Come To The Altar
This post is for those that have been waiting for such a long time for desires to be fulfilled.
Genesis 22:1-12 Now it came to pass after these things that God tested Abraham, and said to him, “Abraham!”And he said, “Here I am.” Then He said, “Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.” So Abraham rose early in the morning and saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son; and he split the wood for the burnt offering, and arose and went to the place of which God had told him. Then on the third day Abraham lifted his eyes and saw the place afar off. And Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey; the lad and I will go yonder and worship, and we will come back to you.” So Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son; and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife, and the two of them went together. But Isaac spoke to Abraham his father and said, “My father!” And he said, “Here I am, my son.” Then he said, “Look, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” And Abraham said, “My son, God will provide for Himself the lamb for a burnt offering.” So the two of them went together. Then they came to the place of which God had told him. And Abraham built an altar there and placed the wood in order; and he bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar, upon the wood. And Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. But the Angel of the LORD called to him from heaven and said, ‘Abraham, Abraham!’ So he said, ‘Here I am.’ And He said, “Do not lay your hand on the lad, or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me.”
God gave a promise to Abraham that he would give him a son, but Abraham and Sarah had to wait 25 years for the son that they had longed for to be born. Then came a time where God asked Abraham to sacrifice this only beloved son.
I don’t know about you, but man, can you imagine actually sacrificing someone or something that is so dear to you?
Let me tell you what I have experienced concerning this in my life.
I had to fight through many issues in my life concerning self-worth and rejection. The biggest longing in my heart was to marry someone that would love me for me and would stay with me through thick and thin. Like many of us, I had my fair share of dissappointment in men and I was just tired of looking for someone.
I made a deal with the Lord where I told to Him I am done looking for someone and that I give it over to Him to choose my person because I obviously don’t know what I am doing and I don’t know what is good for me. I gave Him permission to pick my husband. I did write a little list with the things I would like in my husbands appearance, but I left his character up to God.
Two years went by and I only focussed on my relationship with God – I stopped looking for someone, I just carried on with my life. Long story short, I went to a new church one Sunday when I saw a guy walking up and down the aisle. I will never forget the evil pride that manifested in me and I had a thought pop up in my mind that I could never love a man like that. Hahaha, really!
As time passed by I got to talk and spend time with this man. We were in the youth group together and we spent time with one another at home church every Wednesday night. I started developing feelings for him. He was not like anyone I would’ve usually been attracted to, but oh man, he was exactly the right person for me. Everytime we were together, he would speak the things that were in my heart. God really started touching my hardened heart. I was 17 at that time and, he was 19.
After a year of dating God asked me to place him on the altar. The same way Abraham had to sacrifice Isaac, his only, beloved son. I was scared because it meant that I had to give over that which I had longed for for so many years and that which was very dear to me. I did wrestle with the Lord about this, but I gave my boyfriend back to God and I allowed God to interfere and remove him from my life if we were not meant to be. I chose to trust the Lord with this because I had asked Him to help me after all.
My boyfriend was not removed from my life, Praise Jesus. We got married after 3 years of dating.
After our first child was born, I found my self-worth issues surfacing badly and I struggled to keep my head up. At that time, I would hide behind my husband. I would not speak to people, he would, I would not start a conversation, he would. He was my hero, my rock, my protector etc. Then God came again with the request: “Will you lay him down on the altar?” Again? The blood drained out of me and fear took hold of my heart. Why? I need my husband, he is helping me and keeping me safe – I can’t lose him so why would God ask me this?
This time, I wrestled hard and long with the Lord, but because I loved the Lord, I placed my husband on the altar. I must add, it was done with fear and trembling.
God taught me why He asked me to place my husband on the altar. First of all, he was exactly what I needed in my life, but he became an idol to me. I had placed expectations on him to save me and help me get through my emotional pain. That was unfair towards my husband because it is not his place. I would’ve destroyed my husband by putting these high expectations on him and not allowing the Lord to heal me. I was placing my husband before the Lord. God was testing my heart, just like he did with Abraham. He was testing me to see if I can trust Him with my pain. To see if I would choose Him above my husband, so that He could be first in my life.
