It’s beginning to warm up here is Alabama. When you step outside you can smell the aroma of cut grass, flowering bushes, and sometimes sweaty people. ☹ Being able to smell is one of the gifts God has given us that can be a pleasure, and those scents can bring sweet memories to our mind. The Bible speaks much about the burning of incense to God. How that our prayer life is to be like a sweet odor to Him. Have you ever thought about what you smell like to God? Does the fragrance of your life smell like the world to Him, or is it sweet, like the aroma from off the Altar of Incense in the Bible.
In the Old Testament the Tabernacle held the Altar of Incense. It was a place where incense was poured out daily by the Priest. In Luke 1:10 when the priest entered the holy place with the incense, all the people were removed from the temple, and from between the porch and the altar. The incense was an emblem of prayer and praise from the heart offered toward heaven to God. There was a profound silence among those who were praying without. They were entering into serious business with God. As the priest cast the incense on the fire, he bowed reverently toward the Holy of Holies.
Luke 1:10 “And the whole multitude of the people were praying without at the time of incense.”
In Revelation 8:3-4 the incense is as something distinctly going up with the prayers of the saints. This last use of incense comes at the opening of the last seal. It is a time when the saints are praying because they are being persecuted on the earth. The angel approaches the altar with a censer filled with prayers of the saints. To the Lord, these prayers are a sweet frangrance. This is what happens when the saints of God pray.
Revelation 8:3-4 “And another angel came and stood at the altar, having a golden censer; and there was given unto him much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne. And the smoke of the incense, which came with the prayers of the saints, ascended up before God out of the angel’s hand.”
In II Corinthians 2:15 we are reminded that our labor to bring the lost to a saving knowledge of Christ is a sweet smell to him. God sees this effort acceptable and pleasing to Him. It is compared to the smell of pleasant incense, or of grateful aromatics that were burned in Biblical times in the temple. The word rendered here as “sweet savor” also occurs in Ephesians 5:2, and Philippians 4:18, and is applied to persons or things that are well-pleasing to God.
II Corinthians 2:15 “For we are unto God a sweet savor of Christ, in them that are saved, and in them that perish:”
Ephesians 5:2 “And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savor.”
Philippians 4:18 “But I have all, and abound: I am full, having received of Epaphroditus the things which were sent from you, an odor of a sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable, well pleasing to God.”
All of these passages point us to the fact that our prayers are precious and sweet to God. It is an act of obedience and an acknowledgement that He is our source of all comfort, love, and power. It is sweet to Him because it is our desire to communicate with Him. Our desire to build our relationship with Him. We are seeking no one else but Him. Over and over in scripture He tells us to pray. He wants us to come to Him for everything. He wants our total reliance to be on Him. Only He is worthy of such confidence and love. Below are some areas He has specifically instructed us to pray.
Pray for our enemies. Matthew 5:44 “But I say unto you, love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;”
Pray there will be laborers for Christ. Matthew 9:38 “Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth laborers into his harvest.”
Pray for strength and discernment to fight the devil. Matthew 26:41 “Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.”
Pray that we will be strong and able to stand before Jesus one day. Luke 21:36 “Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man”
Pray that we do not enter into temptation. Luke 22:40 “And when he was at the place, he said unto them, Pray that ye enter not into temptation.”
We are to pray for our brothers and sisters in Christ. I Thessalonians 5:25 “Brethren, pray for us.”
We are to pray for the sick. James 5:16 “Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.”
Get the picture? We are to pray! It is not a suggestion. It is a direct command. We are to “Pray without ceasing.” I Thessalonians 5:17
How sweet have you smelled today? God shouldn’t have to command us to pray, we should be ashamed that the one we are supposed to love more than anything else has to command us to talk to Him. I wonder sometimes if our prayers are rank in the nostrils of God because they are spoken out of duty instead of love.
Very good. A very fresh reminder. Thanks