And thou shalt overlay it ( the altar) with pure gold. . . and Aaron shall burn thereon incense of sweet spices every morning; when he dresseth the lamps he shall burn it." (Exod. xxx. 3, 7.)
The "incense of sweet spices" signifies prayer. "Let my prayer be set forth as incense before Thee." (Ps. cxli. 2.) "And there was given unto him (the angel) much incense that he should add it unto the prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar that was before the throne." (Rev. viii. 3.)
The prayer that comes up to God through the great High Priest is to Him a sweet savour. Every morning that incense had to be burnt by the priests while the house of God was filled with the fragrance. This is what I, too, must do as a priest of God-I am the temple of God. The whole heart must be filled with the sweet savour of the prayer and thanksgiving which I offer up to God every morning. One thing, above all, is necessary to this end. I must know that my prayers are acceptable to the Father. The Holy Spirit will give me inward assurance of this. I must take time before my prayer, and during prayer, and after prayer, to realize, by faith, God's love and favour. I must, by faith, become conscious of my unity with Christ. I must surrender myself to the purpose of walking in that union. I must suffer the Holy Spirit to breathe into me the living assurance that my Father verily looks upon my prayer with pleasure.
This will fill me with the strength to burn my incense of sweet spices every morning, to send up prayers inspired by the Holy Spirit. Then I can go forth to walk as a priest before God the whole day.
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Andrew Murray (1828 - 1917)
Brother Andrew Murray was a well-known writer/preacher in South Africa who ministered amongst the Dutch Reformed churches. His writings now are widely accepted by modern evangelicals and he is published more than ever in his life-time.Some of his better known books titles are: "Abide In Christ", "Absolute Surrender," and "Humility." His burden for the body of Christ were teachings on the abiding Spirit of Christ in the believer, the life of faith with God daily, and the life of intercession and prayer in the Church.
Andrew Murray was possibly the strongest spokesman of the Philadelphian age to expound the Body's necessity to abide in Christ, like the Apostle John before him.
Murray was born into a family of four children in the then remote Graaff-Reinet region (near the Cape) of South Africa. Educated in Scotland, which was followed by theological studies in Holland, Andrew returned to his native land to work as a missionary and minister. Given the daunting task of ministering to Bloemfontein, a remote region of 50,000 square miles and 12,000 people beyond the Orange River, Murray already began to sense the need to for the "deeper Christian life".
Though successful in preaching and bringing many to Christ, Murray found many of his greatest lessons in the School of Suffering, as will all who follow in the path of obedience.
Andrew Murray was one of four children born to Pastor Andrew, Sr., and Maria Murray. He was raised in what was considered to be the most remote corner of the world - Graaff-Reinet, South Africa. Educated in Scotland and Holland, in 1848 Andrew, Jr., returned to South Africa as a missionary and minister with the Dutch Reformed Church. His first appointment was to Bloemfontein, a territory of nearly 50,000 square miles and 12,000 people.
Andrew and his brother John had been in close contact with a revival movement in Scotland, an evangelical extension of the ongoing Second Great Awakening in America. He prayed for the same sort of awakening for the church in South Africa and wrote, "My prayer is for revival, but I am held back by the increasing sense of my own unfitness for the work. I lament the awful pride and self complacency that have till now ruled my heart. O that I may be more and more a minister of the Spirit." (J. du Plessis, The Life of Andrew Murray)
In 1860, revival did come to the churches of Cape Town, South Africa, and subsequently spread to surrounding towns and villages. Even remote farms and plantations felt the impact as lives were changed. Where once the churches had not been able to find one man ready to be a leader for God, the revival raised up 50 in Murray's Cape Town parish alone. There were more conversions in one month in that parish than in the whole course of its previous history. (Leona Choy, Andrew Murray: Apostle of Abiding Love)
Greatly concerned for the spiritual guidance of new converts and renewed Christians, Andrew Murray wrote over 240 books. His writings reflect his own longing for a deeper life in Christ and his prayer that others would long for and experience that life as well.