When we rise in the morning and lift up our hands to God in prayer, praise, thanksgiving and worship we are acknowledging the enormous debt we owe to Him and how Jesus should be in first place in our lives.

In the Old Testament the Morning Sacrifice, I believe, held that same position as our first prayers and worship of God, Jesus and Holy Spirit. We have come alive because our sins have been removed by His sacrifice and we are now dead to sin and to the Law, so we offer our sacrifice of prayer .

A similar thought occurs when we think of our evening prayers at the end of the day. We look back and see the protection and help we've had throughout the day and we offer our sacrifice of prayers like the evening sacrifice of old. We think of Jesus first and last. The Alpha and Omega.

Psalm 141:2 Let my prayer be counted as incense before you, and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice!

So coming alive each new morning and at the end of each day we raise our hands in praise and worship because of the love we have for this great God we serve. God is gracious enough to accept our prayers and the raising of our hands in thanksgiving as the 'morning and evening sacrifice'! Our prayers to God being like incense beaten small as our hearts speak to God's heart.

Leviticus 16:12 And he shall take a censer full of coals of fire from the altar before the LORD, and two handfuls of sweet incense beaten small, and he shall bring it inside the veil.

When we develop in our relationship with God we come to a point of holy fellowship, communion, prayer and worship that started in the 'Holy Place' and as we draw closer to God we move through the veil, now opened for us by Jesus, into the 'Most Holy Place'. We have moved from the flesh realm of the 'outer court', through the soul realm of the 'Holy Place' to the spirit realm of the 'Most Holy Place' going through the veil and all we can take in with us is our prayers as incense beaten small.

And here in the Most Holy Place we have a 'spiritual' encounter with, and revelation of, the true God in our prayer, praise and worship!

Best wishes for Grace and the Peace of Jesus.

Attlee.

Another thought....