blazingthru
Well-Known Member
The Smell of Prayer
AN AMAZING FACT: One of the three gifts offered to Jesus shortly after His birth was frankincense. It is a fragrant resin that grows in some of the world’s harshest places—Oman, Yemen, and Somalia. The spindly trees themselves are actually disappointing to behold. They are lowly, twisted, thorny things with fat prickly branches spreading out into small crinkly leaves.
Yet as soon as an incision is made into the silvery bark, brilliant drops of white resin ooze from the wound. These drops, known as luban, are left on the tree for two weeks to dry. Then the little pearls are gathered in the early morning. From Rome to India, frankincense was deemed one of the most prized substances in the civilized world. It was essential for a host of uses, ranging from religious to cosmetic to medicinal. Besides its lovely fragrance, frankincense is attributed with healing powers, which range from treatment of depression and irritability to ailments such as eczema.
The frankincense trade peaked in the Roman Empire in the first century. (Nero burned it by the ton at religious ceremonies.) To supply the copious need, this rare resin had to be carried overland via long and grueling journeys. Eventually, incense caravans grew in size to 3,000 camels in a single procession. Even today, satellite images reveal faint traces of these ancient caravan trails carved in the wilderness. The trade was so lucrative that Alexander the Great planned to invade Arabia in an effort to control and tax the roads, a plan thwarted only by his death.
For religious purposes, many great civilizations in the ancient world believed that prayers could only be carried to heaven in the smoke of sacred incense. It was also used in the sanctuary service to depict prayers rising before the God of Israel.
One of the most beautiful prayers in Scripture is found in Daniel 9:3–19. Read through this passage and make it your own prayer to the Lord. Let it rise like incense up to heaven, a sweet savor before God.
KEY BIBLE TEXTS
And the smoke of the incense, which came with the prayers of the saints, ascended up before God out of the angel's hand.
- Revelation 8:4
Daniel 9:3-19
New King James Version (NKJV)
3 Then I set my face toward the Lord God to make request by prayer and supplications, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes. 4 And I prayed to the Lord my God, and made confession, and said, “O Lord, great and awesome God, who keeps His covenant and mercy with those who love Him, and with those who keep His commandments, 5 we have sinned and committed iniquity, we have done wickedly and rebelled, even by departing from Your precepts and Your judgments. 6 Neither have we heeded Your servants the prophets, who spoke in Your name to our kings and our princes, to our fathers and all the people of the land. 7 O Lord, righteousness belongs to You, but to us shame of face, as it is this day—to the men of Judah, to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and all Israel, those near and those far off in all the countries to which You have driven them, because of the unfaithfulness which they have committed against You.
8 “O Lord, to us belongs shame of face, to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, because we have sinned against You. 9 To the Lord our God belong mercy and forgiveness, though we have rebelled against Him. 10 We have not obeyed the voice of the Lord our God, to walk in His laws, which He set before us by His servants the prophets. 11 Yes, all Israel has transgressed Your law, and has departed so as not to obey Your voice; therefore the curse and the oath written in the Law of Moses the servant of God have been poured out on us, because we have sinned against Him. 12 And He has confirmed His words, which He spoke against us and against our judges who judged us, by bringing upon us a great disaster; for under the whole heaven such has never been done as what has been done to Jerusalem.
13 “As it is written in the Law of Moses, all this disaster has come upon us; yet we have not made our prayer before the Lord our God, that we might turn from our iniquities and understand Your truth. 14 Therefore the Lord has kept the disaster in mind, and brought it upon us; for the Lord our God is righteous in all the works which He does, though we have not obeyed His voice. 15 And now, O Lord our God, who brought Your people out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand, and made Yourself a name, as it is this day—we have sinned, we have done wickedly!
16 “O Lord, according to all Your righteousness, I pray, let Your anger and Your fury be turned away from Your city Jerusalem, Your holy mountain; because for our sins, and for the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and Your people are a reproach to all those around us. 17 Now therefore, our God, hear the prayer of Your servant, and his supplications, and for the Lord’s sake cause Your face to shine on Your sanctuary, which is desolate. 18 O my God, incline Your ear and hear; open Your eyes and see our desolations, and the city which is called by Your name; for we do not present our supplications before You because of our righteous deeds, but because of Your great mercies. 19 O Lord, hear! O Lord, forgive! O Lord, listen and act! Do not delay for Your own sake, my God, for Your city and Your people are called by Your name.”
