The altar is the only safe place for precious things…it’s the surrender place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I learned that while struggling to find a place to hide a\nfew precious things. I wasn\u2019t sure I could trust God with them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Don\u2019t let my comment shock you. Haven\u2019t you felt the same\nway?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Those precious things\u2014precious ones\u2014in your life\u2026if you give\nthem to God, will he take them? That\u2019s our greatest fear, isn\u2019t it?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One memorable day the Lord taught me a life-changing truth.\nWithholding my precious ones doesn\u2019t guarantee I can keep them. God is\nsovereign. He does as he pleases. He can take my precious ones without my\npermission.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Suddenly it made sense to give them to him because the altar is the only safe place for precious things.<\/p>\n\n\n\nThe altar is the only safe place for precious things. <\/a><\/span>Click To Tweet<\/a><\/span>\n\n\n\n Back-story\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n At eighteen I landed my dream job writing for our local newspaper during college. I became friends with the receptionist, Freda Rose. (She later married Jack Wilhoit and enjoyed over fifty precious years with him before his recent home-going.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n There was something different about Freda\u2014a peace and\nconfidence in God I\u2019d never before encountered. Returning from assignments, I\noften stopped at her desk to chat. As we shared our lives, whatever was\nhappening, Freda would say, \u201cI can\u2019t wait to see how God works this out.\u201d I\u2019d walk away astonished by her faith.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I was a young bride when Freda told me the story about surrendering her life wholly to Christ after hearing Billy Graham\u2019s message on Abraham and Isaac when she attended the Detroit crusade years earlier. She described the heart-wrenching decision to give her little daughter Donna to the Lord, fully expecting her to die that night.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That didn\u2019t happen. Donna grew into a vibrant Christian\nwoman, and we became life-friends as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Hearing Freda\u2019s story, I made a mental note that someday\nwhen I had children, I\u2019d have to surrender them, too. I had no clue how hard\nthat would be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n One day Freda gave me a small book by Andrew Murray, Absolute Surrender<\/em>. I read it several\ntimes without grasping the meaning of surrender.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I left the newspaper when our daughter was born. Our son\narrived nineteen months later. At church we had a sweet ceremony dedicating\nboth children to the Lord. I thought that took care of the surrender-thing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Living the most wonderful chapter of my life, I focused on\nbeing the perfect mom. I\u2019d given my heart to Jesus at age seven and later\naffirmed that decision, settling my eternity forever by claiming the promise of\nRomans 10:13, \u201cFor whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be\nsaved.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Although I loved and cherished my little ones, I often\nresponded to the daily challenges of parenting with anger and impatience.\nSomething was missing. Where was all that joy and peace I\u2019d heard so much\nabout? I thought they were automatically part of the Christian life. I began searching\nfor the answer, and God honored the promise of Jeremiah 29:13. \u201cAnd ye shall\nseek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n As I read books by Christian authors, along with studying\nthe Bible, I came across several terms meaning the same thing: absolute\nsurrender, total consecration, Christ-controlled personality, 100 per cent\ncommitment, abundant life, Spirit-filled life, Lordship of Christ. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Tim LaHaye wrote in Understanding\nthe Male Temperament<\/em> that most Christians never make a 100 per cent\ncommitment to God. They may give him as much as 97 per cent yet never yield\ntheir lives completely. Immediately I knew I was a 97 per-center.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I\u2019d tried to give God everything in my life, including my husband and children, but I always tacked a condition to my prayer. \u201cLord, I surrender them, but you must not let anything happen to them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\nFear wouldn't let me pray without attaching strings. \u201cLord, I surrender my precious ones, but you mustn't let anything happen to them.\u201d None of my commitments brought joy or peace. <\/a><\/span>Click To Tweet<\/a><\/span>\n\n\n\n Fear would not let me pray without attaching strings, and\nnone of my commitments brought joy or peace. God opened my eyes to see my way\nhadn\u2019t worked. His voice in my heart suggested that withholding my precious\nones didn\u2019t guarantee I could keep them. Surrendering them suddenly made sense.\nThe altar is the only safe place for precious things.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In prayer I made that surrender, not knowing what God would\ndo but knowing I could trust him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When Abraham placed his son Isaac on the altar\u2014the child\nthrough whom God had promised to make a great nation\u2014I doubt Abraham was\ngrinning ear to ear. Surely it was a somber, heart-wrenching moment with questions\nspinning through his mind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He didn\u2019t know what God would do but he knew he could trust\nhim.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Hebrews 11:17-19 says this: \u201cBy faith Abraham, when God\ntested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice. He who had received the promises was\nabout to sacrifice his one and only son, even though God had said to him, \u2018It\nis through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.\u2019 Abraham reasoned that\nGod could raise the dead, and figuratively speaking, he did receive Isaac back\nfrom death\u201d (NIV).<\/p>\n\n\n\n Abraham surrendered his child because he knew the altar is\nthe only safe place for precious things.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What is surrender? I read that William Booth, founder or the Salvation Army, described surrender this way: \u201cGod shall have all there is of William Booth.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Surrender–giving God all of me, becoming totally dependent on him–is the key to abundant life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What are you withholding? Isn\u2019t it time to place your\nprecious things\u2014precious ones\u2014on the altar for safe-keeping?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Please leave a comment. And I\u2019d be grateful if you\u2019d share\nthis with your friends!<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u00a9 Dianne Barker 2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n (Scriptures from KJV unless noted)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The altar is the only safe place for precious things…it’s the surrender place. I learned that while struggling to find a place to hide a few precious things. I wasn\u2019t sure I could trust God with them. Don\u2019t let my comment shock you. Haven\u2019t you felt the same way? Those precious things\u2014precious ones\u2014in your life\u2026if […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3],"tags":[90,454,9,189,12,453,28,452],"class_list":["post-1204","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general","tag-abraham","tag-abundant-living","tag-dianne-barker","tag-isaac","tag-maximum-living","tag-sacrifice","tag-surrender","tag-the-altar-is-the-only-safe-place-for-precious-things"],"yoast_head":"\n