The Essence of Prayer

The Cambridge Dictionary defines essence as the basic or most important idea or quality of something.  What is the essence or the most important quality of our prayers?  Is it what we ask for, how we ask, our ability to believe, our persistence, or is it how we live our lives?  Each of these are a part of our prayer life and come out of our faith.  They combine to create an image and fragrance before God,  When the Lord looks from Heaven He sees our lives, the  things we do and don’t do.  He discerns our thoughts and the intents of our hearts.  We can say we love Him with all our hearts but He knows if we love Him a little or a lot.  We can say we trust Him but He knows if we truly trust in Him or something or someone else.  All these factors play a role in whether our lives are a sweet fragrance unto the Lord or a stench in His nostrils.  

There is a Spanish worship song titled Perfume a Tus Pies. The words of the chorus are: 

Yo quiero enamorarme más de Ti. 

Enséñame a amarte y a vivir
conforme a tu justicia y a tu verdad. 

Con mi vida quiero adorar.
Con todo lo que tengo y lo que soy,

 todo lo que he sido te lo doy.
Que mi vida sea para Ti
como un perfume a tus pies. 

An English translation would be something like this:

I want to be more in love with you.
Teach my soul to love you and to live
conforming to your justice and your truth.
I want adore and praise you with my life.
With everything that I have and I am,
everything that I have been, I give to you.
Let my life be to you
just like a perfume at your feet.

Our lives have the capability to be a sweet fragrance like a perfume unto the Lord or a sour smell or stench in His nostrils.  What changes would we have to make to become a sweet fragrance.  The chorus of Perfume a Tus Pies takes that thought one step further.  The chorus expresses the desire that one’s life may be an offering of perfume at the feet of the Lord.  This is something that must be in our hearts to do and something we do willing.  Paul said in Romans 12:1, “I beseech ye therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God which is your reasonable service.”  A good starting place would be to pray, as the chorus says, for God to teach our souls to love Him, to live according to His ways and truth, and to praise Him with our lives.  One might find it encouraging to look up the lyrics to this song.  Here is a link to the song if you would like to listen to it :

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