Prayers Like Fragrant Incense

[Daily Devotional]

Prayers Like Fragrant Incense 

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 the saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne. Rev. 8: 3.


True prayer takes hold upon Omnipotence and gives us the victory. Upon his
knees the Christian obtains strength to resist temptation. . . . The silent,
fervent prayer of the soul will rise like holy incense to the throne of
grace and will be as acceptable to God as if offered in the sanctuary. To
all who thus seek Him, Christ becomes a present help in time of need. They
will be strong in the day of trial. 

It is a wonderful favor for any man in this life to be commended of God as
was Cornelius. And what was the ground of this approval?--" Thy prayers and
thine alms are come up for a memorial before God" (Acts 10: 4). 

Neither prayer nor almsgiving has any virtue in itself to recommend the
sinner to God; the grace of Christ, through His atoning sacrifice, can alone
renew the heart and make our service acceptable to God. This grace had moved
upon the heart of Cornelius. The Spirit of Christ had spoken to his soul;
Jesus had drawn him, and he had yielded to the drawing. His prayers and alms
were not urged or extorted from him; they were not a price he was seeking to
pay in order to secure heaven; but they were the fruit of love and gratitude
to God. 

Such prayer from a sincere heart ascends as incense before the Lord; and
offerings to His cause and gifts to the needy and suffering are a sacrifice
well pleasing to Him. . . . 

Prayer and almsgiving are closely linked together-- the expression of love
to God and to our fellow men. They are the outworking of the two great
principles of the divine law," Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy
heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy
strength"; and, "Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself" (Mark 12: 30,
31). Thus while our gifts cannot recommend us to God or earn His favor, they
are an evidence that we have received the grace of Christ. They are a test
of the sincerity of our profession of love. 

>From God's Amazing Grace - Page 85