worse and more bad things were going to happen if this sacrifice was complete; each of these people gave up their own rights. They gave up their own thoughts and feelings because of a God who said to. This God loves them so why would He tell them to do these things? I don’t know either, maybe so that they would grow closer in relationship with Him. I don’t know why He does it. BUT I do know one thing; He wouldn't tell me to do something without a reason. He loves me. I still don’t know the true meaning of sacrifice. I have been thinking about doing something to symbolize it with a fire but I haven’t gotten around to it. I just want it to be meaningful so that when the time comes my sacrifice is out of love and not out of fear or selfish gain. If God ever tells me to sacrifice my child or my reputation I pray that I would love Him enough to do it. I don’t want to make anything else my god, except the Man Who once gave His entire life for me, little ‘ol me. I pray that the depth of sacrifice is etched deep in my heart so that when God tells me to do something; I do it, because I love Him.

Then God said, “Take your son, your only son, whom you love—Isaac—and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on a mountain I will show you.”

Genesis 22:1-3

People, I want more of God. I want all that He can give me. Thanks for reading my blog and listening to me babble about things that are on my heart. I know it’s messing but it supposed to be right? I am not trying to hide anything so what you are reading is raw, straight form my heart. Thanks again for going on this journey with me. Keep reading as I grow closer to the heart of God and please let me know what is going on in your hearts. I love real life stuff. God bless and may the Lord’s love hit you today.