It is important in life to stop, look and acknowledge what God has done for us. This is what Jacob does here in Genesis 35. God tells him to go back to Bethel where he had the dream about the ladder to heaven and where God promised to bless him. Jacob is told to build an altar there. Building an altar in these times was a way of marking a particular place where God did something significant. By building an altar at Bethel, Jacob is acknowledging that God fulfilled the promise made to him when he was last here. It was an act of remembrance and thanksgiving. We will see this practice repeated throughout Scripture. It would ultimately be formalised in the offerings prescribed for worship in the tabernacle and temple. Equally as important as prayer for receiving God’s blessing is thanksgiving as a response for what has been received. This is not a religious obligation but a way of perpetuating the joy we have in our relationship with God. I encourage you to do this regularly. Build an altar to God in the places of blessing (spiritually speaking). Go back to those significant places of blessing in your mind. Go back to those times when you got a breakthrough, an answer to prayer or a calling from God. Spend time celebrating this before God. It is a very important thing to do because by celebrating the past you create a momentum of faith in your heart to spearhead the future.
Do what I have suggested.
Read Genesis 35:1-15
