[Pastor Ralph]

Q4. What does Ephesians 3:12 teach us about the manner of approaching God? What happens if we try to pray without these qualities?

[Ken7]

"The unsearchable riches of Christ" is a great starting place for this humility spoken of in the last question. When you asked that we meditate on this verse, I immediately became VERY small in God's universe. We search the stars and wonder many things about the 'God sized world we are in".

Then we realize that we, His Church, are to 'make known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms the manifold wisdom of God'. That should humble the greatest evangelist!!

We are God's agent, given God's authority ...yet we seem to be making so little impact on the lost or the spiritual powers we battle. I show my impatience, yet there is so much work, and so few workers.

My prayer is that each of us will take our God given access, boldness, and confidence into the world and start making a difference - one person at a time. Prayer without these qualities in us is ineffective prayer.

[Jezemeg]

We are to approach God in this way because we are no longer some insignificant speck of dust, we are His adopted heirs, we have equal standing with Our Lord Jesus Christ, by whose side we sit. However, we are commissioned to spread the Gospel, we are not commissioned to provide reasonning for the mysteries of the Gospel unless God has revealed them Himself; it is not for us to force the Gospel on anyone, God alone will be responsible for the ears of the hearers to be opened, for the seed sown to sprout. Our task is solely to preach the Gospel.

We cannot stay in God's realm unless we continually maintain our personal relationship with Our Father, this means we must regularly (not just daily) be in His presence, in constant prayer even though it may not be apparent to those around us. It is not necessary for one to close one's eyes, or speak words audibly for God to hear us. It is our willingness to be in God's Presence, to receive His counsel that cements our relationship with Him.

[Stan]

Q4. What does Ephesians 3:12 teach us about the manner of approaching God? What happens if we try to pray without these qualities?


Eph 3:12 In whom we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of him.

It tells us that we can come to the Father with boldness knowing that He will answere our prayer if we pray in faith.1John: 5:14 And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us: And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him but if we don't have faith then we are like James says Jas 1:6 But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed Jas 1:7 For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord. We only recieve what we ask for in faith believing that we have already recieved it. If we pray without believing then we will recieve nothing from God. He only give to those who believes. If we pray without confidence then it is the same as un belief and little faith.

[Commissioned]

Q4. What does Ephesians 3:12 teach us about the manner of approaching God?
According to Ephesians 3:12, when approaching God we are to come with boldness and confidence by the faith we have in Christ Jesus.

What happens if we try to pray without these qualities?
When we try to pray without these qualities our prayers are hindered.

[JustJeff]

When we speak to our heavenly Father we should do so as we would a friend. Jesus taught us that we are His friends if we obey His commandments. At the same time, we are also the children of the Father. With the faith that this is true, we should approach God as we would a loving father of the flesh, knowing that he will listen and help us with a willing heart and will not turn a deaf ear to our pleas. Yahweh is such and expects us to come to Him with the boldness and confidence that displays love and trust. To not have such a relationship with the Creator is a lack of faith. Our prayers will be ineffective.

[masika]

It is an awesome privilege to be able to approach God with freedom and confidence. Most of us would be apprehensive in the presence of a powerful ruler . But thanks to Christ , by faith we can enter directly into God's presence through prayer . We know we'll be welcomed with open arms because we are God's children through our union with Christ . We should be afraid of God . Talk with Him about everything . He is willing to hear from us.
Those who fear to talk to God are not His .

[heavenlymann]

I think to pray in this manner is God's given right to the Christian. We are His adopted family.

If we pray without these qualities it demonstrates our lack of understanding of our identity in Christ.

[sahala p.s.]

Q4. What does Ephesians 3:12 teach us about the manner of approaching God? What happens if we try to pray without these qualities?

Ephesians 3:12 teaches that we may approach God in the manner of these, that is, in Christ, through faith in Christ, with freedom or boldness (not to be timid before God) and confidence (be confident of his favor and love).

If we try to pray without these qualities, we will not receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need (Hebrews 4: 15:15-16)

[Lisa Rupert]

Q4. What does Ephesians 3:12 teach us about the manner of approaching God? What happens if we try to pray without these qualities?
We are to approach God through Faith with Freedom and Confidence. The same way we would approach a family member or a friend we should approach God with that same type of confidence and we should feel free to do it. Any where any place any situation. We should believe in our hearts that because of faith he hears us and will answer our prayers. Without this type of faith our prayers remain unheard this is because we are not true believers, we didn't approach him with the faith and belief that we know he hears us and answers us. We go to him with doubt in our hearts and this lack of faith hinders the process.

[pickledilly]

The qualities of verse 12 are a perfect guide for checking my relationship and communication with God. Whether or not I take advantage of this access to Yahweh, boldly come to Him without fear, and am certain of His trustworthiness says a lot about how well I personally know Him. Am I timid or fearful about coming to the Father? Am I careless, even apathetic, about this privilege of approach? Am I doubtful or unsure or incredulous about His love and goodwill toward me? Too often, the unfortunate answer is "yes".

I am impressed that the 3 specific traits listed in this verse are impossible apart from the condition of being in Christ Jesus my Lord and approaching God through my faith in Him. Paul sort of sandwiched those traits right between these two requirements. First of all, there is no personal access to God for the person who has not repented of sin and received the redemptive covering of Christ's holy righteousness that makes us acceptable in God's presence. And then, the qualities of boldness, approach, and confidence in God will never be fully operational without my faith being put into action.

