Rev 8:3-5, And another angel came and stood at the altar, holding a golden censer; and much incense was given to him, that he might add it to the prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne. And the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, went up before God out of the angel's hand. And the angel took the censer; and he filled it with the fire of the altar and threw it to the earth; and there followed peals of thunder and sounds and flashes of lightning and an earthquake. 
Last week, we considered God’s promise to banish sorrow in the lives and hearts of His people, the Church, the Bride of His Beloved Son. We saw that sorrow and sighing and mourning are forever cast out in the hearts and lives of those whose complete trust and purpose of living is centered fully in line with God’s will. This is the direct result of the development of effective prayer in the Body of Christ. When we can see everything through the vantage point of God’s interest and His will being accomplished, then all the storms and gales, all the circumstances and dilemmas are seen for the glory that He will bring forth. 
No longer are we focused on how we are affected and our happiness or sadness, pleasure or discontentment. We are set on Him and His satisfaction and Glory through it all. We look beyond the now and present to what He is accomplishing effectively and permanently through the roughest and fiercest dealings. That is part of the picture that is before us in this morning’s reading. It is the Church seeing through the harsh judgment in prayerful petitions to the Throne of Grace. There is an upwelling of the incense of prayers that are added to the prayers of all the saints. Then this censer, filled with the prayers is thrown to the earth to begin the judgment sequence of God’s eternal plan. This is not a coincidence. This is not just something that is done. It is through the prayers of the saints that God is moved to bring about His preordained, Just and Holy dispensation of eternal judgment. He responds fully to the prayers of His Church with the onslaught of His Holiness and Righteousness. 
This is something that we must not take lightly or casually. God moves in accordance with His heart’s desires and plans as the Church joins herself to His will and purpose. He does not coerce or force obedience to His way. He waits until the Church has given herself fully and freely unto Him in order that His actions and perfect will is absolutely accomplished. 
This is a priceless aspect of the prayers of the saints in the midst of the turbulent forays of this realm. It is the heart of why we are promised that we will no longer have sorrow or mourning. This is not only a promise for the future that awaits us in Heaven, but it is to be the reality of our lives even now. We will know it in perfection then, but we can recognize and learn to live under God’s promise today in Christ Jesus. There are several characteristics of this prayerful life that we can witness today, if we will but choose to focus on them.    
The first is the joy that accompanies our recognition of the return of Divine Favor. When we turn from our thoughts of what should be to the reality of Jesus Christ, when we turn from our sin and our wickedness and embrace the heart of God’s will for us, we experience a deep, permanent, all-encompassing joy everlasting in which sorrow flees away. 
Ps 30:10-12, "Hear, O Lord, and be gracious to me; O Lord, be Thou my helper." Thou hast turned for me my mourning into dancing; Thou hast loosed my sackcloth and girded me with gladness; That my soul may sing praise to Thee, and not be silent. O Lord my God, I will give thanks to Thee forever. Notice, there is an accompaniment of thanksgiving. We can only truly be thankful when we see everything from the hand of God, working to His glory in this life as it honors Him. Our prayers will seamlessly stem from complete thanksgiving for God’s divine intervention and function, no matter how much it goes against the grain of our human understanding.
Second, even as we face the dilemmas and the trials and the losses of this age, we are encompassed with the comfort of the Holy Spirit to see us through. He takes our mourning hearts and envelopes them with the grace and the peace of divine providence and wisdom, if we will but seek after Him with all our heart and mind and soul. Isa 61:1-3, The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, Because the Lord has anointed me To bring good news to the afflicted; He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to captives, And freedom to prisoners; To proclaim the favorable year of the Lord, And the day of vengeance of our God; To comfort all who mourn, To grant those who mourn in Zion, Giving them a garland instead of ashes, The oil of gladness instead of mourning, The mantle of praise instead of a spirit of fainting. So they will be called oaks of righteousness, The planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified. Again notice that the focal point is His glory, despite what we may be experiencing. In Him there is good news, healing, liberty from the sting of death, freedom from the entrapments of this age, comfort, praise, and righteousness. 
As well, God doesn’t force Himself upon us. He does not make us obey Him. He calls to us, and He wins us over with His perfect and selfless love. Even in the pits of the darkest despair, He will draw forth our hearts unto Himself because He offers us the one thing that we cannot find anywhere else. He gives us hope, which is the universal desire of all mankind. When we have hope, we can make it through the darkest of times. The Glory of God is that He is our Hope in everything. There is nothing beyond the scope of His Omniscience, Omnipresence, and Omnipotence. Hos 2:14+15, "Therefore, behold, I will allure her, Bring her into the wilderness, And speak kindly to her. "Then I will give her her vineyards from there, And the valley of Achor as a door of hope. And she will sing there as in the days of her youth, As in the day when she came up from the land of Egypt. 
	At this point, we see the only true hope, which should be the craving of the heart of every man, woman, and child. It is the vision of the risen Savior, Jesus Christ. He is the only means of finding any satisfaction and encouragement and strength. In Him, we are freed from the ominous death penalty that awaits all mankind, lost in sin and disobedience to the Righteous and just Holiness of God. As He encouraged His disciples, so do we find our fulfillment of hope. It is in Him that we have the answer to all our prayers after the heart and will of God. 
