Prayers in the Throne Room of God

I am currently engaged in doing a sermon series on the book of Revelation for Sunday worship. Last Sunday, I came across an interesting passage about prayer. It is where John, the author of the book, sees in his vision the throne room of God. Around God's throne are the 24 elders and the four living creatures. Then we have the words:

"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." (Rev. 5:8)

When you pray, you might be thinking about the person or circumstance for which you are praying. How often have you thought about your prayers being in the actual presence of God?

The fact that incense was mentioned refers to the Old Testament tradition of incense being used and prayers ascending as incense. (see Psalm 141:2) As the smoke of incense would go heavenward, it was thought that the prayers offered would also go up.

In the prayers that are offered in Sunday worship or our individual prayers, we can imagine them going up to the throne room of God. We can believe, too, that our prayers will not fall on deaf ears.