If you had direct access to the
President and you knew he would welcome you, would you contact him if you
needed help? Would you express your concerns to him about problems in our
country? Would you talk to him about the good things that he does to help our
nation? Would you speak with him if you knew he wanted you to?
That might seem like an absurd image,
but God has that attitude toward you. He wants you to call upon Him in every
trouble, to pray, and to offer your praise and thanksgiving. Indeed, He tells
us His names in His Word so that we can do that very thing.
As Jesus talked with the disciples on
the night He was betrayed, He makes it clear that when we pray in His name God
the Father hears our prayers and answers them. It’s a direct line. Jesus has
given us access by washing our sins away.
It is important to note those words, “in
my name.” Jesus is not saying that everyone who prays gets his or her prayers
answered. He is saying that when we pray believing in in Him as the crucified
and risen savior, having received His grace through faith, God welcomes our
prayers. Not only does He welcome them, He hears and answers them.
But Jesus is not serving like a
messenger who hears our prayers and then passes them on to the Father. He opens
the way for us to pray directly to the Father. God loves us and He desires for
us to call out to Him so that we might know His love and faithfulness in our
lives.
We might ask, “If God loves us, why do
we have to come through Jesus? Why can’t we just come to the Father directly?” It
is because our sin has separated us from God that we cannot come to Him
directly, but remember what Jesus said earlier, in John 3:16-17: “God so loved
the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not
perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to
condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through Him.”
God hears your prayer because He loves
you, and that is why He sent Jesus, too.
Father, thank You for loving me, saving me
through Jesus, and hearing my prayers. Amen.
Comments