Power of Prayer #1:ACCESS
Ephesians 2:18
CHCC: June 7, 2009
(from Discover the Power of Prayer by Max Lucado)
VIDEO: Break Down the Wall
INTRODUCTION:
St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome has a holy door called the “Porta Sancta” which is only opened during a Holy Year of Jubilee which occurs every 25 years. The last one was in 2000. On Christmas Eve of 2000, Pope John Paul II struck a brick wall with a silver hammer, opening up the passage. (The mortar is loosened ahead of time by the way) After that year, the wall was re-bricked, and the door won’t be opened again until Christmas Eve 2025. For most people it’s a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
What if prayer was like this? Only at a special time, and only for a chosen few. Looking back to the Exodus series we recently finished … we remember hearing about the annual Day of Atonement. This was part of the Fall Festival --- the one day each year when the High Priest would enter the Holy of Holies and sprinkle blood on the Mercy Seat that covered the Ark of the Covenant. This entrance to the Presence of God was only allowed one time a year … and only the High Priest was ever permitted to walk behind the thick curtain that covered the Most Holy Place.
That is the way it used to be, but Jesus changed everything!
Hebrews chapter 7 explains that… Jesus is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them. Such a high priest meets our need—one who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens. Unlike the other high priests, he does not need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for his own sins, and then for the sins of the people. He sacrificed for their sins once for all when he offered himself Hebrews 7:25-27
At the very moment when Jesus died, that heavy Curtain in the Jewish Temple ripped from top to bottom. This was the first act of Jesus as our new High Priest: He opened the way for us to come with Him into God’s Presence.
Ephesians 2:18 gives this amazing description of our ACCESS to our God: For through Jesus we have access to the Father by one Spirit.
There’s a powerful bundle of Trinitarian theology packed into that one little verse. Father, Son, and Spirit are all involved in bringing us ACCESS to the throne-room of Heaven. That word, ACCESS, is interesting. The Greek word that is translated ACCESS implies the introduction of a person to another person of Power.
But now-days, the main way I use the word ACCESS tends to involve Computers. I’m always needing to get ACCESS to my network and my e-mail or a website. I have way too many user-names and passwords to keep track of!
(Recently I tried to get into my Bank Account Website, I had to make two phone calls, and they kept giving me new usernames and passwords. Two hours later I finally got in…)
I’m so glad our ACCESS to God is not that complicated! We have a user-name and a password that will ALWAYS work … and will NEVER change.
Back when I first learned to pray, my parents taught me to end this way: In Jesus’name, Amen. How many of you learned to pray that way? I didn’t understand the significance of that phrase for a long time. It’s much more than just a “sign-off” like “Roger-wilco over and out.”
1. User name = Jesus
You see, we have one … and only one … “username” that will gain us ACCESS to God in prayer – and that is the name of Jesus.
In John 14:6 Jesus said, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
The user name for the prayers of Christians is the name of Jesus. His name will never fail to give us ACCESS to the Holy of Holies.
So what is it that keeps us from praying more often? After all, prayer is what our relationship with God is made of. So why don’t we make better use of this amazing, guaranteed ACCESS? Well, for one thing, Satan knows how essential prayer is --- and He goes all out to keep you from connecting with God. He uses the same old ploys over and over … because they work over and over.
A lot of people avoid Prayer because they don’t feel worthy to approach a Holy God. Coming before God just makes them feel guilty because they know they should be living better. They feel like they don’t deserve to have answered prayers.
If you feel that way, then guess what … you’re right! You’re NOT worthy. And neither am I. But Praise God, my username is NOT Ed Skidmore. We come before God in the name of Jesus … who IS worthy!
This is an important point … because people all over the world are looking for some way to earn or buy or borrow ACCESS to God.
* If I were a Buddhist I might seek out a Monk to pray for me and pay him $250 to light a one-year-candle for me in the Buddhist Temple.
* Those following the Shinto faith would pray to ancestors in hopes that they might intervene for them.
* Hindus would pour melted butter (ghee) on an idol in hopes of gaining favor with one of thousands of Hindu deities.
* Even Christians sometimes look to Mother Mary, or some official Saint, or their own “dear old saintly Grandma … may she rest in peace” to mediate between them and God.
