In The Approach

This morning I realized I’ve been going about my prayers all wrong lately. You’d think after decades of walking with the Lord, wrinkles like this would’ve been ironed out. That’s not the case with me.

As it turns out, my error this time was in my approach. It’s not that I’m lacking that essential “all in” edge when making my requests to Him, because I am all in. There’s no tiptoeing around verses like, You have not because you ask not. My passion for more was put there by God. I ask fervently. I ask often.

But if an unhealthy notion gets lodged in a person’s brain, a shift takes place in their mindset. Focus locks onto some personal weakness and before long, it overshadows God’s power. [i] Despair sets in and eats away at your confidence. Next thing you know, you’ve become like the widow desperately pleading your case before an unjust judge. You are Esther approaching your imposing king with meticulous care so as not to offend him. Even worse, you see yourself as a lowly grasshopper in the land of giants—and so you are in their sight. [ii]

Like I said, it’s all in the approach. An unhealthy shift had certainly taken place in my prayer life. I was approaching God as if He were a stoic judge I needed to convince of the legitimacy of my requests—for salvation and healing in my family, and for the fulfillment of a certain promise He gave me ages ago. I was also so preoccupied with details of my approach; I almost missed the blessing in being granted an audience with my King.

Why was I trying to convince Him of something He started? He’s the one who dreamed up this whole idea of family and placed His first offspring in the Garden with instructions to be fruitful and multiply. [iii] His mind was on family when He made from that one common origin all nations of men to settle on the earth. God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us . . . After all, we are His offspring. [iv] 

Family was definitely in His sites when He called Abraham the father of faith, whose legacy of faith was then passed down through the generations, and again when He extended His personal invitation (to the Jews first and then Gentiles), to join the family through His Son. [v] So that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith. [vi]

Wasn’t God’s heart also set on our own families when He said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved, AND your household? And when He told Zacchaeus, Today, salvation has come to this household, because he (Zacchaeus) too, is a [spiritual] son of Abraham. [vii] God Himself has waited ever-so long for the day when His family will finally come together and the dwelling place of God is with man, and He will dwell with them. They will be His people, and God Himself will be with them as their God. [viii]

Concerning any promise God gives—why would He need convincing to follow through on a promise He initiated? God is already convinced. He is trustworthy and faithful. He means what He says . . . For all the promises of God are “Yes” in Christ. [ix]

And if we are in agreement with what He says, why approach Him like some poor widow? Father and Son are together at the throne. They agree on every promise made. Holy Spirit works from the inside, lining up our weak prayers to also come into agreement with them. Such wonderful partnership—inside and out—insures that all things work together and are [fitting into a plan] for good to those who love God and are called according to [His] design and purpose. [x]

Be persistent? Yes. Respectful? Yes. Be a Grasshopper? No. Unless you like to get stomped on.

Like the widow, let’s persevere in our requests. She was finally granted justice. Pray. Don’t give up. God is looking for enduring faith. For everyone who keeps on asking receives, and he who keeps on seeking finds, and to him who keeps on knocking it will be opened. [xi]

Like Esther, let’s approach respectfully. She was granted audience with her King. The LORD Most High is to be feared [and worshipped with awe-inspired reverence and obedience]; He is the great King over all the earth. [xii] Yet, come daringly because we have peace with God through His Son. We're family now. Let us then fearlessly and confidently and boldly draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in good time for every need. [xiii]

It’s all in the approach.

Photo by Nik Shuliahin on Unsplash

[i] Psalm 51:3

[ii] Luke 18:1–3; Esther 4:13–5:2; Numbers 13:27–33

[iii] Genesis 1:28

[iv] Acts 17:26–28

[v] Romans 4:16; Romans 1:16; Ephesians 2:20

[vi] Galatians 3:14; Romans 9:24; Romans 3:29; Ephesians 2:18–19; John 10:16

[vii] Acts 16:31; Luke 19:9 AMP

[viii] Revelation 21:3

[ix] 2 Corinthians 1:18–20 AMP

[x] Psalm 110:1; John 5:30; 1 John 5:7–8; Romans 8:26–28

[xi] Luke 18:1–8; Matthew 7:7–8 AMP

[xii] Psalm 47:2

[xiii] Hebrews 4:16; Romans 4:25–5:2; Hebrews 12:18–24