How can I enter into God’s presence?
Hebrews 4:16 NLT
“So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most.”
SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT
Through prayer we can pour out our hearts in His presence, we can offer our lives on the altar, presenting ourselves as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God. When we experience the presence of God, His love and kindness flood us, and it’s as if we were receiving a refreshing balm that fills our whole being.
When we stand before the throne of God’s grace, we feel that He takes our weaknesses, turns them into strengths and anguish, anxiety and everything that oppressed us disappears, and in return He gives us full confidence that we are more than conquerors.
LET’S GO DEEPER
1. THROUGH THE CROSS
What a privilege it is to have direct access to the presence of God! It’s important to understand that the only thing that can separate us from the fullness of His presence and that creates walls between God and man is sin and the sinful nature, but all of this was resolved and conquered by Jesus on the Cross.
God himself condemned sin in the flesh of His own son Jesus Christ, making Him the perfect offering. In Jesus ́ body sin was conquered once and for all, granting us freedom from all bondage and guilt. Through the cross, you receive the divine exchange: all your past and evil nature is nailed to that wood (which is continuously present for you), and at the same time, you receive a nature completely transformed by the power of God.
2. TRUST IN THE BLOOD OF JESUS
Hebrews 10:19
“Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus.”
The blood of Jesus is the most powerful weapon we have as God’s children. From the moment that the first couple, Adam and Eve, gave into temptation and disobedience, the enemy was in charge of dominating and enslaving the human being to a life of sin and curse. It is for that reason that God Himself established a plan of redemption for humanity that could only be carried out through His Son Jesus Christ. For God to rescue us there was only one way: through the shedding of blood. But not any blood, the blood of someone who had never been contaminated with sin, Jesus´ blood.
We need to remember that only through this precious blood are we free to enter into the presence of God. When we confess and apply this precious blood over our life, no oppressive or destructive spirit can touch us, because a protection immediately comes over our lives and everything we represent. Start your prayer time by declaring what the blood of Jesus does for you: redeems you, forgives all your sins, justifies you and sanctifies you. This is how you can approach the throne of grace with confidence and without arguments against you.
3. DENY YOURSELF
The way Jesus walked is the same one we need to walk; it’s a path that requires we deny ourselves, a path of obedience, sacrifice and death.
1 Peter 2:21
“For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps”.
What does it mean to deny yourself? It’s not just about not eating certain kinds of food, or not doing certain activities. The Lord spoke about telling our egos “no”; in other words denying the “I want”, “I feel”, and “I think”. What we think is irrelevant before God’s plans. To deny ourselves is to submit our will, which can often become untamable and tends to rise above His perfect will, to God.
Jesus is the greatest example of denying oneself. Being in the garden of Gethsemane, after being betrayed by one of His disciples, He knew that the most difficult moment was ahead: His surrender and His death. In that agony, He prayed intensely saying, “Father, let not my will be done, but Yours.” Jesus taught us to deny ourselves, to pay the price and follow His example.
To enter into effective prayer, it’s necessary to put ourselves aside and determine that our time of communion and intimacy with God will not be based on us, but on who He is, on His goodness and His mercy.
PRAYER
● Before praying, it’s important for you to help them see that the blood that Jesus shed in Gethsemane was because of the great anguish He was feeling. Help them visualize that when that blood fell to the ground, Jesus took away all oppression that is caused by being betrayed. Jesus conquered our peace there and took away all affliction, failure and anxiety.
● Guide them to apply that blood that flowed from His forehead over their lives. As they do, they are denying themselves and accepting God’s will for their lives. It’s important to give them time to ask the Lord for forgiveness for wanting to do their own will and declare that from today on they will live in God’s perfect will.
● Declare together, “Lord, I renounce to myself. I give up what I want, what I feel and what I think, and from now on I decide to do what You want, what You think and what You feel. ”
● Thank God for the sacrifice of His Son on the cross, because through that sacrifice we are sanctified and restored.
● Declare that you are under the covenant of the blood of Jesus and that all the benefits of His Blood are upon your lives (healing, restoration, forgiveness, deliverance, conquest, a new nature, purpose, spiritual gifts, a new heart).