A Trumpet Blast

Revelation 8:1-6
"1 And when he had opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour. 2 And I saw the seven angels which stood before God; and to them were given seven trumpets. 3 And another angel came and stood at the altar, having a golden censer; and there was given unto him much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne. 4 And the smoke of the incense, which came with the prayers of the saints, ascended up before God out of the angel's hand. 5 And the angel took the censer, and filled it with fire of the altar, and cast it into the earth: and there were voices, and thunderings, and lightnings, and an earthquake. 6 And the seven angels which had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound." (KJV)

As Heaven itself is preparing for the sound, what are we doing? I remember last year Pastor Krista Hampton at River of Life in Paris KY, preached a word called the sound of the trumpet. She talked about being ready. She used the scriptures from Thessalonians. This is the same message I'm leaving here today. Are we prepared to hear the sound of the blast from the trumpet as the angels are preparing to hear the sound? Are we?

My focus keeps returning to verse 3. An angel standing before the alter with the golden censer with much incense and the prayers of the saints. I remember Tommy Tenney preaching about the censer that the priest used before entering into the Holiest place of the tabernacle. The priest would fill the golden censer full of incense and stick his arm inside the veil and twirl it around. He would then, once he felt like there was enough smoke, enter into the Holiest place to make petitions before God and to seek forgiveness and intercession for the people. I also had studied this out myself in the past. The smoke would be so thick in an attempt to hide our humanity from the presence of God, because His presence does not tolerate sin. God even told Moses that you can't behold my fullness, but I will shield you until you can see my backside. He did this because if Moses being human encountered the pureness of God still being in flesh, he would die. God said so Himself. God does not lie. We have taken grace for granted and like the greediness of all humanity we have perverted it into a thing I believe makes God sick. It has allowed us to become lukewarm, because we holler grace grace and never come to a point of repentance. Even I have done this. I've committed sin and told myself I'll ask for forgiveness in a minute and made a mockery out of God's grace. For this I have repented and continually repent unless I fall back into that mindset.

Shoot, let me get back to my point on prayer. The smoke from the censer goes up before the Master and the prayers of the saints are going up with it being carried up by the smoke of the incense. We've been talking about preparing for the sound. What kind of sound will Father hear when our prayers enter the throne room? Will those prayers be full of vanity and vainglory? Will they be full of greed and whining? We have been taught by the mainstream media preachers and even now our local pastors to name it and claim it, or flab it and grab it prayer. We have not because we ask not is being preached through a sense of perversion. They forget about we have not because we ask a miss just to consume it upon our own lusts.

I was going through a very strong spiritual battle that I felt like I was being overwhelmed with. I called upon a spiritual mother and mentor of mine, Apostle Drake, and she began immediately to bombard Heaven on my behalf. She then lovingly scolded me a little and then comforted me with some strong encouragement. When I hung up there was new life breathed into me by her strong intercession. I said to myself, "We as Christians have truly lost touch with the art of warfare praying." We have become so soft and entitled that we have forgot that Heaven suffers violence and the violent takes it by force. So the sound of my prayer going up before the Father I want to be that of the sound of warring intercession for the saints around me. PRAY WITHOUT CEASING!!! Praying for ALL saints.

Are you preparing to hear the sound of Heaven? I honestly believe there will only be two types of people on Earth. Those that have prepared to hear the sound of the trumpet of God and those that will tremble in fear and despair. What are we doing to change those that would cower in fear? Are we, like Noah, preparing an escape route through the guidance of God, and imploring those to come in, or are we so bound up in self preservation that we could care less about our fellow beside us? Come on Saints we have an obligation and hard work ahead of us, LET"S GO!!!