It is the opening view that John receives of heaven in Revelation, God on his throne.  This is the perspective that God wants John to have as he reveals to him the future, what must come.  It is the place that God also wants us to put him, at the center on the throne.  And that perspective also is there to give us hope and assurance.  God on the throne isn’t just putting God in charge, it is knowing that God is in charge whether we put him there or not.  We pray “Thy will be done.”   But honestly that’s what’s going to happen anyway.

    When we pray for God’s will to be done, what we really are saying is help me to see it your way God.  When John ascended the throne room of God he was getting the picture from on high. This is how things are going to be so you might as well get on board.  This view of life can be daunting as we consider that all of history is in God’s hands.  However it should also be reassuring to know that God has it all in hand.  This view applies to national politics and world events, but it equally applies to our own concerns and uncertainties.

   This isn’t to say that we don’t need to or get to voice our needs and concerns to God.  We are told in scripture to bring our anxieties and petitions to him.  But it isn’t that God doesn’t already know the need, he wants us to know that we can bring it to him, and that we need to surrender it to him.   What can’t God do?  There is nothing that is not under the authority of God, but we need to surrender our will to that knowledge and find in him the peace from knowing I’m not really the one who has to make it all work.

Don
 

  Has anyone ever questioned your faith or have you ever been told, “You just need a little more faith”? How do you know how much faith you have and how can you get more?  A lot of questions and frankly not a lot of solid answers.  I don’t know of a literal yardstick for measuring faith and you can’t simply run out to Walmart and buy some.
  
  First of all you need to know what you mean by faith.  Is it just a bunch of facts that you believe to be true - God’s sovereignty, the virgin birth, the Bible as the inspired word of God ... or does faith mean something deeper, the foundation of your life?   Maybe that’s your problem right there. Just knowing or believing some facts isn’t life changing unless you let that knowledge change you.   How has your faith changed your life?  Point to something in your life that you know would be different if it wasn’t for your faith in God.  If you are having trouble finding it, maybe you need to look deeper or take a second look at your faith.

   Probably the clearest measure of faith would be what it has caused you to do.  Faith is best seen in those moments when you know it wasn’t you getting it done.  Someone else was in charge of you at the time, in other words, God working through you.  You spoke up about God to someone, you did something you didn’t think you were capable of doing, or a situation worked out in your life and you didn’t make it happen, it just did.  We speak of having the eyes of faith, that is what that means.  When our eyes, tied to the physical world, can’t see a way out and yet there it is.  The eyes of faith see what our physical eyes couldn’t.

    How do we grow in faith?   Exercise! Work your faith by living it.  The Psalmist says in Psalm 34, “Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in him.”  Step out in faith and see if God won’t come through for you.  As you find that he does you will be looking for opportunities to give God a chance to grow your faith, and in the process your faith will grow.
 
Don