Throne of Grace

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.

Hebrews 4:16(NIV)

One morning I was trying my best to clear my mind from the anxiety ridden sleepless night before. I was fighting back against fear by speaking the Word over my life, I was meditating on His promises, and praising Him for the finished work of the cross. Which is all awesome and necessary in fighting the good fight of faith.

But then, for whatever reason this time, I said out loud, “And Lord, I repent for not trusting you. I believe, forgive my unbelief.” After I said those words, God unloaded a whole new revelation on me that I want to share with you.

God can do more with your repentance than He can with perfection.

This was the statement that dropped into my heart. At first, I wasn’t even sure what exactly He meant. Then on the TV, of all things, I heard someone read this verse:

“Blessed is the one whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the one whose sin the Lord does not count against them and in whose spirit is no deceit.” Psalm 32:1-2(NIV)

Blessed is the one who repented.

I think often times we are very aware that we missed it. We gave into worry, let fear terrorize us, spoke a harsh word out of anger, ran from what God asked us to do- the list goes on. We know we messed up. Rather than running boldly to the throne of grace like Hebrews tells us to do, we let it discourage us from trying to be better the next time.

 “Therefore let us [with privilege] approach the throne of grace [that is, the throne of God’s gracious favor] with confidence and without fear, so that we may receive mercy [for our failures] and find [His amazing] grace to help in time of need [an appropriate blessing, coming just at the right moment].” Hebrews 4:16 (AMP)

Like this verse tells us, if we will bring the mess up to God and repent, we are left with new mercy, grace, and blessing that we did not possess before.

That’s what He meant when He told me, “I can do more with your repentance, than with perfection.” Because the fact of the matter is, we can’t do it all perfectly. Somewhere along the line we have allowed ourselves to be deceived into thinking that perfection is the standard God expects from us. I’m here to tell you today- it’s not.

Jesus came and lived a perfect and blameless life, because He knew we couldn’t. God is not looking to you for perfection. He is looking to you for repentance. And a heart that is not afraid to try again.

God loves a heart of repentance, so we never need to be afraid to give it. God is not mad at you. He is not disappointed in your failure. He is the source and supply of second chances and new graces. We are blessed when we allow Him to work with our mess.

Another amazing thing that happens when we take our mistakes to the throne of grace, is we take away the devil’s ability to hold guilt and regret over our heads.

If I placed it in God’s hands, that means the devil can’t have it. He can’t use against me what God is working for me. There is such beauty in the freedom that comes with living a life of repentance.

I challenge you today to run boldly to the throne of grace.

Be blessed!