Access to the Greatest Power?
If You Had Access to the Greatest Power in the Universe, Would you even use it?
By Dr. Keith M. Waggoner
The Greatest Invitation Ever Given
There are questions that inform us, and then there are questions that expose us. They have a way of bypassing our rehearsed answers and reaching beneath our theology, our traditions, and even our self-perception. They force us to confront what we actually believe rather than what we merely claim to believe. One of those questions has occupied my thoughts for quite some time, and I have become convinced that the answer reveals far more about a person’s spiritual life than most of us realize.
The question is surprisingly simple.
If you had access to the greatest power, the greatest wisdom, and the greatest resource in all of existence, would you use it?
Imagine for a moment that somewhere on earth there existed a room unlike any other. Inside that room sat the wisest counselor who had ever lived. Every answer to every difficult question rested within his understanding. Every solution to every conflict, every insight into leadership, marriage, parenting, business, temptation, suffering, and purpose flowed naturally from his mind because he possessed perfect wisdom. Beyond wisdom, he also possessed unlimited authority, unlimited resources, and unlimited power to accomplish everything that was good and right. There was no problem too great for him to solve and no burden too heavy for him to carry.
Now imagine that he handed you a key.
Looking directly into your eyes, he said, “This door will never be locked to you. Come whenever you wish. Bring your fears, your failures, your victories, your confusion, your hopes, and your questions. You never have to wonder whether you are interrupting me or whether I have time for you. I will always receive you.”
How often would you use that key?
Would you stop by only when your life began to fall apart? Would you consult him only after exhausting every other option? Or would you begin every morning there, knowing that whatever awaited you throughout the day would be better faced after receiving his wisdom?
Most of us know exactly what we would do. We would never make another major decision without first seeking his counsel. We would consider it foolish, even arrogant, to possess access to that kind of wisdom and yet continually choose to rely only upon ourselves.
Yet that imaginary story is not imaginary at all.
It is, in many ways, the invitation that God has extended to every believer through Jesus Christ.
The Creator of the heavens and the earth has not remained distant from His creation. He has not hidden Himself behind an impossible wall, waiting for humanity to somehow earn its way into His presence. Through the life, death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, He has accomplished something almost beyond comprehension. He has opened the way into His presence and invited His children to come boldly before Him. The One who spoke galaxies into existence, who numbers the hairs on your head, who knows the end from the beginning, and who sustains every atom in creation has said, “Come.”
That invitation is called prayer.
Unfortunately, many Christians think of prayer as little more than a religious discipline or a spiritual obligation. We pray before meals, at church gatherings, during moments of crisis, or when someone asks us to remember them. Yet for many of us, prayer remains strangely disconnected from everyday life. We make decisions without praying. We battle temptations without praying. We worry without praying. We attempt to carry burdens that Christ specifically invited us to cast upon Him.
The problem is rarely that we deny God’s existence.
The problem is that we often live as though His presence makes very little practical difference.
I sometimes wonder what would happen if we genuinely believed what the Bible says about God. Not merely as a point of doctrine, but as the defining reality of everyday life. If we truly believed that the sovereign Creator of the universe invited us into fellowship with Himself, would anxiety dominate our thinking as often as it does? Would we spend hours scrolling through social media while giving only passing moments to the One who created us? Would we rely so heavily upon our own intelligence, experience, and resources before ever seeking His wisdom?
Those questions reveal something important.
Prayer is not simply about speaking words toward heaven.
Prayer reveals what we actually believe about reality.
Prayer Reveals the Heart of a Man
When I coach men, I have learned that behavior almost always reveals belief. We often tell ourselves stories about who we are, but our habits expose what we truly value. Jesus said that where our treasure is, there our heart will be also. In other words, what we continually pursue reveals what we genuinely worship.
Prayer works the same way.
A man’s prayer life tells a story.
It tells a story about his humility, his dependence, his priorities, and even his understanding of God. A man who regularly seeks the Lord is making a profound declaration, even if he never says the words aloud. He is confessing that God’s wisdom exceeds his own. He believes there is Someone greater than himself whose counsel is worth seeking before making important decisions. He understands that his own understanding is limited, his own strength is finite, and his own perspective is incomplete.
Conversely, a man who rarely prays is communicating something entirely different. He may sincerely love God. He may faithfully attend church and affirm every essential doctrine of the Christian faith. Yet if prayer occupies only the smallest corner of his life, his habits quietly reveal an uncomfortable truth. He has become accustomed to carrying responsibilities that were never meant to rest entirely upon his own shoulders. He has begun living as though success depends primarily upon his own effort, wisdom, and determination.
I do not say this as a condemnation.
I say it because I recognize it in myself.
There have been seasons in my own life when I spent more time planning than praying, more time worrying than worshipping, and more time trying to solve problems than seeking the One who already knew the solution. Like many men, I enjoy solving problems. I enjoy taking action. I enjoy building systems, developing strategies, and overcoming obstacles. Those are good qualities. They become dangerous only when they quietly replace dependence upon God.
That is one of the greatest temptations successful men face.
The more competent we become, the easier it is to believe we no longer need help.
Success has a way of convincing us that yesterday’s victories were produced primarily by our own intelligence, discipline, or effort. We begin to trust our resumes instead of God’s promises. We rely upon experience more than Scripture. We slowly become self-sufficient without ever intending to reject God. Yet practical atheism rarely announces itself with rebellion. More often, it arrives through independence.
The irony is that Scripture never portrays dependence upon God as weakness.
It presents dependence as wisdom.
