Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
HEBREWS 4:16
I was born in 1960, a time when television was becoming part of every American household. I still remember the day I went with my dad to buy a color television set to replace our black and white one. He bought it used from a man who refurbished broken TVs and resold them from his garage. Mom set it up downstairs in our family room, and it immediately became an important family fixture.
What I remember most about watching television in my youth are the commercials and their jingles. “Curlers in your hair—shame on you” or “Ring around the collar!” It seemed that most of the advertisers sought to embarrass or shame the audience into buying their product.
One coffee commercial depicted a couple visiting their neighbor. The wife was astounded when her husband asked the neighbor for a second cup of coffee. She followed the hostess into the kitchen, dismayed. Her spouse had never wanted a second cup of her own coffee. There in the kitchen, her hostess showed her why. She’d been using the wrong coffee! The next scene showed the wife, having changed her brand of coffee, pouring a second cup of coffee for her husband and smiling at the camera, content.
Other commercials made us self-conscious about the toothpaste, shaving cream, shampoo, soap, dishwashing liquid, and even the laundry detergent we were using.
Those of you close to my age might remember the 1978 perfume commercial with a gorgeous woman, perfectly coiffured and dressed to the nines, proudly singing, “I can bring home the bacon, fry it up in a pan, and never let you forget you’re a man!”1 This “24-hour woman” was who every American woman was supposed to aspire to be. She could do and be everything! She could be successful at work, cook a great meal, and be alluring to her husband, all the time looking perfectly put together!
These types of commercials misshaped the self-image of many children growing up. The pressure was on to buy the right product, use the right product, and live up to the claims of that product. Whew! Such demands left consumers disillusioned, dissatisfied, and demoralized. No product could fill the void that everyone had and has for acceptance, contentment, and fulfillment.
During this era the professionals began to weigh in on how to conduct every area of life. Dr. Spock told parents the right way and the wrong way to raise their children. Adelle Davis instructed people on the healthy way to eat. Jack LaLanne daily led audiences through a series of calisthenics to strengthen their muscles. Graham Kerr and Julia Child took over our kitchens with their creative recipes and expertise. As this new era began, women started questioning everything they’d been doing in the home.
Every day we hear stories that tell us we don’t measure up. Life has always been a battle, but even more so in the culture where we find ourselves. A myriad of self-help books instruct us on the correct way to order every area of our lives, drawing heavily on the need to retrain ourselves, discipline ourselves, and put extra effort into doing what we do. The truth is we’re already pressed for time, we know we could do better, and we’re shamed into feeling guilty over our failed attempts at perfection. The intimidation we feel makes us try harder, yet leaves us with even more insecurities.
One of the greatest battles the world has ever witnessed took place in Kinshasa, Zaire, in October 1974. There in a stadium with 60,000 people, Mohammed Ali fought challenger George Foreman for the title of World Heavy Weight Champion. Both men were in peak condition, and George Foreman, as the younger fighter, was predicted to win. While both men were training in Zaire weeks before the bout, however, Ali began a campaign of intimidation. Every day he walked two tigers down the street in front of Foreman’s hotel. Ali used this ploy to show off his incredible strength, control, and fearlessness. Mohammed was already throwing psychological punches at Foreman before the two men even entered the ring.
Whether or not this mental maneuver contributed to George Foreman’s knockout in the eighth round and Mohammed Ali’s subsequent victory, no one can say for certain. However, it lends proof to the claim that a large part of every battle is intimidation. The final outcome might be determined in the boxing ring, but the fight begins long before the boxing gloves are put on.
So what is the battle we’re facing? It’s the battle for grace. The resources of grace are already there. Our battle is in getting to the grace place and appropriating the grace God has for us. Whether or not you realize it, the battle is raging around you and within you. The Enemy is employing all sorts of tactics to cut off your ammunition supplies. The battle is waged on all sorts of fronts. It’s psychological. The Enemy wants you to think there’s no throne room of grace, or that you don’t have the right credentials to gain access to it. At other times he wants to scare you away from the throne room of grace. He presents it as something other than what it is or tells you better ammunition supplies are elsewhere.
