ICS Daily Devotions
Come Boldly to the Throne of Grace
James 5:13 (NKJV) Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing psalms.
Do you know that God wants you to share with Him about your suffering through prayer? Job, in his suffering, wasn’t able to use the name of Jesus in his prayer, but we have the privilege of using Jesus’ name, which is a name above every other name!
Matthew 27:46 (NKJV) And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?” that is, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”
However, sometimes, we feel as though we are forsaken by God. During Jesus’ ministry on earth, He was concerned for the people because they were like sheep without a shepherd. He was judged on the cross so that God’s permanent presence can be in us and with us. God wants to care for us! Jesus was forsaken so that He will be able to journey with us once again.
God would never want us to walk alone on this earth again. It was never His intention since the creation of the world for us to be alone without Him. Therefore, Scripture tells us that He will never leave or forsake us, neither will anything separate us from His love.
Hebrews 4:16 (KJJV) Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
The very reason why God created us was for fellowship. Therefore, He allows us to vent our frustrations at Him, reason with Him and ask Him for an answer. Although He may or may not give us an answer for everything because the secrets belong to the Lord, the work of Christ’s redemption has enabled us to speak to Him boldly, freely and unreservedly about anything, and we will feel and experience a relief when we can share openly with Him.
The throne of grace is a place of help where God directly supplies His power through the Holy Spirit that dwells within us. He infuses strength into our hearts to sustain us especially when we are praying in the spirit, just like an electric car plugging in for power at the charging station!
Jesus went through tremendous suffering and torment while walking in the midst of sinners, so He fully understands what it means to be under tremendous stress in life. He is fully God and fully man, without sin but made to live among sinners.
There are many temptations for us to sin against God when we are under stress, especially when we are emotionally stirred-up by circumstances, but if we take time to come to His throne, He promised we would find grace to help in time of need.
Sermon Series: Job & I
