A Place of Sacrifice

"These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world." says John 16:33.

Never has this verse meant so much to me than it has in these past few months. With schedules here at home conflicting, constant changing and  chaos have been my only two friends. I don't even know where to begin if I were to tell you all the things that have taken place with my husband, his job, my job and the lack of, commitments to social obligations and making sure I take care of all of my maternal/wife responsibilities! It's been trying at times, depressing at other times...even as much as I tried to be the positive, Christian wife that my husband needed at times, it felt as if it went unaccepted- almost as if I was "belittling" his pain and suffering.  In my heart it was all for the best and I was planting seeds so that his well of hope was full.

That's where we both were. I was worrying over him and the situation and he was begging God to DO something. NOW! It was exhausting. It was aggravating. It was awful. Have you ever been down that road? Where you know God can do anything, you've seen Him work in your life before, but He's just not helping you right now? Have you ever felt like you could beg and beg but there are only crickets to break the silence? And you hang your head, dry your eyes and think to yourself "What in the world am I doing wrong?" or worse, "Why has God forsaken me?"

Truth is, He HASN'T forsaken anybody. You know this already- so then you quickly feel guilty and try to hide that mistake under the rug before anyone sees that you weren't that "Strong" of a Christian- because, "how dare you question God- you must not be as strong of a Christian as I am!" Ever have those feelings as I have?! Maybe not...maybe so. Personally, I think we all struggle with feelings of "am I strong enough"- and if not, then maybe you have a different problem...

I said all of that to say this- when you come to the end of your rope- don't tie a knot and hang on. That is for people who don't know God. Instead, build an altar. Yes, that's right. Build an altar. If you read the Bible enough you know of this word and it's meaning: a place of sacrifice, a place of slaughter. It is first recorded in the Bible that Noah made an altar after the flood. Other altars were made including ones made by Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Moses and is mentioned 24 times in the New Testament!

Every time God brought His people out of a tribulation or delivered them from their heartaches they built an altar to Him. There were two kinds of altars, one for sacrifices and one for incense. The sacrifices people made in the OT were for the forgiveness of  sins, blood had to be shed- but now we have Jesus' sacrifice and so we no longer have to sacrifice animals and our best harvests. The incense, to my best knowledge, signified praise. I learned that offerings and sacrifice go hand in hand with praise!!

I find it very neat that God wanted altars built to Him. That we should never forget where He has brought us from...so that we could look back on our life and see all those altars that we built to remind us that God has never forsaken us, forgotten us, or failed us. He was always there- even though we might not have seen him or felt Him- He was in the midst of the storm. We had faith in Him- not in what we could see or feel.

Sometimes we {and I point the finger at myself too} must keep in mind and heart that faith in God conquers all fear. If we trust Him, truly, what is there to be afraid of? There are promises after promises that God will not leave His own to go hungry, homeless, and hopeless. HE HAS OVERCOME THE WORLD! What more can God say to us other than to shake us by our shoulders and yell "Hey You! I told you I'd take care of you now won't you just sit back and TRUST ME?!" But He won't do that. He sits back and waits for you to surrender. He waits for you to give every piece of you to Him so that He can burst forth in your soul and deliver you. When you get that, and you give it to Him- His yolk is easy. His burden is light. He wants us to trust Him with everything- finances, work, health...so that when you strip all of those things away there's only Him.

When you accept the situation and know that God has something for you to learn and grow from- then you find deliverance. It's when we learn to let go and give up control that God can fill us with His spirit. We're like wells...we need more and more of Him. How else can our cup over flow?

When God brings us out of a trial, we need to kneel down at an altar and give Him the praise for what He has done: in us, through us, and for us. Then we can look back on our life when it is over and see all the places that God has taken us and see the paths that He has made for us...lovingly, guiding us through this little lifespan on Earth...and we can know that our God was always there.

How Would I Know By Kathy Troccoli

If it wasn't for the times that I was down
If it wasn't for the times that I was bound
For all the times that I wondered
How I would ever make it through
All the times that I couldn't see my way
And I had to turn to You

How would I know You could deliver?
How would I know You could set free?
If there had never been a battle
How would I know the victory?
How would I know You could be faithful
To meet all of my needs?
Lord I appreciate the hard times
Otherwise how would I know?

I remember all the times I had to cry
And at the time all I could do was wonder why
Why would a God so kind and loving
Allow me to go through all this pain?
If I could see into the future
Then I would know the joy I'd gain

How would I know You could deliver?
How would I know You could set free?
If there had never been a battle
How would I know the victory?
How would I know You could be faithful
To meet all of my needs?
Lord I appreciate the hard times
Otherwise how would I know?

How would I know that you could
make a way out of no way?
How would I know if I never had a need?