And the Lord smelled a soothing aroma...Genesis 8:21 (NKJV)

How is the aroma of your tea?  Does your tea smell pleasing? As you sit at your table, holding your warm mug on a chilly morning, does the steam from your favorite tea blend rise up and bring joy to your senses? 

Have you ever thought about our prayers smelling good to God? Like children to a pan of chocolate chip cookies fresh out of the oven, God comes running at the scent of our delicious prayers and it brings Him great joy!

...He will be very gracious to you at the sound of your cry;
When He hears it, He will answer you. Isaiah 30:19 (NKJV)

Noah knew how much God loved sincere prayers because he walked with God.  No sooner did Noah and his family step off the ark (after more than a year on board!), did they set up an altar with a fire, preparing burnt sacrifices to God.  And when God smelled the aroma of Noah’s offering, it was then that He promised to never curse the ground or flood the whole world again.  God promised there will always be seedtime and harvest for as long as the earth remains (Gen. 8:22). 

Let my prayer be set before You as incense,
The lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice.  Psalm 141:1  (NKJV)

Today’s TEA CUPP:  Read the entire story of Noah’s sweet aroma in Genesis 8 today.  Let your prayers be a sweet aroma to Jesus. What other offerings can you give the Lord that will smell wonderful?

And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma.
Ephesians 5:2 (NKJV)

Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place. For we are to God the fragrance of Christ among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing. 2 Corinthians 2:14-15 (NKJV)

If you enjoyed today’s message, you might also like Tea with Two Verses and Filling the Bowls.

Scripture from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson.