God's Altar and You

Monthly Prophetic Series | God’s Altar and You

“These are the feasts of the Lord, even holy convocations, which ye shall proclaim in their seasons.”
— Leviticus 23:4

September: Meet God at the Threshold

September carries the atmosphere of transition.

The natural world begins to shift. One season starts yielding to another. What was growing begins moving toward maturity. What belonged to one period begins making room for what comes next.

Spiritually, this makes September a powerful picture of a threshold.

But the greatest invitation at a threshold is not simply to move forward.

It is to meet God there.

September should not merely be approached as another month on the calendar. It can become a season of intentional seeking—a time to quiet the noise, examine the heart, listen again, and position yourself for fresh encounter with God.

The question is not only:

“Lord, what are You doing next?”

The deeper question is:

“Lord, what do You want to reveal to me before I move?”

Because when God is preparing to change a season, He often begins by changing the person who is entering it.

September and the Biblical Rhythm of Divine Appointment

September frequently overlaps the Hebrew months of Elul and Tishrei, which together create a powerful spiritual rhythm of returning to God, awakening, repentance, appointed times, worship, and renewed fellowship.

Tishrei is especially significant because it contains several of the biblical appointed times of the Lord described in Leviticus 23.

The Hebrew concept behind an appointed time is moed—a set time, an appointment, a designated meeting.

This gives us a powerful spiritual picture:

God establishes times when His people are called to stop, gather, remember, seek, worship, repent, and encounter Him afresh.

The power is not in September itself.

The power is in responding when God calls us closer.

September therefore becomes a fitting season to ask:

Have I become too busy to recognize my divine appointments?

Elul: When the Heart Comes Home

Elul has traditionally been recognized as a season of returning, repentance, prayer, and preparation before the holy days that follow.

One well-known Jewish picture associated with Elul is:

“The King is in the field.”

The imagery is simple.

Instead of remaining distant in the palace, the king comes into the field where ordinary people can approach him.

Although this expression comes from later Jewish tradition rather than a direct statement of Scripture, the spiritual picture beautifully echoes a deeply biblical truth:

God invites His people to draw near.

James 4:8 declares:

“Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you.”

September therefore begins with invitation.

Come closer.

Return.

Remove the distance.

Restore the altar.

Renew the conversation.

Open the places of your heart that have quietly become closed.

There are seasons when God does not primarily want another sacrifice from you.

He wants you.

Your attention.

Your affection.

Your surrender.

Your honesty.

Your presence.

Divine Encounter Changes Direction

Throughout Scripture, genuine encounters with God changed people.

Moses encountered God at the burning bush and walked away with an assignment.

Jacob wrestled with God and left with a new name.

Isaiah saw the Lord and became painfully aware of his own condition before receiving a commission.

Samuel heard God’s voice and entered his prophetic calling.

Peter encountered the power of Jesus and fell to his knees.

Paul met Christ on the road to Damascus and his entire direction changed.

No one truly encounters God and remains exactly the same.

This is why divine encounter must never be reduced to emotion.

An encounter is not simply crying during worship.

It is not goosebumps.

It is not merely seeing a vision or receiving a prophetic word.

A genuine encounter with God produces transformation.

It changes what you see.

It changes what you tolerate.

It changes what you desire.

It changes what you are willing to obey.

It changes the direction of your feet.

If your encounter never changes your alignment, you must ask what you actually encountered.

The Trumpet: Wake Up

Tishrei opens with the biblical Feast of Trumpets.

Leviticus 23:24 says:

“In the seventh month, in the first day of the month, shall ye have a sabbath, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, an holy convocation.”

The trumpet was impossible to ignore.

It announced.

It interrupted.

It gathered.

It awakened.

Spiritually, September carries this question:

What is God trying to awaken in you?

Perhaps you have been functioning but not discerning.

Praying but not listening.

Serving but not abiding.

Moving but not progressing.

Busy but spiritually asleep.

There are times when the mercy of God sounds a trumpet in our spirit.

Wake up.

Pay attention.

Something is shifting.

God may be calling you out of complacency.

Out of distraction.

Out of compromise.

Out of emotional exhaustion.

Out of spiritual familiarity.

