Come Boldly to the Throne
ICS Daily Devotions
Mark 11:23 (NKJV) For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says.
God does not want us to be passive when the devil places an obstacle in our way, especially when we are walking in His will. He wants us to exercise our faith in Him proactively. At times, He wants us to take back what is rightfully ours from the devil by force, including speaking to the mountain!
The opening verse is a “hard saying” of Jesus that many people find difficult to believe and practise. Our reaction is often, “Definitely not me!” However, “whoever” means every believer in Jesus Christ.
To pray effectively, we must understand our standing before God, and our rights as His children. We cannot pray in faith if we live like orphans in the Kingdom of God. Sadly, many Christians live as though God is not interested in their lives, or they perceive Him as a tyrant or a merciless judge waiting to punish them. This wrong perception distances them from Him.
We must recognise that we are children at the table. In Matthew chapter 15, the Syro-Phoenician woman came to Jesus seeking deliverance for her daughter. Jesus initially spoke of the “children’s bread,” referring to the covenant relationship that the Jews had with God. The “bread” refers to healing, deliverance, and provision that rightfully belonged to the children of the covenant. Today, because of Jesus’ blood, we have the right to become children of God, and are no longer limited to the “crumbs” that fall from the table. We can rightfully eat the bread on the table.
We also need to be righteousness-conscious. The greatest enemy of faith is a sense of unworthiness. If we approach God with a “sin consciousness,” we will measure ourselves by our failures, and our words will carry guilt rather than faith. We will beg for favour as though God were still weighing our worthiness.
But righteousness isn’t something you earn; it is the ability to stand in the Father’s presence without guilt or inferiority. 2 Corinthians 5:21 tells us that Jesus was made to be sin for us so that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. This is an imputed righteousness—a free gift given to us the moment we believed.
When we know that we are righteous, we no longer pray like a beggar hoping for coins, but like a child expecting an inheritance. Neither do we approach the “throne of grace” as a courtroom where we stand accused, but as a seat of mercy that we approach as a rightful heir. This holy boldness is a command: “Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace”.
Reflection: Do you approach God like an orphan or like His righteous child and rightful heir? How does knowing your spiritual identity change the way you pray?
Sermon Series: The Prayer of Faith