But none of these attempts at locating a mediator have any effect at all. I Timothy 2:5 makes it clear: There is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.
There is no other saint or blessed virgin or angelic being or religious leader who can ever give us ACCESS to Heaven. Jesus is our one and only mediator. Through the name of Jesus we have been given ACCESS to the very presence of God.
Going back to our Computer illustration … If the username that gives us access to God is Jesus … then what is the Password? Like any good password, this one is NOT what anyone would guess.
The password is surprising. And the password is simple. It’s a term of affection that a child would use with a father. The term is ABBA.
2. Password = Abba
The closest word to ABBA that we use in English is Daddy. But very few adults keep using that term. The other day, I was getting my hair cut at Carmina’s shop. While she was cutting my hair, her mom called, and I heard her call her “mommy.” I was surprised to hear her use that term --- and Carmina explained that in Spanish, that was the proper term for an adult to use when speaking directly to a Parent. It wasn’t proper protocol to refer directly to your mother as “Madre” … even though it might be OK if used in third person. “Mommy” was the familiar word to use when speaking directly to your mother in Spanish.
The same thing is true of the the Aramaic term Abba. But to use such an affectionate, familiar term in prayer was un-heard-of.
Jesus came directly from Heaven with powerful authority to forgive sins, heal bodies, and cast out demons … yet when He addressed the Almighty Creator God, he chose the familiar word Abba. To help us see how astonishing this was, I want to quote a Jewish Scholar named Joachim Jeramias:
“With the help of my assistants, I have examined prayer literature of ancient Judaism, a large, rich literature, all too little explored. The result of this examination was that in no place in this immense literature is the invocation of God as Abba Father to be found. …
“Abba was an every-day word. It was a homely, family word. No Jew would have dared to address God in this manner. Yet Jesus did it always, in all His prayers which are handed down to us, with one single exception: the cry from the cross:” My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?” …
“The most astonishing point of all is that in the Lord’s prayer, Jesus authorizes his disciples to repeat the word Abba after him. He gives us a share in His son ship and he empowers them, as His disciples, to speak with their heavenly father in just such a familiar and trusting way.” (The Lord’s Prayer by Joachim Jeramias; translated 1964; Fortress Press, p. 34)
We have guaranteed ACCESS to the throne of God any time we put in the username of Jesus.
We are invited to use the password of Abba.
But what gives us CONNECTIVITY? That’s where the Holy Spirit comes in!
3. Connectivity = Spirit
You see, the Holy Spirit is the resident part of God that is planted within us when we are saved. He teaches us the truth – He instructs us about God’s will and way. He interprets our attempts at prayer into the proper language of heaven. The Holy Spirit gives us perfect CONNECTIVITY … so that our hearts desires are fully communicated to the receptive heart of Abba.
Romans 8:26 tells us: In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express.
Have you ever felt like you WANT to connect with God, but you don’t even know what to say? No problem! The Spirit takes the impulses of your Heart and brings them before God … in a language that Abba Father will absolutely understand.
The other day, I got a call wonderful call on my cell phone that left me smiling. When I answered, all I heard was breathing and unintelligible noises … then a hang-up. But I was thrilled with the call. You see, my 2-year-old granddaughter sometimes gets a-hold of her mom’s cell-phone … and punches some buttons. My granddaughter doesn’t have to say ANYTHING intelligible for me to be glad that she called her PaPa Ed.
Your Heavenly Father is glad to hear from you, even when you don’t know what to say. Because the Holy Spirit resides within us, we can never misspeak when we pray to God. The Holy Spirit knows what is in our spirit … and connects it to the mind of God.
CONCLUSION:
All of heaven cooperates in giving us ACCESS to God’s throne room. You don’t need a calendar appointment – you don’t need a priest or pope or saint to approach God on your behalf. And there is no silver hammer needed! Jesus destroyed the barrier that separates us from God when he died on the cross. The curtain has been torn down. The Wall has been demolished.
No matter who you are you have ACCESS to the Creator and Ruler of the Universe. One turn of your heart and you are in the Holy of Holies. Jesus is your Mediator. God is your Abba Father. The Holy Spirit supplies the Connection.
All three work together to make your prayers powerful and effective. That, my friends, is “connectivity!” And praise the Lord, there are no dead zones in your network.
