Devotional Song: ... GO TO THIS LINK ... Please take the time to take in a YouTube video of Chris Tomlin singing … I Will Lift My Hands … powerfully singing of how God ALWAYS hears us when we pour our faith to Him in prayer.
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Highlight Verse[s]: Revelation 8:4 [NKJV] ... 4 And the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, ascended before God from the angel’s hand.
… God senses the prayers of His Saints to be a sweet incense unto His presence.
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Highlight Passage [context]: Revelation 8:1-6 [NKJV] ... USE THIS LINK ...
… In God’s Revelation to John, the prayers of the Saints were revealed as cherished by God as sweet incense rising like an aroma to His presence.
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Reference Passage : … Psalm 116:1-2 NKJV] … 1 I love the Lord, because He has hear my voice and my supplications. 2 Because He has inclined His ear to me, therefore I will call upon Him as long as I live.
… God bends down to hear all our prayers just like a father bending down to hear the words of a beloved little child.
Reference Passage : … Psalm 141:2 NKJV] … 2 Let my prayer be set before You as incense, the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice.
… A psalmist prays the his prayers would come before God like the sweet smell of incense rising to the nostrils of the Father.
Reference Passage : …Romans 8:26-27 [ NKJV] … USE THIS LINK ...
… Paul assures us that God’s Spirit intercedes for us to bring prayers to God, even when we don’t know what to say.
My Devotional Journal: Today's ODB author, Arthur Jackson, uses the words of a great apologist to assure us that our prayers are eternal, and thru the promise of His word, rise to be sensed by God as the sweet aroma of incense. … The ODB author wrote: “Prayers are deathless.” These are the attention-grabbing words of E. M. Bounds (1835–1913), whose classic writings on prayer have inspired people for generations. His comments about the power and enduring nature of our prayers continue with these words: “The lips that uttered them may be closed to death, the heart that felt them may have ceased to beat, but the prayers live before God, and God’s heart is set on them and prayers outlive the lives of those who uttered them; they outlive a generation, outlive an age, outlive a world.”
Do we realize - and believe - that any - and all - of our prayers are like the sweetness of eternal incense, rising up to the very nostrils of God, … giving Him the sweet smell of our love and concern to Him. That’s the message of God’s own words above and what Christ Tomlin sings in the linked song.
And I believe our prayers rise to His presence in their sweetest form when we pray His own words back to Him. That’s why I begin each day praying Psalms like Ps 19:14, Ps 63:1-4, and Ps 139:23-24 to my Lord, … sending up to him the aroma of my desire to please my Lord with my life.
So, let’s all lift our hands and pray to God today, offering up a big bowl of eternal incense to our Lord [see photo], … letting Him hear our words and smell the sweet aroma of our love for Him, … offered up in prayer.
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My THANKFULNESS: ... Oh Abba Father, ... thank You, Lord, ... even giving us Your Spirit to help us lift up the sweet incense of our prayers.
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My Prayer Today: Oh Abba Father, ... King Jesus, ... I pray, Lord, that all reading here will join me, to send up the sweet aroma of God’s own words to our Lord today. … Amen
Blogger Note: Everyday during this year, my daily devotional blogs are influenced by the reading and study of the online devotional blog entitled “Our Daily Bread,” distributed online via email by RBC Ministries. If you GO TO THIS LINK on the date of my blog, you can read/study the ODB blogs; or you can subscribe to the blog via email at that site.</ span>
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