Altar – Godinterest

January 19, 2021January 19, 2021

Dreams & Desires

Three weeks into the new year, are you frustrated because a dream or a goal isn’t happening the way you thought it would? Be passionate about your dreams, but don’t let it become an idol. If that’s all you think about and you’re not going to be happy unless it happens, then that’s out of balance. The fact is, sometimes you have to put that dream on the altar of prayer and let God direct your paths.

There are those who hold on to things so tightly, however, when you let them go, that’s when God can bring them to pass. If you’ll release that frustration and not let it become the centre of your attention, that’s when God can move. Take that same time and energy to thank God and trust Him that He’s directing your steps, and watch how it opens the door for the desires of your heart.

Today, we have to remember, God already knows what we want and what we are in need of. He’s the One who put dreams and desires in us. We shouldn’t be consumed with trying to make things happen. Instead, a greater act of faith is to be happy right where we are! Stay open and trust God because He has awesome plans in store for your future, despite your present situation!

“I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat is planted in the soil and dies, it remains alone. But its death will produce many new kernels – a plentiful harvest of new lives.”

(John 12:24, NLT)

Let’s Pray

Yahweh, thank You for placing dreams and desires in my life. Father, today I release those dreams and desires to You. God, I know that You have awesome amazing plans in store for my future, help me to learn to be patient, wait and trust that Your plans will unfold in every area of my life, in Christ’s Name! Amen.

July 12, 2018December 21, 2020

I’m White, Privileged With a Message on Racism That The World Is Missing

Racism is a pretty controversial topic, especially in the world we live in today. Among Christians, things can get especially dicey, as the rest of the world’s eyes are just staring and waiting for us to make a mistake.

Remember in Matthew 22:39 when Jesus said, “Love your neighbor as yourself?” Right there, the Bible is directly telling us that to loathe someone based solely on the color of their skin, is a sin. But I didn’t always understand that.

It’s easier to admit to sin when everybody else has done it, but here I am today doing something that’s far from easy; I struggled to love my neighbor as myself. It wasn’t how I was raised, but the environments I was around in every single job situation planted seeds of hate into my heart. I pushed away when God started to deal with me about it. I’d say things like, “I’m not racist. I have diversity in my life. I’m not a hater.”

Yet all the while, I wouldn’t speak up when my coworkers at a freelance writing gig would tell racist jokes, sometimes I’d even play along just because “everybody else was doing it.” I worked for almost eight months for an internet political publication; an environment that was toxic waste disguised as candy. Some of the articles I was assigned to write were satirical and entertaining, but then there was a vast majority that I was told to write, that made ugly and cringy remarks about other races, cultures, and people in general in ways I wasn’t comfortable doing. But like an idiot, I didn’t refuse to do the work; I played along in hopes of gaining everybody’s favor.

After a while, all the jokes and satirical remarks started to become more than just horseplay; I started to really believe the things I was being told and dwelled on how much I didn’t like people who weren’t like me. Still, when God would deal with me about it, I would shove it off and say that “I just wasn’t like that.” That it was all fun and games. I was living a lie.

Eventually, the publication went out of business, and I went on to pursue other writing opportunities. I was upset at the time, but now I thank God that he took me away from all that stress.

It was at a church conference that God started to deal with me again. I realized that though I wasn’t as “extreme” as people you might see online, I was enabling it, writing and promoting it, and thinking those thoughts. God told me that he did not call me to be a hater, and during the altar call I ran, fell to my knees and poured my heart out to Him and told him how sorry I was. I know that He has forgiven me, and restored me to a place of love rather than hate.

I’m telling you all of this because I know I’m not the only one who has struggled in this area. I didn’t like the person I let the world turn me into, and God didn’t either. God has commanded us to love, not hate.

Today I am not the same person I was when I began my pursuit of writing. God took away the ugly sin and created a beautiful testimony; one that I will not shy away from. Am I ashamed of all the ugly things I published during my first writing gig? Absolutely. But it is a reminder of who I was before God totally transformed my mindset. I am no longer addicted to outrage, hatred is not in my heart; instead, God’s love has completely and totally transformed me.

God wants to deal with you about some stuff too; stuff that may not necessarily be easy to admit to yourself that you’ve done. But once you’re honest with both yourself and God, and ask for His forgiveness, it will radically change your life.

May 26, 2018

Because I Can’t Kneel At The Altar I’m A Weak Christian?

I want to jump right into this post to spare details that would require me to rehash feelings and memories that once left me spiritually paralyzed.

But I can’t.

These words need to be written and poured out from the aching fluid in my joints that have crippled my legs.

