Approach the Throne of God with Confidence

The author of Hebrews encourages believers not just to approach God, but to do so with confidence. Yet, how often do we hesitate to draw near to God because we question whether He really hears us or cares about our requests? When we are not confident to approach God, however, we most likely won't approach Him at all, causing us to forfeit the power and love readily available to us at God's throne whenever we need it. In today's Bible study, we're looking at Hebrews 4:16 to learn four powerful ways to confidently approach God's throne of grace. Enjoy!

 We should approach God with reverence, humility, and respect. And the Bible does say that we should work out our salvation with fear and trembling. This, however, does not mean we have to approach God with timidity or fear, as in we’re afraid of Him. In fact, the Bible tells us we can and should approach God with confidence and boldness. Hebrews 4:16 says:

 We serve a very personal God who we can have confidence before when we come to Him in our time of need. What I love about today’s scripture is that it points out why we can be confident when we approach God’s throne. 

Today's verse says:

The NIV says:

The CSB says:

When we think of God as this mean and angry supernatural being waiting at the edge of His seat, ready to punish us at all times, we will not approach Him with boldness or draw near to Him in confidence. Instead, we’ll pray small prayers and doubt God’s power and love in our lives. So why should we approach God with confidence and boldness? As we zoom out of the scripture for today to look at the two preceding verses before it, we discover why. Hebrews 4:14-15 says:

Here we discover why we can draw near to God with boldness.

Our high priest is Jesus Christ Himself. In the Old Testament, there were priests who would enter the temple to make sacrifices for all of God’s people. This was necessary for them to atone for their sins and maintain their relationship with God. But now, Jesus is our high priest, God’s only son who sympathizes with our weakness, because He knows what it’s like to be human since He is both God and man. 

Although Jesus was man and could relate to our challenges here in the world, He was still perfect and without sin. This means that He was the perfect sacrifice to atone for our sins. We can trust that through Jesus, we can always come to God and be accepted. 2 Corinthians 5:21 says:

When we place our trust in Jesus, we receive His righteousness (Romans 3:22, 2 Corinthians 5:21) so when we come to God, He doesn’t see our UNrighteousnesss, He sees the righteousness of His Son, Jesus Christ.

Often, we fear approaching God because we feel like we’re too bad, too sinful, or not enough. And the truth is we are. But Jesus covers our sins when we place our faith in Him. So our ability to approach God confidently is dependent on how much we believe the Gospel of Jesus Christ. If we focus on ourselves and our shortcomings, we will not approach God with boldness. But the boldness we have to approach God doesn’t come from what we do, it comes from what Christ already did on the cross. 

Now that we have all access to God, here are 4 practical ways we can approach Him with confidence.

4 WAYS TO APPROACH THE THRONE OF GRACE WITH CONFIDENCE

1. We Have Access

The first way to approach God with confidence is to take advantage of the access we have to God in prayer.

The more powerful or famous a person is, the less accessible they are. But that is not the case with God. He is all-powerful, and we have all access to him through prayer.

We should then confidently take advantage of this access and approach Him.  Imagine you’re at a concert with V.I.P. seats closest to the stage. With your V.I.P. badge, you walk past the long line, pass the nosebleed section, and go directly to the front because of the mark on your badge that says she gets to draw near. When we place our faith in Jesus Christ, God places his Holy Spirit inside of us as a mark that we are His. This is the level of access we have, and we should never take it for granted.

2. Understanding God's Heart & Love for You

The second way that we can approach God with confidence is by understanding His heart and love for us. Romans 8:1 says,

One of the most common reasons we don't approach God confidently is that we're ashamed. It's because we feel condemned and are consumed with guilt from our past mistakes. We forget that it's the throne of grace that we need to take those mistakes to. So we have to remember that God's heart is not to condemn us. He's not drawing us near so that He can then just point His finger at us and tell us how wrong we are. He's drawing us near because he wants to envelop us with His love because it’s His love that changes and transforms us. Will the Holy Spirit convict us, yes, but His will not condemn? Romans 8:1 reminds us there is no condemnation in Christ. The sole purpose of God’s conviction is to lead us away from sin's empty path so that we can find what we need in Him. Remember, when are we to confidently approach the throne of grace? In our time of need. This means we can bring Him all our brokenness, mistakes, and needs to find help. God knows that we need help and it’s in His presence, in fellowship with Him, and at His throne of grace that we find that help. We don’t have to be perfect and yet we can still confidently come to God in prayer, because that's what we're supposed to do as believers when we need help, come to the Father.

3. Release Control to God

The next way that we can approach God with confidence is to release control to God. Many times, we don't pray because we’re afraid of God's answer. We’re afraid that God won't give us what we want, but we have to realize that it's more important for us to trust the Giver than the result of our prayers.

We have to understand that God has a heart for us and that He loves us. Whether His answer to our prayer is yes, no, or maybe, it always comes from a loving Father. We may not always understand His answer, but we can always trust His answer and that it’s ultimately for our good and His glory.

To truly approach God with confidence, we must release control and striving to make things the way we think they should be, especially over situations in which we have no control. Instead, we surrender to God’s will, confident in His heart to act in the right way and the right time. So we don’t have to fear approaching God because we are afraid He's not going to give us what we want, because then, are we really putting our faith in God or are we putting our faith in the results that we desire? It's important that we make our prayers about the God who answers and not the answers alone. When we do that, we can always approach God's throne of grace with confidence. 

4. Pray for God's Will

The next way to approach God’s throne of grace with confidence is to pray for His will. 1 John 5:13-15 says:

When we pray God's will, we can always be confident and sure that He will answer. How can we pray God's will? We have to know His will that is revealed in His word. We have to draw near to Him and grow in relationship with Him. You can’t know His will if you don’t know Him personally. Also we allow Him to transform our hearts to make His Will our will. Too often, we do it the other way around and try to make our will God’s will. But God is faithful to mold our hearts to be like His.

He's faithful to meet us where we are and give us what we need, even when we don't know we need it yet. And that is why we can always approach His throne of grace with confidence. 

Now I’d love to hear from you. What makes you confident to approach God with confidence? Let’s encourage one another in the comments. 

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As always, thank you so much for watching and until next time, be beautiful, be blessed, and be loved. .