In the presence of God, speaking and being with the Righteous and Holy One, my tender Redeemer who has called me by name.

Prayer.

A command and a privilege.

A high calling.

An awesome responsibility.

While we can come as we are, He hears us not because of who we are but because of who He is and through His Son.

To come haphazardly is foolish.

To come with arrogance is dangerous.

To come casually and lazily is a complete dishonor to Him and a loss to us.

We come to the very throne room of the Almighty.

We come into the presence of our Creator, Savior, Redeemer, King.

We would walk into the presence of a honored human with some fear and trembling.

Yet too often we come to our Father and King with little more than a passing acknowledgement of His worthiness, little fear and, too often, pride exhibited in so many ways.

But Isaiah understood.

When God allowed Isaiah to see Him on His throne, high and lifted up, being praised as “Holy, Holy, Holy,” Isaiah wasn’t casual.

Isaiah wasn’t flippant about his sin and his unworthiness.

Isaiah was undone!

“Woe to me, for I am ruined! 

Because I am a man of unclean lips,

And I live among a people of unclean lips; 

For my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of armies.” Isaiah 6:5

As we approach Him in prayer or walk along the way, we, who are His, are to come with confidence but not with arrogance that makes light of our sin and is comfortable with it in the presence of the Holy One, our Creator and Savior!

We are to come as children loved by our Father but, in humility, desiring to honor and please Him out of our own growing love for Him.

Yes, He is tender and carries His children in our weakness.

Yes, He wants us to come with our concerns, our fears, and our hard places.

Yes, He sees our tears and wipes them.

Yes, we can boldly come before the throne of grace because of Jesus.

But we must never forget who He is.

And who we are.

Sinners in need of His redemption.

We come into His presence because of Jesus.

We come into His presence truly undone by our unworthiness and desiring to be renewed and made new, more like Him, more each day.

He says come before Him with thanks and then make our requests of Him.

We fear Him, are in awe of Him, so we ought to fear that which is in our lives by our own volition.

We should fear that which we allow in our lives, to permeate our eyes, ears, thoughts and imaginations.

We should fear the bitter root we allow to grow and rot our souls.

We should fear the anger we allow to smolder in our hearts.

“…the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God.” James 1:20

All these and more hinder our prayers.

“If I cherish sin in my heart, The Lord will not hear…” Psalm 66:18

And we are called, instead, to seek what is right and true and honorable, what glorifies Him, in our hearts and minds, so letting it pour out of our lives.

We are called to seek Him!

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.” Matthew 5:6

That’s not legalistic.

That’s a loving response to who He is and what He has done through His Son.

That’s satisfaction and delight!

In that hunger and thirst for righteousness,

In that heart of true thanks for who He is and all He has done,

We come before His throne.

We come undone.

We recognize His glory.

And we wait on Him.