The Importance Of Prayer + (“Incense Rising” Giveaway)

(Psalm 141:2 NLV- May my prayer be like special perfume before You. May the lifting up of my hands be like the evening gift given on the altar in worship.)

Today’s focal verse holds such a special place in my heart. On January 10th of this year, I had a dream in which I saw the words of this verse come to life.

In this particular dream, I saw myself lie down and start to pray, yet there was this immediate cognizance that I was in Papa God’s Presence. The words of my prayers were leaving my lips and ascending before Him in what appeared to be hundreds of little folded journal pages.

I didn’t have revelation of what the dream actually meant until I woke up the next morning, sat before The Lord in worship, and began to write it down in my prayer journal. It was in that moment, that Holy Spirit revealed to me that God was giving me heaven’s view and His perspective of what it looks like when I pray. He was allowing me to see how sacred and dear my prayers were and still are to His heart.

I share this with you guys because if you’ve been a follower of “A.S.-K.S.” for any amount of time then you know that I’m avid prayer journaler. I keep record of my personal prayers, how Abba answers those prayers, and also how He speaks to me whether it be through His Word, dreams, visions, or simply just the sweetness of the inner voice of Holy Spirit whispering  truth to and within my heart and spirit.

You see, because God knows how much I treasure writing out my thoughts and prayers to Him, He designed the structure of my dream in a way that was special and personal to me and the intimate way that He and I converse in the secret place with one another.

How many of you know that what The Lord did for me, He’ll do the same for you? He will reveal things to us in a way that is sacred to our personal relationship with Him just to let us know that He’s listening, but we first have to be willing to speak.

I think sometimes in our humanness we may feel or think that our prayers aren’t heard or that they’ve simply gone unnoticed. But, I sit here writing you this morning as a living testimony that Papa not only hears, but sees our prayers as well. When we take the time to intimately commune with Him our words truly capture and ravish His heart. 

However, I believe the true treasure is found in His response to us. His answers to our prayers are always immersed within this profound love that is so pure, perfect, and true. His Words don’t just capture our hearts, but They cling to the soul and spirit radiantly providing light, love, hope, beauty, promise, life, and truth.

It doesn’t matter how we choose to converse with God, the only thing that matters is that we do. Our words are sacred to Him whether they’re spoken or written. He just simply loves when we make the choice to be with Him.

Just in casual conversation with other believers, I’ve found that praying doesn’t come natural to everyone.  And not that there’s this secret magic formula that you have to remember when it comes to prayer. I think the majority of my most precious moments in God’s Presence have been the times that I’ve just sat with Him, spoken very little, but listened very intently.

At the same time, I do believe that there are a few essential tools that help usher us into The Lord’s Presence and help us to connect with His heart a little more intimately.

One of those things being a good devotional. I say that because a lot of devotionals will not only aid you in becoming familiar with Scripture, but can also help you to commit and focus on setting time aside daily to be alone with God. A lot of them also end with a prayer that you can read through and speak over your life which I think can be helpful in developing a habit of praying everyday.

If I had to recommend a great devotional for you to read it would be “Incense Rising: 60 Days To Powerful Prayer” which was actually written by my lovely friend, Carolyn Dale Newell.

Within the pages of “Incense Rising”, each day, you’ll find a different topic to focus on that will help inspire you to seek The Lord on a deeper level, a focal verse or passage of Scripture to read, an encouraging word from Carolyn, a verse to commit to memory, a recommended passage of Scripture that you’ll have to open your Bible to read, a different name of God that will help you to call out to Him more intimately, practical words from Carolyn to aid you in truly walking in your new found intimacy with The Lord, and then an ending prayer that all you have to do is read and receive.

I know that this book will be an incredible blessing to you all, but I have honor of giving away only one signed copy. To enter, all you have to do is leave a comment on this post. I will be praying over each person who does and I’ll give it away to the person that I hear Holy Spirit saying could benefit from it the most. The winner will then be notified via email and social media. If you would like to purchase a copy of “Incense Rising”, you’ll find the links to do so located below in the Sunday Soul Kiss book of the week.

In closing, this is my prayer for you: I pray that as you seek The Lord, He would fill and surround you with the precious gift that is His Presence. I pray that you would truly come to know Him intimately and that His pure and perfect love would overtake you drawing you deeper unto Him. I pray that your greatest joys would be found in the moments that you’ve simply said yes to being with Him. I speak life and love over you and I bless you in Jesus’ name— Amen and so be it!

If you would like for me to pray for or with you, please click here.

Happy Soul Kissed Sunday! I love you guys!

Believe, Be Beautiful, Be Brilliant, and Be Blessed!🙂

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