Throne Room

 "Then as I looked, I saw a door standing open in heaven, and the same voice....spoke to me with the sound of a mighty trumpet blast. The voice said, 'Come up here, and I will show you what must happen after these things.....From the throne came flashes of lightning, rumblings and peals of thunder." Revelation 4:1,5...

"You can't experience the peace and joy of His throne room unless you pass through the thunder and clouds and lightning that surround it." Chris Tiegreen

The Bible says so much about what it is to experience His Presence. Certainly, it is an awesome experience, so wonderful that those who experienced only a portion of His Presence could do nothing but fall on their faces before Him. Scripture says that it is an awful thing to fall into the hands of the Living God. Awful in the sense of how terrifying it is for our flesh. All these are true, but for those who were brought into His presence, such as John in the Book of Revelation, there is also the following sense of deep peace and well-being. Christ is Perfect love, Perfect peace, and Perfect joy. He wants us to experience and know this, but so few of us ever really do. There's a reason.

Life on this side of eternity is filled with trauma. Brokenness is the order of the day in this fallen world. We experience death, loss, and times of devastation. In all of it we wonder where He is? We want His Presence and comfort, but He seems so far away. It's at this place where the choices must be made. Choices as to whether we will believe His promises of peace and comfort or not. Will we choose the truth of what He's said against the way things appear to be? This is why the above quote from Tiegreen speaks so loudly. I hope that each of it will hear what he's saying.

We are born with a bent toward trusting in what we can touch, hear, and see. We trust our natural senses. Because of our fall away from Him through the sin of Adam and Eve, we are also born with a bent towards not trusting anyone, especially Him, over ourselves. Only Christ can set us free from this bent, but even in salvation, we can continue to retain some part, often a great part, of this inclination. Our troubles, losses, and disastrous happenings make us want Him, but they so often are what keep us from Him. They are the frightening thunder, clouds, and lightning that keep our eyes from seeing Him....but He's there, in the midst of all of it. But we have to brave the fierce storm surrounding Him to lay hold of Him. Too few of us are willing to do so. We turn back instead of pressing in.

On this side of eternity, we won't lack for times, even many times of thunder, lightning and darkness. What we must know is that He rules over all of it and will always be found in the midst of it. When we're hit with life's crushing blows, what we'll first experience is thunder and lightning. It will be fearsome. There we have the choice; will we look at these, or will we look for the Face of the One who is right there, with us, in the midst of it. Will we brave the fierce storm, press on, and be enveloped by the peace, joy, and beauty of His Presence? We get there by way of the storm.

Perhaps you're in that storm right now. Press on my friend. He rules the heavens. He will not allow the storms to overcome you. Press on....to Him....and the beauty and wonder of His Presence. He calls to you, to us, "Come up....to where I am."

Blessings,
Pastor O