John 16:20-24, "Truly, truly, I say to you, that you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice; you will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will be turned to joy. "Whenever a woman is in travail she has sorrow, because her hour has come; but when she gives birth to the child, she remembers the anguish no more, for joy that a child has been born into the world. "Therefore you too now have sorrow; but I will see you again, and your heart will rejoice, and no one takes your joy away from you. "And in that day you will ask Me no question. Truly, truly, I say to you, if you shall ask the Father for anything, He will give it to you in My name. "Until now you have asked for nothing in My name; ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be made full. 
	In Christ and His completed work of salvation, we find the blessing of our spiritual life. It is the deep joy of the very life of Jesus that causes us to become alive forever unto God. It is a living relationship in which sorrow and mourning have no place. It is here that our soul communes with God for the sake of His Name and His Honor and His Glory throughout all of His creation. Isa 61:10+11, I will rejoice greatly in the Lord, My soul will exult in my God; For He has clothed me with garments of salvation, He has wrapped me with a robe of righteousness, As a bridegroom decks himself with a garland, And as a bride adorns herself with her jewels. For as the earth brings forth its sprouts, And as a garden causes the things sown in it to spring up, So the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise To spring up before all the nations. 
	The continued promise of God’s release from mourning in this life finds its next reality in the fact that we delight in God’s Word. It becomes the light of our path on this earth. As we undergo the various hardships and heartaches of this physical realm, the Holy Spirit is very faithful to draw us unto Himself through His Word. In it, we find every answer necessary for meeting the pains and anguish of this age. 
It is also in His Word that we are shown how we should pray, for He shows us what His will is, if we will but feast and meditate upon it. We cannot know the heart of God without earnest study and commitment and dedication of losing ourselves wholly unto and into His Word. Jer 15:16, Thy words were found and I ate them, And Thy words became for me a joy and the delight of my heart; For I have been called by Thy name, O Lord God of hosts. 
	The process of dwelling upon His Word will cause us to experience those wonderful times of Spiritual Awakening, which serve to draw us nearer and nearer to the heart of God. We begin to see, more clearly and beautifully the manner of God’s love working throughout the eternal ages. There develops a change of thinking and of heart. Our focus more and more centers on Him. The intensity of our desire to worship and to honor Him increases with each new revelation of His Awesomeness. Acts 8:4-8, Therefore, those who had been scattered went about preaching the word. And Philip went down to the city of Samaria and began proclaiming Christ to them. And the multitudes with one accord were giving attention to what was said by Philip, as they heard and saw the signs which he was performing. For in the case of many who had unclean spirits, they were coming out of them shouting with a loud voice; and many who had been paralyzed and lame were healed. And there was much rejoicing in that city. 
	There was a revival in the city of Samaria when the Word was preached and Jesus Christ was proclaimed. Those who received were cleansed and healed from their afflictions and illnesses and sufferings. And notice that there was great rejoicing that accompanied this spiritual awakening. This is but one example of how effective the Word of God is when it is known and proclaimed. It expresses the final aspect that we will consider this morning, that of the Love of Christ. 
	Jesus is the Word made flesh, as we read in the Gospel of John. John 1:1-5 + 9-14, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being by Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it...There was the true light which, coming into the world, enlightens every man. He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. 
	In Him is expressed the entirety of the love of God for us. And it is in Him that we express our love to God. The Apostle Peter gives us this encouragement in Christ, no matter what we may be undergoing. 1 Peter 1:6-9, In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials, that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ; and though you have not seen Him, you love Him, and though you do not see Him now, but believe in Him, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, obtaining as the outcome of your faith the salvation of your souls. 
	Notice the key truth in each of the passages that we read together this morning. They are filled with joy, rejoicing, and praise unto God. Yes, we receive the deepest, innermost knowledge and comfort of eternal joy and peace in Jesus Christ. But its focus does not remain centered in our benefit. It turns into rejoicing in the goodness of the Lord God Almighty. It develops into all praise and adoration and worship unto God. It becomes the means of God’s Glory being proclaimed in and throughout every area of our lives. It is set in prayer and devotion to the Word of God within the Body of Christ. He becomes the avenue and the expression of love both from God and unto God in the hearts of the Church. In the fulfilled promise of God, in Jesus Christ, the Church is given perfection of heart. The Church is able to accede to and even initiate God’s will through learned and effective prayer that will move God to act in full accordance to His plan and purpose. 
This is no small thing. It requires absolute commitment and oneness of heart with God that can only be brought about through the death and resurrection of the Cross of Jesus Christ in each heart and mind. There is no short-cut. There is no instant on button. It takes time and energy and effort and study and death to self that the Church will find its voice in the eternal truth of God’s turning all mourning into joy. There is a proving of our faith, as we are reminded by the Apostle Peter, which has to take place in order to anchor us in the Word of God and in unwavering obedience to the Holy Spirit. Without these elements being permanently in place in us, we cannot know the unwavering joy of the Lord. It is in this manner that the Church learns to pray effectively as recorded in this morning’s passage. So be it!
And another angel came and stood at the altar, holding a golden censer; and much incense was given to him, that he might add it to the prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne. And the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, went up before God out of the angel's hand. And the angel took the censer; and he filled it with the fire of the altar and threw it to the earth; and there followed peals of thunder and sounds and flashes of lightning and an earthquake. Amen.

This morning’s benediction is Num 6:24-26. The Lord bless you, and keep you; The Lord make His face shine on you, And be gracious to you; The Lord lift up His countenance on you, And give you peace.' Amen.