Genesis 12:7-8 God appeared to Abram and said, “I will give this land to your children.” Abram built an altar at the place God had appeared to him. He moved on from there to the hill country east of Bethel and pitched his tent between Bethel to the west and Ai to the east. He built an altar there and prayed to God.

Abram’s faithfulness by packing up everything and following God is a great incentive for me to put more effort into my relationship with God. I also want to build altars in the places where He spoke to me or where I experienced a special moment with God. Places that I can mark as reminders of His provision.

Elisabeth Elliot also built altars, but not only at high points. As a young missionary in Ecuador, her husband, Jim, and four other men were murdered in 1956 by the Auca tribe they were trying to reach with the gospel. Elisabeth was only 29 years old when she received the news. But instead of becoming bitter, she fell silent before God and decided to lay her pain down as an altar.

She said, “If my life is laid on God’s altar, He can do with it whatever He wants.”

A year later, she did the unthinkable. With her little daughter, she returned to the same people who had killed her husband. She forgave them, lived with them, learned their language, and eventually saw many of them come to know Christ.

Those moments of prayer, forgiveness, and surrender were her altars. Sacred places where she worshipped the Lord, even through her tears.

Elisabeth later wrote, “Every time I lose something, I build an altar, and I bring it to God.”

This is amazing because building an altar is not just for when things are going well. When life hits you hard, you can also build an altar and lay it before God. Intimacy with God lies not only in blessing but also in surrender.

We no longer build altars of stone, but altars of faith, trust, and love. These are places where we can be honest and lay everything before God. May you meet God at your altar every day.

Prayer
Father, sometimes I’m so busy that I’m too tired to stop and put my own things on our altar. Help me to come to You and our altar first, before I get busy with life …

Questions
Where are you building an altar of surrender today?
What pain or joy do you have to put on the altar?
How do you keep your prayer place holy and ready?

Now do this
Take time to be quiet today. Build your own “altar” by talking honestly to God about what is weighing heavily on your heart.
Put something on your altar: a hurt, a disappointment or even a dream, and say, “Lord, this is Yours now.”
Mark a place or moment where you experienced God’s presence and use it as a reminder that He is with you in every season.