I went to hear David Dodd this past Saturday night.  The ministry that brought him to this area stated this about him on their web site:

David Dodd brings a fresh word and a fresh impartation of the power of God’s Spirit through conferences, prophetic healing services, and international miracle crusades. He has an incredible way of flowing while the Spirit moves, while recognizing that what our Lord gives Him to share is part of Worship.

I enjoyed being there and was thankful I went.

There were two scripture references that David shared that really stood out to me:  Psalm 141 & Revelation 8.

Psalm 141:2
May my prayer be set before You like incense; may the lifting up of my hands be like the evening sacrifice.

Even though I know these scriptures, sometimes they fall to the background of my thoughts and I need them stirred afresh in my soul.  I love that our prayers can be like an incense to the Lord!

Revelation 5:8
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.

I also love that God holds all of our prayers and tears.  They don’t just float into the atmosphere and disappear.  They are captured, recorded, and held.

Even our tears are important to the Lord.

Psalm 56:8
You keep track of all my sorrows.
You have collected all my tears in your bottle.
You have recorded each one in your book. (NLT)

Doesn’t this encourage you to pray?

Revelation 8:3-5
Then another angel with a gold incense burner came and stood at the altar. And a great amount of incense was given to him to mix with the prayers of God’s people as an offering on the gold altar before the throne.  The smoke of the incense, mixed with the prayers of God’s holy people, ascended up to God from the altar where the angel had poured them out.  Then the angel filled the incense burner with fire from the altar and threw it down upon the earth; and thunder crashed, lightning flashed, and there was a terrible earthquake.

David Dodd shared Revelation 8 with us to point out that when our prayers go up, an angel mixes our prayers with something holy (incense from heaven) and fire from the altar of God.  Then those prayers are sent back down to earth.  Our prayers ascend to heaven.  They are captured, held, mixed with something holy, and sent down.

He didn’t touch on the earthquake and other natural reactions listed at the end of verse 5, but I’m not sure that this doesn’t happen in the spirit-realm anyway when darkness and light collide.  When heavenly hosts do battle on our behalf, I’m sure there are a lot of rumblings that we don’t even notice.

So back to my question above.  Doesn’t this encourage you to pray?  It does me!

David asked if our bowls were full.  Do the angels even have a bowl full of incense from us?

That convicted me because I am constantly talking to the Lord, but my prayer life now compared to what it use to be is disappointing to say the least.   I have been so distracted and pulled in so many directions.  But that is going to change.  I feel a fire stirred within me!

The lyrics, “Your FIRE burns within me, burns within me” keep dancing through my heart.

Enjoy this song (FIRE BURNS) written and sung by our worship leader at our church:  Jon Owens

I hope you are spurred to pray today!