AN AMAZING FACT: One of the three gifts offered to Jesus shortly after His birth was frankincense. It is a fragrant resin that grows in some of the world’s harshest places—Oman, Yemen, and Somalia. The spindly trees themselves are actually disappointing to behold. They are lowly, twisted, thorny things with fat prickly branches spreading out into small crinkly leaves.
Yet as soon as an incision is made into the silvery bark, brilliant drops of white resin ooze from the wound. These drops, known as luban, are left on the tree for two weeks to dry. Then the little pearls are gathered in the early morning. From Rome to India, frankincense was deemed one of the most prized substances in the civilized world. It was essential for a host of uses, ranging from religious to cosmetic to medicinal. Besides its lovely fragrance, frankincense is attributed with healing powers, which range from treatment of depression and irritability to ailments such as eczema.
The frankincense trade peaked in the Roman Empire in the first century. (Nero burned it by the ton at religious ceremonies.) To supply the copious need, this rare resin had to be carried overland via long and grueling journeys. Eventually, incense caravans grew in size to 3,000 camels in a single procession. Even today, satellite images reveal faint traces of these ancient caravan trails carved in the wilderness. The trade was so lucrative that Alexander the Great planned to invade Arabia in an effort to control and tax the roads, a plan thwarted only by his death.
For religious purposes, many great civilizations in the ancient world believed that prayers could only be carried to heaven in the smoke of sacred incense. It was also used in the sanctuary service to depict prayers rising before the God of Israel.
One of the most beautiful prayers in Scripture is found in Daniel 9:3–19. Read through this passage and make it your own prayer to the Lord. Let it rise like incense up to heaven, a sweet savor before God.
KEY BIBLE TEXTS
And the smoke of the incense, which came with the prayers of the saints, ascended up before God out of the angel's hand.
- Revelation 8:4
Daniel 9:3-19
New King James Version (NKJV)
3 Then I set my face toward the Lord God to make request by prayer and supplications, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes. 4 And I prayed to the Lord my God, and made confession, and said, “O Lord, great and awesome God, who keeps His covenant and mercy with those who love Him, and with those who keep His commandments, 5 we have sinned and committed iniquity, we have done wickedly and rebelled, even by departing from Your precepts and Your judgments. 6 Neither have we heeded Your servants the prophets, who spoke in Your name to our kings and our princes, to our fathers and all the people of the land. 7 O Lord, righteousness belongs to You, but to us shame of face, as it is this day—to the men of Judah, to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and all Israel, those near and those far off in all the countries to which You have driven them, because of the unfaithfulness which they have committed against You.
8 “O Lord, to us belongs shame of face, to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, because we have sinned against You. 9 To the Lord our God belong mercy and forgiveness, though we have rebelled against Him. 10 We have not obeyed the voice of the Lord our God, to walk in His laws, which He set before us by His servants the prophets. 11 Yes, all Israel has transgressed Your law, and has departed so as not to obey Your voice; therefore the curse and the oath written in the Law of Moses the servant of God have been poured out on us, because we have sinned against Him. 12 And He has confirmed His words, which He spoke against us and against our judges who judged us, by bringing upon us a great disaster; for under the whole heaven such has never been done as what has been done to Jerusalem.
13 “As it is written in the Law of Moses, all this disaster has come upon us; yet we have not made our prayer before the Lord our God, that we might turn from our iniquities and understand Your truth. 14 Therefore the Lord has kept the disaster in mind, and brought it upon us; for the Lord our God is righteous in all the works which He does, though we have not obeyed His voice. 15 And now, O Lord our God, who brought Your people out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand, and made Yourself a name, as it is this day—we have sinned, we have done wickedly!
16 “O Lord, according to all Your righteousness, I pray, let Your anger and Your fury be turned away from Your city Jerusalem, Your holy mountain; because for our sins, and for the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and Your people are a reproach to all those around us. 17 Now therefore, our God, hear the prayer of Your servant, and his supplications, and for the Lord’s sake cause Your face to shine on Your sanctuary, which is desolate. 18 O my God, incline Your ear and hear; open Your eyes and see our desolations, and the city which is called by Your name; for we do not present our supplications before You because of our righteous deeds, but because of Your great mercies. 19 O Lord, hear! O Lord, forgive! O Lord, listen and act! Do not delay for Your own sake, my God, for Your city and Your people are called by Your name.”
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