How Meaningful Our Prayers Are To God
And when he had taken the book, the four beasts and four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having every one of them harps, and golden vials full of odours, which are the prayers of saints.So, that's what happened to all those prayers that went unanswered. . . They ended up in some vials, set aside up in Heaven. No wonder they didn't get answered.
Well, if you believe that then let me tell you about some ocean-front property I have for sale back in Denver. Because, that's not what has happened to the prayers that we consider un-answered. God, the Father, doesn't set aside any prayer prayed to Him by his saints. Every one of them is heard and answered in His own way.
I don't have a reason as to why it seems some prayers go un-answered. At least they seem to us to have gone un-answered. I really believe that every prayer receives an answer and, although some answers may be "No!" I think He answers them in a positive manner but not always with the results we would prefer.
So, let's take another look at Revelation 5:8. Here we have golden vials (who knows how many) full of odours, which are the prayers of saints. Revelation 8:3 refers to a similar situation:
And the smoke of the incense, which came with the prayers of the saints, ascended up before God out of the angel's hand.It appears as though our prayers are more than just words. They leave earth as words but when they arrive in Heaven they are something more, and they are retained - kept in special containers that are used to give God pleasure. Could it be that words have more value than we have been giving them? It is very likely so since God's own son is called the Word.
Well, back to the matter at hand: Why are the prayers of the saints retained in golden vials by God Himself?
If we stop to think about it, is there anything, other than a prayer, that we can personally give God today. We like to think that we have given Him our lives, but even if we dedicate our entire life to the service of God we still retain it while we live here on earth. Our tithes and offerings never make it to Heaven. Oh yes, they are given in the name of God and to be used in His service, but our material belongings, such as money, etc., never make it to Heaven.
There is only one thing that you can actually give God today -- right now -- which will arrive in His presence in Heaven, and that is your prayers. Everything else we commit to Him and give to Him never makes it to Heaven. It may be used in His service to send more souls to Heaven but it remains here on earth.
I have a couple of file folders I've kept in the file cabinet for years. Those folders contain a collection of scribbles as well as some pretty detailed pictures drawn by my children as they grew older. From time to time I'll open one of the folders and flip through the sheets of paper looking at the drawings my children made years ago. The drawings, of course, got better and better as each child matured but the most cherished drawings always seem to be the ones that were made at the early stages of life. It's sometimes hard to figure out what the drawing depicted but it is very precious because those lines on that paper originated in the heart and mind of my little child.
When did moms start using small magnets to attach a child's handy-work to the front of the refrigerator? Probably as soon as the old wooden ice boxes went out of style. Almost every home in which there are small children will have a kitchen refrigerator covered with the handy-work from each of the precious little ones in that home. In some cases it is hard to find the door-handle due to the clutter (I use the term lovingly).
Why did I keep all of those pictures my children drew? Why does mom attach all those scribbles to her refrigerator? Because each time we take a moment to consider who they came from we find a bit of pleasure. In fact, the more you love your children, it seems, the more pleasure it brings.
So, maybe that is why our Heavenly Father has been keeping all those prayers in golden vials. If He had a refrigerator it wouldn't be large enough to hold all of them. But he can easily have one of His angels bring a vial over to Him. Then He can sit back and smell the sweet aroma rising from all those prayers. And, as the aroma rises before him He remembers back to the time when that prayer was prayed and how much love he had for that saint at that moment of that day.
Then, the aroma of another prayer rises from the vial and another precious memory is revived and He, again, enjoys a moment of pleasure thinking about its origin. On, and on He goes, paging through time, reviewing the wonderful gifts He received from His children.
And, consider this: Even as we sometimes have a difficult time understanding the meaning of the scribbles when our child has handed us a piece of paper, explaining that those scribbles are -- ". . . A picture of you, Daddy." - our Heavenly Father probably has difficulty understanding why we pray for some things, like material objects, and not praying for other things like how to grow closer to Him.
The important thing to remember from all of this is simply that we can only give God one thing - our prayers. And, He doesn't take them lightly - He keeps all of them. The more time we spend praying, the more room we take up on His refrigerator. The less we pray, the less He has from us that can bring Him true pleasure.
We need to pray as often as possible. We even need to pray for the simple things in life. He may even get more pleasure from those simple prayers than he does from the prayers of great preachers standing before their congregations on a Sunday morning. Either way, prayer is the only thing we have to give Him and we know it brings Him pleasure.