Access to The Father

From what I have witnessed shame is one of the major factors of why so many avoid God and do not pray. It is often the case with those coming into treatment for substance abuse. It is not that the clients I often encounter don’t believe in God it’s more of an issue that they think He no longer believes in them. They feel they are too far gone and He wrote them off. When they begin to realize that He didn’t and still loves them and has a purpose for their lives things often begin to change for the better. The seed of hope are planted and begins to bloom. We see this shame issue play out with Adam and God early on in Genesis You may have heard the story. The serpent deceived Eve, and both she and Adam ate from the only tree that God told them not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. What happens next is how it relates to the topic of shame. What’s interesting is that in Genesis 2:25 (NIV), “Adam and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame.” In the next chapter things take quite a turn for the worse. Genesis 3:8−10 (NIV) says, “Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. But the Lord God called to the man, ‘Where are you?’” Adam answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.” So, why the dramatic change of heart? The only thing that changed from not being ashamed in Genesis 2:25 to being afraid and hiding from God was sin.   Don’t hide from God go to Him with your struggles and make your requests known to Him. In our weakness He is our strength.

In the Lord’s Prayer, the model or structure of how to pray basically half of it is making our requests to God. “Give us today our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one” God already knows our areas where we blew it so there is no sense in not asking Him for help.    

We have access to God the Father through Christ the Son. There is no longer a veil or anything else separating those who belief in Jesus Christ. Back in the day when I lived in Manhattan you had to know some person and use their name to jump the line for the club or even get in sometimes. Now the only name I throw around is the name Jesus. We don’t have to go through a man or any religious procedure to connect with God or for the forgiveness of our sins. Jesus paid that in full on the cross.    1 Timothy 2:5 tells us: For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus, \