28 Days To Trust And Obey - Day 15

Let us therefore draw near with confidence to the throne of grace that we may receive mercy and may find grace to help in our time of need.
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.

28 Days To Trust And Obey - Day 14

Now He was telling them a parable to show that at all times they ought to pray and not lose heart.
Luke 18:1


It is very possible that by this time, some of you have already seen God intervene in your life in powerful ways. You may have had the opportunity to testify about how good God is and tell others what He has done for you. It is also quite possible that some of you have heard these testimonies and feel like God has forgotten about you. Nothing has changed - You have prayed and you've kept going through this challenge but for you, things are as bad as they have ever been. Things may have even gotten worse for you since this challenge began and you are thinking about giving up.

Perhaps you came today in a last desperate attempt to hear from God. You are at a critical point in this journey. If you are one of these people, what you choose to do and what you choose to believe will have huge implications. If you abandon ship now you will stay stuck where you are and perhaps never see the deliverance of the Lord. If you keep praying, keep asking, and keep believing to possess the land, your whole life could change. Which choice will you make? You have nothing to lose but everything to gain.

Notice what Jesus said before going into the parable about the widow woman and the wicked judge. He said two things that we must embrace, and for some of you, it must be embraced and received today. Jesus told His listeners that they should keep praying at all times and they should not lose heart.

Let’s get real – there are times I do not feel like praying. There are days when things seem so bad it appears God is not even listening. There are days when the waves of life hit  so hard our knees buckle and we plunge beneath the surf of our circumstances gasping for breath. There are days when the darkness will not seem to lift and we can’t find a ray of hope even through prayer and scripture reading.

 What are we supposed to do in such times? Keep praying. Now, I am not talking about merely going through the motions of prayer. I am not referring to half-hearted and feeble attempts in prayer that we know we do not believe. At all times we are supposed to pray. Remember when we learned about prayer and faith according to Hebrews 11:1? This is the day when we need assurance, we need hope and expectation that God is listening and God will intervene. There are many delays for the child of God waiting for prayers to be answered. Expect them and prepare for them. Preach to your soul that God has not forgotten you and by all means do not become jealous if there are those around you who are seeing their prayers answered. Pray at all times.

Instead of sinking into hopelessness, why not step up your prayer efforts? God may be using this time to strengthen you or to orchestrate your circumstances and His intervention in such a way that He will get the maximum amount of glory. I cannot tell you how many times the Lord has required me to wait until the last moment before He stepped in and saved the day. He is often the God of 11:59 – meaning that if you are facing a 12:00 deadline, God often waits until 11:59 to step in, to test your faith and bring more glory to Himself.

If you find yourself waiting on Him for something, determine that you are going to wait in faith. Determine that you will stay busy seeking Him and serving Him while you are waiting and do not become idle. When we become idle the Devil has ample opportunity to put his conniving and deceitful thoughts into our heads. He is the one who leads us to lose heart, or to put it another way, to become discouraged and to sink into despair. We must keep praying, keep trusting and keep being willing to obey even in these times.

One of the tactics of the enemy is to convince you that nobody else understands what you are going through and you therefore begin to isolate yourself. God knows and has counsel for you from His word. “Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls about like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. But resist him, firm in the faith, knowing that the same experiences of suffering are being accomplished by brethren who are in the world.” (I Peter 5:8-9) You are not in this alone. It seems when I am struggling Brenda's faith is strong and when she gets discouraged I am filled with belief. She helps me. Perhaps you need someone to pray with to help you too.

Even if you are one of those who are on top of the world, do not let your guard down. Keep praying. At all times, pray. In the good times, pray. In the bad times, pray. In the mundane times, pray. In the challenging times, pray. In any and every season of life, keep on praying and keep on asking for God’s help.

Do not lose heart. What is the opposite of losing heart? Take courage. Keep on trusting. Keep on being encouraged in the scriptures. Over and over again the pages of scripture shout to us on our lofty mountain peak experiences as well as when we are trudging through the valley of the shadow of death that our God is reliable, trustworthy, and faithful. Fill your heart and mind with those truths today.


Steps to Trust and Obey:

1. How is your prayer time going? Do you still pray with faith even when you do not feel like praying and do not feel like God is listening?
2. What season are you going through right now? Are you encouraged or discouraged? What is helping you gain and maintain the victory?
3. What truth about prayer can you learn from reading Luke 18:1-8?
4. Ask the Lord to help you not lose heart over the remainder of this challenge and to have the desire to even want to pray.
5. What is the Lord speaking to you and what steps of obedience is He calling you to take?