THE CODE 16 may 2025 www.goodnewsfl.org Good News • South Florida Edition “Through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father” (Ephesians 2:18 NKJV). The holy Trinity is one of the imponderables of almighty God. God is One, manifesting Himself in three persons as the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. I am not bothered by the fact that it is a great mystery and difficult to grasp. In fact, if I could understand it all, there would not be much to it. This is why the Christian life is a life of faith. Philosophy might attempt to explain it, but it cannot change. Christianity changes lives even though some of the Bible's explanations of God's grandeur and grace are unexplainable. We often hear skeptics exclaim that the word Trinity cannot be found in the Bible. But we do not have to see the word to discover the truth throughout the Scripture. The Trinity — the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit — is present at the baptism of Jesus. The Son is standing there, the Father speaks from heaven and the Spirit descends on the Lord like a dove from heaven (Luke 3:22). When we come to Ephesians 2:18, we have reached one of the mountain peaks of Scripture, and the secret is found in three prepositions - to, through and by. In this short verse is found in the mystery of the Trinity in relationship to our prayer life. Prayers are to be offered "to the Father." He is the Author and Initiator of our salvation. Our prayers are to be offered "through Him [the Son]." He is the One who came to execute God's plan of redemption through His vicarious and voluntary death on the cross and His resurrection from the grave. Finally, our prayers are offered "by one Spirit.” He is the One who convicts of sin, empowers us for service, and helps us in our prayer life. The Father, the Son and the Spirit all work together in order for you and me to have access to God. The source of prayer Prayer is “to the Father." All true prayer begins when I claim my personal relationship with Him and begin to know and love Him in the intimacy of Father and child. For me, this relationship began when I was seventeen and trusted in Christ as my personal Savior. Since that day, I have grown to know Him as my heavenly Father. He is the source of our prayer life. The only way God can be called "Father" is if we have been born again spiritually into His family through what Jesus called, in John, being born again (John 3:7). It might surprise some of us to know that we are not all God's children. We are all God's creation, but the Bible states clearly that "as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God” (John 1:12). And Paul, in his letter to the Galatians, makes it crystal clear, saying that we become children of God “through faith in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:26). The gospel writers record that over seventy times Jesus began in prayer using the word Father. What a privilege for you and me to acknowledge that He is the source of prayer by addressing Him as Father. When we pray, we are not trying to appease a demanding parent, but we are children who, because of our relationship with Him, can come boldly before our Father’s throne (Hebrews 4:16). The course of prayer If the Father is the source of prayer, the Son is the course through which we go to make our petitions known. Prayer is "through the Son." In fact, there is no access to the Father unless we go through the Son. The apostle Paul makes this plain: “There is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself a ransom for all” (1 Timothy 2:5-6). Apart from Christ, we have no access to God. Jesus Christ is our High Priest. In the old dispensation on the Day of Atonement, the high priest would take the blood of a sacrificial lamb, enter beyond the veil of the Holy of Holies and sprinkle the blood on the mercy seat of the ark. Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, made the final sacrifice for sin. He shed His blood on the cross, died and rose the third day, passed through the heavens and presented His own blood at the throne of God. No wonder Paul said, "Through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father." It is through Christ - not through the church, not through a priest, not through the Virgin Mary, but through Him and Him alone. Jesus is the course of true prayer. The force of prayer Effective, powerful prayer is "by one Spirit." If the Father is the source and the Son is the course, then the Spirit is the force behind it all. It is the Holy Spirit praying in us and through us that empowers us to pray with results. Jude reminds us that we are built up in our most holy faith when we are "praying in the Holy Spirit" (Jude v. 20). It is the Holy Spirit who "helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought" (Romans 8:26). We can read the great prayers of saints down through the ages. We can recite prayers by rote from memory. But without the Holy Spirit we will never be effective in our prayer journey. It is only through Christ and "by one Spirit" that we can touch the Father in prayer. Access to the Father is the goal of all prayer. He is the source. We must go through His Son and be empowered by His Spirit. Yes, "For through Him [Jesus] we both have access by one Spirit to the Father." Taken from The Prayer Code by O.S. Hawkins. Copyright © 20XX by Dr. O.S. Hawkins. Used by permission of Thomas Nelson. O. S. Hawkins is the Legacy Pastor of First Baptist Church of Fort Lauderdale and chancellor of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. He has served pastorates, including the First Baptist Church in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and the First Baptist Church in Dallas, Texas, for more than 25 years. A native of Fort Worth, Texas, he has a BBA from Texas Christian University and his MDiv and Ph.D. from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. For almost a quarter of a century, he served as president of GuideStone Financial Resources, with assets under management of $20 billion, serving 250,000 pastors, church staff members, missionaries, doctors, university professors, and other workers in various Christian organizations with their investment, retirement and benefit service needs. He is the author of more than 40 books and regularly speaks to business groups and churches nationwide. All of the author’s royalties and proceeds from the Code series support Mission:Dignity. You can learn more about Mission:Dignity by visiting MissionDignity.org. - Dr. O.S. Hawkins - Chancellor, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary The Trinity and Prayer Song Vinh Church. Stained glass. Jesus, God the Father and the Holy Spirit. Holy Trinity. Vietnam.
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