Confident In God’s Presence

Let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it.

Hebrews 4:16

There is nothing like coming to the throne of grace, fearlessly and confidently, knowing that our heavenly Father welcomes us. An image that helped me relate to this verse comes from the example of John F. Kennedy Jr., the son of President John F. Kennedy. I’ll never forget the photographs of “John John” securely and happily sitting under his dad’s presidential desk or rushing into his arms for a big hug between his father’s meetings with national and international leaders. The child didn’t shrink back in fear or run in the other direction when he saw his father. Even though his father was the leader of the free world, the highest-ranking official in our nation, to his son he was just Daddy.

We, too, have a loving Father. Though some might find him intimidating to approach, for all those who have put their trust in Christ and become God’s children, he invites them to call him Abba (the Aramaic word for “Daddy”). Because of Christ, we can poke our heads around the door to his throne room anytime we want. Ephesians 3:12 says, “Because of Christ and our faith in him, we can now come boldly and confidently into God’s presence.” We can bring others to meet him or just enter by ourselves for a heart-to-heart conversation.

Do you ever feel distant from God or find it difficult to pray? Even when your life is a mess, he invites you to climb into his lap and tell him all about your struggles. That feeling of distance will melt away as your Father replaces your fears with a deep feeling of his love—and you’ll receive the mercy, grace, and help you need.

All thanks and praise to you, Father, who sits on heaven’s mercy seat. What a privilege it is to be invited into your presence. Thank you for loving us! It’s so good to experience the amazing grace of being your children and having a heavenly Father! In Jesus’ name, amen.

We need to let it soak in that there is nothing we can do to make God love us more . . . and nothing we can do to make God love us less. God is love.

Philip Yancey(1949–), American writer and preacher