![Cooperating with Christ in His Ministry of Intercession by Praying at the Incense Altar [In the picture: Prayer is the way to enter into the Holy of Holies and come forward to the throne of grace so that we can receive mercy and find grace to meet our timely need. ]](http://www.agodman.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/prayer-enter-into-holy-of-holies-help-timely-need-1024x637.jpg "Cooperating with Christ in His Ministry of Intercession by Praying at the Incense Altar [In the picture: Prayer is the way to enter into the Holy of Holies and come forward to the throne of grace so that we can receive mercy and find grace to meet our timely need. ]")
We today as the many members of the Body of Christ have the privilege and the responsibility to be one with Our interceding Head, joining into His interceding ministry by praying at the incense altar for what is in God’s heart.
When Christ was on the earth, the disciples were usually falling asleep as He was praying, but after His death and resurrection, His disciples (and we all) became the many members of the Body of Christ on the earth, and now we can join into His interceding ministry!
Christ as the Head of the Body is praying in the heavens, and we as the Body of Christ, the corporate Christ, are praying on the earth (1 Cor. 12:12; Acts 12:5, 12).
We need to cooperate with Christ’s ministry of intercession by coming to the incense altar in our spirit and intercede for others and for the Lord’s interests.
May the Lord really shine on us and show us a clear view of the incense altar so that we may pray one with Him – not prayers for our needs or for anything outwardly, but prayers for God’s move, for God’s purpose, for the Lord’s recovery, for God’s administration, and for God’s dispensing!
Lord, thank You for joining us in our weakness and praying for us as the Spirit! Uplift our view of Your interceding ministry, Lord, and make us those who have a clear view of the incense altar in the universe. Lord, we want to pray one with You in our spirit for what is in Your heart. May Your economy be carried out! May Your divine administration be accomplished!
The Body of Christ Intercedes One With Christ
Christ today is not only the Head but also the Body, the corporate-Christ, the Body-Christ, since after His death and resurrection He regenerated millions of believers to be His many organic members.
The prayer life of Christ is the corporate prayer life of the Body of Christ, and if we are open to the Lord in our time with Him we will realize that we also can enter into Christ’s ministry of intercession today.
Man and God is joined together in prayer at the incense altar, and what the Head is praying in the heavens, the Body is uttering on the earth, and God is adding incense to these prayers. If we pray Christ, if we pray and our prayers are filled with Christ, God will pour out His answers.
Whenever we pray in the spirit, Christ is praying in our praying. We are joined to the Lord as one spirit (1 Cor. 6:17), and we pray in the Lord’s name (John 14:13-14; 15:16; 16:23-24) – we pray in Christ.
This is how the Body of Christ intercedes one with Christ – all the members of the Body exercise their spirit and pray in the organic union with Christ the Head, and whatever they pray is the prayer of the Head expressed through them!
When we pray with the exercise of our spirit, Christ is praying in us and we pray in Christ, and God sees our prayers as being part of Christ’s intercession!
What a privilege that we, as parts of the Body-Christ, would cooperate with Christ in His ministry of intercession, carrying out His intercession in our prayers of intercession (Rom. 8:34, 26-27)!
Interceding for God’s Interest and His Purpose
We pray a lot of prayers, and many times we ask God things concerning our family, our well-being, our health, our possessions, our relatives, our work, etc. We do need to bring all things to God and pray for all things, so that we may have an uninterrupted fellowship with Him.
But the prayer at the incense altar, the prayer of intercession, is something else – we intercede not for personal things or outward things but pray for others, for God’s need, for God’s purpose.
If we have a clear view of what the incense altar is and what God needs, we will be revolutionized in our prayer life and we will pray for God’s purpose to be accomplished!
A clear vision of the incense altar will cause us to pray for the executing of God’s purpose, the carrying out of the divine administration, and for the dispensing of God’s supplying grace to all the saints (1 Tim. 2:1; Rom. 8:26-27).
