Do you ever wonder how God processes all of our prayers? I know He’s God, but I wondered. I’m one person and I know how many prayers I whisper a day. Prayers for help. Prayers for hope. Prayers for healing. Prayers for justice. Prayers for mercy. Prayers for grace. Prayers for others. Prayers for change. Prayers for clarity. Prayers for provisions. Prayers for direction. Prayers for guidance. Prayers for answers. Then there are those that just can’t be put into words. The achings of my heart, of your heart, those anguished desperate pleas.
And when he had taken it, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb. Each one had a harp and they were holding golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of God’s people. Revelations 5:8
Golden bowls full of incense that are filled with my prayers, with your prayers, with all prayers. Dwell on that a minute. Every one of my prayers, every one of your prayers, the incense. Close your eyes and picture that. Priceless containers of gold overflowing with every single utterance to your Creator. Can you see your prayers landing in the bowl? The bowl of incense. Those prayers that are the essence of who we have become in Him, offered up to Him, poured out to Him, laid at His feet. It takes vulnerableness to bow low before our God. All of that vulnerableness, that opening of ourselves, is a sweet aroma to Him.
Another angel, who had a golden censer, came and stood at the altar. He was given much incense to offer, with the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar before the throne. The smoke of the incense, together with the prayers of the saints, went up before God from the angel’s hand. Revelations 8:3-4
Close your eyes again. Be there. The smoke of the incense slowly swirling and threading it’s way upward, rising to the throne of God. Inhale the sweet aroma hanging in the air, just lingering there, weaving through our prayers, enveloping them, our prayers that have been saved, gathered and placed on the golden altar. How much love is that?
Our prayers are an offering, a sacrifice. An offering of ourselves to Him. A humbling of ourselves to Him. An opening of ourselves to Him. A saying, I can’t, but You can. I’m not, but You are. Praying to Him shows we need Him. Calling to Him shows we trust Him. Relying on Him shows that we simply can’t live without Him. This vulnerableness, humbleness, openness demonstrates that.
O Lord, I call to you; come quickly to me.
Hear my voice when I call you.
May my prayer be set before you like incense;
May the lifting up of my hands be like the evening sacrifice.
Psalm 141:1-2
Close your eyes one more time.
And when the time for the burning of incense came, all the assembled worshipers were praying outside. Luke 1:10
The incense is being burned. It is the vehicle on which our prayers rise. Higher and higher they move with the smoke, instantly heard and seen by God, but treasured forever in the golden bowl. How much love is that?