Scripture: 1 Peter 2 v 4 - 5: "To whom coming, as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God, and precious,
5 Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ."
"In the New Testament every believer is a priest. Every believer has got the right of direct access to God. If you can’t hear direct from God there’s something wrong with your life. You better put that right and stop listening to anybody else till you’ve done it."
Derek Prince.
As new creations of whom Jesus Christ is the first, or prototype, we are priests and kings. Every one of us. And we all have direct access to the Throneroom of God.
Revelation 4 v 2 - 4: "And immediately I was in the spirit: and, behold, a throne was set in heaven, and one sat on the throne.
3 And he that sat was to look upon like a jasper and a sardine stone: and there was a rainbow round about the throne, in sight like unto an emerald.
4 And round about the throne were four and twenty seats: and upon the seats I saw four and twenty elders sitting, clothed in white raiment; and they had on their heads crowns of gold."
The Apostle John had the honour of describing it to us so that when we are in the Spirit, we are in the presence of God in His Throne room. It sounds almost like the Northern lights, the Aurora Borealis, in there with rainbows and emeralds around the throne.
The 24 elders are not named but are most likely to be the 12 Patriarchs of Israel, probably including Moses, Joshua, Elijah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, David, Samuel, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel. And the other 12 would be the Apostles of the Lamb, with Paul replacing Judas.
So when we come into the Throneroom our Father, and Jesus Christ, and all these great builders of our faith are witnesses to our audience before the Lord of Heaven and Earth. When we bring our needs and petitions before God we are among the greatest people who ever lived on Earth.
We do not come as beggars in shabby clothes, but as kings and priests in robes of righteousness, welcomed and heard as we talk to God in our right to have direct access to Him.
All those 24 elders understood what it meant to hear God's voice and trust in all His instructions and answers to our needs. All of them had seen Him do many miracles.
It was reading Derek Prince's words that inspired this blog today. If we are not hearing from God directly ourselves we need to find out why this is and put it right immediately. The problem is not on God's side so why is He being blocked from us?
The biggest threat to our faith is unbelief. It means that we choose not to believe what God is saying. We close the door, and sometimes lock it, so we reject His words because we absolutely disagree with whatever He has said.
We come in His Presence with some serious need, perhaps our child is gravely ill, or we are in a financial jam, or any other horrid thing, and He tells us that we need to forgive somebody who has severely wronged us before He can help.
There can be a severe reaction on our part because we have a hatred in our heart and have sworn never to forgive or forget till our dying day the wrong that has been done.
Mark 11 v 24 - 26: "Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.
25 And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against any: that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.
26 But if ye do not forgive, neither will your Father which is in heaven forgive your trespasses."
If our Father does not forgive us our trespasses, or sins, then He does not hear us! 1 John 3 v 21 - 22: "Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God.
22 And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight."
1 John 5 v 14 - 15: "And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us:
15 And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him."
These are the ways that we receive answers to prayers, which grows our faith tremendously and increases our confidence in God. The converse is also true, and if we reject God's Wisdom we are in danger of the sin of unbelief which leads to backsliding away from Jesus.
To those who believe 'once saved always saved' the following verse of scripture may give us pause to reconsider our position. Revelation 3 v 4 - 5: "Thou hast a few names even in Sardis which have not defiled their garments; and they shall walk with me in white: for they are worthy.
5 He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels." Spoken by Jesus to the Apostle John in His letters to the 7 churches.
It is up to Him to know that we have overcome the world and whether our names will be blotted out of the Lamb's Book of Life. We can declare we are safely on our way to Heaven because we cannot be unsaved, but we may have never forgiven someone who hurt us terribly at some time in our lives. We need to compare this with how our sins nailed His Son to a Cross, and Jesus saying on that Cross, Father forgive them, they know not what they do.
We ask our Father to forgive our sins when we repent, and He asks the same of us, and makes it clear that if we don't forgive it blocks Him from forgiving us. So dearly beloved, audit your heart for any hidden or well remembered bitter feelings and bring them before God and release them to His judgment. Forgive them so that He can deal with them justly.
Only then will you have restored access to Him on His Throne and receive answers to your prayers. There are a number of ways we block that access but this is the most common. If you realise you have shut the door, only you can open it, and obedience to our Father keeps it open forever.
Prayer: Heavenly Father, we are so grateful that the death of Jesus split the golden curtain in the Temple of Jerusalem, opening the Holy of Holies, Your throneroom, to those who believe. It is an honour and a privilege to bring our needs before You. Thank You for millions of answers and miracles. In Jesus' name. Amen.
