With the sky still dark, the house quiet and the family still sleeping, I was sitting here with my Bible this morning, reading and praying, and I thought to myself, "If Jesus walked in the room right now, how would I feel, what would I do?" Did you ever think about that too? It will reveal something about your prayer life if you think about it... Would your eyes fill with tears as you in relief were able to freely unload your heart at His feet? I often think how wonderful it would be to have tea face to face with Jesus and safely pour my heart out to Him and today as I was reading, I realized again an old truth as to why that would be so easy.... Turn with me to Hebrews chapter 4 and let's begin with verse 14 where the Bible says:
"Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession."
The author of Hebrews has compared Jesus to a very important spiritual leader, a great high priest. He is our Great High Priest as a person and is positioned in the Heavens! This verse says, "seeing then..." Do you SEE that today dear lady? The person and position of Christ should affect our profession of faith in a manner that produces within us a steadfastness - no matter what life may hold for us!
Hebrews 6:19, "Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast...."
In what way is Jesus the ultimate high priest? Verse 15 is what spoke to my heart today most of all, and showed me why coming into the presence of the Lord brings such comfort and relief to our hearts and how I know what I would do if Jesus walked into the room right now....
"For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin."
Christ can be touched with the FEELINGS of our mental and physical weaknesses. This is what makes Him the ultimate high priest! This is what sets Him apart from earthly priests who cannot possibly be touched with our feelings. I can share my prayer requests, my burdens etc. with you, but can you truly be touched with my feelings, or I with yours? No - but praise God that He can! What a relief to our souls, amen? What an outpouring of our souls in safety and security this should bring about in our prayer lives, what motivation to pray!
Psalm 142:5, "I cried unto thee, O LORD: I said, Thou art my refuge and my portion in the land of the living."
To whom do you often turn when you feel discouraged? Why? If you're like me, you turn to someone you know can identify with the way you are feeling, someone who has gone through what you are going through, amen? You feel a certain guarantee of understanding and compassion when you single out that one who you feel confident might know how you feel. The Lord wants us to know and remember that He was tempted in ALL points like as we are. He wants you and I to feel confident in coming to Him for understanding, for help. You know, we can turn to one another, but we are not fully capable of reacting perfectly and handling the affairs of life without sinning. Because we are so sinful, we have a hard time helping other sinners, but because Jesus is perfect, He is able to meet our needs after we sin. Jesus Christ is the ultimate high priest for He did not sin in the points that He was tempted, those places of mental and physical weakness that He experienced in His life on earth. He reacted without sin to every situation that crossed His path. None of us can certainly say this of ourselves. What a One to turn to, amen?! The Lord is the one who can truly guide us aright!
Verse 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."
Because of His ability to be touched with our feelings, and His perfection, the Lord has made it possible and desires that we approach Him boldly with anything! How many of you, in answering to yourselves my opening question, pictured yourself as withdrawing or hiding from Jesus if He were to walk into the room right now? What does that tell you about your prayer life? If that is so, He would have you to feel differently about Him! He would have you to experience confidence, to have faith in approaching Him in your prayer life. No wonder the devil tries to prevent us from feeling that the Lord understands. No wonder the devil tries to cause us to doubt that there isn't anyone at all who knows how we feel. How many people have committed suicide believing this to be true! Prove to the world that we have a Great High Priest that can be touched with our feelings and show them the source of your help! Let them see a boldness in our prayer life.
Psalm 34:4, "I sought the Lord, and he heard me, and delivered me from all my fears."
Perhaps there is a brother or sister in the Lord who is struggling today in a way that you know you can't identify with. Should that keep you from helping them, from reaching out to them? Not so! Take them to our text in Hebrews 4 and let them see that the Lord has been touched with their feelings even though you can not be. What an encouragement such truth is to a hurting, heavy soul, amen?
If you look down at verse 7 of Hebrews 5 it says about Jesus, "Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared.."
