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Only one thing gives you access to God. The shed blood of Jesus Christ guarantees you an immediate audience with him. No work that you can do gives you access to God. Thank God, you don't need to work for it. Jesus gave it to you as part of your redemption.


Hebrews 10:19:

Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus,


Ephesians 2:13:

But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.


Ephesians 2:18:

For through him [Christ] we both [Gentiles and Israelites] have access by one Spirit unto the Father.

Your righteousness in Christ gives you the ability to approach God at any time, for any reason. There is no veil between you and God as there was under the Old Covenant. In fact, the presence of God himself, once reserved for the holy of holies, is now inside believers, including you! Furthermore, you are seated in heavenly places with Christ. It should be clear that there is no barrier between you and God that would stop God from hearing you. You do not have to "bombard the gates of heaven" or tire God's ear with the same request over and over.


The outer court/inner court/holy of holies fallacy

A common, but unscriptural, notion of approaching God holds that you must first enter into his "outer courts" by giving thanks, and then into his "inner courts" by praising, and finally into the "holy of holies" by worshipping. This is simply not true. This notion is generally propagated by music ministers who would like to see themselves as tour guides to the holy of holies instead of the helps ministers (like ushers) that they actually are. It is not New Covenant theology.


In fact, it was never true under the Old Covenant, either. If you weren't the designated priest and you went into the holy of holies, you would be struck dead on the spot, worship or no worship. You never got to go there.

This whole teaching is based on a misinterpretation of Psalm 100:4: "Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise." This means simply that when you enter the courts of the Lord, do so with thanksgiving and praise. (The gates went into the courts; like most Hebrew poetry, this is phrasing the same thought two ways.) It never meant that thanksgiving got you into the outer court and praise took you into the inner court. No one in the Old Testament ever started thanking God and suddenly said, "Oh, look, I'm in the outer court now! How'd I get here?" then started praising God and said, "Oh, look, I'm suddenly in the inner court. My praise must have taken me here!" The Psalmist wasn't saying to enter his gates by thanksgiving, he said to enter them with thanksgiving. See the difference? You can just start fellowshipping with God right now without having to work up thanksgiving and praise first.


Your praise and worship and thanksgiving are important, but you'd better not think for a minute that they give you access to God. It is strictly the blood of Jesus that gives you free access to the throne. The New Testament definitely teaches that you should praise and worship and thank God, but it does not teach that these actions get you an audience with God. They just help you get your flesh under and make you more conscious of what is already yours.

I have nothing against musicians; I am one. I just don't like bad theology that overinflates the importance of music ministers. You don't need praise, worship or music to approach God -- the blood of Jesus is your "season ticket" to the holy of holies.


What to do in your time of need


If you are sick, you are in need. It is your '"time of need." What should you do in your time of need? Hebrews 4:16 says, "Let us therefore [because we have a great high priest] come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need." Because Jesus Christ's blood gives you access to the throne, you are supposed to go there and get what you need! If you are sick, you should go and receive the mercy of healing that you need! Notice that the mercy and grace to help are there and you can "obtain" them. God will not withhold them from you.

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