HOW IS YOUR ALTER

KINGSLEY SIMEON 

By KINGSLEY SIMEON DURU

Alter is a podium where sacrifices or burnt offerings

are carried out, it is very interesting to note that the major element in an alter is fire. An alter without a flame is useless and ordinary, an alter without a flame is short of purpose or even void of it. Let’s consider some key elements of an altar. I am not describing the items used for the construction of the alter rather I am going to itemise the happenings that makes an alter useful.

1.     Wood: Every alter needs woods to function, symbolically it is a propelling element to making sacrifice acceptable. Without woods an alter wouldn’t accommodate real flame. Without it sacrifices will not be presentable. For instance “if a hunter will not preserve what he hunted, he has wasted his effort on hunting”. Woods are very essential for the creation of flames on the alter.

2.     Fire: what makes an alter is the flame, an alter without flames of fire will turn out to be a playing ground for all sorts of things, like  ants, rats, and all kinds of living things. No man meddles with fire, it does not matter if he ignited the fire, he cannot toil with it.

3.     Sacrifice: Alters are not designed for decoration, the major reason for an alter is for sacrifice. Not every sacrifice is meant for the alter, like the sacrifice of Cain. The sacrifice that is meant for the alter goes through fire.

 Every believer has an alter and needs to present themselves as a living sacrifice holy and acceptable unto God which is our reasonable service. Rom. 12:1. The condition of our alter will determine if we are living or dead. When alters are void of flames unwanted things makes themselves comfortable in/on it. Every believer needs to burn in the flames and fire of the Holy Ghost when a believe stop burning he/she makes room for the devil and little sin to take deep root in their lives. It doesn’t matter if you were burning years gone by, it doesn’t matter if you were on fire yesterday, what really matters is the state of your alter today. Your alter doesn’t need decoration it needs flame.

      If you can take a look at what happened to you and how it started, you will agree with me that it all started when you thought you were being too serious about the state of your alter. “The flames on your alter determines your spirituality”. When you have enough flames of on your alter you will be too hot to accommodate sin and its vices, you will be too hot to entertain careless thoughts. Only you can fix you. It starts with: 1. Recognition of your alter, 2. Repair your alter 3. Render your service.

1.     Recognition of your alter: you must recognise the fact that you have an alter that requires your attention as a child of God, you must understand how high the Lord has placed you in His heart. You are the Lords eyes on earth and you were not born to die, the Lord saved you so you can extend the word to everyone. You must take the right steps towards reaching out to the lost. For the Love of Christ constrains us for we thus judge that if one die for all then were all dead 2Cor 5:14. How is the state of my alter, do I render a seasoned sacrifice, is the Lord pleased with my service? “Ignorant of your position will keep you in darkness”. Forget your excuses and fix your alter, take away everything/ anything that put away your fire.

2.     Repair your alter: after repenting of your negligence the next action is to repair every broken walls in your alter, it doesn’t matter who is affected by the repair, it doesn’t matter whose comfort this spoilt alter is, you must everything to bring back the fire/flames. During your period of carelessness you must have come across many people and perhaps had some ugly experiences, you must be willing to let go of your sinful life style, expose every fault that finds refuge in you and be willing to start afresh. Go back to your first love, return to the God that showed so much mercy on you during your years of waywardness and defeat. The beautiful about this repair is that the master is willing and always available to guild/guard and direct you, he will keep you and direct you till you finally meet him at last.

3.     Render your service: after realising your fault and knowing the source of your flame-less spiritual state, you need to go back to your source where heavens resources never dries, you will have to render that service that the Lord recognises as a living, sacrifice, holy, acceptable, and perfect will of God.

Don’t take the mercy of God for granted. Avoid every traces and appearances of evil. Whatever has the potency of quenching you must be put away from your alter. The Lord has so much interest in you and not your money. Don’t try to substitute the flames on your alter with a reserved match stick.

As much as you try to win a sinner don’t leave your alter flame-less. You must allow the flames on your alter burning to the point that a stick from your alter will not interrupt the fire on the alter rather it will be strong enough to ignite others.