The Throne of Grace

READ Revelation 20:11 KJV11And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them.

We know we'll encounter trials in our lifetime, such as the death of a loved one, relationship conflict, or financial stress. Where do we go for comfort and help during these times? The Lord provides us with the perfect place to turn.Hebrews chapter 4:16 tells us to "draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need." Some people avoid coming before the throne of God. They associate it with condemnation. Isaiah chapter 6:4-6 says while the place where He abides is holy, it's also full of His love, grace, and mercy.We have access to God's throne because of our salvation. Once we accept Jesus' death as forgiveness for our sin, the heavenly Father sees us as righteous. This is why Christians can confidently draw near to Him to find love and acceptance.The Lord delights when His children approach Him. We can expect divine grace and mercy to aid us in our difficulty. God gives us blessings and help we don't deserve through grace. He does this while keeping us from punishment we do deserve. His answer to our cry may not be exactly what we expect or hope. But, just as a loving dad would do for his child, our Father knows what we really need and will act in our best interest. The Lord is trustworthy.When trouble comes, remember to turn to the One who understands your need and is able to help. With reverence and confidence, approach the throne of grace.

Jude 1:24-25 KJV24Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, 25To the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen.

The Delivering Power of Humility

Scripture References

Micah 6:6-8 KJV6Wherewith shall I come before the LORD, and bow myself before the high God? shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves of a year old? 7Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thousands of rivers of oil? shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? 8He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?Jeremiah 29:11 KJV11For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.Matthew 8:3, 4 KJV3And Jesus put forth his hand, and touched him, saying, I will; be thou clean. And immediately his leprosy was cleansed. 4And Jesus saith unto him, See thou tell no man; but go thy way, shew thyself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses commanded, for a testimony unto them.

1 Kings 3:7 KJV7And now, O LORD my God, thou hast made thy servant king instead of David my father: and I am but a little child: I know not how to go out or come in.Psalm 46:1 KJV1God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.Philippians 2:8 KJV8And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.

2 Timothy 3:5 KJV5Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.Matthew 15:30 KJV30And great multitudes came unto him, having with them those that were lame, blind, dumb, maimed, and many others, and cast them down at Jesus' feet; and he healed them:Mark 5:22,23 KJV22And, behold, there cometh one of the rulers of the synagogue, Jairus by name; and when he saw him, he fell at his feet, 23And besought him greatly, saying, My little daughter lieth at the point of death: I pray thee, come and lay thy hands on her, that she may be healed; and she shall live.Mark 7:25-30 KJV25For a certain woman, whose young daughter had an unclean spirit, heard of him, and came and fell at his feet: 26The woman was a Greek, a Syrophenician by nation; and she besought him that he would cast forth the devil out of her daughter. 27But Jesus said unto her, Let the children first be filled: for it is not meet to take the children's bread, and to cast it unto the dogs. 28And she answered and said unto him, Yes, Lord: yet the dogs under the table eat of the children's crumbs. 29And he said unto her, For this saying go thy way; the devil is gone out of thy daughter. 30And when she was come to her house, she found the devil gone out, and her daughter laid upon the bed.Luke 7:37-50 KJV37And, behold, a woman in the city, which was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus sat at meat in the Pharisee's house, brought an alabaster box of ointment, 38And stood at his feet behind him weeping, and began to wash his feet with tears, and did wipe them with the hairs of her head, and kissed his feet, and anointed them with the ointment. 39Now when the Pharisee which had bidden him saw it, he spake within himself, saying, This man, if he were a prophet, would have known who and what manner of woman this is that toucheth him: for she is a sinner. 40And Jesus answering said unto him, Simon, I have somewhat to say unto thee. And he saith, Master, say on. 41There was a certain creditor which had two debtors: the one owed five hundred pence, and the other fifty. 42And when they had nothing to pay, he frankly forgave them both. Tell me therefore, which of them will love him most? 43Simon answered and said, I suppose that he, to whom he forgave most. And he said unto him, Thou hast rightly judged. 44And he turned to the woman, and said unto Simon, Seest thou this woman? I entered into thine house, thou gavest me no water for my feet: but she hath washed my feet with tears, and wiped them with the hairs of her head. 45Thou gavest me no kiss: but this woman since the time I came in hath not ceased to kiss my feet. 46My head with oil thou didst not anoint: but this woman hath anointed my feet with ointment. 47Wherefore I say unto thee, Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much: but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little. 48And he said unto her, Thy sins are forgiven. 49And they that sat at meat with him began to say within themselves, Who is this that forgiveth sins also? 50And he said to the woman, Thy faith hath saved thee; go in peace.