At other times the battle takes on physical proportions. You get distracted. You get busy. Although you’re running low on motivation, love, kindness, energy, and strength, you’re so focused on all the work you need to do that you neglect the throne room of grace. Distraction is one of the Enemy’s greatest weapons to keep us from the throne room of grace. You must keep the objective of grace always in sight. An army needs weapons and supplies if they’re going to win the war. You need to get to the storehouse of grace if you’re going to win the battle for grace. If you’re going to see, feel, and experience the power of grace operating in your life, you must keep the roads to grace clear.
Don’t Let Intimidation Stop You
As recipients of grace, we face many battles to getting grace, keeping grace, and maintaining grace. We run out of grace and constantly need to refortify our supply. Again, the Enemy wants to keep us from that powerhouse.
One of the tactics he uses to keep us from the grace place is intimidation. We, in our natural state, are not strong enough to ignore the taunts and insults of the Enemy. We succumb to insecurity and intimidation. We draw back. We insulate. We’re afraid, because deep in our hearts we know we’re not strong enough, wise enough, courageous enough, good enough, or tough enough to win the battles of life. Ah, but this is where grace becomes our greatest ally. Grace is the ample supply of a divine sufficiency to persevere against every tactic of the Enemy and valiantly triumph over these same tactics.
The objective of the Enemy is to take our eyes from God’s grace and rivet them to our own meager supplies and fractured humanity. Why? Because grace is the divine arsenal from which we gather all our ammunition for every conflict. Grace brings the sufficiency of God’s power to every conflict. The Enemy wants to cut you off from this powerful supply line.
What would have happened if David had listened to and believed the taunts of Goliath? No doubt he would have focused on the giant’s threats, intimidating size, military successes, and seemingly impenetrable armament. Had David allowed these things to distract him, he never would have volunteered to face Goliath. Obviously, these distractions kept the other soldiers and the king himself from battling the giant, but David’s attention was riveted to the God of Israel. Because of this, Goliath’s taunts fell on deaf ears.
No favorable comparison can be made between the shepherd boy and the hero of the Philistines. David didn’t measure his strength against Goliath’s strength. He didn’t measure his military experience against Goliath’s military background. He didn’t measure his weapons against Goliath’s. He didn’t measure Goliath’s size (a giant’s) against his own (a mere lad’s). No. David measured Goliath next to God, and Goliath fell short.
David said to the giant,
“You come to me with a sword, with a spear, and with a javelin. But I come to you in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This day the LORD will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you and take your head from you… that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel. Then all the assembly shall know that the LORD does not save with sword and spear; for the battle is the LORD’s, and He will give you into our hands” (1 Samuel 17:45-47).
David was able to push through all the intimidation of the enemy and tap into the powerful grace of God because he gave the battle to God! He realized the victory was not determined by size, experience, weapons, or words, but by the power of God.
The only way to push past intimidation and into the throne room of grace is to recognize the power, compassion, and majesty of the One who sits on the throne. Remember, this powerful giant was felled by one stone from a shepherd’s bag. Grace is like that one little stone. It hits the giants of intimidation in our lives right between the eyes and renders them helpless. No wonder the Enemy wants to keep you from grace!
Don’t Let Deficits Keep You Out
I hate deficits. As I age, I’m feeling more and more the deficit of strength and energy. I have often been dismayed at the deficit of money in our bank account to meet mounting bills. Almost daily I experience the deficit of time. We all have felt the deficits of skill, experience, and strength. Too often, rather than recognizing and admitting these deficits and making our way to the throne of grace, we try to compensate for them, ignore them, or find another source to fill them.
I remember an event in my life for which I felt totally unprepared. I was undone. The circumstances seemed unmanageable and way beyond my skill set. I presented the situation in prayer with the women I regularly pray with on Tuesday mornings. Suddenly this Scripture from John 6:6 came to mind: “[Jesus] Himself knew what He would do.” I was overwhelmed with the realization that Jesus had allowed these circumstances in my life. In fact, it was Jesus who drew my attention to the deficit and my inability to fix it. Why had He done this? Because He had a plan! He already knew what He was going to do. He was driving me into the throne room of grace so I could have a front-row seat to behold His grace at work. After prayer I went back to the story in John 6.