Ladies, the Lord Jesus Christ left us an example of how we need to take every concern of our hearts to the presence of God in prayer. Within that verse scripture says Jesus took them UNTO HIM THAT WAS ABLE. Jesus approached his heavenly Father boldly! He also had confidence in that He was heard because the verse above says, "in that he feared" - a picture of Christ being under authority, which we looked at as a necessary quality for answers to prayer in yesterday's devotion.
Sometimes our concerns bring with them strong crying and tears, and sometimes not. When was the last time your heart was heavy over a certain matter? When that much anguish and grief is present in your life as it was in Christ's life in the face of going to the cross, do you withdraw from the presence of the Lord and cease prayer altogether? Or does your suffering cause you to continue on in steadfastness in your prayer life? We women are burdened often with our feelings, aren't we? Sometimes those feelings are strong and sometimes not, but nevertheless they are there, amen? And God knows it and waits to see what we will do with them.... Ladies, the throne of God is to be approached with any size matter, at any time! It is a place that we ought to know we can take our feelings to and have them touch the Great High Priest! Thank you Lord Jesus!
Luke 8:43-47, "And a woman having an issue of blood twelve years, which had spent all her living upon physicians, neither could be healed of any, Came behind him, and touched the border of his garment: and immediately her issue of blood stanched. And Jesus said, Who touched me? When all denied, Peter and they that were with him said, Master, the multitude throng thee and press thee, and sayest thou, Who touched me? And Jesus said, Somebody hath touched me: for I perceive that virtue is gone out of me. And when the woman saw that she was not hid, she came trembling, and falling down before him, she declared unto him before all the people for what cause she had touched him and how she was healed immediately."
I love that story above, for we see that though our God is thronged and pressed with matters concerning the whole universe, He is not so big that he does not notice when you and I come to Him as individuals and touch Him with our infirmities. Did Jesus ask "Who touched me?" because He really didn't know?? Of course not! I believe He asked that question just so that troubled woman would know He noticed her, He had heard her cry among the crowd and she was a SOMEBODY to Him! She saw for herself that she was not hid from His eyes no matter how many people were around.... This heavy hearted woman needed the comfort of knowing that she was somebody special to God, didn't she? Christ stopped and gave that personal comfort to her and let her know her feelings had touched Him.... Ladies, the Lord misses not a one of us that come to Him for grace to help in time of need! What a precious picture of the tenderness of our God! Will Jesus find YOU touching Him with your cares today? I guarantee the Lord will be thrilled to see that you grabbed hold of His garment for help and hope! If you do, He'll let you know too that you are somebody special and that your feelings reached Him, He'll comfort you with His attention and send virtue out of Himself and straight into your life! Could it be this is God's plan for how a virtuous woman is made - through prayer?? Oh, how blessed is the privilege of prayer, amen? If you do touch Jesus today with your cares and concerns dear lady, you'll find just what this woman found - healing immediately, burdens lifted! And the Bible says she fell at His feet trembling and declared before all the people exactly what she had touched God with and how He had helped her. The Lord took this woman's troubles and exchanged them for the testimony of a rich prayer life! I don't know about you, but that sounds like something I want to grab a hold of too!
Well ladies, I hope all this truth encourages you today as it has encouraged me. I hope that the realization of the sympathetic and understanding nature of Christ motivates you to turn to Him in prayer when temptations arise, when struggles come, when feelings overwhelm you. I hope that the fact that Jesus went through problems with perfect reaction will bring about a boldness in your prayer life to go to Him for help in your time of need. You won't be overlooked, God promises you that! I hope that you realize the truth that in no other place will you find grace than at the Throne of God. You haven't been looking for grace somewhere else have you? Is there a specific area of your life today that you need to approach Jesus with and ask for mercy and grace for? Don't worry about the size of it.... I remember the words of Corrie Ten Boom as she said, "No pit is so deep, that He is not deeper still." Heaven may be a far away place, but not so far that your feelings cannot reach there.... Go touch God.
God Bless,
Pam
Isaiah 60:1&2
Copyright 2000 Pamela A. Iannello
