Turth Lesson: The Cross and Prayer

In the church's truth pursuing every day online on prayer, "Lessons on Prayer" by Witness Lee, my understanding of prayer has been greatly revolutionized. With appropriate scripture verses, many deeper truths on prayer have been unveiled. One such truth is the cross and prayer. 

Leviticus 16:18-19 says, “Then he shall go out to the altar that is before Jehovah and make expiation for it, and he shall take some of the blood of the bull and some of the blood of the goat, and put it on and around the horns of the altar. And he shall sprinkle some of the blood on it with his finger seven times; thus he will cleanse it and sanctify it from the uncleannesses of the children of Israel.”

Leviticus 16:12-13 says, “He shall take a censer full of coals of fire from the altar before Jehovah, with his hands full of finely ground fragrant incense, and bring it inside the veil. And he shall put the incense upon the fire before Jehovah, that the cloud of the incense may cover the expiation cover that is over the Testimony, so that he does not die.”

Exodus 30:9-10 says, “You shall not offer any strange incense on it, or a burnt offering or a meal offering; and you shall not pour a drink offering on it. And Aaron shall make expiation on its horns once a year; with the blood of the sin offering of expiation once a year he shall make expiation for it throughout your generations. It is most holy to Jehovah.”

These Bible verses explain the relationship between the offering altar at the outer court and the incense altar at the holy place, expounding the relationship between the cross and prayer. 

To offer a prayer that is acceptable to God, one must pass through the offering altar at the outer court where there is the killing and the shedding of blood. This signifies the redemption by the blood accomplished through the cross. There is also the fire that burns the sacrifices and consumed them turning it to ashes, signifying the termination by the fire through the cross. Without these two experiences there is no way to genuinely experience the prayer signified by the incenses altar.  This picture in the Bible reveals the practical way to experience genuine prayer life. This was further backed by the example of Daniel in the way he prayed in Daniel 9. He first experienced the cross, confessing his sins and the sins of his people and offered a prayer that ascended to the heavens.

Daniel 9:4 And I prayed to Jehovah my God and confessed; and I said, Ah, Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps covenant and lovingkindness with those who love Him and keep His commandments, 9:5 We have sinned and have committed iniquity, and we have acted wickedly and rebelled, to the point of even turning away from Your commandments and from Your judgments.  9:17 And now hear, O our God, the prayer of Your servant and his supplications, and cause Your face to shine upon Your sanctuary that has been desolated, for the Lord’s sake.  9:19 O Lord, hear! O Lord, forgive! O Lord, listen and take action! Do not delay, for Your own sake, O my God; for Your city and Your people are called by Your own name.

My prayer life has a significant turn in its content and quality. I am glad the Lord led me to stabilize the timing of my prayer life, and then he led me further to strengthen and uplift the quality of my prayer. Henceforth, I may not pray vain prayers but pray a prayer of the incense altar upon which Christ can add Himself as incense offered to the throne of God for God to immediately answer. 

Revelation 8:3-5 says, “Another Angel came and stood at the altar, having a golden censer, and much incense was given to Him to offer with the prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne...And the Angel took the censer and filled it with the fire of the altar and cast it to the earth; and there were thunders and voices and lightnings and an earthquake.” 

No wonder, many prayers have never been answered as they were not prayers according to God that passes through the cross first. For this kind of prayer, I need the Lord to grace me daily to experience the cross. In fact, my prayer life now has been, first, the application of the cross. Confession and cleansing by the blood of Jesus have been a starter to my prayer now. This exercise led me deeper into the experience of the Lord where I could discern what the Lord wanted me to pray at that point in time. Then, I followed the burden within and released my prayer. I believe such prayer is the prayer the Lord wants, and it will always be answered. 

I shared this truth with the saints and also to a brother particularly. Now, I am practicing this truth that the Lord taught me afresh: The cross and the prayer.