The Purpose of Prayer, Mercy, and Grace

Hebrews 4:16

Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.

We often talk about this verse with prayer in mind and teach that a believer has the right to come to God's throne of grace to get their prayers answered. Now, this is true; however, there is a greater truth that is presented in this verse than what we often teach. Let me set the stage by defining some words for you to understand this verse.

The first word I want to describe is the word mercy. Mercy is God not giving us what we do deserve. Mercy is God not giving us Hell when we deserve to go to Hell. Mercy is God withholding His chastening hand when we deserve the full force of His chastening because of our sin. Mercy is God giving us something that we don't deserve, but not giving us everything that we do deserve.

The second word I want to describe is the word grace. Grace is God giving us something that we don't deserve. For instance, God's grace is what gave us salvation. Because of God’s grace, we receive the gift of salvation. Because of God's grace, we are able to talk to our Heavenly Father and  present needs for Him to answer. God's grace is when God gives us answered prayers, prayers that we do not deserve to be answered because of our sinful life.

Now that we understand these two words, it is very obvious that we don't deserve God's grace nor His mercy, but because God is a loving God, He is gracious and merciful to us. There is one place that we find both mercy and grace. That place where we find mercy and grace is at the throne of God, which He calls the throne of grace. When we approach the throne of God, we are approaching it to receive from God something that we don’t deserve. We come to the throne of grace through prayer. God says that because we have a High Priest, which is Jesus Christ, we now have a right to go to the throne of grace to obtain mercy and to find grace. Oh, the importance of prayer is to obtain mercy and find grace through answered prayers, as seen in this verse.

However, the purpose of God's mercy and grace is not to hold for ourselves. You will notice that we obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need. The purpose that God is merciful and gracious to us is not for ourselves, but so that we can use what He gives to us to help others in their time of need. The purpose of prayer is to obtain mercy and to find grace to help others. Prayer was never intended just for God to be merciful to allow us to talk to Him to give Him our petitions, and to receive His grace of answered prayers to hoard for ourselves. God is merciful to allow us to pray and is gracious to answer our prayers so that we can help others in their time of need.

My friend, when you truly understand that the purpose of prayer is to obtain God's mercy and to find grace to help others, you will find that your prayer life will change. God has already promised to supply our need; therefore, I don't need to ask God to supply my need. Don't get me wrong, I think you ought to tell God your needs; however, prayer’s purpose is mainly about obtaining mercy to find God’s grace of answered prayers to help others in their need. When you make prayer more about meeting the needs of others, is when you will find that God is gracious to you, not only to answer the prayer to meet another’s need, but you will find He will be gracious to supply your need as well.