As Philip sat near Jesus on the hillside overlooking the Sea of Galilee, the day began to wane. A multitude of 5000 men, along with their spouses and children, continued to mill around the presence of Jesus. Suddenly Jesus turned to Philip and asked, “ ‘Where shall we buy bread, that these may eat?’ ” (John 6:5). In that instant Philip became aware of all the deficits around him. The hour was late, so there was a deficit of time. The only food available was a lad’s lunch of two fish and five small barley loaves. This meant a deficit of food. Philip commented to Jesus that even a year’s wages would not be enough to purchase bread for the entire crowd to eat. That meant a deficit of money, and besides, the stores were quite a distance away. Then there was the great deficit of the appetite of the multitude.
I have often wondered if Philip was aware of this deficit before Jesus drew his attention to it. This is not the end of the story, though. The cause for hope is found in John 6:6: “But this He said to test him, for He Himself knew what He would do.” Jesus was measuring Philip’s grace supply. It was low!
Jesus knew what He was about to do. He was about to fill the deficit to overflowing. He received the lad’s lunch, directed the disciples to organize the crowd into groups of 50, and blessed the meager meal. Then Jesus broke the bread into pieces and filled basket after basket. He did the same with the fish. The baskets were given to the disciples to distribute to the crowd. John records that everyone ate as much as they wanted, and they still had 12 baskets of leftovers!
The throne room of grace never has deficits, although God will often use deficits to move you into His presence. Intimidation doesn’t have to keep you outside the throne room of grace. You can use intimidation as a catalyst to drive you there!
To have a constant supply of grace, we must constantly keep the access open to the divine supply. This means we must ignore, shut out, refuse to pay attention to, and resist being distracted by the taunts of the Enemy. We then use those very same intimidators to drive us into the throne room. How is that possible? By a daily trek to the throne of grace so we can receive grace to help in the time of need! By habitually making our way to this divine haven, we keep the path clear. Hebrews 4:16 says, “Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in the time of need.” This is the very supply the Enemy would like to cut you off from.
Enter Boldly
Note that Hebrews 4:16 implores us to come “boldly” to the throne of grace. Intimidation wants to rob you of that boldness. It stands outside the door and tries to disqualify you from entering. Intimidation tells you all the reasons you don’t deserve entrance into the throne room of grace. One of the strengths of this intimidation is the fact that we know we’re not worthy of an appointment before the High King of heaven. We’re well aware of our own shortcomings and failures. Grace by its very nature, however, welcomes the disqualified. That’s right. Grace qualifies the disqualified by the qualifications of Jesus. We enter not on our own merit, but on and by the merits of Jesus’s perfection, accomplishments, and command! The name of Jesus is what gives us bold entrance. He is the password to the throne room of grace.
I boldly enter this divine room because of my relationship with the Son of God. Because of Jesus I’m gladly welcomed into this Holy of Holies of God’s presence. I am thoroughly qualified by Christ. He has removed all the disqualifiers my sin marred me with. He then qualified me by His righteousness. The New Living Translation states 2 Corinthians 5:21 like this: “God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ.”
Nothing is quite like a bold entrance, but a bold entrance is only possible when you know all the requirements have been met, that you’re wanted, that you’re loved, and that you’re expected. It’s like going home for Christmas. I never hesitated to enter my parents’ house on Christmas morning. I had the key my father gave me, and I knew I was wanted and loved by those who lived in the house. Add to that the fact that my arrival was expected. The thought of being excluded from my father’s house never even crossed my mind.
So, too, you’re welcomed in the throne room of grace. Your name is known there. You’re wanted there. You’re loved there. Your presence is expected. God is waiting there to meet with you and supply you with all the grace you need. The Christian life was never meant to be lived with only our meager human reserves. Isaiah 30:18 states that God waits for us so He can be gracious to us.
