How Is Your Personal Altar?

The View From Above: Thoughts to Help With Everyday Life

June 20, 2026

Pastor Paul Stephens

How Is Your Personal Altar?

How is your personal altar?

How is it really?

The place where you bow your knee and meet with God. The place where you speak to Him and He speaks to you.

My personal altar—the place where I meet with God—is the most important feature of my life.

We all have many important places in our lives. Our homes provide refuge and rest. Our workplaces allow us to provide for our families. Grocery stores supply our daily necessities. Hospitals and doctors’ offices often play an important role in caring for our health.

But what about your personal altar?

Mine is most often found at church during daily morning prayer. Sometimes it is in my car while driving. Sometimes it is at home. When I travel, it may be in a church where I am preaching or in a hotel room.

My personal altar is not neglected.

I visit it every day.

And so should you.

I drove through a neighborhood the other day where many of the homes were in various stages of disrepair. Some desperately needed paint. Others appeared neglected and unkept. Weeds and shrubs had been allowed to overgrow.

It was evident that the condition of those homes was not important to their owners.

Your personal altar should never be treated that way.

It must be maintained.

It is maintained through daily and regular visits. If we neglect it, it too will fall into disrepair.

The altar where we pray is mobile. It goes wherever we are when it is time to seek God.

Your personal altar is a place of spiritual refuge. It is a shield. It is where the weapons of our warfare are sharpened and maintained.

Most importantly, it is where God Himself meets with us.

He descends into our personal altar to commune with us. He sits down with us to talk, help, guide, strengthen, and encourage us.

Scripture Focus

Psalm 91:2

“I will say of the Lord, ‘He is my refuge and my fortress; My God, in Him I will trust.’”

Psalm 46:1-4

“God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, even though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; though its waters roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with its swelling. There is a river whose streams shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacle of the Most High.”

Take time today to consider the condition of your personal altar.

If it is in need of repair or restoration, begin rebuilding it through regular and daily visits. It will not take long for it to become what it should be.

Today’s Challenge

Examine the state of your personal altar.

Has it been neglected? Has it fallen into disrepair?

Make a fresh commitment today to spend time with God in prayer and His Word.

Join me today in the Tabernacle of the Most High and make sure your personal altar is well maintained.