PRAYER One evening in 2004, the Lord had me reading Psalm 141. While there is a great deal of wealth in this entire chapter, verse 2 seemed to be the one which captivated me. It reads, "May my prayer be counted as incense before Thee." What a precious thought. I had heard this verse referred to many times. Each time I had pictured my Lord taking this long, deep breath to enjoy the aroma of my prayers. What mental picture do you get when you hear this verse? In that moment, I was thinking about the fact that I do not pray nearly enough. It then dawned on me that I may learn more about prayer by studying the burning of incense in the Old Testament temple. You may be thinking...not another teaching on prayer, aargh! I too become exhausted by hearing the same messages multiple times with no fresh manna in them. Believe me, I would not write this if I did not consider it fresh manna. Well, let me say this...it was fresh to me; therefore, I took the chance it may be to at least one of you. So, let's reflect on prayer. Most of us love to talk. When we are around other people, we have no problem interjecting into the conversation. We rarely run out of things to say. Just driving to the store is an adventure in the art of conversation when so many of the drivers we pass are talking on a cell phone. We obviously talk too much when the government says cell phones are a road hazard that needs regulation. Indeed, we have no trouble talking! Yet, many times, it becomes a chore to talk with God. Why is that? We cannot say it is because we cannot see Him. We cannot see the person on the other end of our phone conversation either. Maybe it is because we do not feel He talks back. I have thought to myself before that if I would shut up talking and listen more, He might have something to say. It seems as if it is almost inconvenient to take time to talk with Him daily. How sad and fearful that we might consider our Savior inconvenient. I have learned a more casual approach, by including Him in my everyday tasks. For example, I talk with Him about cleaning the house, while I am cleaning the house. This approach; however, can be risky if we become too casual with the Lord. We can lose respect for His Holiness. He is my Friend, but He absolutely is Ruler of the Universe, as well. So, what can we do to help our way of thinking about prayer? Foremost, I believe I must consistently remind myself that God is never fully discovered by me. I am so finite, and He so infinite, I can never discover all there is to be discovered of Him. This is especially true if I do not converse with Him. We are commanded by Jesus in Matthew 6:33a, “But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness.” I cannot separate Christ from His righteousness. I have also learned God does not respond to or deal with any two of us the same way. He created us to be individuals; therefore, He treats us as such. For example, Jesus never healed any two people afflicted with blindness the same way. He laid hands on one who received a gradual healing. For another He made mud packs for his eyes, then he had him go wash. Knowing this helps me understand the Lord is unlimited in what He has for us and even in His teaching us to pray. Just look at the Lord's prayer. There are many differing ideas people have had about it. We all see things differently. I do not believe He minds as long as it is within His Will. Now, back to incense. We already know Psalm 141:2 refers to prayer as incense. The book of Revelation 5:8 shows us the 24 elders in Heaven. Each has a golden bowl full of incense. It then tells us that the incense is the prayers of the saints. Obviously, no matter how difficult, our prayers are very important to the Lord. In fact, in Revelation 8:3-4, a significant event occurs. Our prayers are on the altar before the throne, and an angel comes and adds incense to them. I believe this incense is the Intercessor Jesus' prayers. Regardless, our prayers are so important and sweet to the Lord, He Himself adds to them. Let's look at one more verse so we can settle in our minds that prayer and incense parallel in their significance. In Luke 1, Zacharias is told by an angel of the Lord his wife will conceive and bear John the Baptist. This angelic visitation occurred during the time of the burning of incense. Note in verse 11, "the whole multitude of the people were in prayer outside at the hour of the incense offering." You see, to Israel, the burning of the incense was symbolic of their prayers. Now, to the O.T. burning of incense. In Exodus 30, God gives Moses the Law for the burning of incense. I am not going to go into all the symbolism here, but just know it was to be burned on an exquisite altar (vv.1-5) in front of the veil (v.6). If you do not know, behind the veil was where the Ark of the Covenant with the Mercy Seat remained. There God actually met with the High Priest. His presence continually remained there. The alter of incense was the last thing the priest passed before entering the presence of the Almighty. We cannot enter the presence of our Holy God without prayer. Oh yes, there may be sovereign times when He will show up uninvited, but these are rare. He desires fellowship with us, but it must include conversation. That draws Him to us, and us to Him. This incense was to be burned upon that alter "every morning, when dressing the lamps" (v.7) and when "Aaron lights the lamps at twilight" (v.8). I learn from this that prayer not only lights me up to shine for Jesus, but is the very preparation (dressing, trimming) time for me to be able to do so. Verse 8 also teaches us prayer is to be perpetual as was the burning of incense. 1 Thessalonians 5:17 is a familiar verse to most of us, "pray without ceasing". I know this seems impossible in natural thinking. What this means to me is I must never "hang up the phone" on Jesus. I must always have an open line of communication. He must remain in the forefront of my mind day and night. I must meditate on Him and His Word, day and night (Ps. 1). I must never forget Whose I am. I must listen to Him always and be sensitive to the unction of the Spirit who guides my steps and guards my heart daily. I must be willing to forgive in the twinkling of an eye. Yes, forgive. The Lord’s prayer includes, “forgive my debts as I forgive my debtors.” I must have my mind set and my heart turned toward Him at all times. To me, this is perpetual burning of incense. This entire teaching came out of my openness to His leading me to read Psalm 141 that evening in 2004. I cannot; however, let these chats throughout my day diminish my need to find a time to dialogue with Him when the focus is solely on Him! Let's step away from Exodus 30 for a time and look at Leviticus 16:12-13. These verses explain what priestly duty Zacharias was performing when he was told of the coming birth of John the Baptist. The priest would go behind the veil with a censor of coals from the alter of incense and having his hands full of beaten incense. He would then put the incense on the coals. This would create a cloud of the incense that covered the Mercy Seat so the priest would not die. We must understand the significance of the incense having been beaten. Prayer must be a part of everyday life, but the prayers of a broken saint are even more precious to the Lord. Can you imagine how much the prayers of Job meant to God after he had lost everything in contrast to before. God enjoys our conversation at any time, but our love is proven when we pray despite difficulties coming against us. It shows we will not turn our backs on God for any reason. ... See PRAYER- Page 16 GLAD TIDINGS 7 AUGUST 2025 Signs of Life from The King's Highway Evangelistic Ministries SARA GOLDSTEIN
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