Therefore the LORD will wait, that He may be gracious to you; and therefore He will be exalted, that He may have mercy on you. For the LORD is a God of justice; blessed are all those who wait for Him.
God is waiting for us to enter His throne room of grace so He might give to us all the grace we need from the great storehouses of His grace.
With this bold confidence we enter the throne room of grace and approach a throne of grace. That’s right. Our divine supply is issued from the throne of grace. It’s not a throne of demands or intimidation, but one of welcome, accessibility, and gentleness. From the throne of grace God dispenses grace.
From Exodus 13:21-22, we know when the children of Israel were delivered from Egypt, God gave them a pillar of cloud to cover them by day, and this same cloud became a pillar of fire at night. During the day the cloud insulated them from the scorching heat of the sun. It gave them shade and moisture in the arid wilderness. At night the pillar of fire provided warmth in the frigid desert and light to see by.
We read in Exodus 14:19-20, however, that this same cloud that provided divine grace to Israel enshrouded the enemy camp in darkness “so that the one did not come near the other all that night.” God gave Israel exactly what they needed for their pilgrimage through the wilderness. He filled every deficit Israel had with His divine supply of grace. God also allowed Israel to know deficit so they might realize His divine supply of grace. Deuteronomy 8:3 says,
So He humbled you, allowed you to hunger, and fed you with manna which you did not know nor did your fathers know, that He might make you know that man shall not live by bread alone; but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the LORD.
Through their wilderness experience Israel learned that God would meet every deficit with His divine supply. Philip learned that Jesus could amply overcome any and every deficit of the multitude with His majestic grace. So as you enter the throne room of God’s grace, you will be met with the supply of sufficiency for whatever deficit you have.
To those who have a relationship with Jesus Christ, the throne room of God is always open. It accepts everyone who comes through the beloved Son of God, who lived a righteous life and died an atoning death for all mankind. For those who know Jesus, the throne room is an insulation, a protection, a refuge, and a storehouse for a myriad of graces.
Find Grace
Here in this room we find the divine supply to valiantly fight the battle for grace. We fight for grace by grace. We receive and employ God’s grace to overcome every need, difficulty, and deficiency. This is our divine supply for everything life throws at us. Here is all the wisdom, all the motivation, all the strength, and all the power we need to be victorious.
This is the only source of grace, with no other supply and no other location. God is the source of grace, and His throne room is the supply room. He is the God of All Grace (1 Peter 5:10). He is the creator of grace, and He alone holds the abundant supply we need.
No other world religion besides Christianity presents a god of grace, let alone the concept of grace. Every other religion bases a person’s acceptance on his or her works and merit. Christianity stands alone in saving men and women by God’s grace and on the merits of God’s only begotten Son. Therefore no other religion can guarantee salvation, victory, or heaven to anyone, because no one on earth can be confident in his or her goodness, merit, or works. The Bible clearly and rightfully states that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). Only Jesus met the perfect standard of God’s glory. By dying for our sins, He offers to us the perfection He alone possesses. Only those who rely on God’s grace can be confident in this present life and in the future.
I will never forget the day I was reprimanding my youngest son, Braden, for bad behavior. He was only five years old, and in our family he was famous for inventing his own version of Scripture. On this occasion he tried to justify his actions by asking, “Doesn’t the Bible say ‘Thou shalt not blame the one that did it’?” I was just about to correct his theology when he spoke out with, “Stop! Stop! I know what the Bible says. It says all sin makes you short, and that’s why I’m still so much shorter than my brother.”
Though I got a hearty laugh out of his misguided notion, it was important to set the record straight! Understanding that my little guy was under the tremendous condemnation of guilt, I explained to him that everyone gets it wrong and everyone must pay for his own sins. In other words, the one who did it will be blamed. I further explained that because we’re all to blame and have fallen short, God sent Jesus to meet the perfect standard and pay for our wrong-doings so we can have access to God. Braden seemed quite relieved that day. He not only escaped punishment, but he got a great lecture on grace!
