The Key to Entering God's Throne Room
There’s a show I came across a few times called Storage Wars. Each half-hour episode follows a group of bidders looking to strike it rich by buying repossessed storage units. They're both detectives and gamblers, as they get only a quick flashlight-aided peek inside the units before they decide if they want to make a bid, and for how much. Often the contents in the storage units are in boxes which leaves them guessing about what the boxes contain. It's a high-stakes game that can pay off big time. These treasure hunter wannabes can find valuable items that they can sell for much more than they paid for or they could end up sifting through the equivalent of trash.
As born again christians, the blood of Jesus, not our money or merits, have given us access to the throne room of heaven. The key to coming out of the throne room richly blessed is dependent on what you are seeking to find while you’re inside. Unlike the storage rooms, you will never find anything unclean or unholy in God’s throne room itself. However, we ourselves can approach the throne with unclean hearts as well as unholy motives.
Moreover, if we approach the throne room in this way without seeing and reverencing the One who sits on the throne, we will leave poorer than we came. If God is truly our Father and we approach him smelling like the world to seek from Him what the world treasures, we will not leave with the Father's blessings. Rather, we can expect the Father’s loving discipline (James 4:1-9; Hebrews 12:5-11).
So how should we enter the throne room of God? In Matthew 6, when teaching His disciples how not to pray, Jesus also gave them a model for the proper way to come into the throne room of heaven in prayer:
Notice that Jesus taught us that the key to entering heaven’s throne room is with a high view of God and a desire for His name to "hallowed" in your life and in the world. The Greek word for hallowed is "hagiaso." In the scriptures it used for objects like lamps and even bread that were reserved for sacred purposes in the temple. In other words, when some object was hagiaso it was set apart for God’s purposes. Likewise, when we enter into the throne room of God, we must do so by recognizing the holiness of God, the set apartness of God.
When I was a Police Officer and a bi-vocational pastor, there were times when I partnered up with a fellow officer for the first time. Occasionally, when they learned that I was a minister, they would clean up their language or change the topic of the conversation they started. As christians and ministers it’s a good thing when our very presence can cause people in a room we walk into to change their behavior.
How much more should knowing that we are in God’s presence and throne room change us from the inside out? For this reason, prayer must begin by recognizing who you're talking to, not with making personal requests.
As the devotional writer Ron Hutchcraft noted in a recent devotional on prayer:
Pastor Colin Smith explained powerfully what it means to enter into God’s throne room and pray "hallowed be your name":
May our primary aim for coming into God’s throne room be to encounter God Himself. This is what Jesus shed His blood for, that we might be reconciled to the Father. When we come into His throne room seeking His presence and the power to fulfill His purpose, we will come out reflecting His glory which will enable us to change the world!
In His service,
Pastor Marco
As born again christians, the blood of Jesus, not our money or merits, have given us access to the throne room of heaven. The key to coming out of the throne room richly blessed is dependent on what you are seeking to find while you’re inside. Unlike the storage rooms, you will never find anything unclean or unholy in God’s throne room itself. However, we ourselves can approach the throne with unclean hearts as well as unholy motives.
Moreover, if we approach the throne room in this way without seeing and reverencing the One who sits on the throne, we will leave poorer than we came. If God is truly our Father and we approach him smelling like the world to seek from Him what the world treasures, we will not leave with the Father's blessings. Rather, we can expect the Father’s loving discipline (James 4:1-9; Hebrews 12:5-11).
So how should we enter the throne room of God? In Matthew 6, when teaching His disciples how not to pray, Jesus also gave them a model for the proper way to come into the throne room of heaven in prayer:
“Pray then like this: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” Matthew 6:9-10
Notice that Jesus taught us that the key to entering heaven’s throne room is with a high view of God and a desire for His name to "hallowed" in your life and in the world. The Greek word for hallowed is "hagiaso." In the scriptures it used for objects like lamps and even bread that were reserved for sacred purposes in the temple. In other words, when some object was hagiaso it was set apart for God’s purposes. Likewise, when we enter into the throne room of God, we must do so by recognizing the holiness of God, the set apartness of God.
When I was a Police Officer and a bi-vocational pastor, there were times when I partnered up with a fellow officer for the first time. Occasionally, when they learned that I was a minister, they would clean up their language or change the topic of the conversation they started. As christians and ministers it’s a good thing when our very presence can cause people in a room we walk into to change their behavior.
How much more should knowing that we are in God’s presence and throne room change us from the inside out? For this reason, prayer must begin by recognizing who you're talking to, not with making personal requests.
As the devotional writer Ron Hutchcraft noted in a recent devotional on prayer:
“You can't realize who God is without cleaning up your act. The first order of business is to go back over the last 24 hours in your prayer and expose those places where you've disappointed God; where you've disobeyed Him and confess it. Express your sadness over that sin.
All through the Bible we see this. In Nehemiah 1, his great prayer, he says, 'Oh, great and awesome God, I confess our sins.' Daniel 9, another great prayer, says, 'Oh, great and awesome God, we have sinned.' This prayer says, ‘hallowed be Your Name.’ And then very shortly after that it says, ‘Forgive us.’ Maybe your prayers have become a little flat and powerless. Maybe there's a request without repentance, and there's praise without purity. See, we need to be saying to God, ‘Father, I know I'm in holy company. I can't be around You and hang on to this garbage.’
You have an open invitation to God's Throne Room to call the King, your Father. But before you rush to petition the King, please leave your garbage at the door.”
Pastor Colin Smith explained powerfully what it means to enter into God’s throne room and pray "hallowed be your name":
“'Hallowed be Your name,’ is not a prayer for a change in God but for a change in us. We’re not asking God to make Himself more holy. His holiness is already infinite, perfect, and complete.
When we pray, ‘Hallowed be Your name,’ we are asking God to raise up here on earth, people who know Him, love Him, and treasure Him more than life itself. We pray so that in a world that despises and blasphemes God’s name, His name may be honored.”
May our primary aim for coming into God’s throne room be to encounter God Himself. This is what Jesus shed His blood for, that we might be reconciled to the Father. When we come into His throne room seeking His presence and the power to fulfill His purpose, we will come out reflecting His glory which will enable us to change the world!
In His service,
Pastor Marco