Rabbi Schneider - The Altar of Incense: Prayers That Please God
God, beloved, wants us to pray, listen now, to have a disciplined prayer life, listen, that we're asking him to be strengthened with divine might in our inner man. And we are now on part number 10 of a series we're simply calling The Tabernacle. The Hebrew word for tabernacle is mishkan. And we find in the book of Shemot, which is the Hebrew word for Exodus, that the Lord instructed the children of Israel to build a mishkan, to build a tabernacle, that he might dwell with them. I like to call it the tabernacle of love because the whole reason for the purpose of the tabernacle was that God could dwell with his people because he desires, beloved, to be with us. He loves you so much.
In fact, the Bible says that he loves you with the same love that he loves Yeshua with. And he'll never love you any more than he loves you right now. Behold what manner of love the Father has given unto us, that we should be called the children of God. Now, this entire series is available through our web site, discoveringthejewishjesus.com, or by contacting the 800 number at the end of the broadcast. We are now studying, beloved, inside the tabernacle the Altar of Incense. I'm reading from the book of Exodus, the book of Shemot, chapter number 30 now, verse number 1. Moreover the Lord said you shall make an altar as a place of burning incense. Now, everything in the tabernacle represented something. It was all prophetic. And every piece of the tabernacle, every piece of furniture, beloved, has to do with intimacy with the Lord.
Remember, Yeshua said this is eternal life, to know God and Yeshua Ha'Mashiach, whom he has sent. It's all about relationship. So this Altar of Incense has to do with intimacy with the Lord, it has to do with relationship, it has to do with love. What does the Altar of Incense point to? Well, as we continue to study, beloved, the theme of incense in Scripture, we read that incense arising is symbolic of prayer. So that for example, in the book of Revelation chapter 8 verse 3 and 4, we find that in heaven, there is incense continually ascending to the Lord mingled, the Bible says, with the prayers of the saints. So that the incense rising and the pleasing fragrant aroma and the prayer of God's people become one and mingle up, hallelujah, to the Father forever.
In fact, the Lord told Moses in the instruction concerning the Altar of Incense that the priests, beloved, were to continually offer up incense to the Lord perpetually. This means forever and ever and ever and ever. Because prayer is really about communication. It's all about communion with the Lord, walking in a supernatural awareness of his presence, of his love for us and of our relationship with him. We also read David's Psalm, Psalm 141 verse 2, David said my prayer rises up to you like incense. And so the Altar of Incense in the mishkan, in the tabernacle, beloved, is a prophetic symbol of prayer, even as the Golden Menorah is a prophetic shadow or symbol of the Holy Spirit.
And as we think about this theme of prayer and think about it in relationship to the Lord revealing it to us as the pattern for intimacy with him, we want to think about our prayers and our prayer life and what it is that God may wanting to be imparting to us today. My experience has been that often times in the church, Christians' connection to prayer, a Christian's perception of prayer, the way Christians pray is oftentimes very shallow. I'll oftentimes hear Christians praying a lot about the superficial things, the material things, but not really too much about the deeper issues that God is most concerned about. We should bring to the Lord the things that I hear Christians praying about.
You go to, for example, a Wednesday night prayer meeting, and you hear people pray for sister so and so, she'll be having surgery, pray for Uncle John, you know, he'll be having his gallbladder removed, pray for Tim, he'll be driving to North Carolina. And all these things are important, and we should pray about all these things. But seldom do I have people saying pray for me, that I would know Jesus better, pray that I would have a spirit of wisdom and revelation to know him, pray that God would strengthen me with divine might in my inner man. You see, these are the types of prayers, these deeper issues, these issues that have to do with revelation, with the love of God, beloved, these are the types of prayers we see as models in the Bible.
Now, on last week's broadcast I began to look at scriptural models for prayer. Because remember, if we want to walk in communion with God, we need to be developing this prayer life that's continual, that's deeper than the surface, and we want to be praying those things that we know, beloved, are going to bring eternal fruit and we know God will answer. Because the Lord said if you pray anything according to my will, I'm going to do it. And so as we study these scriptural prayers, we know that we're praying according to God's will. And not only that, beloved. As we pray these prayers, we're going to be brought into intimacy and into peace.
