An Invitation to Come and Talk

by Katy Kauffman

Sometimes I wonder if God thinks I talk too much. I don’t always do it out loud, but He hears my incessant “inner talk,” one that has an opinion on everything. One that may not always have the right perspective, but definitely a perspective. One that may worry a bit too much. Do you know what I mean?

Definitely patient. Not me. God. I think He’s incredibly patient with me and my thoughts. Just about the time I started to regret my constant inner talk, I found a definition that caused me to do something unusual—stop talking for a minute.

Tucked near the beginning of the book of Hebrews, God offers His children an invitation to … wait for it … come and talk.

“Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” (Hebrews 4:16 NKJV)

“Come boldly” is the invitation—to go to God when we need His mercy, or His compassion and kindness, and His grace.

The cloaked invitation to talk is found in the definitions of “boldly.” This word refers to “free and fearless confidence,”¹ and its root definitions mean “to utter or pour forth all.”²

That means we get to talk!

Because God loves us and sent Jesus to bridge the gap between us and Himself (Hebrews 10:19-22), we can come before God with free and fearless confidence. We can pour our hearts out to Him in humility and dependence on Him.

“Trust in Him at all times, you people; pour out your heart before Him; God is a refuge for us.” (Psalm 62:8 NKJV)

God calls us to talk and to trust—to tell Him what we need and trust Him to provide it. Free and fearless confidence is fueled by counting on who God is and that He will be that to us. It’s remembering His greatness and how greatly He loves us. Our mighty God can do anything, see us through anything, and enable us to do anything He has called us to.

What to Say

I imagine none of us would have any trouble knowing what to say to God about what we need, but if we were to group our requests into categories, they might look like this:

• Prayers for help
• Prayers for guidance
• Prayers for the right perspective

And we could pray this:

• Father, please help me (or my friend or family) like only You can.
• Father, if You were to silence all other voices but Yours in my head, what is Your will about (name the situation)?
• Father, please help me to see from Your perspective and live from Christ within me. Give me spiritual eyes to see You at work in this situation and a heart that is willing to follow You and do Your will no matter what.

When I pray like that, peace replaces worry, and courage overcomes fear. I can move forward in my day because I know God will take care of what or who I’m concerned about and He’ll lead me on the right path.

The Father of grace welcomes His children who need His grace every day. Go to God for what you need. Talk to the Father, and gain His perspective and help in each situation.

Do you have constant inner talk too? Does yours tend to worry or to trust? What could help you to turn your inner talk into free and fearless confidence? Share your thoughts in the comments!

1. Larry Pierce, The Online Bible, CD-ROM (Winterbourne, Ontario: Larry Pierce, 2023), Hebrews 4:16.