Coming boldly to the throne of Grace – Hebrews 4:16

“Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.” Hebrews 4:16

To me boldness is a word that brings together three things: obedience, honesty, confidence.

Obedience is giving ear to; listening to; (where listening is an active verb that means to act on what you have heard).

Honesty is adherence to the facts.

Confidence is knowing what has been given to you.  As in when someone confides in you.

Prayer to me is a conversation with God.  And I believe that it is a conversation that He starts.  Whenever I get the urge to pray I take that as Him gently tapping me on the shoulder saying, "I would like to spend some personal time with you."  So prayer is a response to God speaking to us.  Just as we can love Him because He first loved us... we can talk with Him (not just to) because He first talked with us.

Just as every conversation we have with other people is different because every person is different, I believe that our conversation with the Lord is going to demonstrate who we are and reflect where we are with Him.

So "boldness" in prayer, to me,

would be engaging in the conversation with God where we give ear to Him with the intent of acting upon what we have heard from Him... where what we say adheres only to the facts... and where we ask only what the Lord has confided to us.

My prayer life became more bold when I incorporated seven words,

"What would you have me ask Lord?"

I think that praying in His will is more likely when we ask in this way.

I will share a quick testimony for encouragement.

I got laid off in May of last year.  Severance is done.  This month what goes out is far more than what comes in. The Lord has given me direction in what I am to do.  The fruit has not yet been seen. When my wife and I were in prayer the other morning, the weight of all this was becoming apparent.

"If He is going to do what He said, why doesn't He prove it," was my wife's question.  And I believe she said it because the Spirit gave her unction.

So I said (and I believe this was boldly in the sense of what I described above), "OK.  So what do you want from Him TODAY?"

"I want Him to bless us financially."

"OK.  Lord, you heard it.  We are in agreement.  We want You to bless us financially TODAY.  In Jesus' Name, Amen."

We didn't ask for a specific $ amount for a specific bill.  (Though I would have liked to.)  In the past we have, and He has given specific amounts.  But what He led us to what this request.

As I got out of the shower later in the evening I heard my daughter ask, "Dad, what's this envelope on by the door with our name on it?"

Someone had put a financial blessing (yes, money) in an envelope and thrown it through the cat door.

Specific prayer, answered specifically, and I think the key was because we asked for what He told us to.  Therefore, we asked in His will.

We must first believe that He still speaks, that He wants to speak to us, that He does speak to us, and that we can hear Him.  Otherwise, I think, we just talk to Him... rather than with Him.

SDG