June 2007

Are you known at the throne? An interesting - and telling - event takes place in Acts chapter 19 where the Apostle Paul is preaching at Ephesus . The Lord God is doing great and mighty things among the people, and two men decide that they, too, can cast out demons like Paul is doing, essentially using the precious name of Jesus as their "magic wand." But guess what? It didn't work the way they thought it would. Those demons "put a whuppin'" on them as they say here in Alabama . They said, "Jesus we know, and Paul we know, but who are you?"

You see, Jesus was known in heavenly places because of Who He is. Even the demons of hell knew Him in His ministry as the Son of David Who came to destroy them. Jesus was a mighty man of prayer. The Apostle Paul, a devoted follower of Jesus, also lived and walked in intimacy with God in his closet of prayer. He, too, was a familiar face before the throne of God, and evidently a terrifying spectacle to demons as well, because Paul was known at the throne! He was known in the spiritual realm as a friend of God, and therefore a force to be reckoned with. God fought for him. Are you known at the throne?

Jesus, in fact, calls each of us to develop an intimate relationship with Him and the Father by becoming frequent visitors before the throne of God. This is why the scriptures tell us in Heb 4:16, " Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need ." Elsewhere, in Ephesians 3:12, we read, " In whom we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of him ." Finally, in 1 Thessalonians 5:17 , the bible says we are to " Pray without ceasing ." Do you see it, my friends? As God's children through faith in Jesus Christ, we can enter into God's presence with boldness , with confidence and without ceasing ! Hallelujah! The secret is not in some pretended, forced, or ad-libbed boldness of "name-it-and-claim-it" before the throne, but the natural (or should we say supernatural?) result of intimacy with God, developed over long hours, days, months and years of spending time alone with Him in private worship through the work of Jesus Christ!

The lesson is clear: as God's people we are to be "known around the throne" as friends of God, feared by hell as His sons and daughters who live in His presence every day, all day! Let His words to us this day be, " Be still and know that I am GOD." Psalm 46:10