04/22/2024
Today my devotional reading was appropriately titled 'The Fragrance of Prayer.' E.M. Bounds wrote that "giving thanks is the very life of prayer. It is its fragrance and music, its poetry and its crown." And he warned us that "whatever interferes with and injures the spirit of prayer necessarily hurts and dissipates the spirit of praise." His point is that without prayer and its fragrance then the praise choruses and hymns we sing in church are no different than any secular song; we might as well be singing along with the radio.
“And when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each holding a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.”
Revelation 5:8 ESV
“And another angel came and stood wat the altar with a golden censer, and he was given much incense to offer with the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar before the throne, and the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, rose before God from the hand of the angel.”
Revelation 8:3-4
Our faith is founded on God the Father, His Son Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost, but the avenue by which we reach out to them is prayer. When I find that I am unable to pray in the fullness of spirit, it is because something in my life is placing a basket over my glow of faith. I have heard people describe this as "God feels so far away" but scripture tells us:
“Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.”
Hebrews 13:8 ESV
So the reason we have difficulty praying is not that He is far away, but that we have let something in our lives step between us, and it keeps us from seeing, feeling, and praying to Him clearly. Something has caused the flower of our prayer and praise to close like a morning glory in mid-day heat, and our fragrance subsides.
All Christians have times like this when worry or strife redirects us away from God. We find ourselves, even if but for a moment, trying to take on the world alone. We forget to hand Him our troubles and trust in Him to solve them. We lose sight of the fact that we can't continually praise Him if we doubt His ability to provide for us, and we have difficulty in prayer..
“Through him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name.”
Hebrews 13:15 ESV
However, in those times when we feel like God is far away, He isn't; we just need to call the name JESUS and pull the shade back as we open the blossom of our prayer once more.
This is going to sound like an infinite loop in which there is no beginning or end, but we must remove the obstacles to fullness of praise and prayer through prayer itself. Focus on God and voice your hardened prayers; hand Him the things which have been disrupting your conversation with Him and then trust that He will soften our hearts, and remove the obstacles from between you.
Then, as your spirit adjusts to this new found peace.... Be still... And know that He is God. In a few moments of quiet you will begin to praise him and smell the fragrance of your prayer returning once more. The loop will be complete and God will have brought you once again to Himself.
In as much as our devotional reading came partially from Hebrews 13 this morning I thought it appropriate that my prayer of benediction should be taken from this chapter too... Life, death, and life again... Another infinite loop.
Prayer:
Father thank you for allowing us to come before you today, and to offer prayer that leads to prayer, and for your hand that softens and circumcises our hearts as we begin to pray away our hardened hearts. Thank you for the sweet taste of the words we offer you in the Spirit, and the scent of our prayers that are mixed with incense in golden bowls before your throne. This is the incense of prayer, it is the smoke and fragrance of our faithful lives. To you we pray, and lift up our praise to you… the God of Peace, Glory and Grace.
“Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.”
Hebrews 13:20-21 ESV
Hallelujah! We sing eternal Hallelujah! Lord God Almighty hear our sweet prayers, and be glorified by them!
Amen!
Rich Forbes