Bowls of prayer

Revelation 5:8, 8:3-5 (NIV)
And when he had taken it, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb. Each one had a harp and they were holding golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. [...]
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 the saints, on the golden altar before the throne. The smoke of the incense, together with the prayers of the saints, 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.

Our prayers are incense before God. If we realized this, we would find it much less a labor to pray. Picture God taking a good strong whiff and saying “Ahh, my saints’ prayers! They smell wonderful!”

We can also find the lesson here that not every prayer is answered right away. We can see the “throwing the bowl to the earth” as symbolic of sending the answer. Sometimes it takes more than one prayer, or the prayers of more than one person, to “fill the bowl”. It is our job to ask in faith, believing that we receive when we pray (Mark 11:24, Matthew 21:22).

In Luke 11:9, where we’re told to ask, seek, and knock, the Greek verbs are in the “present imperative” tense, which implies continuing action. One reading might be “Ask, and keep on asking … seek, and keep on seeking … knock, and keep on knocking”. We don’t want to get into vain repetition (Matthew 6:7) or prayers inspired by fear and worry rather than faith. But keep filling your bowl, approaching God in faith, believe that you receive each time you go back with your request. If you quit praying, your bowl may never fill.

Doug