All Access - Day 14 - April 29

READ – 1 John 4:13-19

The Apostle John was an eyewitness to Jesus Christ. He wrote, “…we have seen with our own eyes and now testify that the Father sent his Son to be the Savior of the world.” For three years, John traveled with Jesus. He saw Jesus heal the sick. He was there when Christ commanded his dead friend, Lazarus, to come out of his grave. John saw Jesus crucified; he saw Jesus resurrected; he saw Jesus ascend to Heaven to return to the Father. 

As profound as living with God in the flesh was for John, it must have been all the more astonishing to have God dwelling within John. “All who declare that Jesus is the Son of God have God living in them, and they live in God.” God living within his children! Extraordinary!

That is the reality for you and me. If you have placed your trust in Jesus, believing him to be the Son of God, then the Holy Spirit lives within you!

The primary evidence of the Holy Spirit is this: love. “God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them. And as we live in God, our love grows more perfect.” Love is the primary trait of a follower of Jesus. Love for each other and love for God. It is no exaggeration to say that Christians ought to be the most loving people on the planet.

This love, John writes, banishes fear, enabling you and I to confidently come before the Father. Jesus gives us access to the Father, for which love is the guarantee.

All Access - Day 13 - April 28

READ – Ephesians 3:6-12

Being adopted into God’s family means that every child of God shares equally in Christ’s riches. That must have come as a shock to the Jews, God’s chosen nation. As one of the spiritual leaders of his people, the Apostle Paul understood the awesome significance of his words to the Gentile Christians in the city of Ephesus: 

Both Gentiles and Jews who believe the Good News share equally in the riches inherited by God’s children. Both are part of the same body, and both enjoy the promise of blessings because they belong to Christ Jesus.

This was an earth-shaking declaration, not just for Paul and his Jewish contemporaries, but also for the Gentile believers who read his letter to the Ephesians. They had been adopted into God’s family. For the first time, they could actually connect with God – not the wooden and stone idols of their pagan past – but the living God who demonstrated his presence in sending Christ to dwell among humankind.

Because of their faith in Christ, Paul wrote, “we can now come boldly and confidently into God’s presence.”

That same promise is true for believers today. We, too, can come boldly into God’s presence. When we struggle to overcome our fears, our temptations and our doubts, we can bring them with us to God, knowing that he is with us. Not only that, through the presence of the Holy Spirit, he is in us.

All Access - Day 12 - April 27

READ – Hebrews 4:14-16

There is a photo taken during the Obama Presidency that I absolutely love. It shows the President in the Oval Office, working behind the Resolute Desk. He is intently focused on what he is doing. So intent that he is oblivious that his daughter, Sasha, is belly crawling behind the sofa, about to launch a surprise attack on her dad.

When I was in high school I toured the White House. We saw the usual sights: the Red Room, the Blue Room, the Green Room and, as a guest of a sitting congressman, some unusual sights, including a chance to sit in the White House theater and visit with Nancy Reagan’s Chief of Staff. But we weren’t invited into the Oval Office. 

Imagine what would have happened if I had snuck away from our tour group and barged into the West Wing. Do you think I would have made it all the way to the Oval Office? Not a chance. I don’t care who my congressman was, we didn’t get that kind of access.

Sasha didn’t need an invitation to see her dad in the Oval Office. She didn’t need an escort. The Secret Service didn’t pat her down or run a background check. It wasn’t the Oval Office to her; it was her dad’s office. And you don’t need a special invitation to see your dad.

That is the kind of access that Jesus purchased for his followers, and now believers can “…approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”