In Heaven

 We pray to our Father who is in Heaven. Perhaps some might think that that limits His accessibility. I mean, here we are struggling away on earth, and He's "way up there" in Heaven. But He is accessible to us moment-by-moment. The writer of Hebrews tells us that we have access to the very throne room of God for the grace and mercy we need each day--moment-by-moment. And He wants us to come boldly into His presence in eager anticipation of His response to the children He loves. As we enter the throne room, we breathe in the incense of our prayers--it surrounds His throne--a reminder of how beautiful our prayers are to Him. They are the perfume of Heaven. You and I can walk into His presence at any time and present our requests to Him knowing that He longs to have us come to Him. longs to breathe in the perfume of our prayers, longs to give us the grace and mercy we so desperately need. "Come," He pleads with us. "Come boldly." Access to His throne room and His presence there is His loving gift to us. Wherever you are at any moment in the day, you are one step away from His presence, from the throne room of God.

And do not forget as you contemplate the depth of your needs that it is from the riches of glory that He meets those needs. Do you really think that you have a need greater than His eternal resources? And the riches He lavishes on us are always good gifts. He is the Father who always gives good gifts. Never a stone instead of a loaf of bread. Never condemnation in place of infinite mercy and grace. Heavens wealth is inexhaustible, and the God who "distributes" it is our loving Father who knows exactly what we really need.

And since Heaven is His Home, and we are His children, guess we are headed when our struggles in our earthly assignment are complete? Heaven is our Home, too. He is building a room for us in His house. Then, our prayers will be conversations of gratitude and praise--face to face.

We pray to our Father in Heaven--always accessible, His riches dedicated to meet our needs inexhaustible, and His Home, His dwelling place, our journey's end--so shall we ever be with the Lord.