Saturday, September 18, 2010 40 Days of Prayer & Impact: 22 Days to Launch

Today, there are 22 DAYS before the Encounter Grand Opening on 10-10-10. We are asking you to join us in what God is doing and is going to do in these last 40 days.

Pray with us. Act with us. Imagine the impact we could have in Helena if each one of us is individually involved in making Helena a better place. Imagine the lives that could be touched. Imagine how the spiritual landscape of our community could be changed even BEFORE the grand opening.

Building an Altar

Today, we are looking at Joshua 22:26-27 ...

"So we decided to build the altar, not for burnt offerings or sacrifices, but as a memorial. It will remind our descendants and your descendants that we, too, have the right to worship the Lord at his sanctuary with our burnt offerings, sacrifices, and peace offerings. Then your descendants will not be able to say to ours, 'You have no claim to the Lord.'

Have you ever noticed in the Old Testament scriptures, how people were always building altars? In fact, you'll find over 600 references to the word "altar" in all of scripture. Why were people so into altars? Building an alter is a way to remind us, and a way to remember, a significant encounter with God.

Someone once said, "We tend remember the things we should forget, and forget the things we should remember." An altar gives us a place to go back to remember when we had a life-changing experience with God. Altars remind us that He was faithful before and continues to be so.

Perhaps we need to consider building new altars to remind us of what God is doing now. They may not need to be physical, but consider building established altars in the journals we keep, the stories we tells, and the memories we keep.

We need holy places to remember the faithfulness and greatness of God.

TODAY'S PRAYER

Remember that the past is a nice place to visit, but our past experiences with God should remind us that He is always doing something new. We're not to worship and act only out of what God did once before, but out of fresh encounters with Him.

Therefore, pray for a fresh encounter with Him today. Pray for God to do something new in your life today for which you can build an altar to inspire faith tomorrow — for both for you and others. Fresh encounters sometimes require a change of routine. They require stepping out of the status quo. God doesn't want us to "lip sync" our worship to Him. So, ask Him to help you identify and remember the personal alters of your faith journey, and then worship Him today in newness.

TODAY'S IMPACT

Newness requires new action. So, today's impact is to build new altars — reminders of God for you and others. Connect with someone today and be mindful of the location. Buy them a coffee or even a meal. Make it a significant connection. Invest yourself into another's life and allow them to see that the "Kingdom has come near to them." Invite a friend to Sunday's Sneak Peek Worship Gathering and perhaps that encounter — that place — will serve as a new altar reminding them of the greatness of God.