“…and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each holding a harp, and golden bowls of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.”
Revelation 5:8
“Let my prayer be counted as incense before You…”
Psalm 141:2
As we continued our glimpse into the Throne Room of heaven and we began to hear about what “must take place”, I was struck by the picture of the golden bowls full of incense which are the prayers of the saints. The prayers of all the believers for all of time have become a ‘sweet aroma pleasing to God’. Incense is a sweet-smelling substance burned as an offering to God in the tabernacle and the Temple as a way of honoring God. It symbolized the prayers of the Hebrew people. But these prayers include our prayers; those of the apostles and early believers, those who trusted in Christ over the last two thousand years, and those who will until He returns.
What prayers are included in this aroma to God? Richard Foster says, “To pray is to change.” Often that is what prayer is, please God heal my child, please God help my words to be kind, please God bring my neighbor to Christ, that becomes incense. Prayers don’t need fancy words or deep theological phrases. Dom John Chapman says, “Pray as you can, not as you can’t.”
Prayers of gratitude, adoration, joy, love, confession, and repentance are certainly incense, a sweet aroma to God. But what about those other prayers with different emotions; their catalysts can be fear, confusion, despair, anger, doubt, hopelessness, etc. How can they be a sweet incense to God? Anything prayed to God acknowledges that (even in our doubting) He alone is Sovereign and has the answers. The cries of our hearts in humility and transparency are always heard and become part of those bowls full of incense. And our LORD delights in our prayers and He wants us to bring everything to Him. Brothers and sisters, prayer is a way we can honor Him every day and all of the time; and those prayers are a sweet aroma forever to Him. Ponder this today as you fill those bowls of incense.
“When the Spirit has come to reside in someone, that person cannot stop praying; for the Spirit prays without ceasing in him. No matter if he is asleep or awake, prayer is going on in his heart all of the time. He may be eating or drinking, he may be resting or working – the incense of prayer will ascend spontaneously from his heart. The slightest stirring of his heart is like a voice which sings in silence and in secret to the Invisible.” Isaac the Syrian
Francie Overstreet
EFCC Member