Sometimes when we pray we have the feeling ‘I want God to come down to me.’ But that is not what prayer is all about. Prayer is for the purpose that we rise to His level.
Revelation 8:4 And the smoke of the incense, which came with the prayers of the saints, ascended up before God out of the angel’s hand.
When you read about incense and its connection with prayer, it was all with the purpose to rise. This is what prayer is all about. To take us from the earthly level to the heavenly level. We do not want to think God is a man coming down to our level. There are plenty of gods out there that man is praying to, but that is not the living God. God wants His children just like Jesus, that they would rise in Spirit and come to His level.
Revelation chapter 4 is a beautiful picture of this. John is a prisoner. What did John experience? What did the voice say to John? COME UP HITHER. John was looking and the voice said to him, “I will show you…” This is a beautiful picture of what God wants in prayer. God wants us to look and wants us to see things of heaven, and not to see things of earth.
Jesus taught the disciples to pray to “Our Father.” That is inclusive. He didn’t say ‘my Father’ or ‘your Father’ but ‘our Father’. Jesus wanted His disciples to realise that they had been born into a wonderful family: there is a Father and He is our Father. It is wonderful when each of us pray, and prayer helps to unite us, because it is our Father and includes us and brings us together. You can go to the throne of grace and find help from our Father. He is our Father and He is God.
Jesus never said to pray to our God, but to our Father. It is a lovely family and you’re coming into something that is a family. Jesus wanted them to know and pray to our Father.
“Our Father in heaven”: Jesus was teaching them that our Father is not on the level of this earth. God sent Jesus to that level. But, God is not here. He is up there. That is what prayer is about. It is to help us rise above the level of the earth. We have struggles and tests here on the earth.
One thing that is beautiful about prayer is God can help us to rise to His level; to His glorious wonderful level. When we see things from His level and perspective the earth looks so small.
Truth Archive 