Monday, June 08, 2015
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My schedule? Oh, forget it. It's ridiculous! So much so I often can't get to stores before they close. And banks just don't seem to have schedules that are made for guys like me. Here I am after banker's hours with nothing in my wallet but pictures of my family. But, listen, a great thing happened! The ATM was invented, the ATM card just for people like us. What a concept! Any time of the day or night I can go in with an empty wallet and use that card to instantly access my account and walk out with something in my wallet. Good deal.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Prayer - Accessing All Heaven Has."
One of the most powerful invitations in the Bible is our word for today from the Word of God; (I love this!) Hebrews 4:16. Fasten your seatbelt. "Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need." Man, we can go any time of the day or night, even at times when other people might be closed, right into God's Throne Room where His grace is always available, always unlimited. Boy, you talk about access!
Romans 5:2, "It is our Lord Jesus Christ through whom we have gained access by faith into the grace in which we now stand." It was expensive for us to have that access. It cost the blood of the Son of God. So we go in empty, and we come out with what we need. But it's not our account we tap into. That's often depleted. God opens up the Jesus account in heaven.
He talks about it in Philippians 4:19, "My God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus." I may be bankrupt; He has unlimited resources. And the spiritual access card? That's prayer; tapping into the unlimited resources of God because Jesus opened the access when He died for us on that cross.
So, you come with what Hebrews 4:16 calls "your time of need." What you leave with is grace to help. Take Philippians 4:6-7. It describes this Throne Room trade-off. "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything present your requests to God. And the peace of God will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus."
Now, if you really understand what's happening when you pray, you go in with worry. You leave it with God, and you walk out with unexplainable peace. Jeremiah 33:3 promises another exciting possibility. "Call to Me and I will answer you and show you great and mighty things you do not know." Okay, you go in with a situation where you just don't know any answers. You access God's resources through prayer, and you go out with great and mighty things only God could do.
What an incredible trade-off, huh? What an incredible exchange! We can go any time, day or night, at times when no one else could help us, would help us and receive resources that are beyond anything earth has to offer. This is the great access promise of God. There is no excuse for worry. There is no excuse for fear. And with access like this, why do we live in such unnecessary spiritual poverty? Guess we must not be using the access card we've got - prayer.
You need to exchange your burden, your need, for His grace. You need to exchange your worry for His peace. Things that have no earthly answers can be exchanged for things that only God could do. And He asks us to come and get it. Wow!