What Happens to Our Prayers?
Our recent Prayer Workshop inspired me to share this message from Revelation 8.
Revelation 8:1-5
"How encouraging and spiritually uplifting it is to know that what ascends to God in heaven from the hearts and lips of His children here on earth is integrated into the cosmic purposes of God."
Let me share below a section from the Prayer Workbook and quotes from Selwyn Hughes:
“When he opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour. And I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and seven trumpets were given to them. Another angel, who had a golden censer, came and stood at the altar. He was given much incense to offer, with the prayers of all God’s people, on the golden altar in front of the throne. The smoke of the incense, together with the prayers of God’s people, went up before God from the angel’s hand. Then the angel took the censer, filled it with fire from the altar, and hurled it on the earth; and there came peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning and an earthquake”. (Rev 8: 1-5 NIV)
"In this remarkable passage we are given a tantalizing glimpse of what happens to our prayers when they reach heaven. The language is highly symbolic. John discovers through a vivid picture a wonderfully comforting truth: the ‘prayers of all God’s people’ are vitally important. When we pray, our prayers do get through!
Our prayers ascend to the throne of God and are included in heaven’s symphony of sound. In his vision John sees that every prayer is gathered up by an angel who mixes them with incense (signifying their purification) and fire (signifying energy).
Then moving to the ramparts of heaven, the angel hurls them back down to earth! They impact the earth with tremendous noise, accompanied by earthquake and lightning. Prayer, which has ascended ‘unnoticed,’ descends to earth with a crash, arriving with unmistakable power and effect.
Offered to God as a fragrant incense, prayer re-enters the world as divine action, our prayers are the means of bringing about the judgements of God.
How encouraging and spiritually uplifting it is to know that what ascends to God in heaven from the hearts and lips of His children here on earth is integrated into the cosmic purposes of God. If our prayers count there, then surely, they should matter more to us here.” - Every Day with Jesus, Selwyn Hughes, 30 October 2003.
Don’t stop praying.
God bless
Pastor Stephen