"This was according to the eternal purpose that he has realised in Christ Jesus our Lord, in whom we have boldness and access with confidence through our faith in him."—Ephesians 3:11-12
Sometimes it can feel like our prayer never goes beyond the ceiling. During moments like this, you probably might have thought that the powerlessness of your prayers was because of a sin you might have committed. Did you leave any sin unconfessed or was there something that you should have done more?
So much of Christianity is viewed as man climbing up steps to approach a Holy and Righteous God. We think that for us to get "upstairs" we need to earn God's favour by keeping with religious traditions such as confession.
God desires for us to confess our sins and repent of them, no doubt. Repentance is vital to our faith, and God wants us to be free from sin. But the reality is that in this life we will continue to remain sinful. Does that mean then that God won't answer our prayers?
One of the most wonderful things about our God is that He remains faithful even when we are unfaithful. This of course is not without a price. This is because God is someone who had to pay the price for our sin and transgression, and Jesus took that challenge of paying the penalty in full.
"We have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus." (Hebrews 10:19)
Through the death of Jesus on the cross, we are now given access to God's presence where we can pray, worship, adore and glorify God. There is no other way to the Father except to Jesus Christ. The veil has been torn.
The fact of the matter is that in times that we need God most (i.e. when we sin) He invites us even more to come into His presence. Hebrews 4:16 says, "Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need."
When we sin, God invites us all the more to approach Him in prayer and petition, asking that He forgive us our debts and we forgive our debtors. Is it not by prayer that we come to confess our sin to God as well?
Approaching God has very little to do with how faithful we are. Not that that's an excuse to remain in sin, but that it should encourage us all the more that even when we cannot climb those steps, God climbs down to us and lifts us up to be with Him.
