God has spoken promises to all of us. He’s whispered things in your spirit that may seem impossible. How can you accomplish that dream, how can you get well, how can your family be restored? You have the promise. Now do your part and build the altar. Thank God that it’s on the way. Remind Him of His greatness. Go back over some of your, “Am I not the God” stories. Make them personal. “Are You not the God that opened that door I couldn’t open? Are You not the God that prospered me despite my environment? Are You not the God that freed me from the addiction, that blessed me with a spouse, that protected me in the pandemic, that turned my child around, that caused that contract to go through?” When you look back at the altars you’ve built and you thank God for what He’s done, that’s fuel for your faith. That makes it easier to build those altars looking ahead, thanking God for what He’s about to do.
God told the Israelites in Exodus 20, “Build altars in the places where I remind you who I am, and I will bless you there.” God will bless you where you’ve built altars. When you’re always thanking God for what He’s done, remembering His goodness, talking about how He’s made ways where you didn’t see a way. While you’re thanking Him, God says He will bless you. You’re there to express your gratitude, but when you’re at the altar, God says, “I will be good to you.” This begs the question, “Are we not being blessed, because we’re not building altars?” Are we not seeing favor, because we’re not acknowledging God’s goodness? God said, “Build altars where I remind you who I am.”
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Sometimes we don’t go to God because we already feel condemned, we already know what we’ve done wrong. We think, “Here comes more judgment; He’s going to let me have it.” No, God is waiting to gladly welcome you. Not to judge you, not to make you feel worse, but to restore you. He has a robe of honor; He has a ring of authority. When you really know who your Heavenly Father is, you’ll go to Him with confidence, knowing that He accepts you—faults and all. He has mercy for your mistakes. He’s not in the judging business; He’s in the restoring business.
When you start to take new ground—you go after your healing, your freedom, your abundance—the enemy thinks that’s his territory. He thinks that ground belongs to him, so you’ll hear that roar louder than ever. He’s hoping to intimidate you to turn back and not go after what God put in your heart. How many people hear the roar and give up on their dream, quit believing for their healing, think that they could never come out of debt? Have a new perspective: the roar is a sign that you’re moving toward what God promised. You wouldn’t hear the roar if you weren’t about to go where you’ve never been and see favor, influence, opportunity, like you’ve never seen.
God is about to shift some things in your life. He’s going to cause provision to come looking for you. You couldn’t have made it happen. You didn’t have the connections, the experience, the background. But you’ve kept God first place. You’ve been faithful. You’ve honored Him with your first fruits. Now, He’s going to cause the winds to blow in your direction. A shift from borrowing to lending. A shift from renting to owning. A shift from employee to employer. A shift from not enough to more than enough. A shift from getting by to abundance.
Ephesians 1 says, “Long before God made the world, He chose you to be in Him, without fault.” You may have made mistakes, you got off course, did things you’re not proud of. We let the accuser heap up all of that baggage, remind us of how unworthy we are, how we don’t deserve God’s goodness. “Look what you’ve done. You should be ashamed; you knew better.” No, God sees you without fault. How could this be? He’s already paid the price for your sins, your mistakes, your failures. He sees you without fault, but that won’t do you any good if you don’t see yourself without fault. If you’re down on yourself, living guilty and condemned, even though God will gladly welcome you, even though He’s longing to be good to you, you won’t see that goodness because you don’t come fearlessly into His presence.