The Call

 

We may be coming, then, with boldness to the throne of grace, that we may be obtaining mercy and finding grace for opportune help.

To The Hebrews 4: 16, Concordant New Testament 

Every believer knows the story, that in times of need our Lord is closer to us than we think.  In such times, all we need do is seek His help and He assures us that He will be there {Matthews Account 7:7, Johns Account 15:16, 1 Epistle Of John 5:15}.  Growing up, my mother would always assure me that the Lord was as close as my next breath.  This is what I grew up believing, that if I were in trouble, that I could pray to God and He would be closer to me.  Believe me, I have called upon Him many times in my life.  I know that it might sound silly, but when I was younger I would sometimes think to myself just how long it would take God to reach where it was that I was at.  This, folks, is the way that the world thinks.  All too often we tend to look upon the Lord through our earthly lens and place upon Him the aspects of the world we see around us.  How long will it take God to act?  Can He hear me in this dark place?  Is God trying to punish me?  Again, these are all questions I have posed myself.  Yet they are questions that go against all which the Father is.  We know from the apostle John that God...is love {First Epistle Of John 4:8}.  Indeed, this passage shows us all that we need to know of the very nature of the Father.  Now, instill this truth into a few of the questions I posed.  If God loves me, can He hear me in this dark place?  If God loves me, is He trying to punish me?  Seeing the Father for who He truly is will help us in our time of need.  The apostle Paul spoke confidently of the indwelling spirit of Christ in him {Paul To The Galatians 2:20}.  Did I choose Jesus to reside in me?  On the contrary, my own knowledge of Christ Jesus in me came much later in life than when I became a believer.  No, it was Christ Jesus who chose me {Johns Account 15:16}.  It was Jesus, the Father within Him, who chose me long before I was ever conceived.  Of course, it took me a good number of years to realize this truth, as it did Paul.  It is Jesus who speaks to us of being one with He and the Father {Johns Account 14:20}.  Jesus in the Father, we in Christ and Christ in us.  Now, tell me again how it is that we need to pray for Gods presence.  

Not you choose Me, but I choose you, and I appoint you, that you may be going away and be bringing forth much fruit, and your fruit may be remaining, that anything whichsoever you should be requesting the Father in My name, He will be giving it to you. 

Johns Account 15: 16, Concordant New Testament 

When I spoke of our seeing the Lord through an earth bound lens, I knew what I was talking about.  I spent much of my life applying the aspects of this world to the way God does things.  How I was never actually in a relationship with the Lord, but under His heel.  I was a sinner, and what use could God have for a sinner?  This was the predominant teaching of the church as I was growing up.  Yet this has never been how the Lord desires to be seen by His children.  As I mentioned, we know from scripture the nature of the Father.  It is out of love that He created me in His own spirit image {Genesis 1:27}.  It is also from His love that He breathed into me the breath of life {Genesis 2:7}.  From the beginning, He loved me and called me His own.  Tell me, how is it that I can thereby attach a negative world view to the love nature of the Father?  How is it that I can confidently say that the Father who loved and cherished me enough to send His Son to die for my sins would then punish me for those same sins?  This is not the love of the Father, but the ideology of the man created church.  God has never intended that I live in fear {First Epistle Of John 4:18}.  What He has intended is that if am in need of Him, that through Christ I have the Father in me.  

~Scott~