And isn't this what it's all about? Jesus said that when you know me, there's going to be rivers of living water that are going to come forth from your innermost being, and you'll get to the place where you hunger and you thirst no more, but you'll walk in victory with me because I've raised you and seated you in the heavenly places with me. So we're going to continue now looking at some scriptural models of prayer. As we understand that the pattern for intimacy with God foreshadowed by the Altar of Incense in Exodus chapter 30 in the tabernacle leads us to intimacy, we're going to look now at prayers that can help us develop this prayer life, beloved, that's effective and that will bring us into a relationship that we're all craving for with the Lord.
I'm looking now, Yadid, beloved ones, continuing in the book of Ephesians, I'm looking in chapter number 3 of Ephesians, and I am going now to the 14th verse. Hear the word of God. The grass withers and the flowers fade, hallelujah, but the word of God, bless his name, abides forever. Beginning in verse number 14 of Ephesians chapter 3. "For this reason", it's Paul speaking here "I bow my knees before the Father". Hallelujah. Avinu Malkeinu, Avinu our Father. "For this reason I bow my knees before our Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name, that he would grant you", here's the prayer that Paul was praying for us, "that he would grant you", who's he speaking to? You. Paul says, "I'm praying to the Father, that he would grant you according to the riches of his glory to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner man".
Think about the health phenomenon that's going on now in our country, and everybody has joined fitness clubs and health clubs to go lift weights and ride the treadmill and go swimming and do... what do they call it now? The pilates, doing the pilates. And everybody is spending so much time to be strengthened in their body. But you know what? The Bible says bodily discipline is profitable in this age, but spiritual discipline, beloved, is profitable not only in this age, but also in the age to come. God, beloved, wants us to pray, listen now, to have a disciplined prayer life, listen, that we're asking him to be strengthened with divine might in our inner man.
Let me read that verse again for you. Again, from the book of Ephesians chapter number 3, verse 16. That he would grant you according to the riches of his glory to be strengthened with power through his Spirit, through the Ruach Ha Ko'desh, in the inner man so that Messiah might dwell in your hearts through faith and that you would be rooted and grounded in love. Beloved, this is the type of prayer that we should be concentrating on. Father, God, strengthen me, I pray, by the Ruach Ha Ko'desh, by your Spirit, Father God, and with fire, with Aish, in my inner man. Strengthen me, Father, in my inner man, that my faith to seize you, Lord, to lay a hold of your reality would be increased and be established, and that being established in faith through my spirit man, being strengthened, I would be able to abide, hallelujah, in your love, being able both to receive it by faith and to release it, hallelujah, by faith. This is the kind of prayer, beloved, I guarantee you God will answer.
There's a lot of people that are praying for a lot of things. They have a lot of big ideas in their head about what they want to accomplish in life and in this world. But let me tell you, beloved, God is not about achieving the American dream. God is about strengthening our inner man that we would be able to seize him and lay ahold of him by faith, that we would not just believe in him as someone that's in heaven, but that we would understand that not only he's in heaven, but he's in us and he's with us right now, that we've seized him, that we've made him our possession, that he's here and he's now, and we've laid ahold of that because he has strengthened us in our inner man, and we seize that now by faith because he strengthened us to be able to take ahold of it, and now we're able to walk in that, beloved, and receive and release, hallelujah, the love of God.
Now, that gets me excited. Let me look at that again with you. Let's read it. Paul is praying. Says I'm going to pray for you here. I'm bowing my knees, verse 14 of Ephesians 3, before the Father from whom every family in heaven and earth derives its name, that he would grant you according to his riches and glory to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner man so that Messiah might dwell in your heart through faith and that you would be rooted and grounded in love. Hallelujah, beloved. These are the types of things that we should be praying for every day. Yes, we should bring to the Lord the other things. We should bring to him our financial concerns, we should bring to him our health concerns, but most about what we should be praying about, the reality of his kingdom to be established inside us, because the mystery of the Gospel is that Messiah lives in you. And Yeshua said the kingdom of God is neither here or there, but the kingdom of God is in you. And Yeshua said seek ye first his kingdom, and everything else shall be added unto you.
Let me tell you, beloved, everything else is vanity. Everything else, beloved is fleeting and superficial. It's an illusion. It looks like there's something there, but there's nothing there. The mystery of the Gospel, beloved, is Messiah is in us. And through being strengthened with divine might in our spirit, beloved, we'll be able to ascertain this, hallelujah, and lay ahold of it. Let's continue on with this prayer in Ephesians chapter 3. He goes on to say so that Messiah, in verse number 17, that being rooted and grounded in his love because our inner man has been strengthened and we're able to take ahold of him now and truly make him ours, not as someone that we're just believing in from far away, but someone that we've made ours, we know that he's here and he's now and he's real and he's in us and he's with us and his love surrounds us.
