You are His temple, you are the living sacrifice, and your heart is His altar!
Yes! Your heart is where every sacrifice is laid down in order to worship the Lord.
Yet. Back in ancient times, Asherah trees and poles were placed beside the altar of false gods. The Israelites were warned by The Lord NOT to do the same near the altar of The Lord.
“You shall not plant any tree as an Asherah beside the altar of the LORD your God that you shall make. And you shall not set up a pillar, which the LORD your God hates.” Duet 16:21-22
As usual, the Israelites didn’t listen to The Lord and were eventually destroyed for their unbelief and stubbornness (2 Kings 21:3; 2 Kings 23:6; Judges 3:7; Judges 6:25).
Yet. WE do the same thing at the altar of our own heart. We erect pillars of doubt and unbelief!
Remember, the parable of the sower (Matt 13:22) says that there are thorns and thistles (weeds, lies) planted in our hearts, and that these weeds block the lush growth that The Lord has for us.
Many times WE plant lies in our own hearts, and we build and build upon those lies because the lies bring us comfort and some measure of control in our lives! Yes. We build a pillar of untruth dedicated to the false gods of self and the world.
When we do this, these planted pillars become demonic strongholds, hidden places that the devil latches onto. Yes, the demonic realm uses these pillars to charge us before the Lord with unbelief (Heb 2:3; James 2:12-13; 2 Tim 2:19; 2 Tim 4:16; 1 Peter 4:17).
Peeps. We must voluntarily tear down each and every inner thought structure that makes us our own god and our own source.
We cannot plant lies about ourselves and our God … right next to the altar of our heart. For, we cannot grow in The Lord while we keep adding to these pillars of double mindedness.
“purify your hearts, you double-minded.” James 4:8