Layers and Facets of Prayer

"The smoke of the incense , with the prayers of the saints, rose before God from the hand of the angel" Rev 8:5

I am always pursuing a better, fuller, richer understanding of prayer.Some of my previous blog entries have touched on it, but I was compelled to write this post because today I ran across both the intriguing picture of prayer in Rev 8 and devotional on prayer by Oswald Chambers.

The picture from Revelation of our prayers being incense rising before the throne of God has two immediate implications. First, our prayers are delivered directly to God. The angels in this heavily symbol-laden book appear to be delivery agents, not interpreters or intermediaries. Second, our prayers are delivered directly to God. I know this sounds like a repeat, but here the emphasis is on prayers going somewhere no one on heaven or earth or under the earth is allowed to go. Isn't that part of John's weeping in chap 5? No one can take the scroll or open its seals. No one is worthy to even approach God, let alone open the scroll of all of redemptive history. Left in that state, not only our prayers, but our very lives would be lost.

But praise be to God the Lion / Lamb has been slain and has been victorious. He is now worthy to stand in God's presence and open the seals of the scroll. And now, by extension and by inclusion, our prayers also are presented into the very presence of God.

The layer of prayer laid down by Chambers is no less awesome. "Prayer is not an exercise, it is the life of the saint." He goes on to ask "Do we have through the Spirit of God that inexpressible certainty that Jesus had about prayer?" The challenge / reminder from Chambers is this: prayer is not a wish list from me to God; something for Him to approve or disapprove. And it is not simply a conversation with God (although it is that). Prayer is our very connection with God. Like the nervous system or the circulatory system, prayer keeps us spiritually alive. Is this the source of our life? Absolutely not! Our Sovereign God and Resurrected Savior are the source; the life-blood, as it were. But prayer is our connection, the transport mechanism, and without it we would not have Life. Read My Utmost here.

To God Alone be the Glory