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NCENSEIn our day, there are countless stories of supernatural intervention through the power of prayer and intercession.
Jackie Pullinger-To is a wonderful, radical, missionary stateswoman serving the Lord in Hong Kong. At the age of 19 she was overcome with a passion to serve God. Though she didn't know where it was going to be, she just offered herself up unconditionally to Him for His service. God told her to get on a particular boat, so she got on the boat, not knowing where it was taking her. She got off in Hong Kong and was taken to a place called the "Walled City." There she met a man who was a kingpin of the drug lords in the Walled City. He had a brother named Alie who was studying to be a Buddhist monk. Alie was also facing court charges as an alleged accomplice with seven other men in the murder of a rival drug lord.
Jackie began to visit this particular Hong Kong jail every week to minister and to testify to these men, and specifically to Alie. Four of the men came to the Lord almost immediately. But though Jackie visited the jail every day for nine months, testifying to Alie about Jesus through a thick glass partition, he was unmoved.
Alie wouldn't admit it, but he was very afraid of dying for a crime that he did not do. Week after week, Jackie Pullinger-To continued to minister to him. "I know that you are afraid, Alie. I know that you are terrified of death, but I want to tell you that there is a loving God. There is a God of justice who knows all things and He is a Father of mercy. And I have enlisted Christians from all across the world to pray and fast on every Wednesday for you, Alie." Although Alie heard and understood the things Jackie was saying, he still refused to come to the Lord because his heart was hard.
One day the governor of the jail and a jail attendant passed by Alie's cell and remarked to one another that they smelled something. They did not know what the strange fragrance was, but they thought it was some kind of delicate perfume with a fragrant odor. They began asking Alie questions about the fragrance, but Alie said, "What smell?" Perplexed, the two men asked other inmates about the smell, as the entire jail cell took on the fragrant odor of this strange perfume.
Finally, the governor of the jail sent authorities into Alie's cell. They searched his body and found nothing. When they sniffed the air around him, they nodded and said, "Yes, the smell is here." Yet Alie still smelled nothing. When the guards left, Alie began to ask himself, What is that smell? Then a little Word trickled down inside him. It was this simple message: "Oh, it is Wednesday!" Suddenly, he remembered Jackie's words. He was smelling prayer! He realized his entire jail cell was filled with the fragrant aroma of the prayers of the saints.
As Jackie continued to visit Alie, they talked of these things. One day Alie accepted Jesus as Jackie prayed for him through the glass partition. The Holy Spirit came upon him and Alie began to speak in another language. The time came for his court trial. Alie went before the judge, who released him without ever hearing the case!
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RAYERAlie was saved because of the prayers offered to God on his behalf. So many prayers were directed at him in his tiny jail cell that the air was saturated with the sweet incense of intercession. When believers from all over the world began to exercise their priestly duties and offer the incense of intercession before the presence of the Lord, the air in that Hong Kong prison cell was so filled with prayer that even unbelievers could smell the fragrance! The fruit of that prayer was that Alie surrendered his life to Jesus. Is anyone smelling your prayers? Can anyone tell what day it is by the fragrance of
your
intercession?The laws of God are immutable, including the natural laws of gravity. What goes up must come down!" The law of gravity applies here. In the days
of
Aaron, the incense of prayer created a cloud as the fragrant smoke of the incense covered the mercy seat on the ark of the covenant. Then God would descend and distill His visible qualities in the midst of the cloud where HeWould
commune with the high priest. The presence of God always descended after the fragrance of prayer ascended. In our day, an entire kingdom of priests has been authorized and commissioned to minister in God's presence, offering up unceasing prayer, praise, worship, and intercession for all men.I have pondered all of these things in the light of Revelation 5:8, which opens a window for us into the operations and functions of the heavenly realm. John tells us that there is an altar in Heaven where the angels minister to the Lord continuously. One angel has a censer that must be similar to the fire pan of the Aaronic priests.
Another angel came and stood at the altar, holding a golden censer; and much incense was given to him, so that he might add it to the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar which was before the throne. And the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, went up before God out of the angel's hand. Then the angel took the censer and filled it with the fire of the altar, and threw it to the earth; and there followed peals of thunder and sounds and flashes of lightning and an earthquake (Revelation 8:3-5).
The Bible says that the angel took the censer and filled it with fire from the altar mingled with incense. Beside this altar in Heaven, there is also a golden bowl filled with incense. What is incense? Revelation 5:8 tells us that this incense is the prayers of the saints. What is the Lord's response to the fragrance of the incense of our prayers rising before Him? He commands an angel to turn over that bowl and spill the prayers of the saints onto the fire of the altar! Then the angel takes the censer and fills it with fire from the altar and the incense of the prayers of the saints and casts the fire down from Heaven onto the earth.
As we have said before: What goes up must come down. When the prayers of the saints rise as incense before the throne of God, they are gathered into a golden bowl and burned again with the fire of the altar in the presence of the Most High God. This illustrates how our prayers are multiplied and savored by God before He responds by sending His fire to
the earth as answered prayer. This is the multidirectional dimension of prayer. Remember, what goes up must come down.