There are thousands of religions in the world today, and all of them have their own beliefs and opinions about God and how people should approach Him. Because of what they’ve been taught, many people have a mindset of maybe God will help them and maybe He won’t. Some approach God with fear, because they have been taught that He’s a God that punishes people. And there are some that just won’t approach Him at all. They won’t seek to have a relationship with Heavenly Father because they are too confused by all the varying religions or they feel as though they don’t need to have a relationship with Him. Our Heavenly Father doesn’t leave this matter of approaching Him to speculation. Acts 17:27-28 (The Message) tells us, “Starting from scratch, he made the entire human race and made the earth hospitable, with plenty of time and space for living so we could seek after God, and not just grope around in the dark but actually find him. He doesn’t play hide-and-seek with us. He’s not remote; he’s near. We live and move in him, can’t get away from him!”
Heavenly Father established the boundaries of our relationships with Him from the very beginning, when He created Adam and Eve. He communed with them continually through His Holy Spirit, and He provided everything they could ever possibly need. His intention was that human beings know Him as their ‘Father—Provider—Protector and Refuge’, and that we would depend on Him alone. He wanted us to know, beyond knowing, that we can have an intimate partnership with Him and that nothing we do should be outside the boundaries of His love. He is our Source for all good things, and Heavenly Father made it clear in 2Corinthians 3:5 that we shouldn’t think we are sufficient of ourselves, because He is our Sufficiency. He makes it possible for us to excel and increase in all the good things we hope to accomplish.
Jesus Christ commands us in Matthew 6:33(NKJV), “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.” This is the sacred order that Heavenly Father has woven into all His creation. We must seek HIM first, not ourselves, not other people, but God must be sought first. This helps us to understand the kind of intimacy in our relationship with Him that He desires. God has placed His Holy Spirit in the sanctum of our inner beings because He wants us to always know that He’s closer than close. Philippians 2:13(NLT) says, “For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him.” Contrary to what many of us have been taught, change begins internally first, then things begin to change externally. This all happens through our faith in God.
Hebrews 11:6(NLT) says, “And it is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that God exists and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him.” Our believing and faith in God begin in our hearts. We must approach God by believing in our hearts that He exists and that He rewards His children when they diligently seek Him.
Hebrews 11:2-3(NLT) says, “Through their faith, the people in days of old earned a good reputation. By faith we understand that the entire universe was formed at God’s command, that what we now see did not come from anything that can be seen.” Some people that where living during Biblical times are written about in God’s Word because they had faith in His Word—they had faith in what He told them. This is what earned them a good reputation in His eyes. Their circumstances were nothing like ours. They couldn’t have dreamed of the conveniences, amenities, and technological advances we enjoy today. Life for them was very hard in many respects, and the smallest chore took more effort that you and I can imagine. There were no hospitals and stores, no running water or electricity, but despite what their conditions appeared to be, they trusted and believed God. They knew that He was their Sufficiency and Source. So, they didn’t rely on how things looked, instead, they relied on God’s Word and trusted it. This is exactly how God wants us to approach Him.
Our Heavenly Father has all power in His hands. He has all authority, and when He speaks, things come into existence. God’s Word never fails. His Word is true, and we can count on what God says with every fiber of our beings. He is faithful! It’s who our God is! He can make a way out of no way, and it is important to have this mindset and attitude when we approach His throne. It is also important to recognize that He wants us to come to Him, and He wants us to come to Him often. To see God’s heart on this, we need only look at ourselves as parents or look at the example of other good biological parents we know. Good and caring parents want the absolute best for their child(ren). They want them to excel in whatever they set their minds to accomplish, and the parent is delighted whenever their child(ren) have good success. God loves us exponentially more than our biological parents. He loves us so much that He gave the life of His only begotten Son to save us.
We should expect God’s goodness that is shown toward us to be so much more than the goodness of a human being. His goodness cannot be matched by any person or anything. Jesus Christ said in Matthew 7:9-11(NLT), “9 You parents—if your children ask for a loaf of bread, do you give them a stone instead? 10 Or if they ask for a fish, do you give them a snake? Of course not! 11 So if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give good gifts to those who ask him.” God is our Abba Father. He’s a loving God, and He wants us to know Him as a God that is loyal to His people. So we should always approach our loving and all-powerful God with the respect, honor, and love He deserves, and we must be confident that He is a Rewarder to them that diligently and sincerely seek Him.■
Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.
"How Do We Approach the Throne of God”, written for victoryinjesuschrist.life. Copyright© 2021. All rights reserved. All praise and honor to God through Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.
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