21. Approaching the Throne of Grace
21
Approaching the Throne of Grace
When we pray, we come to a “throne of grace” (Heb. 4:16), so let’s consider the significance of this familiar image.
A throne speaks of authority, and grace speaks of generosity. On the throne is a King before whom we bow, but because He is a gracious King, we can speak freely to Him and reach out our hands of faith to receive His gifts. A throne represents law and truth, and our God knows all about us and could judge us. But grace speaks of God’s love, and that love never changes. In His grace, God gives us what we could never deserve, and in His mercy God doesn’t give us what we do deserve. What a throne!
Authority and generosity; law and grace; grace and truth; mercy and truth. Is this concept a paradox, an oxymoron, an impossible contradiction?
Yes and no, and because of this seeming contradiction, our coming to the throne of grace is a challenge to our faith and our feelings. When we pray, we must balance in our hearts the awesomeness of God’s divine authority and the blessedness of His bountiful grace. “Serve the LORD with fear and celebrate his rule with trembling” (Ps. 2:11). Ponder that.
There are, however, no contradictions at the throne of grace. Why? Because on that throne, grace is reigning through righteousness (Rom. 5:21). The sacrificial death of Jesus on the cross has satisfied the just demands of God’s holy law. Sin and death are still reigning in this world (Rom. 5:14, 17, 21), but God’s grace is also reigning from the throne, and we can “reign in life” through Christ (Rom. 5:17). “For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ” (John 1:17).
When we pray in the Spirit, we are actively sharing “the throne rights” of the Savior. We come in His name, which means with His authority, asking what He would ask. Because of this privilege, we can come with boldness and freedom of speech, speaking to the Father just as Jesus spoke to Him when He was ministering on earth.
That is why the apparent paradox works. We “celebrate his rule with trembling” because we tremble before the throne and yet rejoice at God’s grace.
“Rejoice in the Lord”
Let’s consider first what it means to rejoice in the Lord and revel in who He is and what He says and does.
When we pray, our fellowship with God should be our greatest joy. Our delight should be in the Giver and not in the gifts. When God is our greatest joy, then prayer becomes more of a loving relationship than a commercial transaction. Like the psalmist, we gladly “go to the altar of God,” who is our joy and delight (Ps. 43:4).
If God is not the supreme joy of our life, then our praying will become either routine or selfish, and probably both. Our prayers will become routine because they lack heart, and they will lack heart because we have no passionate delight in the Lord as we pray. When praying is only a religious task, it becomes a mere duty we must complete each day so that we can fulfill our vows and quiet our consciences. “When religion loses its sovereign character and becomes mere form,” wrote A. W. Tozer, “this spontaneity is lost also, and in its place come precedent, propriety, system—and the file-card mentality.” 1
This is the way religious legalists pray. They focus so much on following their routine and covering all their requests that they forget to worship the Lord and express their love to the Father. Regardless of what burdens we carry or what problems we face, our first priority in prayer is to worship the Lord and rejoice in the privilege of communion with Him. In short, prayer isn’t a religious routine of presenting endless requests, as a sort of a verbal prayer wheel. Prayer is primarily a joyful relationship between God’s children and their blessed heavenly Father, a relationship that deepens from day to day.
No matter what we pray, it ought to bring joy to our hearts. Prayers of confession bring the joy of forgiveness (1 John 1:9; Pss. 32; 51:8), and prayers of adoration and thanksgiving bring the joy of nearness to God (Ps. 43:4; Hab. 3:18). When in our praying we submit to the Lord to do His will, He sends joy to our hearts (Luke 1:46–49; 10:21). When we pray about our needs and commit them to the Lord, He sends joy to our hearts and assures us that He cares for us (Ps. 94:19; 1 Pet. 5:7). Meditating on God’s truth and discovering precious treasures of truth will cause our hearts to rejoice (Pss. 19:8; 119:14, 162). Yes, there are tears and burdens as we pray, but Jesus promises that He will transform our tears into joy (John 16:20–24).
