"The Conditions of Prayer"
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Christ Our Access
We either come to God through the Lord Jesus Christ, or we do not come at all.
"I am the way and the truth and the life. No man cometh unto the Father, but by Me" (John 14:6).
This truth applied to Old Testament believers, and certainly to Christians of the New Testament. Before the advent of the Lord Jesus, those who knew God by grace through faith trusted in the Savior to come, as promised by the Lord at the outset of humanity's fall into sin. "I will put enmity between thee and the woman. It shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise His heel" (Genesis 3:15). The shadow of Christ's atoning work cast back through the ages to provide access to God in a limited manner for those who antedated the person and work of the Lord Jesus. Of course, believers of the present dispensation know the name of Christ and the fullness of His Gospel as revealed in the Scriptures. Thus, we come to God with the blessed Name on our lips and the affirmation of our acceptance based not on who we are and what we do, but on who the Lord Jesus is and what He has done. This is primary truth regarding prayer, supplying both humility and confidence regarding consistent fellowship with our Heavenly Father. "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).
As with all doctrine and practice, our first thoughts about prayer should focus on the Savior who makes communion with God possible. We must have a mediator between ourselves and God. Only one exists. "There is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus" (I Timothy 2:5). This constitutes the primary meaning of praying in His name, which involves far more than than simply closing our prayers with the phrase, "In Jesus Name." It rather involves our awareness that access to God requires the grace of Christ's intercession on our behalf. Every prayer rightly offered flows to Heaven through the Lord Jesus. Every prayer Divinely answered flows from Heaven because of the Lord Jesus. Understanding this truth prepares us to pray in a manner far more likely to align with God's will, and with an attitude of heart that garners His attention and response. "At that day ye shall ask in My name: and I say not unto you that I will pray the Father for you, for the Father Himself loveth you, because ye have loved Me" (John 16:26-27).
True prayer is a Christ-saturated reality, a truth we will see far more as we proceed. For now, let us acknowledge our need to emphasize the gift of our access to God through His Son, and the privileged calling of such glorious entree to the Throne of grace. Our Heavenly Father beckons us in this day and this moment to make our trusting approach with Christ in our hearts and His name on our lips.
A trail of Blood graces the path leading to the Throne
where God receives the trusting heart,
approaching by His Son.
Without the cross there could not be this access freely known.,
without such sorrow, pain, and loss,
we'd have nowhere to go.
Yes, every prayer flows to the Throne on floodtides of Christ's blood.
We come with grateful, trusting hope,
in wonder of such love.
A trail of Blood graces the path leading to the Throne…
"I am the door, by Me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out and find pasture."
(John 10:9)
Next: the praying Christ
Weekly Memory Verse
Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son, and if son, then an heir of God through Christ.
(Galatians 4:7).
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