Proper Prayer (burning the incense) issues out of God’s Light from Reading the Word

Lighting the lamps in the Holy Place goes together with burning the incense; when the priests were dressing the lamps in the morning, they had to burn the incense on the altar, and when they set up the lamps at twilight, they also burned the incense (see Exo. 30:7-8).

Every time we read the Bible to be enlightened by the Lord, we need to come to Him in prayer and pray His Word back to Him; every time we want to pray, we first need to come to His word to be enlightened by Him, and then we have the proper words under the divine light to pray back to the Lord.

First, there’s the light of the lamp and then there’s the smell of the incense; our personal life and church life need to be filled with praying and reading the word of God, lighting the lamps and burning the incense.

The main function of a priest was not to offer the sacrifices in the outer court or to light the lamps in the Holy Place but to burn the incense on the incense altar. As believers in Christ, we are priests to God and our main function is not merely to apply the blood of Christ, experience Christ as the offerings, or even to read the Bible to be enlightened by the Lord; our main function is to burn the incense, that is, to pray by being enlightened by God.

Our prayer should not be in darkness, that is, without the Lord’s shining through His word, but it should be in the Holy of Holies under the shining light of the Lord in His word through His Spirit. When we come to the Holy of Holies we need to apply the Lord’s blood, experience and enjoy Christ as the reality of all the offerings, be enlightened by the Lord through His word (the lampstand in the Holy Place), eat Christ as the life supply (the show-bread table), and then we can meet God at the expiation cover.

Our main commission as priests is to make the journey all the way to the incense altar and burn the incense on the altar through prayer, and such a prayer needs to be under the Lord’s shining light through His living word.

Taking the Journey to the Incense Altar to Burn the Incense through our Prayer

When Jehovah gave Moses instructions on how to burn the incense He specified that whenever the priests dressed the lamps in the morning and set up the lamps in the evening, they should burn the incense on the altar (Exo. 30:7-8).

As the priest journeyed in the tabernacle to reach the Holy of Holies and be in God’s presence, he first had to bring the offering, then enter into the Holy Place where he had to light the lamps, and then he had to burn the incense on the altar.

The burning of the incense is the central matter of everything in the tabernacle, God’s dwelling place; the purpose of the laver for washing, the offerings, the lampstand, and the show-bread table was for the priest to come forward to the incense altar and burn the incense. And this burning of the incense cannot be done in darkness: the priest had to light the lamps and make sure they are brightly burning, and then under the shining of the lamps he could burn the incense.

To burn the incense is to pray; in our individual time with the Lord, we need much prayer – this prayer is the incense. Burning the incense is both personal and corporate, but in this particular article we focus mainly on the personal aspect.

We need to spend personal time with the Lord, pray and linger in His presence, and be mingled with Christ so that He can come into our prayer and the Christ within would pray to the Christ on the throne. This is not merely teaching for us to understand and memorize but an experience which we all need to have daily.

There’s no shortcut to such an experience: we can’t just “jump to the incense altar” – we need to take the whole journey of applying the Lord’s blood, confessing our sins, being enlightened by the word of God, eating Christ as the bread of life, and then we will come to the incense altar where we can pray.

All these take place in our personal time with the Lord; if our time with the Lord is merely a procedure or something on our schedule to be kept daily, 10 minutes may seem more than enough for us; but if we really want to carry on a conversation with the Lord, be open to Him, be enlightened by Him, and offer the incense that is pleasing to Him, even 30 minutes is not enough.

We need to spend much time with the Lord in His word so that we may be washed by His blood, enlightened by His light through the Spirit, supplied by Him as life, and we will spontaneously pray to offer the incense for His good pleasure.

We need to realize that the main commission of the priesthood is to burn the incense; the burning of the incense is the central matter of everything in the tabernacle, God’s dwelling place, and we need to take the journey to be qualified to offer the incense on the altar, that is, pray according to the Lord’s enlightening with Christ as our incense.

