1- The Altar is a Place of Power: If you understand your altar, you will understand the power that is within you.

2- The Altar is a Place of Sacrifice: The sacrifice you make on your altar demonstrates the power of your altar. We can cite the example of Solomon in 1 Kings 3:4-5:

“The king went to Gibeon to offer sacrifices, for that was the most important high place, and Solomon offered a thousand burnt offerings on that altar. At Gibeon, the Lord appeared to Solomon during the night in a dream, and God said: ‘Ask for whatever you want me to give you.’”

King Solomon’s offering was so powerful that God visited him in a dream, and it changed his life. The problem we have in the church today is that there are people who pray a lot without making sacrifices on their altars, while others pray less but make great sacrifices—taking care of God’s servants or giving generously to advance God’s work.

Similarly, in the natural world, when you see a sorcerer asking one person for a chicken while another sorcerer asks someone else for a sheep or a cow, be sure that the altar of the person who bought the sheep or the cow will be more powerful than the one who bought the chicken. The sacrifice you make on your altar demonstrates the power of your altar. What sacrifice do you make on your altar?

3- The Altar is a Place of Covenant: Remember Hannah, the mother of the prophet Samuel. The Word of God declares that she went up to Shiloh every year to pray because she wanted a child. Her prayer was answered the day she made a covenant with God, saying: “If You give me a son, I will dedicate him to You.”

4- The Altar is a Place of Exchange: The altar is a place of exchange where you present something to receive something in return. The Word of God declares that God sacrificed Jesus to gain many sons. Imagine a farmer who has many corn seeds. If he eats all that he has, he will not be able to have more. What will he do? He will sow the seeds he had to reap multiple sacks of corn.

Many people in the church always want to receive from God without losing anything they have. That is not possible! To gain, one must know how to lose! Today’s Christians always want to win without losing anything.

5- The Altar is a Place of Refuge.
6- The Altar is a Place of Justification and Vengeance.
7- The Altar is a Place of Family Gathering.
8- The Altar is a Place of Divine Encounter.
9- The Altar is a Place of Remembrance.
10- The Altar is a Place of Prayer and Worship.

Building an altar was first a revelation of the Spirit to Noah. The altar that Noah erected brought God’s mercy toward humanity. That altar made God decide, even to this day, never to destroy the earth again by a flood. It is thanks to that altar that God can look upon human sin despite its intensity and bear with human transgressions.

When erected, the altar is power. The altar opens the way for mercy. The altar can even cause God to reconsider His own decisions. The altar seems to weaken God’s hand in the face of danger or punishment He had decreed.

In 2 Samuel 24, God’s anger was kindled against Israel, and His Spirit moved King David to take a census of his army. Joab, his military commander, warned him against it, but David insisted that the census be conducted. David wanted to display his army’s strength by numbering them. Yet, in the past, David had fought wars with a small number of men. Remember the six hundred brave men who were with him in the wilderness when he was fleeing from King Saul.

Once David realized the mistake he had made, he began to ask God for forgiveness, but that did not prevent God from sending the prophet Gad to speak to him.

“David was conscience-stricken after he had counted the fighting men, and he said to the Lord, ‘I have sinned greatly in what I have done. Now, Lord, take away the guilt of your servant. I have done a very foolish thing.’ Before David got up the next morning, the word of the Lord had come to Gad the prophet, David’s seer: ‘Go and tell David, “This is what the Lord says: I am giving you three options. Choose one of them for me to carry out against you.”’ So Gad went to David and said to him, ‘Shall there come upon you three years of famine in your land? Or three months of fleeing from your enemies while they pursue you? Or three days of plague in your land? Now then, think it over and decide how I should answer the one who sent me.’ David said to Gad, ‘I am in deep distress. Let us fall into the hands of the Lord, for His mercy is great; but do not let me fall into human hands.’ So the Lord sent a plague on Israel from that morning until the end of the designated time, and seventy thousand people from Dan to Beersheba died. When the angel stretched out his hand to destroy Jerusalem, the Lord relented concerning the disaster and said to the angel who was afflicting the people, ‘Enough! Withdraw your hand.’ The angel of the Lord was then at the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite. When David saw the angel who was striking down the people, he said to the Lord, ‘I have sinned; I, the shepherd, have done wrong. These are but sheep. What have they done? Let your hand fall on me and my family.‘” (2 Samuel 24:10-17).

God forgives sin, but the consequences remain. We see that David suffered the consequences despite receiving God’s forgiveness. The power of the altar stopped a defeat in David’s life. The power of the altar ended a crisis in David’s life. The power of the altar turned the situation in his favor.

But notice something: despite God telling the angel to stop, the angel continued striking with his sword. The prophet Gad had to tell David to erect an altar at a specific location for the angel to cease the carnage. When David built the altar, the plague left Israel.

“On that day, Gad went to David and said to him, ‘Go up and build an altar to the Lord on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.’ So David went up, as the Lord had commanded through Gad. When Araunah saw the king and his men coming toward him, he went out and bowed before the king with his face to the ground. Araunah said, ‘Why has my lord the king come to his servant?’ ‘To buy your threshing floor,’ David answered, ‘so I can build an altar to the Lord, that the plague on the people may be stopped.’ Araunah said to David, ‘Let my lord the king take whatever he wishes and offer it up. Here are oxen for the burnt offering, and here are threshing sledges and ox yokes for the wood. Your Majesty, Araunah gives all this to the king.’ Araunah also said to him, ‘May the Lord your God accept you.’ But the king replied to Araunah, ‘No, I insist on paying you for it. I will not sacrifice to the Lord my God burnt offerings that cost me nothing.’ So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver. David built an altar to the Lord there and sacrificed burnt offerings and fellowship offerings. Then the Lord answered his prayer in behalf of the land, and the plague on Israel was stopped.“ (2 Samuel 24:18-25).

The secret of the Christian life lies in the altar. Let me repeat: we are in a world where two battles exist:

• The battle of altars
• The battle of words

Nothing can resist before the altar; the altar changes the course of battles in your favor…

This text is an excerpt from the book “BREAKING THE CHAINS OF CURSES – Volume 1” written by Gutemberg AMOUSSOU-ABLO.

We invite you to read the next article: “THE POWER OF THE ALTAR”.

REMEMBER ABOUT ALTARS. REMEMBER ABOUT ALTARS. REMEMBER ABOUT ALTARS.

REMEMBER ABOUT ALTARS. REMEMBER ABOUT ALTARS.