The perversion of prayer- you must be careful‏

Sumner Wemp 2008

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The Perversion of Prayer

After God had given the prescription for prayer, He warned, "Ye shall offer no strange incense thereon" (Ex. 30:9). There was to be no perversion of the offering of the incense. Anything offered other than what God had prescribed was "strange incense," a perversion of what He had instructed. The word "strange" in Hebrew means "alien" or "foreign," so anything offered that was not in accordance with God's prerequisites was alien or foreign. Jesus warned, lest our prayers be as that of the hypocrites, that we should not pray to be seen or heard of men, and not to make vain repetitions as the heathen do. Those practices are "strange incense."

To read a prayer from a prayer book simply because we think it is pretty, when it has not become our own from our heart, is certainly strange incense not prescribed by God. Many times in churches people pray aloud with high-sounding phrases and cliches they have heard from others, and we become more conscious of what they are saying than to whom they are praying. Praying to be heard of men can easily become the strange incense we are warned not to offer.

What would a mother think if her little child came and read to her a flowery statement by someone else, as though it were her own request? The mother would rather have her come and just say what she wants, out of her heart in her own words. Whether flowery and high-sounding or not, this would be real and not foreign to her. The best way to pray is to come with open, bared hearts, sincerely before God, and simply make our requests known to Him. God is not so much concerned with the words and the way we express them as He is with the earnestness of our hearts and our coming in faith, believing. We need to be sure that our prayer is our own, from our heart, prescribed by God, ascending to Him. Any other prayer is strange incense forbidden by God.

Practical application: God asks us to "Pray the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth laborers into the harvest" "The harvest truly is plenteous but the laborers are few." Matt. 9:37, 38. Studies show that less than 5% of Christians ever lead a soul to Christ. The results? "But while men (Christians) slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat." America is drowning, with tares chocking out the wheat. America was founded on the Lord Jesus Christ and Christian principles. Now the tares, unbelievers, atheists, irreligious, godless and the likes are doing everything possible to rule out God, the Bible and Christianity. When have you heard prayed in your church on Sunday morning, "Send forth laborers." When have YOU prayed what God told us to pray, "Send forth laborers". Politicians can not change people. We can lead them to Christ and He can change them for "if any man be in Christ he is a new creature" 2 Cor. 5:17. We Christians are to blame and we MUST obey God and like Peter say, "At thy word, I will" Lk 5:5 and go fishing for men to change them, our nation and the world.. Make sense?