Boldly does not mean loudly...

Ah..the joys of really reading scripture, receiving revelation and realizing how much man-twisting has been handed down over the decades, calling itself truth. I guess I am questioning everything I have been taught "religiously", because the more I learn about God's nature and His Word, the more I am convinced how utterly twisted conventional church has become. The one thing I do not question is my faith in Jesus Christ, His complete provisional sacrifice on the Cross that offers each one of us the precious gift of grace. He has indeed risen, sitting at the right hand of the Father and, thankfully, makes intercession for us. Oh, how I treasure His divine intercession for I am indeed not worthy! Only by His grace can I come before Him and have access to my Heavenly Father. Thank you, Jesus, my Saviour, for your grace, love and mercy!

God will reveal Himself, His true nature, to those who are seeking Him. I'm certainly not trying to suggest anyone isn't seeking the Lord but it does seem all to often Christian's take what they have been taught by men, by programs, agendas or the like as truth, instead of reading, meditating and soaking in the Word of God themselves, depending on the Holy Spirit to reveal His truth. The Bible tells us to "test the spirits" - test the messages you hear, do not accept them as fact if they fail to align totally with the Bible. You can't take one verse, dissect one sentence and build a faith on that. You either have to accept the entire Word of God as truth or reject it entirely. It is NOT a buffet bar, where you can choose which parts you agree with or those you dislike. God will not be mocked, He will share His glory with no man! It's all or nothing with Christ.

For years, I have heard one other verse misused, misrepresented and misquoted. This verse is Hebrews 4:16, "Let us come boldly before the throne of grace..." Now, if the entire verse was read, it would obvious what the entire context is meant to be. "Let us come boldly before the throne of grace, that we would obtain mercy and find grace to help in the time of need." And that is the King James version! So many times, I have heard others pray the beginning part of that verse and practically explode into a yelling frenzy when they reach the word "boldly". You know, like somehow this word mean you begin screaming your wish list out to God. Boldly does not mean loudly here. Additionally, the boldly part is clearly for the purpose of receiving the mercy, finding the grace we need, not for a platform to shout demands from.

So, I broke out the Strong's Concordance again to find the meaning behind this word "boldly". It's interesting to note that there I found a two part reference. It reads 3326+3954. If you have used a concordance before, then you might recognize the number reference to the original text. In this case, you have 2 separate words that mean the same thing. FREELY! Ah.. who the Son sets free is free in deed comes to mind here. (John 8:36). More on that word (freely) at a later time...

However, simply re-reading the "boldly" verse in NIV is an eye opener! "Let us approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need." That word confidence is used here to describe the sufficiency of Christ's atonement for our sins. Without the Blood and His pure sacrifice, we could not even consider approaching the Father. It is within the Blood of the Lamb, Jesus Christ, God's Son, that we can find ourselves presentable to the Father. We have to believe that Christ paid the price, that His atonement is sufficient so that we can be full of belief and are confident in Him alone. It is not in our own effort or ability that we can approach the Father, it is solely out receiving the grace of God thru accepting Jesus Christ as our personal Saviour that we have any hope at all.

I am so tired of hearing preachers use the Hebrews scripture and "boldly" in a context of "we have arrived" or "we are all that, and a bag of chips". It must also break the Father's heart to hear us clanging around down on earth, parading around and flaunting our gifts, our position and our great speech in front of others. In fact, Jesus warned against this very thing - to NOT be like "the hypocrites". Matthew 6:5 talk about "those who love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by man." Did you know that another word there for "hypocrites" is defined as "pretenders"? How can we even fathom pretending before God?

It isn't the loud, ear tickling words of man that captures His attention. God notices brokenness, humility and meekness above all else. I believe that God looks favorably at His children who approach Him confident in Christ's sufficiency yet still humble enough to honor Him with reverence to Who He is. I love the way The Message puts it in Matthew 6:6, "Here's what I want you to do: Find a quiet, secluded place so you won't be tempted to role-play before God. Just be there as simply and honestly as you can manage. The focus will shift from you to God, and you will begin to sense His grace." Oh my...Jesus help me to come before You in this way!

I close with the rest of that scripture in Matthew, verses 7-13 from The Message. The last few verses is "The Lord's Prayer" in a way I've never seen before. All for Jesus!

"The world is full of so-called prayer warriors who are prayer-ignorant. They're full of formula's and programs and advice, peddling techniques for getting what you want from God. Don't fall for that nonsense. This is your Father you are dealing with, and He knows better than you what you need. With a God like this loving you, you can pray very simply. Like this:

Our Father, in Heaven, reveal who You are.
Set the world right.
Do what's best - as above, so below.
Keep us alive with three square meals.
Keep us forgiven with you and forgiving others.
Keep us safe from ourselves and the devil.
You're in charge!
You can do anything You want!
You're ablaze in beauty!
Yes. Yes. Yes.