Access To God’s Presence

ACCESS TO GOD’S PRESENCE

a prayer to open

Here I am, Lord. Remind me who I am.

I am loved. I am known. I belong to you.

[I am] assuming, by the way, that you know God gave me the special responsibility of extending his grace to you Gentiles. As I briefly wrote earlier, God himself revealed his mysterious plan to me. As you read what I have written, you will understand my insight into this plan regarding Christ. God did not reveal it to previous generations, but now by his Spirit he has revealed it to his holy apostles and prophets.

And this is God’s plan: Both Gentiles and Jews who believe the Good News share equally in the riches inherited by God’s children. Both are part of the same body, and both enjoy the promise of blessings because they belong to Christ Jesus. By God’s grace and mighty power, I have been given the privilege of serving him by spreading this Good News.

Though I am the least deserving of all God’s people, he graciously gave me the privilege of telling the Gentiles about the endless treasures available to them in Christ. I was chosen to explain to everyone this mysterious plan that God, the Creator of all things, had kept secret from the beginning.

God’s purpose in all this was to use the church to display his wisdom in its rich variety to all the unseen rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. This was his eternal plan, which he carried out through Christ Jesus our Lord.

Because of Christ and our faith in him, we can now come boldly and confidently into God’s presence. So please don’t lose heart because of my trials here. I am suffering for you, so you should feel honored.

There is something quite stunning about the notion that we can, because of our faith in Jesus Christ, confidently enter into God’s presence. He is the holy Creator and Sustainer of all things. When Isaiah saw the Lord, he nearly collapsed under the weight of his own sinfulness (Isaiah 6). When Jesus filled Peter’s nets with a miraculous number of fish, Peter fell to his knees, suddenly aware of his sinfulness (Luke 5:1-11). And each of us has experienced the unbearable heaviness of our sin at various points in our lives. We too cannot help but recognize our shortcomings and propensity to act selfishly and without love. We too would be tempted to curl up and hide from our holy God or cower with fear in his presence. But Paul says that because we are in Christ, we have nothing to fear, no unworthiness to overcome. We have been made clean, washed white, and raised up—so much so that we can enter into God’s presence with boldness.

• Reflect on a season when you were more aware than usual of your sinfulness. What in particular was happening during that time? How did you experience God’s presence during that season?
• When you close your eyes and imagine being in God’s presence, what do you picture? What feelings arise in you? What words do you long to say? What does your body desire to do?
• Take a moment to quiet yourself in God’s loving presence. Ask him to open your eyes and heart to the ways he wants you to live more fully into the truth that because of your faith in Christ, you can confidently enter into God’s presence. What did God bring to mind?

Father, thank you for Jesus. Thank you for opening a way. Thank you that I can come into your presence and you see me with eyes of love, the eyes of a perfect Father. Help me live in the truth of your unending love and grace. Give me the faith and courage to come before you with my whole life—my desires, wounds, joys, gifts, and weaknesses. Remind me that I am yours, that every part of me is yours. And may I be a carrier of this incredible news of grace so others can come to know that Jesus has granted anyone who says yes access to the Creator and Sustainer of all things. Amen.