Imagine someone giving you a backstage pass to meet your favorite band or artist. Or how about VIP access to meet your favorite sports team before the game? Maybe you’d like to have a private conversation with a scientist or another expert that could answer your questions.
As the saying goes, “It’s not what you know, it’s who you know”. Certain people have special connections that can open closed doors that we can’t open on our own. But none of them compare to knowing Jesus.
The Bible teaches us that through Jesus, as believers in Him, we have direct access to God the Father. It never tells us to pray to Mary or saints or any human religious leader, living or dead. They have no more “super powers” than we do! In addition, it doesn’t teach us to pray to angels who are also created beings. Ephesians 4:6 (NLT) clearly tells us that only one true God is above and over all:
“There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all, in all, and living through all.”
Jesus is God – the Son. He wasn’t just a human baby in a manger, a carpenter, and a good teacher. Jesus was also fully God while fully man – the Messiah that fulfilled every prophecy written about Him. After He completed His work on Earth to die for our sins and be raised from the dead, He returned to Heaven and is alive and in the presence of God the Father right now. Romans 8:34b (NIV) says:
“Christ Jesus who died – more than that, who was raised to life – is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.”
Interceding means to act as a go-between, a mediator, and to plead someone’s case to a higher authority. The purpose of interceding is to reconcile parties in conflict or intervene on behalf of a person in trouble.
We’re often in trouble in this life. But Jesus came to Earth and lived the life we live. He understands what we go through and clearly knows what sin is and how we struggle with it because He saw it first hand. The Bible records that He Himself was tempted by the devil three times in Matthew 4:1-11 and Luke 4:1-13. Jesus, however, didn’t sin but quoted Scripture back to the devil and obeyed it, giving us a perfect example to follow when we are tempted to sin.
Jesus either directly experienced or witnessed it all during the 33 years He spent here. He had a body like ours made of flesh and blood. He felt hunger, fatigue, pain, cried real tears over the death of a loved one, did physical labor and had sore muscles, knew stress and betrayal. He also witnessed sin and its effect on the life of a sinner: anger and violence, crimes and punishment, lust and adultery, and the corruption of ego, greed, and power in the wrong hands.
Because of this, Jesus is the perfect Advocate to go before God the Father on our behalf – if we accept His gift of salvation. A true believer also reads and obeys God’s Word, the Bible, given to us for our own good and so we can know Him. He understands both sides: our weaknesses and the debt our sins have created that separate us from God AND the position of God who is Holy and cannot ignore them nor allow them. ONLY Jesus could pay our debt for us in full – and He did, on the cross. There’s nothing we can do to earn it, it’s a free gift. It isn’t what we know (or do). It’s Who we know and what He did.
Philippians 4:6 (ESV) promises all believers this:
“And my God will supply every need of yours according to His riches in Christ Jesus.”
Notice it doesn’t say all our wants. Sometimes God has a higher purpose for the troubles we have in life and may not answer every prayer the way we want Him to. He isn’t our personal genie who only appears when we need Him and says, “Your wish is my command.” Sometimes our choices are the cause of our troubles and we need to learn from the consequences and change. God will always answer our prayers, but it may be with a yes, a no, or wait. His ways are higher than ours.
As believers, we have nothing to fear because our lives are eternal and our home is in Heaven no matter what happens here. We can be confident in all circumstances because He has promised us in Hebrews 13:5b (NKJV) “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” The Amplified Bible expands our understanding even more. It digs deeper into the meaning of the original Hebrew and Greek words:
“…for He has said, ‘I WILL NEVER (under any circumstances) DESERT YOU (nor give you up nor leave you without support, nor will I in any degree leave you helpless), NOR WILL I FORSAKE or LET YOU DOWN or RELAX MY HOLD ON YOU (assuredly not)!’”
God the Son is the only bridge between sinful mankind and God the Father. The One who gave His life to save ours and bring us salvation. His name is Jesus. Do you know Him?
RESET HIGHER: Take some time to think more about this today.
We’re truly never alone in our lives as believers. God is with us in both the deepest trials and the best days of our lives – and every day in between. Are you using the direct access to God that Jesus has given you through prayer? Are you reading God’s Word and applying His wisdom and truth to your life?