Lord Jesus, wash us and cleanse us in Your precious blood; we take You as our sin offering, our trespass offering, and our peace-offering so that we may be qualified to enter into the Holy Place and fellowship with You. Lord, we come to Your word to receive the divine light and the life supply; speak to us, enlighten us, and supply us with Yourself as life so that we may offer the prayers at the incense altar. Lord, may we treasure our time with You and make the journey all the way to the incense altar to pray under the enlightening of Your word and with Christ as the incense!

Proper Prayer (burning the incense) issues out of God’s Light from Reading the Word

It is very significant that the priests had to light the lamps and burn the incense, and when they burned the incense they had to make sure the lamps of the lampstand were brightly burning. Lighting the lamps signifies our reading the word of God and being enlightened by the Lord, and burning the incense signifies our praying.

Whenever we read the word of God (we light the lamp) we must pray (burn the incense). God’s word is the light, and when we exercise our spirit when we read God’s word, we receive the divine light (we light the lamp). If the priests didn’t light the lamps, they were in darkness; if we don’t read the word of God to receive God’s light, we pray in darkness, uttering our own words in a foolish way.

Without the light of God in His word, our prayer is natural and not appreciated by God. Whenever we pray we first need to come to the word of God and exercise our spirit and our heart to receive God’s light. I was both touched and helped by this portion from brother Lee’s ministry on this,

Many times we pray in a natural way according to our concept because we have not been enlightened by the Word. This kind of prayer will not be accepted as an offering to God. When we come to contact the Lord, we must be in fear and trembling. We know that our sins have been washed away, but if we do not first deal with the Word to receive the light, we may pray in a natural way according to our disposition. This kind of prayer is an offense to the Lord. It will not be a sweet savor to Him. So before we pray, we must read the Word to be enlightened. We must light the lamp. (Witness Lee, The Priesthood, ch. 15)

Proper prayer is the prayer that issues out of the light from reading the word of God; when we read the word of God, we will be enlightened and we will have the right words to pray. This kind of prayer is appreciated by God and received by Him, being a sweet-smelling savour to Him.

We need to pray-read the word of God and allow God to shine on us through His word, and then we will spontaneously pray according to God’s enlightening. Reading the Bible should not be a mere formality or a Christian practice; we need to spend time with the Lord in His word to be shined on by Him, and we will have the right words to pray to the Lord as priests – we will burn the incense.

May the Lord save us from “praying in darkness” and bring us again and again in His sweet light in His word so that we may light the lamp and burn the incense as priests to God! May we not just babble words to God or pray from our mind to Him but rather pray in the light with the words He has given us in our personal time with Him!

Lord Jesus, we come to Your word to be enlightened by You through Your Spirit so that we can pray with the word of God and thus burn the incense through our prayer as priests! Lord, save us from praying in darkness. Keep us coming to Your word with a pure heart and unveiled face to see You, enjoy You, be enlightened by You, and be supplied by You so that we may offer the prayer You need at the incense altar. May our prayer be a sweet-smelling savor to You as it issues from our adequate time with You in the word day by day!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Inspiration: the Word of God, my Christian experience, bro. Andrew Yu’s sharing in the message for this week, and portions from, Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1966, vol. 1, “The Priesthood,” ch. 15, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, The Recovery of the Priesthood or God’s Building, week 4 / msg 4, Lighting the Lamps and Burning the Incense.
• All Bible verses are taken from, Holy Bible Recovery Version.
• Hymns on this topic to strengthen this burden:
  # Remove my covering, Lord, / That I may see Thy light, / And be deceived no more, / But all things see aright. / Oh, may Thy living light, Lord, / Scatter all my night, Lord, / And everything make bright, Lord, / For this I pray to Thee. (Hymns #426)
  # Thy Word I read before Thee here / E’en as the priests the lamp did light; / Thy Spirit is as oil to me / To light Thy Word and give me sight. / E’en as the priests the incense burned, / In prayer to Thee I persevere; / As incense Thou the Spirit art / Mixed with the prayer I offer here. (Hymns #813)
  # No natural light, but just the lamp / Within the holy place gives sight; / Whene’er the priest the incense burns, / The lamp he too must light. (Hymns #791)