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Tuesday, October 7, 2008

Hearts Approaching the Altar (Day 2)

Day 2: The Altar of Sacrifice

The fire on the altar must be kept burning; it must not go out. Every morning the priest is to add firewood and arrange the burnt offering on the fire and burn the fat of the fellowship offerings on it. The fire must be kept burning on the altar continuously; it must not go out. Leviticus 6: 12-13

The fire at the altar, God’s fire, must NOT go out for he is the one who started it! God’s fire is present in each believer’s life through the gift of the Holy Spirit, and we as his children must fan the flame to keep it burning. It is our responsibility as believers to spread the word of Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior.

For this reason I remind you to fan into the flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands. For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline.
2 Timothy 1: 6-8

It is through the Holy Spirit that we can overcome some of the obstacles that are thrown at us in this crazy world we live in. It gives us the courage and self discipline to hang on to the truth and use the very gifts that God has blessed us with. By doing this we are walking on the path that God has set for us – an amazing and life changing path!

This altar that God gave such detailed instructions to build was incredible in so many ways. But it wasn't until I compared it to an altar that I know all too well, the cross, that I was humbled. Jesus Christ secured himself on an altar as our sacrifice, anointed us with His Holy Spirit, and leads us to victory. What a wonderful and selfless act!

Do you serve God in the daily routines of your life, or do you wait for him to do a mighty act?

2 comments:

Meghan said...

I try my best to serve God in my daily routines. However, sometimes it's easy for me to just sort of start doing them without thinking - for my tasks to be so automatic and ROUTINE that I stop seeing them for what they really are: an awesome responsibility God has entrusted me with!

Caring for my husband and the kiddos, maintaining the house, cooking, cleaning etc... - all are tasks that are important to maintaining the happiness and functionality of my family. And these are not things that just anybody could do! God has called ME to do them! And so I'm trying to remember that I AM serving God when I'm going about my daily tasks. Even the most mundane ones are helping me to fulfill His current purpose for my life which is being a wife, a mother, a caregiver. A huge responsibility AND a huge blessing! With that said, it's really easy, for me anyway, to sort of ignore these more "behind the scenes" ways of serving as not important enough or too routine to count, in favor of more visible "mighty acts".

Sara said...

it's hard sometimes to feel like the things we do all day are a part of some wonderful, big plan of God's... but it's true, they are... i'm sure the israelites felt like going out and gathering manna wasn't all that special--even though we see it as a HUGE provision from God that would have, in our minds, been easy to remember every single day!!!... it makes me think of some awesome, godly people i know or ones i've heard of--did their parents realize who they were raising?? did their take opportunities to teach them about Christ? did their parents exemplify the true meaning of life--to worship our Lord!?... some people, amazingly, grow up to be wonderful people by God's grace alone--not w/ ANY help from their parents or their life situation.... but others have parents who love and nurtured them and taught them SO much about Christ! and now, they get to enjoy that relationship together!... i think that's something new that has been revealed to me... it's not only about our relationship with God, but also about our relationship with each other! which God is equally concerned about! we, as the Church, are the Bride of Christ. God doesn't want anyone beating up on or treating His Bride poorly! it's important to Him that we are united and harmonious amongst ourselves!... anyway, that may be way off subject, but i think it was just hitting me as i was sitting here! there is SO much i will miss out on when i don't see all the things that i do as service to the King!!