And then he says as a result of this, in verse 17, Messiah might dwell in your hearts through faith and that you being rooted and grounded in love, here we go, verse 18, may be able to comprehend, to understand, not just with your mind, but really understand it, really have revelation about it, that you might be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth, the length, and the depth, to know the love of Messiah which surpasses knowledge and you might be filled up with the fullness of God. This is what it's all about, beloved, to be filled up with God, to be filled up with the fullness of God. Father God, we just right now pray this prayer over our life. We ask you, Father God... everyone, if you're with me right now when you're in good health, I want to invite you if you feel led, let's stand, let's stand before the Father. Let's give him honor. And let's lift our hands.
Father God, right now we thank you for your love for us. And Father God, we pray this prayer right now that you've revealed to us through the apostle Paul. Father, I'm asking you right now, would you strengthen me, Father, with the power that raised Messiah from the dead? Father, I'm asking you, please strengthen me by your Spirit with divine might, with power and fire in my inner man. Strengthen my inner man, Father, by your Spirit, that I might be able to take ahold of you, Father God, by faith, that I might be able to bring you near to myself in my own experience by faith, and that experiencing your reality, Lord, I would be able to comprehend your love, the height, the depth and the breadth of the love of God, that I would be filled up with your fullness. So Father, right now I pray that you'll strengthen me with your Spirit in my inner man according to your riches in glory, that I'd be able to take ahold of you by faith and enter into your love and the experience of it. In Yeshua's name, Father. You said in your Word you would do this if I asked you, and I'm asking you to do it for me now. And I thank you for doing this for me, Father God, by your Spirit. In Yeshua's name, amen. Amen. And amen. Hallelujah and amen.
You know, Yeshua said that if we would ask him for the Spirit, hallelujah, that he would give him, he'd empower him in a greater way, hallelujah, unto us. That we would know the love of Messiah, verse number 19, which surpasses knowledge.
Father God, we need to know your love, Father God. We ask you, Father God, help us to know your love.
Listen to again what Paul prays. Paul was praying in Ephesians 3 that we be strengthened with divine might, that we be able to take by faith what's ours, and that we be able to know the love of Messiah. Listen to verse 19. To know the love of Messiah which surpasses knowledge, that you be able to be filled up with the fullness of God.
Father God, we ask to know your love. Father, we ask you to deliver us from darkness. Father, we ask you to deliver us from spirits of doom and gloom. We ask, Father God, to be able to see your light, to know your love, to look up without fear, Father. Your Word says perfect love casteth off fear. So Father, we take authority over fear, fear right now in the name of Yeshua Ha'Mashiach, in the name that's above every name I drive of you off of me and off the people of God right now, and I command you to release God's children and get behind them, spirits of demonic fear, release the people of God now in Yeshua Ha'Mashiach's name. And we ask you, Father God, for a revelation of your love now in Messiah Jesus, Yeshua Ha'Mashiach, and we thank you, Father God. Amen and amen and amen and amen.
See, these prayers, beloved, these are the types of prayers that are so beautiful. I love praying them. We should constantly be praying these prayers every day. Every day. And God will answer them, I guarantee it, because he told us he would, beloved, in his Word. You know, I would love to have a house, beloved, in the middle of the woods somewhere that's completely secluded, and maybe one day God will give me that. But you know what? There's no guarantees for that. But there is a guarantee, beloved, when we pray the prayers that God has told us are absolutely his will for every single child of God. And you know what? In reality, everything on the outside's just an illusion. Real peace comes, beloved, from being filled with the fullness of God. And that's what these prayers are about.
Now we're going to be looking at another prayer. I'm going to be going to the book of Colossians, and we're going to examine another scriptural prayer, that if we pray this prayer, we know that God will answer. Remember, we're looking at the tabernacle, called in Hebrew the mishkan, and we're looking at it because it's a pattern for intimacy today. It's a pattern to walk with God today. The Bible tells us in the Brit Chadasha that the tabernacle was given for us as well as the children of Israel that we would have a pattern to know how to walk with him. And inside the tabernacle, the Altar of Incense in the Holy Place, and God is saying if you want to know my love for you in the tabernacle of love, you need to develop this prayer life, and I need you to be praying the prayers that are going to count most. Pray prayers that are according to my will, prayers that will help you know my love.
