Build an altar to the Lord.

 Build an Altar to the Lord

Here, on this ground where Your grace has met my need,

Where You provided ram,where You caused the seed

Of promise to take root within my yielded soul,

I will gather uncut stone,and build an altar to the Lord.

Then Noah built an altar to the Lord... and offered burnt offerings on it. (Genesis 8:20)

I build it of remembrance, stone on solid stone,

For every mercy You have made so thoroughly known.

This stone for Your deliverance,that stone for daily bread,

This one for healing spoken,that one for what You said.

I build it for surrender, to lay my all upon—

My will,my prized possession, my first and only son.

Not to earn a blessing,but because I’ve heard Your voice,

And in the sacred yielding,my heart finds its rejoicing choice.

I build it for communion, a meeting place of grace,

Where I behold Your glory,and seek but Your face.

Where heaven touches earth again in covenant flame,

And I am never,ever again the same.

Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. (Romans 12:1)

For now the altar is not one of wood and stone alone,

But of a life surrendered,a heart that is Your throne.

My body,mind, and spirit—a living sacrifice,

A holy,pleasing offering, at Your eternal price.

So let this life be an altar, Lord, in every thought and deed,

A testament of worship in each moment’s humble need.

A place where fire falls from heaven,not to consume but to refine,

And where Your steadfast love and glory ever shine.

I build my altar here.

Take my all.

Amen.

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The Altars of Faith

This call echoes the faithful practice of the patriarchs and prophets,now fulfilled in Christ:

· An Altar of Remembrance: Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob built altars to mark encounters with God, creating memorials of His faithfulness (Genesis 12:7, 26:25, 35:7).

· An Altar of Surrender: The ultimate altar was the one Abraham built to obey God's difficult command, a place of ultimate trust where God Himself provided the sacrifice (Genesis 22:9).

· An Altar of Atonement: The Mosaic altar was where blood was shed for sin, pointing toward the final, perfect sacrifice of Christ (Exodus 27:1, Hebrews 13:10).

· A Living Altar: In the New Covenant, the physical altar gives way to the spiritual reality. We ourselves are to be living altars, offering our whole lives as spiritual worship to God (Romans 12:1). Our praises, good works, and shared possessions become sacrifices pleasing to Him (Hebrews 13:15-16).

To "build an altar to the Lord" today is to consciously dedicate a place, a moment, or a domain of your life as a point of total surrender, intimate worship, and lasting memorial to His grace.