What was true for my youngest son is true for us. The only way we can escape the blame for the wrong we’ve done is through the grace of God available in Christ Jesus. And that is exactly what we have received through Christ. John 1:17 says, “The law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.” Truth tells us of our guilt and our deficit because of sin. Then grace comes, covers the deficit sin has left us with, and makes us right with God. From this fullness of grace, we can then draw on even more grace, or as John 1:16 declares, “Of His fullness we have all received, and grace for grace.”
The battle for grace is real. The outcome of this battle is crucial to your spiritual well-being, mental health, physical health, emotional health, and social well-being. Grace affects every area of your life!
Without grace you will live in constant condemnation and always find yourself outside the threshold of grace. You’ll live without the power of the Lord to overcome the difficulties and trials of life.
Without grace you’ll live in fear and constant anxiety. You’ll be perpetually burdened under the intimidating lies and threats that swirl around you. You’ll never know the supreme power of grace that gives you boldness to enter the divine supply room.
Without grace you’ll measure every endeavor by your physical stamina and health. This will limit you to do only what you feel capable of. You’ll miss glorious opportunities and the chance to experience the abundant life Jesus promised.
Bishop Phillip Brooks, who wrote the lyrics to “O Little Town of Bethlehem,” once wrote,
Do not pray for easy lives. Pray to be stronger men. Do not pray for tasks equal to your powers. Pray for powers equal to your tasks. Then the doing of your work shall be no miracle, but you shall be the miracle.
God’s grace takes us beyond the range of our humanity into the realms of what He alone can accomplish. He makes us His miracle of grace!
Without grace you will never reach full emotional health. You’ll be constantly plucking the petals of the proverbial daisy, saying, “He loves me; He loves me not.” You will never realize the confident boldness of knowing Jesus’s love, and therefore you’ll never be able to fully communicate or manifest that grace to others.
Without the divine supply of grace, you’ll never have healthy relationships with others. You’ll hold others to unrealistic expectations, be impatient with their shortcomings, and continually be writing people out of your life.
To have and live by the grace of God, you’ll need to battle to keep the roads clear to the ammunition supply of grace. Even now, whether or not you’re cognizant of it, you’re battling. I’ve learned that, every day, I’m battling forces beyond me. To win the battle of life, I need the surpluses of grace. Like me, you’re daily battling for grace every time you
• endeavor to overcome your difficulties.
• desire to improve your attitude.
• seek to be kind to others.
• choose to believe the Word of God.
• look beyond yourself to God.
• attempt to overcome your weaknesses.
The victory over our difficulties and attitudes—to gain the ability to be kind, to maintain spiritual faith, and to be strong—only comes by God’s grace. The good news is that you can have all the grace you require to help in your time of need. Grace is ready, available, and totally accessible in the throne room of grace. This powerhouse of glory is waiting for you. It’s worth fighting every obstacle and hindrance that stands in your way.
What is our battle? Our battle is to get to the throne room of grace and keep the troops supplied with the ammunition of grace that wins the victory over the giants and deficits in life. It’s a constant battle to obtain grace, rely on grace, hold grace, maintain grace, and live by the power of God’s grace. Unless we receive daily supplies, we’ll never be able to win the battle for grace!
Dear Lord, here I am before Your throne of grace. I have entered boldly, not by my own merits but because of everything Jesus Christ has done for me. I come in His name and present my need of grace to You. I thank You for the overcoming power of Your grace. I thank You for the access I have to this divine supply. Help me come often to this grand room of grace. Help me ask again and again, without embarrassment, for this glorious provision. Never let me leave Your presence without armloads of grace to help in my time of need. Because of Jesus! Amen.
For consideration:
1. What lies or intimidations have kept you from boldly entering the throne room of grace?
2. What does it mean to you personally to know you’re appearing before a throne of grace?
3. How would you describe your “time of need”?
4. Review and comment on these words and phrases from Hebrews 4:16:
• let us
• come
• boldly
• obtain mercy
• find grace
• help
5. How would you characterize the battle for grace?