“And another angel came and stood at the alter with a golden sensor and he was given much incense to offer with the prayers of all the saints on the golden alter before the throne. And the smoke of the incense with the prayers of the saints rose before God from the hand of the angel. Then the angel took the sensor and filled it with fire from the alter and threw it on the earth. And there were peels of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightnings and an earthquake.”
– Revelation 8:3–5
Those verses are a powerful testimony to the power of prayer. This whole picture of judgment that unfolds, the coming of God’s kingdom in the rests of Revelation 8 here and in the chapters that follow, it comes in response to the prayers of God’s people. As prayers are lifted up, the picture is God’s justice, God’s kingdom, God’s righteousness comes down.
This Verse Encourages Us to Pray like Jesus
So this is where I just want to encourage you, when you pray, like Jesus taught us to pray, when we pray, our Father in Heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Whenever we pray that prayer, we pray it in confidence. Our prayers are never in vain. Everyone of them is counting. It’s like incense before God. And there’s coming a day when He’s going to respond to our prayers and bring about His kingdom on the earth as it is in heaven. We pray with confidence, our Father in Heaven, hallowed be your name.
Cause your name to be made known as holy all across the earth. And we pray, we pray today. We’ll pray tomorrow. We’ll keep praying this until your kingdom comes. God, cause your kingdom to come, your will to be done on earth as it is in heaven. We want to see your justice reign on the earth. Lord, we want to see your righteousness reign on the earth. We want to see you love reign on the earth. Your peace to rule and reign on the earth.
Revelation 8:3–5 Leads Us to Ask God for His Kingdom to Come
We’re pleading for this. God, we’re asking you for this today. We’re going to ask for it all day long and tomorrow and the next day. And one day the last one, the last cry for your kingdom to come is going to cause that to happen. We are asking for that day. God, we’re longing for that day. We want to see your reign, your full righteousness ruling this world. Cause your kingdom to come, we pray, and use our praying, our persistent pleading toward that end to bring about the accomplishment, the fulfillment of your purposes. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.
David Platt serves as a pastor in metro Washington, D.C. He is the founder of Radical.
David received his Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and is the author of Don’t Hold Back, Radical, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Before You Vote, as well as the multiple volumes of the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary series.
Along with his wife and children, he lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area.