There was a time when I claimed my spot at the altar. It was an unspoken reverence that relished because I could safely walk forward to the front of the church. I didn’t have to worry about people staring or judging or assuming. I could kneel and figuratively lay my burdens at the feet of Jesus.

The altar is a sacred place. The rich history of it’s versatility is scattered throughout the Bible. In the church today, the altar serves as a place of prayer, a way to the pulpit, a setting for the Easter cantata, and much more. One could easily argue the functionality.

However when viewed through the broken lens of idolatry, the altar can bring pain.

When Viewed through the broken lens of idolatry, the altar can bring pain.

Before entering into the truth of God’s word by becoming a member of a church of the Southern Baptist Convention, my faith in Christ was defined by the appearance of my stature.

Taking a trip back to those times, I remember that when it was time for prayer, almost everyone in that small country church came forward. Among those left in the pews were a handful of persons that were possibly crippled by their own various diseases. At the time, my autoimmune disease was under control. I was able to walk forward, find my place, and effortlessly kneel down on the floor. It was a special moment.

As time passed by, the false doctrine that was being preached continually pierced my heart. I was under a fake conviction that I had to look and be a certain type of person for Christ to accept me. I honestly believed that if I missed church that God was watching over me in heaven with a look of deep disapproval; not taking into consideration that I couldn’t possibly attend a particular Sunday because I was puking my guts up in the bathroom. It didn’t matter.

I honestly believed that if I missed church that God was watching over me in heaven with a look of deep disapproval…

Prayer is a sacred gift that Christians are given through salvation.

In the midst of a painful divorce, I walked through the doors Ridgeview Baptist Church in hopes of finding relief from my heartache.

Not only did I find relief, I found new friends, new ministry opportunities, and most importantly, a new doctrine.

The difference in worship, preaching, and teaching was a blaring signal in my soul that I had been duped.

The love that flowed here was not from false pretense of how good I could pray or my attendance record. It was the unconditional type toward which the Bible calls all Christians.

Over time, my beliefs changed and God’s amazing grace became a thing.

Never once did I consider the words from the old hymn as I did when I realized that God’s love for me was not dependent on my physical posture at the altar.

Yes, I still think that if God is calling you toward the front of the church that you should go. I believe that it is still a beautiful response for healing, help, and encouragement.

We are to encourage one another to good works, but, working is not kneeling at the cross. Helping a sister pray through a difficult time looks more like Jesus than bent knees with a heart of idolatry. Consider the text:

First he said, “Sacrifices and offerings, burnt offerings and sin offerings you did not desire, nor were you pleased with them”—though they were offered in accordance with the law. 9 Then he said, “Here I am, I have come to do your will.” He sets aside the first to establish the second. 10 And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

11 Day after day every priest stands and performs his religious duties; again and again he offers the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins.

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And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, 25 not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

26 If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left…
Jesus paid it all.

Religion has no place in the house of the Lord. Jesus’s death on the cross was the abolishment of such practices that would cause us to fall into the trap of the law.

The law smothers love. It handcuffs grace to the idea that we are good enough to save ourselves.

Because we love Jesus is the answer to those burdensome rituals that press down and squeeze life from our already bruised bodies.

I may make it to the altar again one day.

Until then, I am reassured that God sees the posture of my heart.

December 9, 2017January 15, 2024

Worship at the Altar of Striking Architecture

From the early basilical churches of the Roman Empire to the unfinished Sagrada FamÃƒlia, there aren’t many facets of Christian architecture that haven’t been sufficiently perfected over the past two millennia. Church architecture has had over two thousand years to evolve partly by innovation and partly by imitating other architectural styles as well as responding to changing beliefs, practices and local traditions.

“Christian architecture was enriched through the cultural interaction with the Greco-Roman world.”

In 312, the Emperor Constantine defeated his principal rival Maxentius at the Battle of the Milvian Bridge. After that victory, Constantine became the principal patron of Christianity. By the beginning of the fourth century, Christianity was a growing mystery religion in the cities of the Roman world.

“The invention of the Christian church was one of the brilliant – perhaps the most brilliant – solutions in architectural history.”

Thousands of churches have since been built, rebuilt, or restored. From an aesthetic point of view, a lot of the church architecture featured below is unprecedentedly novel with a good appropriation of pre-existing structures that fit in with the local landscape, which already have a history and facilitate the formation of a church building.

With the National Geographic putting images on the map and now the Internet fuelling easy access to pics, it’s easy to forget how difficult these churches were to build. Behind the scenes, much goes on to tackle the making of a magnificent church building.

Here are a few such images that should cause you to sit up and have your breath taken away because of their grandiosity, complexity and stunning beauty.