Fragrance of Prayer

“O Lord, I call upon Thee; hasten to me! Give ear to my voice when I call to Thee! May my prayer be counted as incense before Thee; the lifting up on my hands as the evening offering. Set a guard, O Lord over my mouth; keep watch over the door of my lips. Do not incline my heart to any evil thing, to practice deeds of wickedness with men who do iniquity; and do not let me eat of their delicacies.” Psalm 141:1-4

“’Beware of practicing your righteousness before men to be noticed by them; otherwise you have no reward with your Father who is in heaven. – And when you pray, you are not to be as the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners, in order to be seen by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full.’” Matthew 6:1, 5

When we pray we talk to God and He listens – it’s that simple! I remember one evening in a training session for Evangelism Explosion. I had arrived fresh from a heated argument and was still steaming and was (“coincidentally”) assigned the task of staying behind with the study leader and praying for those who went out. I started my prayer with, “Father, You know I am angry right now and do not want to pray, but pray I must in obedience, guard what I say and work Your will for this time of evangelism.” I knew if I pretended everything was “all OK”, it would be hypocrisy and so did He. Sometimes we have to remember just who we are praying to!

Stay near God's Word. Take care. Your servant & friend in Christ, Darlene

PS: Carla is still traveling to Jamaica for her father’s funeral. Pray for her and all her family, especially her Mom. Continue to pray for David and Adrian who are recovering from ongoing health battles. Pray for Tim and Barb who I miss so much.