Luke 8:35 KJV35Then they went out to see what was done; and came to Jesus, and found the man, out of whom the devils were departed, sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed, and in his right mind: and they were afraid.

Luke 10:39 KJV39And she had a sister called Mary, which also sat at Jesus' feet, and heard his word.John 11:32-44 KJV32Then when Mary was come where Jesus was, and saw him, she fell down at his feet, saying unto him, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died. 33When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews also weeping which came with her, he groaned in the spirit, and was troubled. 34And said, Where have ye laid him? They said unto him, Lord, come and see. 35Jesus wept. 36Then said the Jews, Behold how he loved him! 37And some of them said, Could not this man, which opened the eyes of the blind, have caused that even this man should not have died? 38Jesus therefore again groaning in himself cometh to the grave. It was a cave, and a stone lay upon it. 39Jesus said, Take ye away the stone. Martha, the sister of him that was dead, saith unto him, Lord, by this time he stinketh: for he hath been dead four days. 40Jesus saith unto her, Said I not unto thee, that, if thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God? 41Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead was laid. And Jesus lifted up his eyes, and said, Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me. 42And I knew that thou hearest me always: but because of the people which stand by I said it, that they may believe that thou hast sent me. 43And when he thus had spoken, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth. 44And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with graveclothes: and his face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus saith unto them, Loose him, and let him go.

Revelation 1:17 KJV17And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I am the first and the last:James 4:10 KJV10Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.

Summary

True humility requires you to submit to God's Word and His plan for your life rather than your own words and plans. Trust Him for everything you need. When you submit your will to God's will, you will experience lasting success and honor.

A. Humility means to comply with, obey and submit to God and His Word and will for your life.

1. We are to humble ourselves before God (Micah 6:6-8).

2. Walking in humility means to be submissive and compliant.

a. Humility reduces the power of independence and ensures dependence on God.

B. True success is fulfilling God's will for your life.

1. God isn't going to tell you to do something that's going to hurt you (Jeremiah 29: 11).

a. God's plans for you are designed to prosper you.

b. God will give you the desire to do what He has called you to do.

c. God won't make you do something that will destroy you or that is unfulfilling.

2. Trust that God's plan for your life is the best plan and will bring enjoyment.

C. Humility can be likened to an obedient child submitting to the plans of his or her parent.

1. When you are born again, you are to become as a little child (Matthew 18:3, 4).

2. Put yourself in a position to depend on God by being willing to do whatever He says.

a. Ask yourself, "Am I depending on God for everything?"

3. Humility will make you great (v. 4).

4. Don't let your years of experience as a Christian keep you from being humble (1 Kings 3:7). You are nothing without God.

5. God wants to be your very present help in times of trouble (Psalm 46:1).

D. Humble yourself the way Jesus did (Philippians 2:8).

1. The way up is down.

2. You can "look" humble. False humility is an outward display without real submission to God (2 Timothy 3:5).

a. Being "religious" is false humility.

3. True Bible humility can't always be seen. It is on the inside and comes from your heart.

E. True humility is demonstrated by lying at the feet of Jesus.

1. When Jesus fed the four thousand, there were many of the multitudes who were lame, blind and had all types of sickness. They would kneel down at Jesus' feet to be healed (Matthew 15:30).

2. Jairus' daughter was healed when he fell down and submitted himself at Jesus' feet (Mark 5:22, 23).

3. Because of her faith, a woman's young daughter was healed of demonic oppression when the woman cast herself down at Jesus' feet (Mark 7:25-30).

4. A woman washed Jesus' feet with her tears and dried them with her hair. She anointed His feet with precious oil. Jesus forgave her of her sin (Luke 7:37-50).