Remember, the main purpose for a time of prayer and meditation each day is to love God and let Him love us and to accept His will and be happy with it. The Enemy has a difficult time tempting and overcoming a believer who is truly happy in the will of God.
“Celebrate His Rule with Trembling”
God commands us to “celebrate his rule with trembling” (Ps. 2:11). Reverence and respect must balance our rejoicing, and rejoicing must balance our reverence and respect. To be completely awestruck would make us speechless, and there are times when that’s a healthy response (Job 40:1–5; Rom. 3:19); but to be totally overjoyed would probably make fools out of us, and we’d act like groupies begging for autographs from a celebrity. It would be a happy experience to have a personal audience with a head of state, a famous general, or an outstanding scholar, but at the same time we would want to show respect and act like mature people. If I were introduced to Albert Einstein, I wouldn’t shake his hand and say, “Great to meet you, Al!”
Scripture warns us not to get too “chummy” with God or to treat Him as though He were one of us: “When you did these things and I kept silent, you thought I was exactly like you. But I now arraign you and set my accusations before you” (Ps. 50:21). The actress who professed to be a Christian but called the Lord “a living doll” still had a lot to learn, and so do the people who belittle God by calling Him “the man upstairs.” David has a word about this: “God, who is enthroned from of old, who does not change—he will hear them and humble them, because they have no fear of God” (Ps. 55:19).
Perhaps you’re thinking to yourself, “But doesn’t the Holy Spirit within us say ‘Abba, Father,’ which is an expression of loving intimacy?” According to Romans 8:15 and Galatians 4:6, you’re absolutely right. “Abba, Father” is the address Jesus used when He prayed in the garden (Mark 14:36). But the word abba—papa—doesn’t imply a contrast between intimacy and frigidity in prayer but between intimacy and abject fear, the attitude of a slave or an insecure child (Rom. 8:15–16). God wants us to be intimate but not impertinent, especially in our public prayers. “Familiarity there may be,” said Charles Spurgeon, “but holy familiarity; boldness, but the boldness which springs from grace and is the work of the Spirit … the boldness of the child who fears because he loves, and loves because he fears.” At the Last Supper, the apostle John reclined next to Jesus in an intimate way, but when John saw Jesus on the Isle of Patmos, he fell at His feet like a dead man (Rev. 1:17).
If I were invited to meet a famous person whom I admired, I would prepare for the meeting and keep the appointment. So it is with meeting God in prayer. I’m not referring to the spontaneous prayers that we send to the throne all day long like email messages. I’m referring to that longer period of worship and prayer that we set aside each day, a time that is set apart just for the Lord. Unless we “take time to be holy,” those email prayers may not reach heaven. Like the distraught neighbor in the parable (Luke 11:5–8), we don’t pound on the Lord’s door only in emergencies. We spend time with Him day after day, and then when the emergencies arise, we don’t panic.
The Discipline of Prayer
Prayer is a delight, but it is also a discipline. “Devote yourselves to prayer” (Col. 4:2) carries the idea of “persisting in prayer, adhering to it, being addicted to it.” The same word is used in Romans 12:12, “faithful in prayer.” This means discipline.
The word discipline may disturb anyone who was raised in a legalistic home or who attended a school that practiced immediate and strict correction (“discipline”) of all disobedient students. Rightfully, they equate the Christian life with “freedom,” but some can be prone to use 2 Corinthians 3:17 out of its context just to defend what essentially is their own carelessness. Unfortunately, some of us who want to claim freedom in the Spirit also have a difficult time understanding why we should have stated times for prayer and worship and some kind of plan for our personal devotions.
But discipline is a perfectly good word and a very acceptable Christian practice. In fact, the English words discipline and disciple come from the Latin word that means “instruction.” The New Testament word disciple simply means “a learner.” Such training might include punishment, but the emphasis is on instruction, reproof, correction, and reward. Indeed, without discipline, we would learn little, and society would have very few excellent musicians, athletes, artists, writers, scholars, or practitioners of any worthy skill from architecture to zoology.