So I'm reading now in the book of Colossians another scriptural model for prayer, chapter number 1, verse number 9. Once again, Paul is praying. He says for this reason also, since the day we heard of it, we have not ceased to pray for you. So here was the prayer. And to ask that you might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding. Do you know, beloved, we're not going to walk in great knowledge of his will unless we're seeking the knowledge of his will. So he's saying I'm praying that you'll know his will.
How many of you need to know his will for your life? How many of you need to even know his will in regards to the temporal world, in regards to what job to take, what congregation to attend, how to spend your money? God will give us the knowledge of his will if we really seek him and don't run ahead of him and wait on him to go before us. So Paul is praying. I'm praying that you'll be filled with the knowledge of his will, you'll be able to see, beloved, into Messiah Yeshua, you'll be able to see his heart, in the Spirit you'll be able to perceive the depths of the Spirit. The Bible says no one knows the thoughts of God but the Spirit of God, and the Spirit has been given unto us that we might freely know, hallelujah, things of God.
Holy Spirit, we thank you for revealing to us the things of God and the knowledge of his will. Come, Holy Spirit, right now and impart to each one that's listening right now that has a hungry heart and an open heart and is prepared to receive, come and impart to each one, Holy Spirit, I pray, the knowledge of God, of your Father. Hallelujah. In Yeshua's name.
In all spiritual wisdom and understanding so that you might walk in a manner worthy of the Lord. So the apostle Paul's praying, I'm praying that you're going to be filled with wisdom. You know, it's true that we know many people that are children of God and they don't walk in wisdom. The way they handle themselves, the way they talk, the way they relate to people, the way they handle their finances, they're not walking in wisdom. But God's made a provision that Messiah Yeshua has become unto us, the Scripture says, wisdom and sanctification. And if we'll stop running in the flesh and running ahead of God and being impatient and not waiting on him, if we'll instead wait on him and say Holy Spirit, fill me with the wisdom and the knowledge of God's will, we're going to start walking in, we're going to become like Daniel, who had the spirit of excellency on him, and we're going to walk worthy, the Scripture says, in a manner of our calling. So the apostle Paul's praying I'm praying that you're going to be filled with the wisdom and the knowledge of God.
And then in verse 10 of Colossians 1, he says that you might walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please him in all respects, bearing fruit. And so we want to walk in a way, beloved, that people look at us, and they can tell, boy, there's a spirit of excellency on you. They looked at Daniel, and they saw that on Daniel there was a spirit of excellency. That we could be like lights on a hill and people can be attracted to Jesus because his fruit is in our life. So let me read this again. So that we might walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God.
Isn't that what you want? Don't you want to have a supernatural life? Don't you want to walk in a way that there's just a light that comes from your life, that the Holy Spirit is emanating from your life, that the Ruach Ha Ko'desh, beloved, is being released from your life, that whatever you touch, there's fruit? Because the apostle says that when we're filled with the knowledge of God, beloved, we'll begin to bear fruit in every respect, everything we touch, beloved, will have the spiritual gold Midas touch on it, there'll be a blessing everywhere we go. We'll touch it, and we'll leave a blessing. Hallelujah. And he continues on there, you'll be increasing in knowledge, and here we go, verse 11, strengthened with all power according to his glorious might. Strengthened with all power, he says.
I'm praying that you'll be filled with the knowledge of his will, that everything you do will bear fruit, and then he says, verse number 11, that you will be strengthened with power. And listen what he says next. For the attaining of steadfastness. No more up and down. Are you listening right now and you're up one day and you're down the next day and you're up one day and you're down the next day, and one day you're feeling good and joyful, and the next day you're feeling despondent and depressed? Well, the Lord says here I want you to pray for me to strengthen you with my power so that you're going to be able to become steadfast for every good work, walking in victory.
So Father, we love you today. We love you. Thank you, Father God, for these prayers. Thank you, Father God, for the substance of these prayers, that they belong to us in Messiah Yeshua. That you told us, Father, that if you gave us your Son, you would also with him freely give us all things. And so we ask you now, Holy Spirit, to strengthen us with divine might that we might bear fruit in everything we do, that we might walk in a spirit of steadfastness and love unto you, pleasing you, Father God, and walking in a manner worthy of your call on our life.