The LORD won't answer unbelieving prayer. If we try to pray apart from these qualities, we will have an ineffectual prayer life. We'll be reserved or hesitant in coming to the Father in the first place. We'll tend to walk by sight instead of faith, leaning on our own understandings and how we feel about things. We won't be praying with the full assurance that God hears and answers our prayers according to His good plan and purposes (which means the answer will be for good). The result of all that is that we'll be living powerless defeated lives. Saved, but not so productive for the kingdom of God.

[charisbarak]

We are to approach God through Jesus Christ and with faith in Him with freedom & confidence.
Jesus made a way for us to come to God like we come to our "daddy." We can come at any time & with confidence that He hears & will answer.

If we try to pray without these qualities, we could just as well speak to the ceiling.....

[warrior]

What does Ephesians 3:12 teach us about the manner of approaching God? What happens if we try to pray without these qualities?

We should have boldness to approach God with openess, frankness and able to speak whatever we feel knowing if we have His righteouness within us we will find favor with Him. We need to come with the confidence that we can rely and trust Him.

We will lack the faith to believe that whatsoever we ask will be given. We will let Satan make us feel unworthy but the the blood has made us worthy the flesh can never be worthy and without the character of God we cannot understand the things of God

[Pegi]

Q4. What does Ephesians 3:12 teach us about the manner of approaching God? What happens if we try to pray without these qualities?

We can approach Him with freedom and confidence.

[June]

That we approach humbly, with boldness, with confidence and trust. We are to get on our knees and humble ourselves before Him. Without faith & hope we have nothing. Have confidence and be free to ask everything of God the Father and through His sacrifice, Jesus Christ , all things are possible. Without these our prayers only go to the roof and no further.

[PCHRIS]

These 2 verses from Hebrews are the clearest examples and explanations of this, Pastor Ralph already quoted this one:
"For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are -- yet was without sin. Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need." Hebrews 4:15-16
the other is Hebrews 10:19; "Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus"

Boldness-freedom of speech
Access with confidence-similiar to boldness but more personal

We are adopted intom God's family, co-heirs with Christ, we can come before the Father with all our wants/desires if we don't come to Him with these qualities, well our prayers will be, us just blowing wind.

[steve.c]

What does Ephesians 3:12 teach us about the manner of approaching God? What happens if we try to pray without these qualities?

This verse tells us that we have access to God. The forgiveness of our sins makes that possible. When we approach God and pray to Him we can be bold, that is fearless and without doubts. We can be confident and put our trust completely in Him. If we do not have this confidence it says much about our faith. If we pray with an attitude of doubt and uncertainty, how can we expect that prayer to be effective? Paul teaches us how to pray so that our prayers are effective and he gives us the basis why that is.

[Eudora]

Q4. What does Ephesians 3:12 teach us about the manner of approaching God?

If I were brought before the King of England, I wonder how I would act? That is it right there in a nutshell. With Jesus, we don’t have to act. We can be ourselves, simply because He has brought down the curtain and we don’t have to be an actor on a stage.

Because we have faith in Jesus and take Him at His word, we can be confident and free to kneel before the Most High God and not fear because of our humanness.

Where once we were un-forgiven heathen, we are now forgiven and we don’t have to be afraid to approach this Almighty, All Knowing God of all creation. He has mingled His spirit with in us and we can trust in Him and say what ever needs to be said. We have examples of this through Abraham, Noah, Moses and all the folks in scripture who spoke candidly with God. Even Jesus, when we listen in on His prayer, we know that He is our model and even in our prayers, we can model Him.

We as humans, still revere Him, knowing that He is God and All Power is in His hand, so we don’t ever forget that when we approach Him. Yet, no matter who we are, Jew or Gentile, black or white or red or brown, we all come short of His glory, yet He is willing to shed His glory upon us, which glorifies Him.

I am not so sure about being in the presence of God. Can anyone really go there? I think if I were in His presence in my own power, I might burn up. His presence was so powerful that Moses could not look at Him. Without the revelation of Christ we could hardly know of God’s presence and of His love, who loves to have us come to Him. Thanks to Christ Jesus, we can now boldly go before the Throne. We know that we are welcome with His arms open wide. He is always waiting for us to visit with Him.

What happens if we try to pray without these qualities? Like I said, in my own power, forgetting that it is through Jesus that I must approach the throne, I might burn up. If I forget where my faith was born, I would probably slip and fall and end up in the pit of eternal hell. This is why I hold on with dear life, daily in His word. I, like Paul, don’t ever want to go back to where I came from. If I forget, I would only be as worthless as a filthy rag. I would loose the seal of Christ and His hope in me and I would no longer be very glorifying to Him. I would completely dishonor His Honor.

[Eudora]

Tabatha, I enjoyed your writing. I get the feeling that you have read of the writings of Madame Guyon. This is where I first found that we could go before the throne, in quietness and just sit and love on Him. Or just sit and do nothing, expecting nothing except just being at the feet of the Most High God. I agree in the approach. I couldn't even begin to make this attempt with out crying out like David did, to search my heart and cleanse me before entering the Holy of Holies. I feel, we still live in the resemblance of the tabernacle of our relationship with Him in this manner of worship. He washes us in the basin of His forgiveness when we repent, then we go before the alter and lay down our sacrifice, before we enter the sanctuary -Eudora