WHAT KIND OF PRAYERS DO YOU PRAY?

‎1 When the Lamb opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour.  ‎2 Then I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and seven trumpets were given to them.  ‎3 And another angel came and stood at the altar with a golden censer, and he was given much incense to offer with the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar before the throne, ‎4 and the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, rose before God from the hand of the angel. Revelation 8:1-4

It has been loud in heaven. Very loud. The Lamb who was slain and who is also the Lion of the tribe of Judah (Jesus), has opened six of the seven seals of the scroll that contains God’s judgments on an evil and unrepentant world (Revelation 7:1-17). The first four seals unleashed four horsemen representing the love for conquest (white horse), war (red horse), famine (black horse), and death by pestilence (pale horse) who have already wreaked their havoc on the earth. Interestingly, these are not direct judgments from God per se. Rather, they are man’s propensity for evil turning upon itself so that the love for conquest births war which lead to famine and finally to death by pestilence. The fifth seal reveals a scene in heaven where the souls of the saints “who had slain for the word of God and for the witness they had borne” pray to God, “O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?” Then the sixth seal is opened and there is a great earthquake and phenomena that attend the Day of the Lord in the Old Testament and the Second Coming of Jesus in the New Testament: blackened sun, blood-red moon, falling stars, a vanishing sky, and mountains and islands that disappear. The effect of these on “those that dwell on the earth” – Revelation’s code word for evil unrepentant people – is to seek a quick death to escape the wrath of God. Then, in typical apocalyptic fashion, John the Revelator shows us another scene before the throne of God where saints worship God. Very loud.

Then there is silence for half an hour in heaven. Why?  An angel is offering incense in a golden censer and a lot of incense is given to him to offer together with the prayers of the saints. But why the silence? It could be that there is anticipation as to what this seventh seal will bring about in terms of God’s judgment. It could also be that this is representative of the silent environment in which a priest operated when he offered incense in the Jerusalem temple. Whatever it the reason may be, the silence in heaven lasts for half an hour in which the angel offers incense mixed with the prayers of all the saints before the throne. Already the souls of the martyred saints have cried out to God seeking His judgment and vindication (Rev. 6:10). Here, “all the saints” include those that are still in the earth at this time.

Now my question is: what kind of prayers are these saints on earth praying? A new car? A promotion? A wife? A husband? A good grade in the past exam? More money? I don’t think so. These are prayers that are essentially saying “May Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as in heaven”, kingdom prayers that hasten the Second Coming of Jesus to restore God’s rule in the earth (Luke 11:2). The saints pray for the empowering of God’s people to be witnesses (Acts 1:8), for boldness in witnessing as God performs miracles through them in Jesus’ name (Acts 4:29-30), for bold preaching of the gospel (Ephesians 6:19), for the gospel of the kingdom to reach the ends of the earth so that Jesus would return to establish the kingdom (Matthew 24:14). The overriding principle is “seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things will be added to you” where, in the context of that saying, “all these things” mean the needs of this world (Matthew 6:33).

Now my question to you: What kind of prayers to you pray? Do you pray kingdom prayers that aim to hasten the Second Coming of Jesus? Are your prayers about the gospel going to the ends of the earth? Are your prayers about being empowered by the Holy Spirit to be a bold witness? Are your prayers about asking God to miraculously move in your friends’ and family’s lives so they can enter into His kingdom? May you pray kingdom prayers. Amen.