Dave's Diary

My apologies to those on the email distribution list. For some reason the links to the Scripture readings from the email are malfunctioning. I’m trying to get to the bottom of it. In the meantime, if you want the convenience of clicking through to the Bible, please click on the large print title above (“The Privilege of Prayer”). This will take you to the actual blog post webpage, where the links working just fine.

Daily Readings: James 5:13-18 and Hebrews 4:14-16

¹⁶ Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.

Hebrews 4:16

To me personally, this is the most meaningful image of prayer in Scripture. I sense it invites us to picture God seated on a “throne of grace”; in other words, a throne not made of gold but made of grace. Perfect, undeserved, unfailing, immeasurable, unconditional love is the resting place of our God. And when we pray, we incline ourselves towards this throne of God’s grace. We approach God, not on the basis of our merits, but of His grace.

No wonder we can come with confidence when we pray. We don’t earn an audience through the excellence of our vocabulary, our diction or our eloquence. We don’t earn a response through our obedience, religious observances or respectability. We don’t earn anything through anything. We come, trusting in God’s mercy and grace! And His grace is enough to guarantee all that we need.

God does not always do what we hope He will do. But God’s grace is always sufficient to sustain us, guide us, and empower us. His grace ministers exactly the help and the hope we need in our darkest hour. May it be so in your life today as you approach God in your time of need. May you find yourself shrouded in His perfect love, and find all that you need in Him! Amen.