Prayers of Incence

Lord, I call on You; hurry to help me. Listen to my voice when I call on You.
May my prayer be set before You as insence, the raising of my hands as the evening offering. 
Lord, set up a guard for my mouth; keep watch at the door of my lips. 
Do not let my heart turn to any evil thing or perform wicked acts with men who commit sin. 
Do not let me feast on their delicacies.
Let the righteous one strike me- it is an act of faithful love; let him rebuke me- it is oil for my head; let me not refuse it. 
Even now my prayer is against the evil acts of the wicked.
But my eyes look to You, Lord God. I seek refuge in You; do not let me die.
Protect me from the trap they have set for me, and from the snare of evil doers.
Let the wicked fall into their own nets, while I pass safely. Psalm 141:1-5,8-10

I love the word picture created with the verse: 'let my prayer be set before You as insence'. Insence smells good. In the suite of offices where I have my own office there is a woman who does massage and invariably she will light insence and as the complex is air conditioned the fragrance of the insence will infiltrate the whole complex. I grew up in the Catholic Church so I have fond memories of insence, it does not bother me.

However, likening our prayers to insence is accurate as they do ascend before the throne of God and they are important to Him, they delight Him. Thinking on this I like to mingle praise with my prayers as I believe praise has a different scent, all of it's own, as does intercessory prayer.

Your prayers matter. Amen!

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