Out of a place where you know the language of God but have stopped trembling at His presence.

September is an invitation to hear the trumpet again.

Encounter Before Alignment

We often talk about getting into alignment with God.

But true alignment begins with encounter.

Isaiah did not first receive instructions.

He first saw the Lord.

“I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up.”
— Isaiah 6:1

Then Isaiah saw himself differently.

“Woe is me! for I am undone.”
— Isaiah 6:5

Then came cleansing.

Then came the question:

“Whom shall I send?”

Then came Isaiah’s response:

“Here am I; send me.”

That is the order.

Encounter.
Conviction.
Cleansing.
Alignment.
Commission.

Many people want commission without cleansing.

Assignment without surrender.

Authority without intimacy.

Movement without transformation.

But God is interested in the condition of the vessel He is preparing to use.

September calls us back to His presence before it sends us into His purpose.

The Gate of Repentance

Repentance is one of God’s greatest gifts.

It allows us to change direction before destruction becomes inevitable.

Repentance says:

I was going this way, but I have heard God, and I am turning.

The Day of Atonement, observed in Tishrei, was a solemn time of humbling and cleansing before God.

For believers in Christ, atonement has been fulfilled through the finished work of Jesus Christ. We do not repeat His sacrifice.

But the call to humility, repentance, confession, and cleansing remains deeply New Testament.

First John 1:9 declares:

“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

Do not enter another season defending what God has been asking you to surrender.

Do not explain away what the Holy Spirit keeps confronting.

Do not carry hidden compromise through an open gate and call it advancement.

Some breakthroughs begin with one sentence:

“Lord, I was wrong.”

Repentance is not humiliation.

It is realignment.

The Gate of Release

New seasons require empty hands.

You cannot embrace what is coming while desperately clutching what God has already ended.

Some things must be released.

Old offenses.

Dead relationships.

Outgrown methods.

Former versions of yourself.

Disappointments.

Unrealistic expectations.

Wrong agreements.

Regret.

Fear.

Even some successes must be released when we begin worshipping what God did instead of following what He is doing.

Israel could not walk into the Promised Land while mentally returning to Egypt.

Lot’s wife physically left Sodom but her heart remained behind.

Sometimes your feet have moved while your soul is still living in yesterday.

September asks:

What have you left physically but not emotionally?

What are you still grieving that God is asking you to release?

What old identity keeps trying to follow you into a new season?

There are gates through which baggage cannot pass.

The Gate of Alignment

Alignment is not asking God to bless our agenda.

Alignment is surrendering our agenda to His.

Jesus prayed:

“Not my will, but thine, be done.”
— Luke 22:42

Those words contain the heart of alignment.

There are moments when the greatest spiritual warfare is not against an external enemy.

It is the battle between what I want and what God wants.

Alignment may require:

Forgiving someone you would rather avoid.

Ending something you wanted to preserve.

Beginning something that frightens you.

Waiting when you want to move.

Moving when you would rather remain comfortable.

Speaking when silence feels safer.

Remaining silent when your flesh wants to defend itself.

Alignment is costly because surrender is costly.

But when the heart comes into agreement with God, confusion begins to lose its grip.

The Gate of New Beginnings

New beginnings are attractive.

But new beginnings require new foundations.

Isaiah 43:19 declares:

“Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it?”

Notice the question:

“Shall ye not know it?”

God can be doing something new while we remain unable to perceive it.

Why?

Because sometimes we are still interpreting today through yesterday.

Still expecting God to repeat an old method.

Still looking for Him in a place from which He has already moved.

A fresh season requires fresh discernment.

Do not assume the new will look like the old.

Do not rebuild merely because something once worked.

Do not resurrect what God allowed to die.

The God who led Israel with a cloud by day and fire by night also required them to move when the cloud moved.

His presence was their direction.

It must become ours again.

From Atonement to Tabernacles: God Wants to Dwell With You

Tishrei does not end in solemnity.

It moves toward Sukkot—the Feast of Tabernacles.

After repentance and cleansing comes rejoicing.

After solemn examination comes celebration.

After dealing with sin comes renewed fellowship.

This reveals something beautiful about the heart of God.

He does not cleanse us merely to point out how dirty we were.