Discipline doesn’t destroy freedom; if anything, discipline releases and enhances freedom. “I will walk about in freedom,” said the psalmist, “for I have sought out your precepts” (Ps. 119:45). The people who submit to the discipline of learning and understanding the musical scales will have the privilege of releasing whatever talent they possess and playing beautiful music. What banks are to a river, discipline is to talent: it keeps the river from turning into a swamp.
The best way to develop winning athletes is to put them under the authority of great coaches who will teach them discipline. Once the rules and principles of the sport are worked into their system, the athletes will do naturally what the rest of us can do only with difficulty—if we can do it at all! The Holy Spirit helps us balance discipline and delight, freedom and order, the planned and the spontaneous, reverence and rejoicing, and each hour we spend with the Lord will prepare us to send better “prayer emails” during the day.
What Do We Do and Why Do We Do It?
Here are the basics that you will need for your daily meeting with the Lord.
Your daily meeting with the Lord is both the thermostat and the thermometer of your spiritual life. If you find yourself wanting to postpone it, rush through it, or (God forbid!) cancel it, then you know you’re moving into serious trouble spiritually. Satan will use many subtle devices in his attempt to make you minimize this appointment, and you will have to turn to the Lord for help and determine to protect your special time with the Lord.
The Enemy’s main tactic is to get us so busy that the time gets away from us and we have no time to pray. As busy as he was, Jesus arose early in the morning to pray (Mark 1:35), and no matter how large the crowds of people seeking His help, He went off alone to pray (Matt. 14:22–23). If we are too busy to pray, we are too busy, and we must learn to say no to the many lesser demands of life.
Begin your time with the Lord by quietly reflecting on His mercies and thanking Him for all that He is and does and gives. You may want to reflect on a Bible truth or on the words of a hymn. You may even want to sing to Him! Each of us must discover what our best approach is to this special time, but always—always—focus on Jesus Christ and magnify Him.
The LORD your God is with you,
the Mighty Warrior who saves.
He will take great delight in you;
in his love he will no longer rebuke you,
but will rejoice over you with singing. (Zeph. 3:17)
Once your heart has been quieted before the Lord and your focus is on Him, you may open the Word and read His message to you for that day. I’ve found it best to follow a Bible reading schedule and to read from both the Old and New Testaments. Many believers have found that starting in Genesis 1, Psalm 1, and Matthew 1 and reading through the Bible at their own pace is a good plan to follow. You need not read an entire chapter each day. In fact, you may find yourself challenged by one verse or paragraph, but you will be reading systematically at a pace that best suits you. Follow the cross-references and you may discover some of the “byways of blessing” that crisscross throughout the Scriptures.
You aren’t engaged in a marathon; you’re simply listening to the Lord, so don’t think you must read a certain number of verses. Each day is new, each day is different, and each day the Spirit directs us to the verses that we need. The Spirit may also lead you to stop reading and meditating and start praying about something that the Word brought to your attention. Be obedient. When the Lord gives you a spiritual gem, write it in your notebook. You will use it someday in your personal ministry to others.
Prayer Lists
Some of us like to use prayer lists, but we must take care that our praying doesn’t become the mere routine mentioning of people and requests. Again, you must let the Lord direct you, but do try to be orderly in your praying. I have a list of requests that I follow every day as well as shorter lists for each day of the week. When I pray, sometimes I follow Paul and “make mention” of people in my prayers, and other times I spend more time praying for certain people and their needs. I usually sandwich the praying between the times I read and meditate on the Word, but our praying must not be limited to what’s written on our lists. We must allow the Spirit to remind us of needs, and we must obey when He speaks. Remember, prayer is not a routine of requests, it’s a loving relationship between you and the Lord, and while we do well to give order to our conversations, there must also be room for the spontaneous and the unexpected.
It’s impossible to pray for every person in every ministry, so we must allow the Lord to give us the burden to pray as He desires. Two or three times a year, we need to examine our prayer lists and pray about our praying. If the lists have grown longer than the time we can sincerely devote to them, then our praying may become only the mentioning of names rather than Spirit-led intercession. I’ve had the experience of praying faithfully about a matter and one day sensing the Lord “weaning” my heart away from it, so I’ve turned it over to Him and moved on. Don’t feel guilty if you drop an item from your prayer list. Just be sure that your motive is right and that the Lord is directing you.
