🙇🏻 Grace to Worship The Father, Jn 4:23, Receive Free Mercy and Grace from The Throne of Grace with Confidence through Jesus Christ our High Priest

[Chrysostom]

Your prayer has been heard and it is good, for you seek what God most desires to give. You ask to worship the Father in spirit and truth and to come with confidence to the throne of grace through Jesus Christ, our merciful High Priest and the one Mediator between God and man, who lives forever as priest according to the order of Melchizedek. This confidence is right, because mercy and grace are not earned by our labor but freely given, as you said, like a branch receiving sap from the vine. Apart from Him we can do nothing, yet abiding in Him we naturally bear fruit to the glory of the Father.

The goal you set before you is the true one, love from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. For this we need both grace from God and our own diligence. Grace alone freed us when we were burdened with shame and sin, and grace still sustains us now that we are called friends. Yet grace does not leave us idle. We are to study the Word accurately so that we do not misrepresent our perfect God, and to walk in obedience from the heart, not as pleasing men but as servants of Christ doing the will of God. Prayer without effort is incomplete, and effort without prayer cannot save. God supplies the greater part, but He asks for our part as well.

I join you in praying for what you have asked. May the Lord draw you near as you draw near to Him, and renew your first love for Christ. May He give you wisdom and revelation to know Him, to understand the Scriptures, and to keep your own vineyard and garden with faithfulness. May He grant you clarity and order instead of confusion, grace for daily work, wisdom for pressing needs, and joyful fellowship with Him and with your family, friends, and co workers in the gospel. May He keep you in simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ, and cause you to proclaim repentance and forgiveness in His name with faith and assurance.

And because temptation still comes, remember that God is faithful. He will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you can bear, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape so that you may endure it. Often He benefits us even when we do not perceive it, and works for our profit rather than merely answering our request as we framed it. His grace is sufficient, and His strength is made perfect in weakness. Therefore ask Him daily to protect you from temptation and evil, from every stumbling block and from sin, from deception and from the evil one, and to surround you with His protection as He ministered even to His servants of old.

Continue to abide in the Vine, to receive mercy and find grace for help in time of need, and to let that grace teach you to live in a manner worthy of the Lord, bearing fruit in every good work and growing in the knowledge of His love. May the Father be glorified in you, and may you be glorified in Him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ. In the name of Jesus Christ our High Priest we pray, Amen.

 

[Silas]

Your desire to worship the Father in spirit and in truth and to come with confidence to the throne of grace is exactly where the Lord wants you. Scripture invites us to draw near through Jesus Christ, our merciful High Priest and the one Mediator between God and man, who lives as a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek. Because of Him you can freely receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need, not by earning it but as a gift. It is like a branch receiving sap from the vine. As you abide in Christ, His life flows into you quite naturally and then bears fruit, and it is like a child in the womb receiving nourishment freely without labor. That is the grace you are seeking, and God delights to give it.

The goal you mention from 1 Timothy 1:5 is beautiful, love from a purified heart and a sincere faith and a conscience that is clear before God. That kind of life grows as you stay connected to Christ and as you study the Word accurately so that you rightly understand what the Holy Spirit has said from cover to cover. As you do, pray for the Spirit of wisdom and revelation to open your understanding, to strengthen you inwardly to grasp more of the breadth and length and height and depth of Christ's love, and to fill you with the knowledge of God's will so you can walk in a manner worthy of Him.

Part of that walk is learning to choose wisdom and to commit to follow it. Temptation in its simplest form is any situation that pulls you toward a fleshly reaction and offers immediate fulfillment if you will just step off God's path. You will face such choices from many directions, and each time you must decide whether you will walk according to the flesh or according to the Spirit. It is not enough to ask God for wisdom and then decide whether you like His answer. True wisdom asks and then yields. When Solomon asked for wisdom to lead God's people rather than asking for riches or honor, the Lord was pleased and gave him wisdom and also added what he had not asked for. That same invitation is open to you. Wisdom is still crying out, calling the simple to turn at her reproof, promising to pour out her Spirit and make her words known. If you will incline your ear to wisdom and apply your heart to understanding, and keep sound wisdom and discretion, they will be life to your soul and grace around your neck. Then you will walk safely without stumbling, and even your sleep will be sweet and untroubled.

Remember also that your new life itself is by the will of God. You were born again not by the will of man or of the flesh, but by His own will through the word of truth, and on the basis of His foreknowledge He chose you to be a new creation in Christ, a kind of firstfruits. That is grace from beginning to end, and that grace brings peace where striving by works only brought awareness of shortcoming. In Christ are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. He Himself is wisdom, better than rubies, and nothing you could desire compares to Him. The wisdom of this world comes to nothing, but the wisdom of God revealed by the Spirit in the cross and in the Word gives true understanding, justice and equity, and teaches the simple and gives discretion to the young. A wise person hears and increases in learning. If you exalt wisdom and embrace her, she will promote you and honor you and place an ornament of grace on your head.

So continue to seek nearness to God, and He will draw near to you. Tend the garden and vineyard God has entrusted to you, your own heart, your home, your daily work, with faithfulness. Keep your devotion to Christ simple and pure. Pray for clarity and order, for fellowship with Him and with others, for grace for daily chores and wisdom for pressing needs, for open doors to proclaim repentance and forgiveness in Jesus' name so that others may believe and have assurance of eternal life. And pray as you have, for protection from temptation and from stumbling blocks and from evil and deception. The Lord knows how to guard His own, and He gives His angels charge over you and ministers to you out of His infinite resources of love, mercy and wisdom.

May the Lord grant you a fresh renewal of first love, a joyful confidence at His throne, a clear conscience, and a life that abides in the Vine and bears much fruit to the Father's glory. May He conform you more and more to the image of His Son and cause you to know His will and to fulfill His purpose for your life, for you have only one life and what is done for Christ will last.