This is what God desires, a group of people who focus on God’s economy, God’s purpose, and the things that He is endeavoring to carry out.
When we come to the incense altar we forget about ourselves and we pray for all the saints, for the church, for the lost ones, for God’s kingdom to come, and for God to gain what He desires. This kind of prayers are what God needs for Him to accomplish what’s on His heart.
He wants His people to join Christ in His intercession at the incense altar to pray for God’s eternal plan, for the Lord’s recovery, for God’s move, for all the churches, and for all the saints.
Oh, that we would tap in, join in, participate, and enter into Christ’s ministry of intercession!
Praying to Motivate God’s Throne
At the incense altar we don’t pray formal or religious prayers, and we do not pray in a natural way. Rather, we pray intercessory prayers, prayers to intercede for others and for God’s interest on earth.
We need to learn to pray one with Christ in our spirit in such a way that we motivate the throne of God to accomplish what God decided and what He desires!
We need to learn to pray in such a way that we would motivate the throne of grace to dispense God’s life supply as grace to all the needy saints, that all the saints would receive help for the timely need (Heb. 4:16).
We need to learn to pray in such a way that we would motivate the throne of authority to execute the divine administration (see Rev. 8).
I believe that many saints have touched this kind of prayer, but we need to continue to enter into this as a way of life, as a habit. We need to intercede all day long for others, for God’s interest, for His move, for the churches, for the saints to grow in life, and for whatever the Head conveys to us in our oneness with Him!
As we see in Rev. 8, God will gain such people who pray in this way, and He will be happy, satisfied, and delighted to pour out the answer to their prayers!
Oh, may we be those who pray in such a way today! May we be those who offer God prayers of intercession by being one with Him at the incense altar!
Lord, show us a clear vision of the incense altar and the interceding Christ. We want to be one with You in Your prayer of intercession today. Lord, may we learn to pray prayers that motivate the throne of grace to minister life supply to the saints. May we pray in such a way that the throne of authority will execute God’s divine administration on the earth! Lord, fill the earth with interceding saints. Lord, make us a house of prayer, a people who pray, men of prayer, Your intercessors!
References and Further Reading
- Sharing inspired from portions in, The Conclusion of the New Testament (msg. 420), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on Prayer and the Lord’s Move, week 3 (entitled, Praying at the Incense Altar for the Formation of an Army to Fight for God’s Move on Earth).
- Buy this morning revival book online via Living Stream Ministry.
- Further reading on this topic: Life-study of Exodus (msgs. 149, 152).
- Hymns on this topic:
# By prayer and faith, O may we learn / To labor, Lord, with Thee, / To know the victory is ours / And Thine authority.
# Teach us to pray! Move on our hearts, O Lord, / Till Thine own passion all our being move! / Teach us! Pray in us, till our prayer shall be / Christ in us praying to the Christ above!
# Lord, grant me a heavenly, corporate view; / That all of my growth and prayers to You, / Little by little, day by day, / Would cause building up into You. - Pictures credit: with permission from, Inspiration Unlimited (facebook page).
About aGodMan
We need to realize that whenever we pray in the spirit, Christ is praying in our praying. The New Testament speaks of praying in the Lord’s name (John 14:13-14; 15:16; 16:23-24). To pray in the name of the Lord Jesus is to pray in Christ. When we pray in this way, Christ is actually the one praying….He prays in our prayer. In the sight of God, all the proper prayers of the saints and of the churches are prayers of Christ and are included as part of Christ’s intercession. (The Conclusion of the New Testament, p. 4272)
I loved 1Timothy2:1 and Romans 8:26-27; we need to pray with spiritual compassion.
Today we need to learn to pray in such a way as to motivate the throne of grace to dispense God’s life supply as grace to all the needy ones. We need to learn how to pray to motivate the throne of authority to execute the divine administration. If we have this view concerning prayer, our prayer life will be revolutionized.
