When the Lamb opened the seventh seal there was silence in heaven. God listens to us as well as speaks to us. We are taken seriously. We realize dignity. He demands silence so that the faithful may be heard.
And I saw the seven angels in readiness and standing before God. And to them were given seven trumpets. Prayer is the development of awareness, attention, and intensity before God. It is the place where all things come into focus, where coherence trumps chaos.
Another angel, who had a golden censer, came and stood before the altar. He was given much incense to offer, with the prayers of the saints, on the golden altar before the throne. Prayer is access to an environment in which God is the pivotal center of the action.
The smoke of the incense, together with the prayers of the holy ones, rose up before God from the hand of the angel. In prayer, we perceive reality from God’s perspective. This gives us hope.
Then the angel took the censer, filled it with fire from the altar, and hurled it into the earth; and there came peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightening, and an earthquake. Prayer re-enters our periphery with immeasurable effects. Our earth is shaken daily by them. These prayers are not stored on the altar; they are mixed with the fire of God’s Spirit and returned to earth to accomplish God’s sovereign purposes.
Revelation 8:1-5