The Altared Life

From there he went on toward the hills east of Bethel and 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.
 – Genesis 12:8

Your worship is a reflection of your heart towards God. How do you approach the Creator of ALL things and the Commander of the Angel Armies? Do you casually prepare (or maybe you don't prepare at all)? Do you show up late to church and half-heartedly join in singing the words on the screen? Do you go through the motions like a kid doing chores so you can "get 'er done"? Or ...do you take a page from Abraham and prepare your altar before calling on the name of the Lord?

Whether your "worship" is singing to and praising the Lord, or jumping into your prayer closet for some much needed quiet time, or giving your best effort at the gifting God's Blessed you with, your Worship should be preceded by very careful preparation.

Abraham prepared by stacking stones to honor God and to commemorate His presence and Providence and Promises – each stone a reminder and an acknowledgement of God's Blessings. Abraham carefully and purposefully selected and then lovingly stacked each stone, yes, to show God he (Abraham) knew who his God was, but also to show off who his God was to the world. He made great ceremony in the stacking of each stone and he chose just the right place to erect his altar. This was Abraham's preparation to begin his worship.

He didn't gather any old stones and dump them in a pile just to get the task done. He din't half-heartedly mumble the words to some old spiritual and call it praise. He didn't rush around out of some sense of duty so that he could get on with his busy life.  No ...Abraham made a day out of it, and I'm willing to bet that after a while, he built some pretty impressive altars (some of which are still standing to this day).

So ...how do you prepare your heart to worship? If you make an honest assessment can you be assured that God is pleased with your worship?  Are you giving God your very best? Because I guarantee that He's given you His.

I'm not saying you need to become a stone mason (in the literal sense), but I guarantee that if, as you examine your heart before worship (as you should do), you remove the stones from around your heart (unforgiveness, jealousy, bitterness, hate, envy, etc.), and carefully and thoughtfully and lovingly lay them at the feet of Jesus, your worship will take on new meaning and your relationship with our Lord will soar to new heights. Your worldly relationships will also flourish and become deeper and more meaningful as well.

So let's start this year off right in the way we prepare and worship our Lord. Build yourself an altar from the blessings in your life and THEN worship God with all that is within you! Call on the name of the Lord and Bless HIM with your heart of worship!

Be Blessed today my Brothers and Sisters!