Send out Your light and Your truth; let them guide me. Let them lead me to Your holy mountain, to the place where You live. There I will go to the altar of God – the source of all my joy. I will praise You with my harp, O God, my God! Psalm 43:3-4
The Lord has been teaching me about staying on the altar and allowing Him to examine my heart along with me. I looked the word altar up in the dictionary and some of the definitions, my paraphrase, are:
(n) 1. most sacred part of the temple; a place of celebration 2. elevated structure for sacrificial offering 3. place of marriage.
In the concordance: 4196 pre-Israelite and Israelite system of worship…to symbolize a positive relationship with the two parties. (Ezekiel 43:13-17) God commanded that the altar for burnt offerings be made of earth or undressed stones.<From 2076 zâbach(zaw-bakh)PR Elisha slaughtered his oxen to make his break with his past and establish his commitment to Elijah. (1 Kings 19:21) The word describes a sacrifice made to create communion or to seal a covenant.
Jesus says Matthew 5:23: “So if you are standing before the altar in the Temple, offering a sacrifice to God, and you suddenly remember that someone has something against you…reconcile.”
I love those ‘suddenly remember’ moments that the Lord gives me. He sheds light on what’s in your heart. The heart is the Most Holy place. It’s where He lives in your earthen temple, the Holy Place. In Ezekiel 36:26, He said He would remove my heart of stone and give me a heart of flesh-His. As the gift of salvation in Ephesians 2:8 God saved you by His special favor when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God.
Jesus spoke to the religious leaders in Matthew 23:19 How blind! For which is greater, the gift on the altar, or the altar that makes the gift sacred.
He said that to them because they said it was nothing to swear ‘by God’s Temple’ but that is it binding to swear by the gold in the Temple. Basically they were saying that the Temple and altar were inconsequential.
In Exodus 29:37 the Israelites were told to make atonement for the altar seven days…whatever touches the altar shall be holy. Atonement in the concordance (3725 to PR 3722) means to cover, pardon; the act of reconciliation. He makes my heart, His altar, sacred. Apart from Him, I am not.
Then there was a curtain, and behind the curtain was the second room called the Most Holy Place (my heart). In that room were a gold incense altar and a wooden chest called the Ark of the Covenant, which was covered with gold on all sides. Inside the Ark were a gold jar containing some manna, (1 Jesus the Bread of Life John 6:35) Aaron’s staff that sprouted leaves, (2 Jesus the Righteous Branch Jeremiah 23:5 and Isaiah 11:1; 33:15) and the stone tablets of the covenant with the Ten Commandments written on them. (3 Jesus the Law Fulfilled Romans 8:4) Hebrews 9:3-4 HIM!
But this precious Treasure – this light and power that now shine within us – is held in perishable containers (earthen vessels), that is, our weak bodies. So everyone can see that our glorious power is from God and is not our own. 2 Corinthians 4:7
While you also are built by Him for the dwelling of God in the Spirit. Ephesians 2:22
Now He who establishes us with you in Christ and anointed us is God, who also sealed us and gave us the Spirit in our hearts as a pledge. 2 Corinthians 1:21-22
As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, having been firmly rooted and now being built up in Him and established in your faith, just as you were instructed, and overflowing with gratitude. Colossians 2:6-7
But our High Priest has been given a ministry that is far superior to the ministry of those who serve under the old laws, for He is the one who guarantees for us a better covenant with God, based on better promises. Hebrews 8:6
I love these Scriptures on heart searching!
Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you – unless indeed you fail the test. 2 Corinthians 13:5
Examine me, O Lord, and try me; Test my mind and my heart. Psalm 26:2
Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me and know my anxious thoughts; And see if there be any hurtful way in me, And lead me in the everlasting way. Psalm 139:23-24
I have been practicing staying on the altar. That’s what I call it. Every night when I go to bed, I settle myself and think on Jesus. Then, I picture myself climbing on the altar and laying there. Jesus is there and I ask Him to show me what is in my heart that is not of Him. I ask Him to show me if there are any dark places in my heart, and we go there together. Sometimes what He shows me is hard, but we do it together and I’m always reminded that even the darkness is not dark to Him for His light throws back the darkness. Sometimes, He shows me right away, but other times it’s later, like this:
I was driving home from Shawnee one evening and He gave me what I call a triple jibbah slap. The jibbah meaning my jaw. Here they are: 1~He showed me that when I don’t get my way I get loud like a bratty little girl. 2~He showed me that I act cocky sometimes because I’m a veteran. He said, “You’re a veteran but that’s not who you are.” 3~This is the worst one to me. He told me that I need to watch what my mouth speaks of others and myself. He told me to speak Life, not death. I’m so glad He showed me these things. I do this at the least, every night. I want to represent my Jesus purely so that when someone sees me, they see Him. I love John 3:30 He must become greater and greater, and I must become less and less. Apart from Him, I am not. He is my Life and I want to manifest Him.
The day will surely come when God, by Jesus Christ, will judge everyone’s secret life. No, a true Jew is one whose heart is right with God. And true circumcision is not a cutting of the body but a change of heart produced by God’s Spirit. Whoever has that kind of change seeks praise from God, not from people. Romans 2:16 and 29
Today, I want to encourage you to get on the altar and let your Bridegroom judge you and help you to examine your heart. Let the ‘day will surely come’ be today and every day. Don’t be afraid guys. He knows it all anyway and you’re fully known and fully loved by Him.
And God has given us His Spirit as proof that we live in Him and He in us. Furthermore, we have seen with our own eyes and now testify that the Father sent His Son to be the Savior of the world. (We just celebrated His glorious coming!) All who proclaim that Jesus is the Son of God have God living in them, and they live in God. We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in Him. God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them. And as we live in God, our love grows more perfect. So we will not be afraid on the day of judgement, but we can face Him with confidence because we are like Christ here in this world.There is no fear in His love because perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in His love. 1 John 4:13-18
Beloved ones, you are fully known and fully loved by your Savior. Rest knowing this and let Him help you clean your heart, His dwelling place. Let Love win.