He cleanses us because He desires fellowship.

From Genesis to Revelation, one of the great themes of Scripture is God desiring to dwell with humanity.

The greatest gift of divine encounter is not prophecy.

Not revelation.

Not power.

Not breakthrough.

It is God Himself.

Moses understood this.

When God offered to send Israel forward with an angel, Moses responded:

“If thy presence go not with me, carry us not up hence.”
— Exodus 33:15

That should become our September prayer:

Lord, I do not want a new season without Your presence.

I do not want opportunity without You.

I do not want influence without You.

I do not want success without You.

I do not want ministry without You.

I do not want blessing without You.

If You are not in it, I do not want it.

What September Requires

September calls for more than excitement about what may be coming.

It calls for intentional spiritual posture.

This is a season to:

Seek — Make room for God again.

Listen — Silence competing voices long enough to hear Him.

Return — Restore intimacy where distance has developed.

Repent — Turn quickly wherever the Spirit brings conviction.

Release — Stop carrying what belongs to a former season.

Realign — Bring your desires beneath the will of God.

Discern — Recognize what God is doing now.

Move — Obey when He gives direction.

Abide — Value His presence above His gifts.

Three Gates to Secure in September

1. The Gate of Encounter

Do not become satisfied with knowing about God.

Seek Him.

The greatest revelation September can produce is not information about your future.

It is a deeper revelation of Him.

2. The Gate of Alignment

Allow what God reveals in His presence to change your life.

Encounter that never produces obedience becomes spiritual entertainment.

Let God correct what needs correcting.

3. The Gate of Transition

Do not fear when seasons change.

If God is leading you, transition is not abandonment.

It is movement.

Close what must close.

Carry what must remain.

Release what has expired.

Then walk through the gate.

September Prophetic Activation

Set aside intentional time this month to meet with God.

Do not begin with a list of requests.

Begin with surrender.

Ask:

Lord, what are You saying to me in this season?

What are You trying to awaken in me?

Where have I become spiritually dull?

What must I release?

Where am I out of alignment?

What are You asking me to obey?

What do You want me to know about You that I have not understood before?

Then remain quiet long enough to listen.

Do not rush your encounter.

Sometimes the answer is not immediate because God is doing something deeper than giving information.

He is forming the heart that will carry the answer.

Prophetic Declaration for September

I enter September expecting God, not merely expecting things from God.

I declare that my spiritual ears are open and my heart is sensitive to the voice of the Holy Spirit.

Every place of spiritual dullness is being awakened.

Every place of misalignment is coming under the authority of Christ.

I release what God has finished.

I repent quickly where He corrects me.

I refuse to carry old bondage, old mindsets, old offenses, and old agreements into a new season.

I will recognize my divine appointments.

I will not miss God because of distraction, familiarity, fear, or busyness.

I declare that my hunger for God’s presence is greater than my hunger for His gifts.

My heart will return.

My ears will hear.

My eyes will see.

My spirit will discern.

My feet will obey.

I will not run ahead of God, and I will not remain behind when He tells me to move.

I cross this threshold surrendered, aligned, awakened, and prepared.

And above every blessing I could receive, I declare:

Lord, You are my portion. Your presence is my greatest reward.

In Jesus’ name.

Amen.

Final Charge: Do Not Miss the Encounter at the Gate

September is a threshold.

But the gate itself is not the greatest thing.

The One waiting to meet you there is.

Do not become so focused on entering your next season that you miss God at the entrance.

Jacob was travelling when heaven opened over him.

Moses was tending sheep when the bush began to burn.

Samuel was lying down when God called his name.

Paul was travelling a familiar road when Jesus interrupted his entire life.

Divine encounters rarely announce themselves according to our schedules.

They happen when heaven invades ordinary moments and a person is willing to respond.

So as September opens before you, do not merely ask God to open doors.

Ask Him to open you.

Your eyes.

Your ears.

Your understanding.

Your heart.

Because sometimes the greatest new beginning is not God changing what is around you.

It is God revealing Himself so deeply that you can never return to who you were before the encounter.

Enter September listening.

Enter September surrendered.

Enter September expecting His presence.

And when God meets you at the gate—

do not leave the encounter unchanged.

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