I had rather teach one man to pray than ten men to preach. – D.L. Moody
A student, we will call him Jim, shared an exciting testimony of a very valuable lesson he had learned in prayer. Jim’s struggle with an ungodly habit in his life led him to cry out to God for deliverance. Nothing happened. One day a person came up and had the love and discernment to graciously confront Jim by saying, “Why are you asking God to deliver you from this ungodly habit? You love this ungodly habit. You do not really want God to answer your prayer.” Jim admitted that this was precisely the truth.
Jim said that one of the most humbling things he had ever done was to come to God and tell Him that he loved this ungodly habit and did not really want Him to answer his prayer for deliverance. Jim also informed me that this honest prayer was the beginning of the process of breaking from the habit!
This testimony helped opened up the truth of Hebrews 4:16 to me. We are told to “draw near with confidence to the throne of grace.” My question was, “How do I come to God with confidence when I am thinking the wrong things, and I know I have the wrong attitude?” The answer is knowing what He means when God says to “draw near with confidence.” “To draw near with confidence” means to come with freedom to the throne of grace in the authority of Christ. This is what Jim did when he came to God and told Him that he lobed the ungodly habit. How does God respond when we do this? Exactly as He has said He would – by sending His mercy and grace (Hebrews 4:16). His mercy speaks of His empathetic and understanding aid; His grace refers to His timely enablement that He gives to those who humble themselves before Him (James 4:6).
There are many opportunities throughout each day that encourage you to draw near with confidence to God’s throne of grace. When you are struggling with anger, you need His merciful and gracious aid. You will receive it only if you first come to God and tell Him about your struggle. The first step is to honestly admit to the Lord, “I am struggling and am angry at ________________, and I desperately need your help.” When you are angry your soul is hurting. Unrighteous anger is the wrong response to this hurt, but God is not indifferent about your pain. You can draw near with confidence to His throne of grace and ask Him to put His healing touch upon your heart. As Jesus walked the earth His compassionate touch transformed the lives of those whom society looked upon as completely incurable. One word and one touch forever changed the impenitent leper in Mark 1:40-42. This same Jesus is our risen Lord today, and He cares about the hurts of your souls. While He is opposed to the proud, He deeply desires to pour out His gracious help to those who come to Him in true humility. It is this grace that can heal your hearts and give you assurance that He can even work together for your ultimate good the past hurts of your life that are so painful.
The conviction that God can work together for good the pain in your life cannot be reached without drawing near to the throne of grace. As Betty processed the pain of her life with an alcoholic and irresponsible father, she greatly struggled. The breakthrough came when she first admitted the struggle and in time begun to see how God had used this experience to give her a deep sense of gratitude to her own husband for his life of sobriety. Her heart was filled with joy when he would simply come home at night from work! She had a profound gratefulness for a man who would bring home a paycheck that had not already been foolishly squandered on unwise purchases. This grateful joy was a part of the good that God had graciously worked out of her pain. God uses the past and present difficulties of your life to lead you into a life of prayer.
No one ever just decides to be a prayer warrior. God does something in a life that makes them sense this need of God. The theologian, John Calvin, called prayer “the discipline of your weakness.” As you process the temptations of your life, this is another wonderful opportunity to pray. But how do you pray? Out of the most liberating verses of the Bible to me is 1 John 1:7, “but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.” To walk in the light is to walk “openly, honestly and transparently before God and His truth. If you will take your temptations and turn them into conversations with God, you will learn to talk to God from your heart. Temptations are an appeal to meet righteous needs in an unrighteous way. Come to God; thank Him that He has a righteous way to meet the longing your temptation has stirred.
When Nathan rebuked David for his sin of adultery and murder, he reminded David of God’s gracious blessings,
“Nathan then said to David, “You are the man! Thus says the LORD God of Israel,
‘It is I who anointed you king over Israel and it is I who delivered you from the hand of Saul. I also gave you your master’s house and your master’s wives into your care, and I gave you the house of Israel and Judah; and if that had been too little, I would have added to you many more things like these!'” (2 Samuel 12:7-8)
Notice that He says, “if that had been too little, I would have added to you many more things like these.” In other words David was reproved for not coming to God in his need. In the words of Jesus, we are to come to Him and let Him quench the thirst of our heart (John 6:35, 7:39).
When we fail to come to Christ with the thirst of our hearts, we place ourselves in a very vulnerable situation. Listen as Nathan continues his rebuke:
“Why have you despised the word of the LORD by doing evil in His sight? You have struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword, have taken his wife to be your wife, and have killed him with the sword of the sons of Ammon. Now therefore, the sword shall never depart from your house, because you have despised Me and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife. “Thus says the LORD, ‘Behold, I will raise up evil against you from your own household; I will even take your wives before your eyes and give them to your companion, and he will lie with your wives in broad daylight. Indeed you did it secretly, but I will do this thing before all Israel, and under the sun.'” Then David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the LORD.” And Nathan said to David, “The LORD also has taken away your sin; you shall not die. However, because by this deed you have given occasion to the enemies of the LORD to blaspheme, the child also that is born to you shall surely die.” (2 Samuel 12:9-14)
There can be grave consequences for failing to draw near with confidence to the throne of grace and let Jesus’ pure provision quench our thirst. Why not right now reach a solemn conviction to “walk in the light” with each temptation of your life. At every point of temptation purpose to let it lead you into a conversation with God and trust Him to meet the deepest thirsts of your hearts.
If you have been deceived and drunk from the polluted wells of sin, make a clean break with this pattern of behavior and tell someone today of your decision. As you draw near with confidence to God’s throne of grace, continually depend upon His empathetic mercy and enabling grace. Let any consequence of the behavior of the past only serve as a loving reminder of the need to continually walk openly, honestly and transparently before the Lord.