Whenever we pray in our spirit, Christ is praying in our praying. What God desires is the prayer at the incense altar. At the incense altar, as the center of the divine administration, we should become intercessors, interceding for others and God’s interests. Here we are truly one with the Lord, and will be, in our experience, a real member of Christ, a genuine part of the Body of Christ, the corporate Christ, cooperating with the Lord in His ministry of intercession. We need to learn to pray for the executing of God’s purpose, to pray in a way that motivates the carrying out of the divine administration and the dispensing of God’s life supply as grace. This kind of prayer is the fragrant incense to God. Lord, teach us to pray the prayers at the incense altar! Gain prayers that fulfil Your purpose, satisfy Your hunger, and delight Your heart.
I’m am deeply impressed that the incense altar is the centre of God’s operation in the universe. How many people know that? I’ve never heard or read about this anywhere in all my life. Wow, the prayer life of Christ is the centre of God’s execution of His government on earth and the executing of God’s administration is motivated by the prayers offered to Him from the incense altar. The prayer offered at the incense altar governs the universe. You really have to read Revelation 8. It’s all there!
PRAYING WITH CHRIST
Rom 8:26-27 Moreover; in like manner the Spirit also joins in to help us in our weakness, for we do not know for what we should pray as is fitting, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. But He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He intercedes for the saints according to God.
‘…when ever we pray in the spirit, Christ is praying in our praying…at the incense alter(Christ’s interceding life), we should become intercessors… Interceding for others & for the Lord’s interests. This kind of prayer is a fragrant incense to God.’
We don’t need to pray in a formal, natural, religious way, but Christ & us praying together the prayers for the executing of God’s purpose, the divine administration, & for the dispensing of God’s supplying grace (1 Tim 2:1).
Amen
lord jesus we want to be one with you,we want to have this such prayer. amen
It’s very important for Christ’s believers to see the great responsibility we have to cooperate with Him in His heavenly ministry by praying. This kind of prayer is not the common prayer that most people pray for their own needs and the needs of those they love. It is much higher than this. It is the prayer that matched Christ’s heavenly ministry on the throne and affords Him the human agreement, cooperation that He is seeking. May our vision of prayer be uplifted to this highest level where we give God the human cooperation He requires to execute His eternal will, and to carry out His ultimate move to end this age. What a great work has been committed to us!
I enjoy that we need to LEARN to pray in such a way as to motivate the throne of grace to dispense God’s lie supply as grace to all the needy ones,and also LEARN how to pray to motivate the throne of authority to execute the divine administration. We all need to put these truths into PRACTICE. O Lord, make us men (being) of prayer with a life of prayer who are absolutely one wity You to cooperate with You for the carrying out of Your divine administration/economy on this earth.
Thousands and thousands of prayers are offered to God by Christians, but there is very little execution of God’s purpose… very little dispensing of the supplying grace of God. Today we need to learn to pray in such a way as to motivate the throne of grace to dispense God’s life supply as grace to all the needy ones. We need to learn to pray to motivate the throne of authority to execute the divine administration. If we have this view concerning prayer, our prayer life will be revolutionized. We need to become intercessors praying for others and for the Lord’s interests. As we pray in this way, we know that we are truly one with the Lord. This kind of prayer is a fragrant incense to God. This kind of prayer fulfills God’s purpose, satisfies His hunger, and delights His heart. Amen!
Oh Lord Jesus, make us a house of prayer Lord. Make us Your warriors, Your mighty army to pray the prayers with and in You that will turn the age Lord. Make us those who fully co-operate with You Lord. Remove all obstacles from our lives, all things and matters that hinder our prayer life Lord.
Lord infuse yrself in me so yhat i could lean by yr precious words.
Hebrews 7:25 says that He ever lives, He is able to save, and He intercedes for us. This is wonderful. But this verse also mentions our cooperation – “those who come forward to God through Him.” Since He is now interceding, it seems that to come forward to Him is to come to Him at the incense altar, which matches the subject of this post.