When we think of prayer, we often evaluate it in terms of our duty as Christians. We will readily admit that prayer is a duty by virtue of the Creator-creation relationship; that is, as creatures we owe our Creator worship and praise.

Prior to sin, duty was delight, for we were created to rest in the eternal benevolence and kindness of God and respond with joyous thanks as a loving outflow of His goodness to us.

Adam and Eve were invited to walk with God and enjoy sweet fellowship with Him. Their ultimate joy was God and in God. Their trust was God. They glorified God in the duty of delight. Adam and Eve glorified God by enjoying Him.

They were given everything in God and invited to enjoy Him fully (Psalm 16:2). That is, until the Fall.

According to Genesis 3, Adam and Eve turned from the wisdom, goodness, and beauty of God (3:6) to worship His creation. They rejected their Creator, disdained His goodness, denied His wisdom, and deified themselves.

Adam and Eve were separated from God. Humanity would be characterized by ungodliness, helplessness, and enmity (Romans 5:6-10). Consequently, God relates to His sinful creatures as judge (Psalm 7:8) and enemy, prepared to destroy the wicked (Psalm 7:12-13); not because God has changed, but because we have moved from a state of loving relationship to rebellious enmity.

As J.C. Ryle observed, the same sun that gives life to the grass, hardens the clay. It is in the respective and distinctive properties of the clay that hardens under the energy of the sun.

Similarly, the rebellious creature has fallen in the first Adam under the Law of Works and experiences the judgment of God. In the second Adam, Christ, sinners are placed into union with God and granted the life of the Spirit of Christ so that they might experience God's familial love as a father to his children.

Ephesians 2:1-10 characterizes those in union with Christ as children of grace, while unbelievers are described as strangers and aliens, having no hope, and without God in the world. Romans 2 describes mankind as “storing up wrath” “in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God” (5).

In light of the previous discussion, listen to the amazing invitation of Hebrews 4:16: “Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” 

The glorious invitation to "draw near" rests upon Christ’s priestly work. Hebrews 4:14 tells us that we have a great high priest, Jesus, the Son of God. Our mediator is the Second Person of the Trinity - “therefore, let us draw near with confidence…” 

Fellowship with God has been procured by the Son of God through His righteous life and death. Therefore, as we hold fast to Him, we may draw near with boldness to the throne of grace.

We come to a throne, not of judgment, wrath, and indignation, but of grace and fellowship. We have been brought to God by the blood of Christ. 

Oh, what a throne! That we might boldly swing open the doors to the Great Hall of the King of kings, the Lord of heaven and earth, and find that the scepter is raised to us, His children.

We approach the throne of grace to find Jesus Christ pierced for our transgression! We approach the throne of grace because we have been draped in the righteousness of Jesus Christ! We can say, “God is our good!” We will enjoy God forever!

What do we find at this throne of grace when we draw near? We “receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” God’s throne has become for us a provision of help in weakness. Every promise of God in His Word to His children has been stamped with the seal of Christ’s blood. He has declared that all His promises are “yes, and in Him, Amen” (2 Cor. 1:20). 

We have been saved from the power of sin by the help of God’s grace and with that confidence we draw near to find help in our suffering. And the more we approach the throne of grace, the greater the realization of our ongoing need and weakness and yet, a growing understanding of the vastness of the rich resources of God’s sufficient grace – Christ! 

“Grace came down to earth in the form of the Well-beloved, and it met with sin. Long and sharp was the struggle, and grace appeared to be trampled underfoot of sin. But grace at last seized sin and threw it on its own shoulders; and though all but crushed beneath the burden, grace carried sin up to the cross and nailed it there, slew it there, put it to death forever, and triumphed gloriously.

“For this cause, at this hour, grace sits on a throne because it has conquered human sin, has borne the penalty of human guilt, and overthrown all its enemies,” Charles Spurgeon, The Power of Prayer in a Believer, p. 25.

Now that we have been given access to God's throne of grace, we are invited to seek his mercy and help as his children. Yet, there is more, for Charles Spurgeon exhorts us to seek God's grace on behalf of others. I will close with this provoking encouragement from Spurgeon: 

"It seems to me that when God gives any man much grace, it must be with the design that he may use it for the rest of the family. I would compare you who have close communion with God to courtiers in the king's palace. What do courtiers do? Do they not avail themselves of their influence at court to take the petitions of their friends and present them where they can be heard? There is a kind of heavenly patronage that you should exercise diligently. I ask you to use it on behalf of your minister. Use it on behalf of the poor, the sick, the afflicted, the tempted, the tried, the desponding. When you have the King's ear, speak to Him for others" (p. 127).