When my granddaughters, Jenna and Evie, were just preschoolers, they liked to play a game called "Don't spill the beans". This little game has been around a long time; in fact, the game's 1960s version used real kidney beans. It has been a favourite for many years. There is a tipping bowl that players place beans into until the bowl tips over and spills out the beans. The unlucky one who put in that last bean receives all the beans into his pile. The object of the game is to get rid of all your beans.

I thought of this game when I read a verse in the book of Revelation that says that the prayers of believers are collected in gold bowls. Can you even fathom that? Our prayers are so important that they are collected and wait in gold bowls as incense or a fragrant aroma to the Father.

Revelation 5:8 – And when he took the scroll, the four living beings and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb. Each one had a harp, and they held gold bowls filled with incense, which are the prayers of God's people. (NLT)

Our prayers are as fragrant to the Father as incense. I think of the prayers offered at this confusing time in history: requests for healing, both physical and cultural; petitions we raise for our leaders, with all the issues that surround them; prayers for our economy and people hurting financially; pleadings for our churches, that they may be awakened from sleep and go forth with the gospel.

Unlike the whimsical game when the bowl is tipped, we are not the losers, but winners, for because of God's everlasting love for His people, when the bowls are full, they tip, and the answers fall to earth in immeasurable blessings!

I take great delight in thinking about the gold bowls waiting for my prayers to arrive, and even more, the answers being poured out. Let us never miss an opportunity to raise our petitions to our Lord. May we think often of the gold bowls that wait for a filling of our prayers. Prayers to the Lord should be always on our lips and in our hearts. Speak to Him as a friend, for that is what He is. We are winners when we spend time in prayer. May we all find the miracle of talking to our Father God!

Prayer: Heavenly Lamb Who was slain, You are worthy to be praised and to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honour and glory and blessing. We lift our precious prayers to heaven to be placed in the gold bowls. May the bowls tip to shower us with answers to those prayers. Amen.

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About the author:

Jeanie Nihiser <jnihiserj@gmail.com>
Geneseo, New York, USA
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