When I was a little girl, I loved to play dress-up with my sisters. We were always acting out different stories we made up and our favorite was usually a royal adventure. We turned sticks into fancy scepters and office chairs into elegant thrones while our play area was transformed into a throne room of rare beauty. Each story always centered around whether or not the royal monarch would hold out their scepter to some poor peasant and grant favor to their requests or withhold it and send them to the royal dungeon. As I've grown up and matured I have often found myself in this peasant mindset when it comes to approaching God. I feel like everything must be just right. I wait for a quiet and private time so that I can kneel and humbly bring my requests before God, hoping He will hear and approve my desires. This is not the inheritance of God's children though! God doesn't require everything to be just perfect before we can approach Him. His answer to our request does not have to do with His current mood or the way we use our words. No, instead of this, our God sympathizes with us and He understands our hearts and needs better than we do ourselves! He is like a King who spends so much time with His people that He knows everything they face. (And He does!) The writer of Hebrews reminds us of this, "Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need." (Hebrews 4:14-16 NKJV) There is no need to hesitate to bring anything and everything to God! Our thanks, our concerns, our confessions and the desires that we have kept secret in our innermost heart. He understands all and He will not turn us away because of our circumstances, temptations or wording. Prayer brings us into the throne room of Heaven and gives us an audience with the King of Kings, the One who has conquered death and sin and has unlimited power! It is not to be taken lightly or for granted but neither is it to be done hesitantly, because we are not peasants but children of the very One to whom we pray. Prayer is a gift and privilege and one that we can and should use freely. "Prayer should be the natural outflow of the soul: you should pray because you must pray, not because the set time for praying has arrived, but because your heart must cry unto your Lord." (Charles Spurgeon) My kids say "Mom!" about 200 times a day. Ok, I haven't actually counted, but it is a constant call. They call when they need help, when they're sad, when they're bored and when they just want to say "I love you!" This is how we should approach the throne of grace; with the freedom of a child. There are times I respond to my kids impatiently or tell them to wait until I'm not busy but God never does this to us. Why do we hesitate to bring everything to Him when He has never turned us away but always welcomes us with open arms? Let us create the habit of being in a constant attitude of prayer with our God. He welcomes us into His presence and invites us to stay. Let's trust His invitation, believe in His grace and come boldly and freely before Him! If you liked this post, you may like these:
1 Comment
|
I am on a journey to know Jesus better, and be the wife, mommy and friend that God created me to be, all within the walls of my own little home. <3
Read more... Archives
September 2019
Categories |