Hebrews 4:16
The great pastor Charles Haddon Spurgeon once preached a sermon on this passage and made the following comments about the subject of prayer: “True prayer is an approach of the soul by the Spirit of God to the throne of God. It is not the utterance of words, nor is it alone the feeling of desires, but it is the advance of the desires to God, the spiritual approach of our nature towards the Lord our God. True prayer is not a mere mental exercise, nor a vocal performance, but it is deeper far than that – it is a spiritual communion with the Creator of heaven and earth. Prayer is a spiritual business from the beginning to end, and its aim and object end not with man, but reach to God Himself.”[1]
I hope by this time in our journey together that we are all more spiritually minded than when we started and our prayers are more authentic and prayed with more confidence and boldness. Prayer is a spiritual business as Spurgeon said and if we are not becoming more spiritual in our hearts and minds, we are not going to make much progress in the art of praying.
It is my sincere hope that by this time you have seen God work in amazing ways and you have a great list of praises and testimonies. There is always more to believe God for. As you approach the throne of grace today what is your attitude in coming? Are you coming with doubts hounding your soul? Are you coming casually today because you do not want to put forth the effort to meet with God in a spiritual way? Are you coming with confidence and with boldness? We are exhorted to draw near the throne of grace with confidence.
This is not done on our own merit. We are not worthy to come into the throne room of God. Our only admission to the throne of grace is based on the redemptive work of Jesus Christ. We only ever come into the Lord’s presence pleading the blood of Christ. His grace and mercy have given us, not only salvation, but also entrance into His presence to talk with Him about anything and to obtain help when we need it.
Coming boldly or confidently into His presence means that we come and speak to Him bluntly, outspokenly and frankly. God is not interested in our eloquence; He wants sincerity accompanied by faith. If we need His help we must forthrightly ask for it. I know many of you have been asking. For days you have been asking and perhaps no help has come. Nothing has changed. You have prayed with faith and you have not lost heart and not given up. Still nothing has changed for you. You are tired of asking for help and not getting any.
I know how you feel. One of the things I am trusting God has not come to pass. In fact things appear much worse on that front. Still I keep bringing that petition before the throne of grace confidently. In my mind I see the answer. It is like I can reach out and touch it almost. So I press on as I hope you are too.
My counsel to you would be to keep coming before the Lord and to keep asking for help. You might even ask Him “Why the delay?” You might not get an answer but that is the kind of frank praying we are encouraged to do. Why not take the time today to spill your heart out to the Lord. There are things you might be frustrated about - talk to Him about it. There are things that seem unfair to you - visit with Him about it.
If you are coming and giving some mental exercises or making great oratory in your speech but not being authentic in your soul, those prayers are not going to accomplish very much. Take the time to talk to Him about the true feelings you have. You may be elated with all that you have experienced over these days and filled with joy. Praise Him! If you are struggling with doubts and confusion, take some time to talk to Him about it. He already knows anyway. If you do this I am confident that even if you do not get what you have been asking for, you will come away with peace of heart and mind and a renewed trust in the Lord.
Steps to Trust and Obey:
1. What is your attitude in approaching the throne of grace? Do you need to adjust your attitude according to Hebrews 4:16?
2. Are you timid in your prayers or do you with pray with bold confidence?
3, What do you need to talk to the Lord about very frankly?
4, What is He speaking to you and how are you going to respond?
[1] Charles H. Spurgeon, Classic Sermons on Prayer; “The Throne of Grace.” Grand Rapids, Kregel Publishers, 1987, p. 27.
No comments:
Post a Comment