Allow Him Access

When I was young, my mom worked late shifts or midnight shifts and she had a friend named Lois. Lois was not one of my moms best friends, she was closer to a friend of a friend or an acquaintance. Lois struggled with boundaries. She didn’t understand common social structures, especially when it came to walking into other peoples houses and bedrooms. One day, as all of us kids were playing, Lois came over unannounced, walked into my house, and my mother woke up to Lois bending down and staring at her in the face in her bedroom!

Tonight we are talking about access. The Biblical definition for access is, “a leading to or toward," "approach”.

In the beginning, before sin entered the world, God walked freely with men and woman. He talked with them and they talked to Him. Once sin entered the picture, separation also had to enter in, because God is Holy and perfect and by definition cannot have anything to do with sin. For thousands of years before Jesus, having access to the presence of God was extremely rare and even dangerous. He is Holy and perfect, and we as humans are not. Jesus life, death, and resurrection gave us access to the presence of God- in fact, it allowed the presence of God to move in and occupy our very spirits and hearts!

God’s presence has moved in to your very spirit and heart!

New Living Translation (Chapter 3)

Because of Christ and our faith in him, we can now come boldly and confidently into God’s presence

1 Corinthians 3:16 ESV

Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?

This does not mean God has become a Sunday morning or Wednesday evening guest at your home. For example, lets say you know someone and choose to invite them over as a guest. Let’s say its me even! I come over and I’m hanging out, you leave the room for a minute and when you come back you can’t find me. You start to look for me and finally see me.. looking through your things in your bedroom closet. As a guest, I do not belong in your bedroom closet. Let’s say you invite me over again, and this time you find me going through your journals, text messages on your phone, and medicine in your cabinet. Just like my moms friend Lois, this would be access that is not appropriate for a guest. But God is not our guest, He has moved in permanently.

God is not a guest in our lives and hearts, He has moved in permanently.

You must be born again. This is not a command, it is a foundation fact. The characteristic of the new birth is that I yield myself so completely to God that Christ is formed in me.

Yield means to surrender or relinquish to the physical control of another.

Just like we now have access to the innermost part of God’s temple where His presence is, He desires access to our innermost spirit.

Self and Satan have access to my mind, but God alone has access to my innermost human spirit.

Roger Barrier; David L. Goetz

When God moves in to a place, that place will begin to change.

Much like a couple getting married and one spouse moving into the other spouse’s home. Suddenly, some decor has changed. Slowly but surely, pictures are missing off walls and new ones are put up. Eventually, the home changes-hopefully for the better. For some homes, maybe even full remodels are done. Add-ons and redone bathrooms and kitchens. The same thing happens when God moved into our lives- we being to change from the inside out.

We previously did not have access to God, but now we have confident access into the presence of God almighty.

But does he have full access to all of you?

Ephesians 3:14–19 NLT

When I think of all this, I fall to my knees and pray to the Father, the Creator of everything in heaven and on earth. I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will empower you with inner strength through his Spirit. Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong. And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is. May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God.

Paul is writing to believers here, and he says, “…then Christ will make His home in your hearts as you trust in him.” So, even though the Holy Spirit now lives within us, it is possible that we have blocked off access to certain areas of our hearts and lives to Him.

God does not force His way into places of our lives and hearts we don’t want Him in.

For some people it’s their finances. They need to feel secure financially and choose not to find their security in the Lord. For others, its their sexuality, or their relationships, or their entertainment, or their physical health. For many of us, it’s our past and the hurts that have caused us great damage. God desires to enter into those places of our heart and heal us, but we have not allowed him access.

I mentioned my mom working midnights earlier. My life growing up was not always the easiest. In fact, I experienced trauma from my childhood. My family experienced abuse, neglect, homelessness, and more. I came to a true saving faith at a young age and even entered into ministry during high school, but I was damaged, wounded, and coping in unhealthy ways all while still loving and serving God. Despite being a Christian and having the Holy Spirit, I did not have freedom from the wounds of my past and they affected me spiritually, mentally, emotionally, and even physically in ways I didn’t even comprehend at the time.

It wasn’t until I finally opened up those doors that I nailed shut and never wanted to open up again and allowed the Holy Spirit full access to my past that I found forgiveness, freedom, and healing. Didn’t I want to be healed? Of course, and I tried to be in all the wrong ways. I was truly waiting for a person or something a person could offer to heal me instead of Jesus Himself. Much like the story in John chapter 5.

John 5:2–8 (NLT)

Inside the city, near the Sheep Gate, was the pool of Bethesda, with five covered porches. Crowds of sick people—blind, lame, or paralyzed—lay on the porches. One of the men lying there had been sick for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him and knew he had been ill for a long time, he asked him, “Would you like to get well?”

“I can’t, sir,” the sick man said, “for I have no one to put me into the pool when the water bubbles up. Someone else always gets there ahead of me.”

Jesus told him, “Stand up, pick up your mat, and walk!”

Would you like to get well?

Imagine having a horrific open wound right on your gut. It’s nasty. You know it really needs to be looked at, you need antibiotics and probably more to heal this sucker. So, you go to the ER and when the nurses and doctors come in and say, “what brings ya in today?” You politely answer, “Oh, just having a minor headache.” You hide your stomach with clothing and don’t ever let them look at your wound or even know it exists.

Of course, this illustration isn’t perfect- the Lord knows exactly what your wounds are, your habits are, and what you hide behind every door in your home. However, much like a doctor, He isn’t about to force His way into every area and try to heal everything without you first exposing the wound, admitting you need healing, and allowing Him to do His work.

Reasons people choose NOT to allow God access/yield to the Holy Spirit:

They do not trust Jesus with their lives (fear)

They love their own way of living (selfish)

They enjoy being a victim (insecure)

They want an excuse for poor behavior

They do not understand the freedom and victory that comes with yielding to God

No other person- not a boyfriend, a counselor, a spouse, a parent, a friend- can heal you or transform you from the inside out the way the Holy Spirit can. Your very best life awaits you when you give God full access to every room, every closet, and every hidden nook in your heart.

Are you allowing Him access to the areas of your life that truly need work?

Yielding control to another source will temporarily numb you, but it will not heal you. Much like a motrin may take away some pain but will not heal a nasty open gut wound.

But look what happens when you DO allow Him to heal that wound and take over that habit...

New Living Translation Chapter 3

Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think. Glory to him in the church and in Christ Jesus through all generations forever and ever! Amen.

God’s mighty power is at work within us (in our inner selves, our inner homes), and He can accomplish so much more than we can ask or even think.

This can help bring glory to God for future generations forever and ever.

John 10:10 AMP

The thief comes only in order to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have and enjoy life, and have it in abundance (to the full, till it overflows).

This is the life God intends for you. My goal here is not to make anyone feel bad, but instead inspire and encourage you- further healing and a much richer, better life is waiting on the other side of yielding to the Spirit.

In what areas of your life do you still need healing?

Or what areas of your life are you choosing not to yield to the Holy Spirit?

Some considerations...

What you allow in your house with the Lord (what you watch, listen to, read, etc.)

Past trauma, hurts, regrets

Finances

Physical health

Relationships

How you spend your time

How you joke with friends, your language

Your attitude toward parents/family members

Your phone, social media, gaming, etc.

Yielding to Jesus will break every form of slavery in any human life.

When God moves in to a place, that place will begin to change.

Prayer: Jesus, I give you full control in my ______. Help me yield this fully to you.