Prayer Calendars
Over the years, the Lord has burdened me and my wife for certain ministries that we support financially and with our prayers, and I like to use their prayer calendars. Some of these calendars are excellent. They list the names of people (where it’s safe to do so) and tell me where they are, what their ministry is, and what they need. I like specific prayer requests. I’m not sure I know how to pray for nebulous requests, like “the girl’s basketball team” or “May our hearts be found in the nursery of God,” and I’m especially baffled by purple prose “devotional thoughts” for the day instead of a specific request.
Having been associated with a number of international ministries, I know the problems involved in producing and distributing prayer calendars month after month, but that shouldn’t hinder the writers from naming specific needs for each day. “The annual Spain field conference is scheduled for May 10–15” tells me where, when, and what, and I know enough about field conferences to pray intelligently during that week. If a meeting is canceled too late for the editor to change the calendar, the Spirit of God knows all about it and will direct our prayers (Rom. 8:26–27). Prayer calendars should give us cries for help from the trenches, not clever devotional thoughts or belles lettres (definition: “elegant and polished literature that is inconsequential in subject or scope”).
Devotional Books
If you want to use a devotional book, or any Christian book that nourishes the spiritual life, plan to read it after you’ve finished meditating on the Scriptures and praying. You don’t want even an excellent book to take the place of your Bible, and the nuggets of truth God gives you personally are always going to be more meaningful to you than what you find in a book.
I’m always quick to recommend the books that have been around for a few years—or a few centuries! God guides us “along the right paths” (Ps. 23:3), and the word translated “paths” means “well-worn ruts.” Beware of authors who claim they’ve found new truths that nobody has ever seen before. They probably haven’t gone back far enough in their own reading. The “well-worn ruts” that can lead you and me to a holy life are the same paths that were trodden by the patriarchs, the prophets, the apostles, the martyrs, the church fathers, and the godly men and women of all ages.
Classics like The Imitation of Christ by Thomas à Kempis, Augustine’s Confessions, The Practice of the Presence of God by Brother Lawrence, John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress, and William Law’s A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life all help to point the way. There are some “modern classics” that many have found helpful as well, such as J. I. Packer’s Knowing God, A. W. Tozer’s The Knowledge of the Holy and The Pursuit of God, John Piper’s Desiring God, and Thomas Kelly’s A Testament of Devotion.
Of course, all that we read must be tested by the Word of God (Isa. 8:20), but I find that I can learn from people who differ from me in some matters. In fact, during more than fifty years of ministry, I’ve discovered that God blesses people I disagree with! “Test them all; hold on to what is good, reject every kind of evil” (1 Thess. 5:21–22).
You must adapt the approach I’ve suggested so that it fits where you are in your own spiritual journey and meets your personal needs. But please note that this approach won’t work if you try to cram it into ten minutes of frantic reading and praying. You must “take time to be holy.” If a disciplined devotional life is all new to you, and you want to start with a shorter time and gradually increase it, then begin with ten or fifteen minutes; but be sure you do gradually increase it. As the spiritual appetite matures, we need more time in the Word and prayer, or we won’t be satisfied.
Always in Holy Dialogue
The Christian life is an adventure, and we need to follow those well-worn ruts of those who went before, but that doesn’t mean that our life must be lived in a rut! There are always new truths to learn, new steps of faith to take, new burdens to carry, new battles to fight, and new blessings to share. Paul called it “walking in newness of life” and “newness of spirit” (Rom. 6:4; 7:6, literal translation).
Grasp that image of walking along the path, with God Himself (His Spirit dwelling within you) walking and conversing with you. If you are in relationship with Him, you have to be conversing with Him along the way. He speaks to you through His Word, and you listen intently. You speak to Him in prayer, and you know He is listening to you. This path of discipline (or discipleship) may be well worn, but the dialogue of His Word and your prayer is very unique and very personal. It is the essence of “newness” of your “life” and “spirit.”
So … class is dismissed. Let the learning continue!