Golden Bowls of Prayers
Dear Friends,
The fresh new blossoms of Magnolia, Hyacinth, and Daffodils, are giving beauty for us to enjoy. Those early blooms are a preview for what will come soon. When you look in the window of a coffee shop and see customers enjoying conversation or a good book along with a cup of coffee it's a preview of what you will get when you open the door. As the bells on the door chime a welcome when you enter, the intoxicating aroma of coffee beans greets you, beckoning you to the counter to order your favorite drink.
Some fragrances tend to fill every crevice of a room more than others. Coffee is one of those. Burning incense is like that too. No matter how high the cathedral ceiling is, the sweet, smokey smell fills the room.
We know that God collects our tears in bottles. Psalms 56:8, "You keep track of all my sorrows, You have collected all my tears in Your bottle..." We also see in Revelation 5:8 that our prayers are being caught into golden bowls of incense. He deeply loves us and each prayer must be a treasure for Him to keep them in golden bowls! Prayers that are collected include our offerings of gratitude and praise, giving glory to God, along with our requests. Incense gives us a picture for prayer much like perfume is the breath of a flower.
In Exodus 30:34-35 we read where God gave Moses specific instructions for the preparation of the incense. We also see when we read The Lord's Prayer that there are elements mingled together to produce effective prayer. These include worship, repentance, forgiveness and thanksgiving. We can come to God with our prayers when they have been purified by Christ's atonement making them acceptable to Him. The atoning sacrifice of Jesus is the fire that burns the incense blending with our thoughts and words making our prayers rise before God.
Revelation 8:4
"The smoke of the incense, mixed with the prayers of God's holy people, ascended up to God from the altar where the Angel had
poured them out."
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