5. A man was delivered of demons at Jesus' feet (Luke 8:35).

6. Martha's sister Mary sat at the feet of Jesus to hear the Word (Luke 10:39).

7. Jesus raised Mary's brother Lazarus from the dead after she fell down at Jesus' feet (John 11:32-44).

8. John received a supernatural vision of end time events after he fell at the feet of Jesus (Revelation 1:17).

F. You cannot be successful by yourself.

1. Nothing will ever go right without Jesus.

2. It's not too late to acknowledge Jesus and He'll lift you up.

3. Thirst and hunger for God and His plan is what you need to advance spiritually.

4. Your intelligence and abilities shouldn't be exalted over your relationship with God.

5. Freedom comes from knowing you don't have to play political games to get ahead in life.

a. God has a better way for you to be exalted.

6. Your way may be the faster way but God's way is the more sure way.

7. Two reasons out of many to humble yourself are:

a. So that God will lift you up (James 4:10).

b. So that you can experience God's grace in your life.

Jude 1:24-25 KJV24Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, 25To the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen.

Why We Continue to Fall

You've tried everything––counseling, accountability, memorizing Scripture, listening to sermons on sin, and avoiding tempting situations. But you still continue to yield to the same sin over and over. Here are three suggestions as to why nothing is working. These are a culmination of things I've discovered in my counseling with others as well as in my own passage through the minefield of temptation.

First, we deny we have a problem. We know we have some things to work on … but a "problem"? No way. That sounds too serious. As a result, we don't pursue a solution with the determination to see it through to the end. By suppressing the truth about our situation, we automatically cut ourselves off from getting the help we need.

The real danger is that people tend to ignore the truth until what began as a small thing becomes a major problem. This behavior is common among alcoholics and drug abusers. Instead of approaching their problem as a full-blown addiction, they treat it like it's simply a matter of balance. "I just need to cut back."

Most of us underestimate the power of sin and overestimate our spirituality. As long as you treat your sin as though it is just part of your personality or the result of pressure at work or anything else besides what it is, you will find no relief.

Second, we have not surrendered to the Lordship of Christ. By that I mean we have not recognized Christ's unconditional right to rule and reign over every area of our lives. As long as we refuse to give up our right to rule in a particular area of our lives, we will never know victory.

Sometimes we play a power game with God. We want Him to give us the power we need to have victory in our lives. But we aren't willing to surrender that area to His unchallenged rule. We want to use His power to our ends. We want His help, but not to the point where it interferes with our plans and desires.

Power over sin is the means by which we are freed to serve Christ more effectively. It's not something God hands out to make life smoother for us.

Third, we continually focus on past failure. We allow our past failures to persuade us that we will never change, that there's no use even trying to do things differently. When we're tempted, we fail, because we have already been defeated mentally.

The truth is that God has made available to you the power to change. The sins of the past need not characterize your life in the future. No one is destined to be a certain way throughout a lifetime. Your past sins should simply serve as a reminder of God's grace and goodness.

It's easy to allow past failures to serve as an excuse to sin again. "Well," we reason, "I have already done it once. I might as well do it again." We are easily deceived into thinking that "one more time" won't really hurt anything. The tragedy is that "one more time" just keeps the sin cycle alive in our lives. A habit is simply a string of individual sins committed on separate occasions.

Each time we sin, it just ingrains that habit a little bit deeper into our emotional being. Sin becomes more and more entrenched. Each time we give in, it becomes that much more difficult to say no the next time.

The apostle Paul certainly had some things in his past that could have slowed him down. However, he wrote:

One thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus (Phil. 3:13-14).

Paul understood that a believer must put the past behind him and move on. If you have a tendency to focus on your past mistakes, join with the apostle Paul. Turn your focus toward the future, toward the things you want to see God do in your life. The past is something you can do nothing about. The future, however, is whatever you allow God to make it.

Think for just a minute. Could it be that you have a genuine problem with sin but are unwilling to face it as such? Is Jesus Christ Lord over every area of your life––your family, friends, jobs, thoughts, goals, relationships, time and money? Do you use your past failures as an excuse to sin? If you answered yes to any of these questions, then you may have just discovered why you continue to fall. God desires for you to experience victory. Ask Him for insight into how to overcome the sin that holds you captive.