Friday, July 31, 2009

Draw near to the throne of grace.

The following excerpt is from Pleasures Evermore
by Sam Storm:

"God only looks for humility and desperation in those who would petition Him. So come. Ask Him for grace to love Him, to obey Him, to enjoy Him. Come falteringly, come failingly, but by all means come frequently. (emphasis mine)

What if the believer is unable to put words to his wants? Because this is a gracious throne God will read your desires without the words. Spurgeon explains that 'a throne that was not gracious would not trouble itself to make out our petitions; but God, the infinitely gracious One, will dive into the soul of our desires, and He will read there what we cannot speak with the tongue.' When my daughters were young and struggled to articulate their desires and needs, I didn't berate them or denounce their feeble efforts. I would help them any way I could, even by suggesting the very words they longed to utter. Will our heavenly Father do less for us? Spurgeon put it this way:
He [God] will put the desires, and put the expression of those desires into your spirit by His grace; He will direct your desires to the things which you ought to seek for; He will teach you your wants, though as yet you know them not; He will suggest to you His promises that you may be able to plead them; He will, in fact, be Alpha and Omega to your prayer, just as He is to your salvation; for as salvation is from first to last of grace, so the sinner's approach to the throne of grace is of grace from first to last.

Because it is a throne of grace, nothing is required of you but your need. Your ticket to the throne is not works but desperation. (emphasis mine) God doesn't want sacrifice or gifts or good intentions. He wants your helplessness in order that the sufficiency of His grace, at work on your behalf, might be magnified. This is a throne for the spiritually bankrupt to come and find the wealth of God's energizing presence. This is not the throne of majesty which supports itself by the taxation of its subjects, but a throne which glorifies itself by streaming forth like a fountain with floods of good things" (p. 285-286).

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