Dear Elim Grace,
Our vision for next year is summed up in two words: access and presence.
Jesus said, “No one can come to the Father except through me.” We will be seeking to understand the power in this statement and to live in its reality. We are growing a BIG people in Christ – a people that live at the access point of God on earth. We now live, move and have our being in and through Jesus Christ, the true Temple and House of God. In Him and through Him, the kingdom of heaven has come to earth. The life and power of the Holy Spirit have come into our hearts. It is no longer we who live, but, as a people for His own treasured possession, it is now Christ who lives in us.
ACCESS TO GOD’S PRESENCE IN SALVATION
This is all because there was a “divine necessity” in the heart of God. In God, in whom there is no need, there was a need of His own choosing and making: that Christ must suffer and die on our behalf. Our salvation is rooted in a divine necessity. There was no other way but “the Way” into the presence of God. Into eternal and abundant life with God.
Yet, salvation is not primarily about man gaining access to God. Rather it is about the dwelling of God being with man. When we realize that salvation is about God wanting to be with His people, we start to see a transforming glory. This glory radiates Christ’s righteousness and God’s goodness. It radiates grace and truth. And it shines upon our hearts in manifold ways. This full access by grace through faith commands yet invites us to do one thing. To believe in our hearts and confess with our mouths that Jesus Christ is Lord of all and Lord of us. This can happen in a moment or over a succession of moments. One person remembered their words to Jesus at a pivotal turning point in their life: “Jesus, I don’t feel like I’m a sinner. But you say that I am. So, I believe you. I believe in your Word. I believe what you say about my need for salvation. I believe in you, Jesus.”
ACCESS TO GOD’S PRESENCE IN PRAYER
But that is only the beginning or the threshold of our access in Christ. We move into the house, as it were, and have access to every spiritual blessing and treasure found in God. We access these riches in and through prayer. At every movement of our lives, in every season of our lives, we live at the access point of Christ.
A people BIG in Christ are a people BIG in prayer. They hear the call to the priority of their prayers. They pray first, at all times. And they hear the call to the persistence of their prayers. They knock day and night; their need to pray is driven by their need for God. Finally, they hear the call to the Perfecter of their prayers. Jesus lives to make intercession for His people. He “perfects” the prayers of His people. He takes our imperfect prayers and accomplishes His perfect will. As Charles Spurgeon said, “The Lord Jesus Christ is always ready to take the most imperfect prayer and perfect it for us. If our prayers had to go up to heaven as they are, they would never succeed; but they find a friend on the way, and therefore they prosper.”
ACCESS TO GOD’S PRESENCE IN HOLINESS
If we’ve been given access to God in salvation, and if through prayer we can access every heavenly treasure, then we must carry and take that access seriously. We must treat it as holy by living holy lives.
Holiness is a consecration to God’s wisdom in Christ. The wisdom of God as revealed in the good news of Jesus Christ is foolishness to the world. But to us it is the power of God for salvation. For access. Because we are holy, we commit ourselves to God’s wisdom in Christ. Because we are wise, we commit ourselves to God’s holiness in Christ. We are set apart to live for Christ in wisdom by the power of the Holy Spirit. We are called to be a “Stephen” generation (Acts 7). Men and women, full of the Spirit, who see the heavens opened in Jesus and surrender their lives to Him.
Holiness means that the indwelling Holy Spirit now harmonizes our desires with God’s desires. He writes the Word of God into our hearts. Our hearts, refined in God’s presence, now carry the “silver and gold” of God’s image and glory in Jesus throughout the world.
Holiness is not a code of ethics. It’s not a standard of morality. It’s a transformed heart. A heart that knows what to do (wisdom) according to what is pleasing to God (holiness) and freely walks in that freedom by the power and desire of the Spirit.
ACCESS TO GOD’S PRESENCE IN ENDURANCE
And finally, since we have been granted such a salvation as this, and since we have access with confidence into the presence of God through prayer, and since we are being transformed and empowered by the glorious might of Christ through the Spirit of God, let us not lose heart and shrink back.
Let us not shrink back in the face of adverse circumstances nor the adversity of people. Let us not shrink back into our own wisdom and strength. But let us draw near to God in holiness. Let us hold fast to our confession of Christ, for He who promised is faithful. Let us stir one another up to love and good works, because we will not, we cannot, make it alone.
Yes, there are things in life that Jesus does or allows that only afterward we will understand. But He promises we will. Yes, there are acts of sin, failure, denial, and betrayal we commit toward Jesus. But He has already gone before us in grace and mercy. Yes, there are enemies and an Enemy that seek our destruction. But Jesus has prayed for our faith, that it might not fail, even when we have.
Elim Grace, we have need of endurance (Hebrews 10:36), for we are not of those who shrink back. In other words, God calls us to and provides us with endurance, because of who we are: His people.
“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?… No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”. (Romans 8:35-39)
We do not shrink back because there is One who has gone before us into the very presence of God. He is our Champion and Representative. He is our Mediator and Intercessor. He is our Anchor and our Author. He is our Savior, our Lord, our King, our everything. Jesus Christ, the very image, fullness, and radiance of the living, almighty, and holy God.
So let us not shrink back, but rather let us draw near to God together, “not neglecting to meet together”. For His promise is true: if we draw near to Him, He will draw near to us. Let us know and live in the access God has purchased for us, secured for us, and given us in Christ Jesus. Let us live there freely and fully, in and to the glory of God. Let us experience more of His goodness, grace, love and power through the constant indwelling and pouring out of the Spirit into our hearts.
Let us press on this coming year in growing, not a big church, but a big people – a people BIG in Christ and Christ alone. In Him we have access with confidence before God.