My husband and I have been married for 23 years now and we love each other more and more daily. We understand that we are not each others saviours and we don’t place these expectations on one another. When we have emotional pain, we talk about it, but we take it to Jesus and we only allow Him to heal it.
One other altar moment in my life was when our daughter went through a really rough time when she turned 12. For about 3 years she was in a bad spot. It was in that time that I realised that I couldn’t do anything for her, I couldn’t save her. I, in fact, made it worse by trying to save her; by controlling her and situations around her.
Then I had that moment again; the Lord tugged at my heart, and told me that it is safer for her and myself to allow Him to interfere. I had been trying to fix and help her, but in the process, I had been busy making a bigger mess.
I took a little pebble from my garden and I said to the Lord that this is my daughter and I give her back to Him. This wasn’t easy for my mommy’s heart. I had to back off, completely. Step back and allow God to touch her. All I had to do was to stop trying to fix her or trying to reprimand her and to love her unconditionally instead; even if she was behaving badly. The rest was in God’s hands.
Our amazing Abba Father has truly done what He is so good at – He touched her. Things in her just started changing and our relationship started changing as well.
She is such an amazing young lady with such a compassionate, gentle heart. Man, our Abba is good. He just needed me out of the way. He needed me to trust Him with her.
Beloved, the altar is your safe place. It is a dreadfully scary place, because it requires you to lay down all those very important things, those very desired things and those very longed for and awaited things. Give it over to the Lord and allow Him to release or remove it from you.
Let’s look at that scripture again. And Abraham built an altar there and placed the wood in order; and he bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar, upon the wood. And Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. But the Angel of the LORD called to him from heaven and said, ‘Abraham, Abraham!’ So he said, ‘Here I am.’ And He said, “Do not lay your hand on the lad, or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me.”
Abraham had to sacrifice Isaac, he had to trust God that He knew best and that God will let it all work out. He obeyed God and He held unto God’s promise that He will make Isaac a great nation. He was willing to offer Isaac up to the Lord because he believed God could be trusted with his and Isaac’s life.
My moments at the altar were the times where my heart was tested severely, where I had to choose God’s way above my way, where I allowed Him to have His perfect will in my life because He knows exactly what I need. Not my will, but His will be done.
There were and still are many altar moments in my life; I have learnt to embrace the altar. Every situation is different and I can’t say it gets easier, but what I know for sure is that this is where I am kept safe. Never has the Lord let me down! Everything has always worked out the way it should have.
Psalm 37:5 Commit thy way unto the Lord; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass.
Micah 7:7 But as for me, I will look to the LORD; I will wait for the God of my salvation; my God will hear me.
Beloved, the things that we want or desire can so easily become an idol and all we see is that very thing infront of us and we lose sight of our Lord. This is when we especially need to go to the altar and start sacrificing these things so that God can intervene in our affairs.
Will you take the risk to lay down those desires you carry, the things that you so dearly love and those things you so dearly want to change? Will you allow Abba Father to take charge and intervene in your life? If it is a husband, a wife, a baby, a rebellious child or a position. Whatever it is. I invite you to lay it down. He will bless you for choosing Him first. Faith pleases God.
I invite you to come to the altar so that Abba can release to you exactly that which He knows you need.
Let us pray: Father, I confess that I am scared of the altar. I have set my heart so much on ………………………………………… (insert applicable things that you desire). I know that my eyes have been on this for a long time and that it has become an idol to me. This is all I can think off, my mind is bombarded with thoughts on this. I repent and ask forgiveness for loosing sight of You and only having this in mind. Father, I am scared of being dissappointed. I am scared of loss and I ask forgiveness, I know that it means that I don’t trust You, I repent. Jesus, I choose You. I have been waiting, I have been trying by myself to make things work out, but it doesn’t work and I can’t change anything. Will you please intervene? I choose to place …………………………………………. on the altar, I choose to allow you to take over in the name of Jesus Christ. I trust that You know best for me and that You will let Your will be done, in Jesus name I pray. Amen and amen.
NOW WE WAIT ON THE LORD!!!