Earthquakes, tornados, school shootings, hospital shootings, rising gas prices, division between the common man and the political system, a presidential campaign that no one can understand, divorce rate over 50%, the battle for traditional marriage, the battle for the unborn, rising tensions with Iran, hamburger commercials going X-rated, whew! With all this going on, no wonder many people are wringing their hands! But this is not a time to wring our hands - this is a time to bend our knees!
These are desperate days, and desperate days call for desperate prayer! Friend, we have been given a great privilege, it is prayer! Think about it. The God of Heaven, the creator of the universe, the one who holds the galaxies in the palm of His hand, the God who loves His creation so much that He would allow His one and only Son to come and take our sin and nail it to His own cross! God has given you and me an open invitation to come into His throne room and lift up our request to Him in prayer!
In ancient days, if someone barged into the throne room of a king, they were putting their life on the line. We read in the book of Esther that even the King’s very own queen could not barge into the throne room unannounced without having her life in danger. Oh! What a great privilege we have been given by the King of all Kings! He freely invites us to come to Him.
Why do we have this open invitation? Because of Jesus Christ, God’s Son! Just look at these wonderful words that describe our Lord Jesus Christ… “The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.” (Hebrews 1: 3, NIV)
Friend, Jesus has provided the purification for our sins and through Him we can come confidently before God! What a great honor! What a great opportunity! Now, it is our greatest privilege, but as one great preacher said, it is also our greatest failure! Let’s not take this opportunity lightly. Let us follow the instruction of the writer of Hebrews and take every need, every care to God in prayer.
Hebrews 4: 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.” (NIV)
