Morning Devotional

June 23, 2005
"Urgent Assistance Needed"   
    by Don Emmitte

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O LORD, I am calling to you. Please hurry! Listen when I cry to you for help! Accept my prayer as incense offered to you, and my upraised hands as an evening offering. (Psalm 141:1-2 NLT).

I must be an incredibly important person. I keep getting email notes from foreign diplomats and dignitaries from all over the world, and their wives, their children, their assistants, maybe even a few from their housekeepers. It seems a little wrong that I delete more opportunities for wealth than any one person should even run across in a lifetime. You're not going to believe this, but not only are these important, wealthy people asking for my help with some major financial moves, but they all want to give me money! Incredible, isn't it? I had no idea I had such a widespread reputation as a trustworthy and altogether upright person. Imagine all these folks trusting little ol' me with their government futures and their financial treasures. All I have to do is send these kind folks my bank account number, PIN, two major credit cards and my Social Security number and I'm in!

Of course you’ve received these same emails. We have all been warned of these scams. But, it reminded me of a truth in God’s promises that brings great encouragement. Did you know God has his own special treasure hidden away in heaven? The first is that our prayers are like a sweet, refreshing breeze to our Heavenly Father. Imagine him hanging onto our every word, relishing the words, breathing them in like incense. That’s the impact of our reading this morning. A heart-felt prayer is perfume to God.

That brings us to the second special secret: prayers are never, ever deleted. The wonderful truth is that our words are more precious to the Father than we can imagine. He hangs on to them like a mom hangs her child's most special works on her refrigerator. I’m not an important person because diplomats are clamoring to give me money. I don't have to waste time being disappointed over that one because I'm even more important than that. The Creator of the universe deems me important enough to save - and even treasure - the words I pray to him.

I wonder if we'll get to dip in to the bowls when we get to heaven. I wonder if we'll be able to listen in on some of the Father's prayer treasure. Our prayers aren't the only treasures we can store up, but I'm just sure they're included in the treasures mentioned in Matthew 6:19-21. Jesus himself told us to invest in this kind of treasure. I like to imagine a group of us sitting around in Glory and listening to the prayers of a billion saints. I think of it as a happy session of fellowshipping together, enjoying a "heavenly scrapbook" of sorts of some favorite family moments. Residual prayers to a holy God ringing throughout eternity - what a sweet thought. Songs of praise that never quite play their final notes. Prayers of gratitude that offer never-ending thanks. Requests long-answered that remind us again and again of our loving Father's care for us and his powerful, abundant provision throughout our short lives on earth. Every prayer I pray is an investment in a forever treasure. And this time I don't have to be selfish. This treasure isn't all about me. This is treasure for my Father.