February 19 – The Aroma of Sweet Spicy Prayer
Exodus 30:34: And the Lord said to Moses: “Take sweet spices, stacte and onycha and galbanum, and pure frankincense with these sweet spices; there shall be equal amounts of each.
Aroma is important to God.
In the Old Testament, sweet incense was burned every morning and evening by the priests. The golden bowls of incense are the prayers of the saints in Revelation 5:8. The ministry at the altar of incense speaks of how God’s people should continually come to Him in prayer.
Our worship to God has to be pure, unmixed with false impure scents, meaning we cannot mix our spiritual values in a world system, mix it with demons or compromise or live in hidden sin. If this is so, our prayers will not rise like sweet incense before God. He will not hear us.
The perfumes used in the Bible were:
Frankincense: Frankincense is a resin that comes from making an incision in a tree. Frankincense represents worship, and was symbolic of the worship that would be given to Christ as God, the Son. Isaiah 9 “He will be called Wonderful, Counsellor, Mighty God.” This is worship we pour unto God in our suffering. In times of persecution, when we worship God, this aroma rises to Him. Jesus too was given Frankincense at the time of His birth, symbolic of the worship due to Him.
Onycha: Onycha is the operculum of a mollusk found in the Red Sea. When burnt, this powder emits a penetrating aroma. The Hebrew word means- “aromatic shell”. When we are filled with the Holy Spirit’s fire, the “onycha” aroma within us rises to the Throne and God is pleased with our aroma.
Galbanum – A brownish pungent resin that exudes from the lower part of the stem of a Ferula plant. This herb plant is found at the Mediterranean Sea. It has a musky, pungent smell and is valuable because it preserves the scent of a mixed perfume, and allows of its distribution over a long period of time. This is our daily worship; we live in the spirit of worship and this carries over our days and years. The aroma is not exactly sweet, more like turpentine, but this aroma repels evil spirits, demons and destroys the works of darkness.
Stacte: This is a gum resin, but can also be obtained periodically in a powder form the bark of the tree. The gum resin has a chemical type smell. When blended correctly it will create an interesting balsamic aroma. Stacte also is known as myrrh, a rich intense perfume put on dead bodies for preservation and aroma. This is symbolic of the suffering of Christ and His death. Even our suffering, persecutions and death rise as an aroma before God. God does not delight in our pain or death, but the price we pay for it is highly honored by God and this aroma brings special rewards in Heaven. He sees our sorrow, persecutions and His compassion and grace is mighty to us.
May our prayers and lives be a sweet aroma to God.
Rita
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