Dear Ones, Here is the next installment of our SUPER SCRIPTURES series…I think it will be a real blessing to you! If you would, please do two things for me – please forward to your friends, and it you’re so moved, please shoot me back a short reply with what you thought of it. Love you! KRP
SUPER SCRIPTURES – ROMANS 5:1,2
Is it possible to have every prayer of ours answered with the full manifestation of the promise of God? Can we be so connected with the Lord that every prayer is answered, every need is met, at precisely the right time and circumstance? Jesus said, I know that You hear Me always. The Gospels tell us that the Father knows our needs even before we ask. Life experience even teaches us that good fathers and mothers anticipate and supply their children’s needs, and even many of their desires, before they ever ask. Can God be that good, that close to us, that He hears and answers every prayer, every cry of our hearts, and brings us to victory every single time? Romans 5:1,2 says Yes.
Romans 5:1,2 is one of these great, ‘summation of truth from Genesis to Revelation’ type of verses.
When I study a verse like Romans 5:1,2, I will take a legal-size pad of yellow lined paper and I will break down the verse by phrases. ‘Therefore’ would be on the first line. Then I would skip three or four lines, then write ‘having been justified by faith.’ Then skip a few lines and write ‘we have peace with God.’ So, I will go down my page laying out each phrase so that I can focus on it. I will begin to study each phrase – what is the ‘therefore’ there for? – using my English and Greek study tools to gain the most perfect understanding, all the while trusting the Holy Spirit to be my Editor and Guide.
I’ll study it inwardly, looking at each word and phrase, making notes on my legal pad, then study it outwardly seeing how the truth fits in the context of the whole book, and finally the whole expanse of Scripture. Then I will immediately try to teach or preach it, because in the communication of the Word the ‘Aha’ moments of divine clarity come, taking us all to new levels of appreciation and understanding. Finally, you just rejoice and say with hands lifted in praise, “God, Father and Lord, You are so great!”
Now, I’m not going to take you through the whole study, but just to point out some of the things that struck me. The word ‘access’ really got my attention, and it’s a great key to getting all of our prayers answered, all the time, just like Jesus. It’s the Greek word PROSAGOGUE, and its only used two other places in the Greek New Testament, in our beloved book of Ephesians.
…for through Him we both have access (Grk. PROSAGOGUE) by one Spirit to the Father. Eph 2:18 NKJV
See the Godhead?
…according to the eternal purpose which He accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord, in whom we have boldness and access (Grk. PROSAGOGUE) with confidence through faith in Him. Eph 3:11-13 NKJV
Now…think about ‘access,’ meaning the boldness and confidence to walk through the door to God’s presence, to the loving heart of the Father which is always open to you. Israel didn’t have that kind of access. Moses had it to a degree. Moses probably had the closest, most intimate relationship with God that we see in anyone in the OT. Yet Moses didn’t get to enter the promised land. A grave sin disqualified him from that privilege. But we – in contrast – have been justified, made just as if I had never sinned, a one-time completed work in the past through the faith of Jesus Christ, which is how the King James Version reads. Nothing can separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord!
There is nothing from God’s point of view that ever hinders you from receiving God’s powerful answer to every one of your prayers, which is due to the finished work of Christ on our behalf. Our peace with God is through the blood covenant of our Lord Jesus. Super scriptures, indeed!
My friend Dale Sides points out that a great key to healing is to receive the gift of righteousness. You see, faith for answered prayer is not only about who you perceive God is, but about who you perceive you are. Are you a sinner, or a saint – a holy one? Are you unworthy, or worthy?
False humility always magnifies the negative. You were a sinner. Ok, but what happened in salvation? When Christ came in, He transformed your inner man, giving you a new nature, a nature of righteousness, a nature of holiness, giving you an access to God for which Israel could only yearn. Do you see it?
How you judge God – is He loving, faithful, true to His word, or not? – and how you judge yourself will have great determination in how and what you receive from God.
As I grow up into who I am in Christ, walking boldly with confident access, it seems that answers to prayer just line up before me to be manifested for His glory.
EFFECTIVE PRAYERS
The great effective power of prayer is the love of God which causes me to seek the benefit of another. I must also love myself with the love of God that seeks my blessing and benefit from Heaven. Anything that causes me not to love myself or love others with His love must be overcome by the blood of the Lamb.
I once knew a woman who had great love for others, but little love for herself. She blessed many others, but herself was impoverished. I didn’t know then what I know now to minister to her. Sad…
And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. Rom 8:28 NKJV
When we pray in tongues out of love for God, others and ourselves, we are going to see the answers multiply. We don’t know what we should pray, but the Holy Spirit does. In the energizing of tongues, the Lord Jesus searches our spirit man to know our deepest thoughts, desires and needs, enabling the Holy Spirit to make intercession through our spirits for God’s best to come forth. All things, every circumstance, works together to bring the best possible result for God’s glory.
You get it? More tongues, more love, more answers.
THE WILL OF GOD
Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him. 1 John 5:14-15 NKJV
I have never questioned the love of my heavenly Father because I always had the unreserved love of my earthly father. My trust in both is due to unconditional love on their part. If you never had the love of an earthly father, Jesus will have to do a mighty work in you, but He can!
The reason why I rely so much on tongues in my personal prayer life is this issue of the will of God. Your spirit, enabled by the Holy Spirit, makes intercession for the perfect will of God, the best of all possible outcomes. You know that there are different degrees, different levels of the will of God, right? Don’t settle for less than God’s best.
Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Rom 5:1-2 NKJV
Romans 5:1,2 is indeed a Super Scripture, right? To fully expound it we would have to go Genesis through Revelation on a ‘road to Emmaus’ type teaching, and I would get complaints about how long my article is! Here is the point I want to make – truly love yourself, root out every wrong paradigm that denies who you really are, and esteem yourself very highly in love and humility, because God loves you – Romans 5:1,2 declares it – and you will see answer after answer to prayer. Ok? Love you!
Remember dear ones, we must be about our Father’s business…