Written by Pastor Jack Wellman– A.B. Simpson
Access to Pray
What a privilege to have access to the throne of God. It was not our own doing, though, because we were cut off from God by our sins (Isaiah 59:2), but for everyone who’s repented and trusted in Christ, now “we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God”(Heb. 4:14), so “with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (Heb. 4:16). We can “have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus” (Heb. 10:19) because “we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water” (Heb. 10:21-22).
Made to Pray
Sometimes God will allow all sorts of troubles to pile up on us if we’ve wandered away from Him. If we are humbled by our circumstances and brought low, we might then seek God and cry out to Him because we know that “the LORD is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit” (Psalm 34:18) and “many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the LORD delivers him out of them all” (Psalm 34:19). This proves that “when the righteous cry for help, the LORD hears and delivers them out of all their troubles” (Psalm 34:17).
Learning to Pray
I don’t know about you, but I need help at times when I pray to God because words sometimes fail me. Thankfully, “the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words” (Rom. 8:26), and “he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God” (Rom. 8:27). When words fail us, the Holy Spirit never will.
Conclusion
Prayer really is the link that connects us with God. Thankfully, through the access granted through Jesus’ shed blood, we can have direct contact with God. Perhaps He may humble us through trials and tribulations if we’ve wandered away from Him, but He wants us to draw near to Him. In times of need for what to pray about, God the Holy Spirit can give us the words when we don’t know what words to use.
