Jaw-dropping Jewels about Jesus
Rarely does Jesus, God the Son, do exactly what we expect of Him. It seems odd that He so frequently surprises us, given that He never changes. Hebrews 13:8 makes this absolute statement: “Jesus the same yesterday, and today, and forever.” Still, though He is blessedly consistent in His goodness, Jesus does unforeseen things. Even when He does what is expected, He does not always do it in the way that we anticipate. Let us join with Jesus on a jaw-dropping journey. (I will be using this opening paragraph for each of the brief messages in this series. The following material will change daily.)
We continue to consider the implications of “the prayers of all saints” which are “before the throne” of God (Revelation 8:3-4). We saw from Luke 18:9-14 that real prayer is necessarily humble. Hebrews 4:16 tells us that it is also bold: “Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.” There is no contradiction, for we come boldly based solely on the merits of God the Son, Jesus Christ, and His finished work. As I sometimes say, we do not strut or sashay into the presence of our Savior; such presumption is not prayer. Our approach to God is not one of self-confidence and Spirit-confidence. Lord, may we be both humble and bold as we pour out our pleadings before You.