Tag Archives: prayer

Sweet Incense to the Lord

“You shall make an altar to burn incense on… Aaron shall burn on it sweet incense every morning… And when Aaron lights the lamps at twilight, he shall burn incense on it, a perpetual incense before the Lord throughout your generations.” —Ex 30:1,7-8

“Take sweet spices, stacte and onycha and galbanum, and pure frankincense with these sweet spices; there shall be equal amounts of each. You shall make of these an incense, a compound according to the art of the perfumer, salted, pure, and holy. And you shall beat some of it very fine, and put some of it before the Testimony in the tabernacle of meeting where I will meet with you. It shall be most holy to you.” (Ex 30:34-36)

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Check Your Posture

Genesis 24 is a chapter often used to emphasize the Biblical teachings regarding marriage and God’s miraculous providence. This time, we recount the story through the perspective of the old servant and the evolution of his attitude toward the LORD as the work of God pans out before his eyes. The progression of his posture in prayer is a reflection of the progression of his faith through his experience of God. 

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Spiritual Phalanx

In the Greco-Roman era, warfare was up-close, sanguinary, and lethal. The Greeks and Romans, who were the masters of warfare, often employed the phalanx—a military formation consisting of rows of heavily armored soldiers with full-body shield and spear. A single soldier who was not in this formation was very vulnerable in battle; the chances of him deserting the battlefield were very high. The phalanx, therefore, was a reassuring source of protection and courage. It was a very simple formation–one simply lined up, with comrades to the left and right–but it proved to be overwhelmingly effective, as this formation allowed Alexander the Great to defeat armies that were over twice their size, taking over the known world. 

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To Him Who Asks

In Matthew 11:25-30, the Lord Jesus was compelled by the Holy Spirit to pray to the heavenly Father, revealing how we ought to pray to be heard by God. 

“I thank You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and have revealed them to babes. Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in Your sight. All things have been delivered to Me by My Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father. Nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and the one to whom the Son wills to reveal Him.” (Matt 11:25-27)

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