You don’t need a priest to access God. You don’t need a pastor to mediate your prayers. Jesus already did that. Jesus is the mediator and our High Priest. The veil has been torn, beloved. You have direct access to Him yourself. Just believe it.
“Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”
John 14:6
Many of us seem to be under the impression that God hears the prayers of certain people because they are exceptionally good. We think that God looks down on earth and decides who to listen to based on how much of their life they actively dedicate to Him. This then leaves the rest of us feeling inadequate and accepting the lesser position of one who is not heard by God. This is a lie from the enemy. The truth is that once you have placed your faith in Jesus Christ being the Son of God and in Him being the Lord of your life, you become righteous. You are thus no longer a sinner, by definition of the word righteous [one who is in right-standing with God]. No one becomes righteous by doing good works. The only thing that puts us in right-standing with God is Jesus Christ – this is explained beautifully throughout the New Testament. Now, James 5:16 tells us that the earnest prayer of a righteous person is powerful and produces great results. So that means that once you have accepted Jesus, your prayers are being listened to. Period.
It can be hard to wrap your head around this when you’ve grown up in a culture that treats particular church leaders as gods rather than men. I’m here to debunk that. Don’t get me wrong, these people should most definitely be honoured (the ones who are genuine, that is). They are indeed ministers of God and are serving Him, so they should rightfully be honoured for such faithful work, as they are members of the body of Christ just as we are. However, there is an issue when we think that they have a special key to God’s heart that we don’t have. Dear reader, that key is Jesus Christ and if you have Him, then you are not in a different position to them.
You don’t need to go to a priest to confess your sins to God. You can confess them to Him in your room. And God doesn’t want your relationship with Him to just be about confessing sins and then going about your day. What kind of relationship is that? He loves you. He wants to hear about your day and about what makes you laugh and smile and what your opinion is on the latest tv show you’re watching and who upset you that day. He cares about every detail of your life and does not want you to see Him as simply a record-book for your wrongs. He wants to be your Father.
There was a need to go through a human priest in order to access God in the Old Testament. This was when we were under the law of Moses and not under the grace of Jesus Christ. In those days, there was a veil in the temple that separated us from God. A priest would approach God in front of this veil on your behalf and ask for the atonement of your sins. Even he wasn’t allowed to enter behind the veil. Only the high priest was allowed to do that, and only once a year at that. He would offer a yearly sacrifice there. But now, Christ has become our High Priest (Read the book of Hebrews). He entered behind that veil and offered Himself as a sacrifice once and for all, by subjecting Himself to the crucifixion on the cross. God Himself became the sacrifice for our sins in order to make us right with Him. He became the Lamb. As a result of this, through Christ, we now have direct access to God. In fact, it was noted that when Jesus Christ was crucified, after he breathed his last breath, the veil of the temple in Jerusalem tore from top to bottom, all by itself (Matthew 27:51). This actually historically happened. This was a sign to us that because of Christ’s finished work, there is no longer a barrier between us and God. How glorious!
So please be aware of this. Be aware that you can know God for yourself because of what Jesus did. I am not saying that you should dismiss the need for church leaders such as pastors. These people are important and are often elected by God (not all, but some) (Ephesians 4:11). They are there to help you in your journey, but they should not become your Jesus Christ i.e. they should not become your mediator.
“For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus,”
1 Timothy 2:5
You have access to God, dear reader. You just need faith. And faith is supplied to us by God Himself. So if you don’t have it, what should you do? Ask. God doesn’t expect you to provide for yourself. What kind of good Father tells His children to fend for themselves? He wants to fend for you, but He will not force Himself onto you. He needs you to ask. Don’t be afraid to do this.
Don’t fall victim to the myth that you are less than another mere human being. 2 Peter 1:1 gives us insight that we have faith of the same value as the faith of Simon Peter – a man through whose shadow God healed the sick (Acts 5:15). And who gave Peter this faith? God. The same God that can give it to you. Never see a human being as God. Any miraculous signs or prophecies etc done through that person was performed by God and was able to be carried out by faith. All you need is faith. Faith is what lets you be in right-standing with God. Faith is what lets you receive the Holy Spirit. Faith is what allows you to operate in the gifts of the Spirit. Faith is what makes you confident to approach God’s throne. Indeed, Hebrews 4:14-16 urges us to approach God’s throne (i.e. approach God in prayer) with confidence because we know we have Jesus Christ as our High Priest!
But I end with this: you cannot have full access to God if you don’t accept Jesus Christ. There is no other way, religion nor belief that will allow you to access the one true God except Jesus Christ (John 14:6). Don’t be deceived because certain people who don’t believe in Jesus receive answers to prayers. I tell you the truth: demons provide things for people, too. It’s all part of Satan’s big game of deception. And if you don’t believe in Satan, you’ve already fallen victim to his first trap. Satan can provide but the end of whatever he provides will always be death, destruction and pain (John 10:10). He has zero interest in you. But the good news is that Jesus Christ accepts ALL who come to Him! Come as you are. Don’t try to change your ways first. Just come. He will take care of everything else. Just make the decision to repent in your heart of your sins and place your faith in Jesus Christ. Confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead (Romans 10:9). Once you’ve done that, some gentle steps I would advise is to start coming to God in prayer (just talk to Him as you would a friend), download the Bible app and start reading the book of John (take it slow), and start watching sermons on youtube. Here’s a good one to start:
It’s really very simple. Find a good church to attend if you can too – ask God to help you locate one, and believe He will. The main thing I would advise is to keep your focus on Christ, not on your sins. Focus on learning more about Him through the bible and growing closer to Him with prayer. Let me repeat: do not focus on your sins. The greater your affections grow for Christ, the less they will grow for your sins. You can mark my words on that.
Have a blessed day and remember you are loved by the Creator of the galaxies. Shalom.
