#152: Boldly approaching the throne

I had a picture that I feel like God had given me last night, and it was like a literal experience that I was having at the time. And we live in a mesa here in Colorado Springs, which means you're up on top of a hill when wind comes. We feel it really strongly. And so last night we had really strong winds in Colorado Springs. And it was one of those nights that it was loud and that it was squealing through the windows. And, you know, I could literally hear our building moving. And it was very strong winds. How many of you have ever been in a situation where you were in very strong winds? But I was just feeling this. And I have a tendency for anxiety, and that's something I've struggled with most of my life. And so I. When this happens, I tend to get anxious. And then I'm clenching my jaw and. And I'm laying in bed trying to go to sleep, but I can't, because all the wind. And the Lord's just like, shelly, you're safe. You're safe. You're in this home. It's not like hurricane strength. You're safe. It's not gonna hurt you. And I just felt like in that moment, I calmed down and I was able to go to sleep. But I also felt like the Lord said, this is a picture for the writers that you work with. Many of you are being barraged by thoughts as you start to put words on paper. Those thoughts are like the wind and the creaking and all the noise. And it's like, who are you to write a book? This stinks. Erase it all. Delete it all. What do you even have to say? There's nothing to say. It's all been said before. On and on and on and on. And so I just had a sense that some of you are just getting barraged by all of this stuff. Some of it is your flesh and insecurity, self doubt. Some of it is the enemy, and it's a spiritual attack trying to stop you. But I want to tell you, Kingdom Rider, you are safe. You are in the stronghold of God. You are in his refuge. Even though you may hear all these things, you may see evidence of things, tech problems, issues, you know, all the things. You are safe and you can continue writing. Just let those thoughts go. Just like, let the wind go and it's going to happen. It's going to be there. It's part of life. But keep writing. You are safe. The enemy can't touch you because you are covered in the blood of Jesus. And so I just Want to encourage you with that. And then I have created a prayer Bible. I don't know if anyone has ever seen this. It went viral on YouTube, but you create little tabs for different categories. And I keep this in my prayer closet. And today I was meditating on this verse and I just want to share this with you as well. It's from Hebrews 4:16. And this particular Bible, I usually use ESV, but this particular one is NLT and it says, so let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy and we will find grace to help us when we need it most. So when that barrage of thoughts comes, when the inner critic is trying to shut you down, when all of these things are happening, spiritual battles and tech issues and all the things, and you're in the swirl like I was last night, like, huh. I, I feel like, you know, something's going to happen. Come boldly to the throne to find help when you need it most. When you are stuck, when you need finances to self publish, when you need anything. Come boldly to the throne. And I heard someone say it's kind of like if you have a son or daughter or if you are a son and daughter, of course, we all are. But like you coming up to your parents home and just walking in when you lived there when you were a teenager, when you were younger, because you have authority, you live there, right? It's your parents home. And so it's like that same thing. We don't have to knock. Your teenagers don't have to knock when they come into your home, right? They can just come in and you can come boldly to the throne and just come in. So I just want to encourage you that this world will happen, the winds will happen, you are safe, you are in his fortress, you are in his covering. The blood of Jesus covers you. If you have a relationship with Jesus and then come boldly to his throne for whatever you need.