THE OFFERING OF PRAYER
By Elder James Isaacs
It is common for us to use the expression “offer prayer.” I pondered today the question, “Is prayer an offering in the sense of the offerings made to God upon altars?” I find that the Bible in Psalm 50 lists both thanksgiving and praise as offerings, and then in Hebrews 5:7 we find one who offered up prayers.
Here are three offerings which can and should be made to God which are living offerings. They do not require the death of a sacrificial animal. They did not cease to be offered when the law was fulfilled in the sacrifice of Jesus. If we have been made kings and priests unto God, how pleasant should be the service of these offerings upon the altars of our hearts. While offerings were being made under the Old Testament service, none of them could ever make the comers thereunto perfect, but we have been made perfect in the blood offering of Jesus. Having been made perfect, ought not we to be thankful? If we are thankful, ought not we to offer up thanksgiving so that it is as a sweet smelling savor to God? If we understand that Jesus paid all that was against us and ever could be against us, ought not we to praise Him in the assembly and from the very depths of our hearts? Surely we should.
Notice, however, that our prayer is an offering to the Lord. When we feel the very weakness of our human frame, when we are empty and undone, when our sins seem to be exceeding sinful, when we feel to need to make an offering to the Lord but have not a farthing: even then we can cry out, “Lord be merciful to me a sinner,” and He receives this as an acceptable offering unto Him. From The Christian Pathway, submitted by Elder Mark Green.