And when he had opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour. And I saw the seven angels which stood before God; and to them were given seven trumpets. 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. Rev. 8:1-3
In the beginning scripture, the saints had already offered up their prayers to God. The people had made their requests but incense was now given to them that they should offer it with the prayers that was upon the altar. The prayers could not reach God so to speak until the incense was offered up with the prayer.
Elijah did the same thing. He knew that the combination of the requests and the burnt offering will bring about the manifestation of fire. ~ 1 Kings 18:38
Last week, I shared the need for this 21-Day Challenge. Which means, for three weeks, you are to desist from making any personal requests to God – any private supplication for your personal needs.
The understanding of this is that you have prayed about these needs and they are already on the God’s altar. However, the subject of today is to allow heaven to receive your incense, that your prayers be not hindered and results starts to show.
“Things begin to happen in the realm of the Spirit when your worship and your prayers corroborate.”
Now, I’m not in any way saying, you shouldn’t communicate with God or pray in the Spirit. The idea is in the mood of prayer, just as the bible spoke about different types of prayer.
“The only prayer that is not allowed during the 21-Day Challenge is Supplication.”
As a form of spiritual sacrifice, you should spend time (during this 21-Day Challenge) interceding. It becomes as incense because Jesus, as our high priest, is ever living to make intercession for us.
What is Intercession? It is when a man stands on behalf. It means, to stand on behalf of somebody else, in the presence of God, to receive the life that person, or the people, or that nation need in order to have God work within their lives.
You can spend time in fellowship with God and allow Him communicate to you. However, do not indulge in self-centered prayer that just zeroes in on just your needs.
Kenneth Hagin (of blessed memory) used to talk about one particular woman. She was always praying about something. One day she had an open vision. While she was fasting, God showed her a scale, in which, one side had prayers and it was full and tilted towards that side. On the other side of this scale was ‘worship’, and it was empty.
Then God told her that things begin to happen in the realm of the Spirit when your worship and prayers corroborate. Which means the same amount of praying and the same amount of worship and praise. So you have a lot of catching up to do in the area of praising and glorifying me.
Then the woman stopped praying and started praising God. After some days, she began to see manifestations within her life.
“The altars are full of requests. Incense needs to be offered unto God.”
Praise is what causes the angelic activities concerning our own prayers. There would be silence in heaven concerning our prayers, however, things start to move when incense (praise) is being offered.
In Acts chapter 10, Cornelius gave much alms and prayed always to God. The Bible records that his prayers and alms (a combination of both) was what made God see room to begin to further the real work of Jesus on the earth, which is the outpouring of the Spirit to the Gentiles.
“The activities of the angel ascending and descending upon your life is tied up to the incense that is coming out of the offering that you are presenting to the Lord.”
So, according to the scripture in Psalm 50:23, I want you to note two things:
- the vertical relationship (which is offering praise unto God) and
- the Horizontal relationship (ordering your conversation aright).
“The way you are treating people will determine whether that salvation I have planned will be made manifest. God’s throne is founded on justice.”
If you read Isaiah 56:1, you see another dimension in this walk of faith. It says, ”Thus says the Lord, keep you judgement and do justice, for my salvation is near to come.” God is saying that my salvation is near. There are things I want to do but something is hindering it. He says, “…keep ye judgement and do justice.” Let there be equity in your dealings, treat people with fairness.
So, for the next two weeks, go out and practise judgement and justice, which is righteousness.
