The Bible says, "The effectual, fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much" (Jam.5:16). If you are a Christian, you are righteous because of Christ. "Their righteousness is of me, saith the Lord" (Isa.54:17). So this covers the righteous part and enables you to come to God’s throne of grace boldly. But perhaps, even though you are righteous in Christ and have prayed fervently, you have not been able to say your prayer "availeth much." It has not been "effectual." You are puzzled. Your heart says: Lord, if I am righteous in Christ and I pray as fervently as I know how, why don’t I have more results in prayer? It can be summed up in one word: incense. The answer is in the incense.

 

David said in Psalm 141, "Let my prayer be set forth before Thee as incense . . ." It is evident that incense speaks of prayer, but what kind of prayer? There are many types of prayer. What kind of prayer is it that is like a cloud of sweet incense drifting from the heart of a person toward the Lord?

 

You might be surprised at what this word, incense, really means in its original use in Hebrew. It comes from a Hebrew word "Qatar" which means, and I quote from a Hebrew and Chaldee dictionary, "fumigation, thus driving out the occupant." The Bible says in Acts 7:48, ". . . the Most High dwelleth not in temples made with hands . . ." And in another place Scripture says, "Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit . . .?" (1 Cor.6:19). In order to worship God, in spirit, we offer Him this New Testament incense. You see, we must fumigate our temple. We must drive out the other occupants.

 

Those occupants are our own devices, our imaginations, our doctrines, our opinions of others, our feelings about many things, our judgments, longings, fears and fretting. We take these to prayer. We go to worship with these. Prayer that is not incense, prayer that does not fumigate the temple and send billows of sweet scent to the Lord, is prayer that centers around the old natural man. The prayer that tells about all of his faults, flaws and weaknesses . . . you know what I mean. You go to prayer and say, "God, I’m no good, I never will be. I can’t do this, I can’t do that," prayer that is framed by our doctrines; petitions that express all of our fretting, verbalize all of our frustrations; prayers that tell about how terribly strong the sin is that has us by the throat; prayers that put all of our doubts and fears into words. Oh God, why? Why did this happen? Why did that happen? So you see what takes place, instead of fumigating the house, we are breeding more vermin. Instead of the glory of God filling the house, we have an overwhelming sense of the old natural man and all of his undesirable traits. And how can we pray with faith then?

 

Instead of a cloud of love and adoration arising in the form of prayer, we have a lot of fears, self hatreds, doubts and other carnal thoughts buzzing around the house like so many ugly flies. This kind of prayer doesn’t fumigate the house and thus drive out the occupants; it just hatches out more flies. God wants us to bring our needs to Him, of course. He invites us to pray for help. He says, "Ask, and it shall be given you . . ." (Matt.7:7). But before we start asking, we’d better establish a good live line of communication. The incense will fumigate your house. That is the voicing of praise, the expression, the verbal expression of your adoration—praise and thanksgiving, which is a pure form of praise. Begin all prayer with praise.

 

God said David was a man after His own heart, and David said, "Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise: be thankful unto Him, and bless His name" (Ps.100:4). God said, "Whoso offereth praise glorifieth Me . . ." (Ps.50:23). Psalm 33 says, ". . . praise is comely for the upright" Psalm 135 says, "Praise ye the Lord. Praise ye the name of the Lord; praise Him, O ye servants of the Lord . . . Praise the Lord; for the Lord is good: sing praises unto His name; for it is pleasant." And in another place the Bible says, ". . . O give thanks unto the Lord; for He is good: for His mercy endureth forever. (Ps.106:1)

 

David was a giant killer. David said, "For by Thee I have run through a troop: by my God have I leaped over a wall" (2 Sam.22:30). David was a winner. He knew how to pray. His prayer was scented with incense. Praise and thanksgiving was the fabric of his prayer life. Because of praise and thanksgiving David was able to say to God, "Thou hast turned for me my mourning into dancing: thou hast put off my sackcloth, and girded me with gladness" (Ps.30:11).

 

When you give thanks to God and praise His name, your imprisoning circumstances will lose their grip upon you. Those little things that seem of no value, and those shipwrecks of life will turn into something productive. Those apparent failures are transformed by thanksgiving. This is why we are counseled to send up the incense of praise, to fumigate our house, to drive out fears, doubts and grumblings, murmurings and complaints . . . drive them out with the words of praise to God. This is why the Bible says, "Praise ye the Lord . Sing unto the Lord . . . for the Lord taketh pleasure in His people . . . let the saints be joyful in glory: let them sing aloud upon their beds. Let the high praises of God be in their mouth . . ." (Ps.149:1-6).

 

In the first chapter of the Gospel according to Luke, we read about Zacharias who was to become the father of John the Baptist. He was an old man and had served God for many years, and for many years he had prayed for a son but his marriage had proven barren. The Bible says about him and his wife, "They were both righteous before God and blameless." You see, they were righteous and they had prayed fervently but their prayers had not availed. However, late in his service for God, Zacharias was chosen to minister at the altar of incense. He was burning the incense and the Bible says, "There appeared unto him an angel of the Lord standing at the right side of the altar of incense." That angel told the servant of God he would, by a miracle of God, be a father. His prayers were answered!

Some of you reading this now have prayed fervently. You are righteous in Christ but you have not availed in prayer. Listen. You hear from heaven at the altar of incense; miracles begin when you are sending clouds of praise to heaven, ministering to God. Ministering to God is loving Him and worshiping Him, and this is why the Bible says, "Keep yourselves in the love of God . . ." (Jude 21). The most important part of your life will be ministering to God at the altar of incense—and that will drive out the occupants!