The Apostle Paul reminds us, “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God.” James tells us the same thing. Proverbs repeatedly urges us to trust in the Lord with all our heart and not lean on our own understanding. Throughout the Bible, the wisest men were not those who possessed the greatest natural ability. They were the men who continually sought the counsel of God before acting.
Prayer, then, is not primarily about getting something from God.
It is about acknowledging who God already is.
Every sincere prayer begins with an unspoken confession: “I am not God.”
Those four words dismantle one of the oldest lies ever whispered into the human heart.
They remind us that Someone else sits upon the throne.
The First Temptation Was Independence
The more I study Scripture, the more convinced I become that the first sin in the Garden of Eden was not fundamentally about eating fruit. The fruit was simply the outward act that revealed a much deeper rebellion already taking place within the human heart.
Listen carefully to what the serpent actually promised Eve.
“You will be like God, knowing good and evil.” (Genesis 3:5)
That statement has echoed throughout human history. It is the temptation beneath nearly every temptation. Satan was not merely inviting Adam and Eve to break a rule. He was inviting them to become autonomous, to determine truth for themselves, to rule without submission, and to establish their own kingdom apart from the authority of their Creator.
In other words, the first temptation was independence.
It was an invitation to stop trusting the One who created them and instead trust themselves. The tragedy of Eden was not simply that mankind disobeyed God. It was that mankind believed life could somehow be better without depending upon Him.
That same temptation still whispers to every one of us.
You don’t need God.
You can figure this out.
You know what’s best.
Take control.
Protect yourself.
Build your own kingdom.
Write your own rules.
The world applauds that kind of thinking. Independence has become one of the highest virtues of modern culture. We celebrate the self-made man, the entrepreneur who needs no one, the executive who never asks for help, the rugged individual who answers only to himself. There is certainly value in initiative, responsibility, discipline, and personal ownership. Scripture celebrates those qualities as well. But there is a dangerous line where responsibility quietly transforms into self-sufficiency.
The Christian life never crosses that line.
One of the greatest paradoxes in Scripture is that true strength is found through dependence. The strongest man is not the one who carries every burden alone. He is the one who knows where to lay those burdens down. The wisest leader is not the one who has every answer. He is the one humble enough to continually seek the wisdom of the One who does.
This is why prayer strikes at the very heart of our pride.
Prayer is far more than presenting requests before God. Prayer is the daily rejection of the serpent’s ancient lie. Every time a man bows his head before the Lord, he is declaring that someone else occupies the throne. He is confessing that his own understanding is limited, his own perspective is incomplete, and his own strength will eventually fail. Far from diminishing a man, that confession liberates him. He no longer carries the impossible burden of trying to become his own god.
Prayer restores reality.
It places God back where He belongs.
And it places us where we were always meant to be.
A Good King Has Access
One of the foundational principles we teach at Undisputed Mastery Dominion is that a good king has access. At first glance, that statement may seem obvious, but the longer you think about it, the more profound it becomes.
Every effective king understands that leadership is impossible without access. He has access to trusted advisors who tell him the truth rather than simply what he wants to hear. He has access to intelligence that helps him see dangers before they arrive. He has access to resources that allow him to provide for his people. He has access to generals who understand warfare, craftsmen who build his kingdom, and counselors whose wisdom exceeds his own experience.
No wise king attempts to govern in isolation.
Only foolish kings isolate themselves.
History repeatedly demonstrates that kingdoms rarely collapse because they lacked resources. More often, they collapse because their leaders became convinced they no longer needed counsel. Pride closed the very doors that wisdom had opened.
The same principle applies to the Kingdom of God.
The greatest privilege ever given to mankind is not wealth, influence, intelligence, talent, or opportunity. It is access.
Think about what Paul writes to the church in Ephesus:
“For through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father.” (Ephesians 2:18)
Then only a few verses later:
“In Him and through faith in Him we may approach God with freedom and confidence.” (Ephesians 3:12)
Those verses are astonishing.
Paul is not simply saying that God hears our prayers.
He is saying that through Jesus Christ we have been granted access into the very presence of God Himself.
The language Paul uses would have carried tremendous significance for his original readers. In the courts of earthly kings, access was everything. Few people could simply walk into the throne room unannounced. To approach a king without permission often meant death. Access was a privilege reserved for those who had been invited.
Yet through Christ, believers have been invited into the throne room of the King of Kings.
Not because we earned it.
Not because we proved ourselves worthy.
Not because we lived perfect lives.
But because Jesus Christ made a way where none existed before.
This changes the entire meaning of prayer.
Prayer is not trying to convince a reluctant God to pay attention.
Prayer is exercising the access Christ has already secured.
Every time we pray, we are using the key He placed into our hands.
The tragedy is not that Christians lack access.
The tragedy is that many of us rarely use it.
Holiness Opened the Door
Several months ago, I preached a sermon entitled “Holy: The Absolute Description of God.” One of the central ideas we explored was that holiness is not simply one attribute among many. It is the defining reality of God’s nature. His love is holy love. His justice is holy justice. His mercy is holy mercy. Everything about Him is absolutely pure, absolutely righteous, and completely set apart from all that He has created.
That creates a problem.
How can sinful people enter the presence of a holy God?
Throughout the Old Testament, this question shaped Israel’s entire system of worship. The tabernacle and later the temple were filled with boundaries designed to communicate the seriousness of God’s holiness. The Holy of Holies was separated by a thick veil. Only the high priest entered, and only once each year, bringing sacrificial blood for the sins of the people. The message could not have been clearer. Sinful humanity could not casually stroll into the presence of a holy God.
Yet even those sacrifices pointed beyond themselves.
They anticipated Someone greater.
When Jesus Christ died upon the cross, Matthew records one extraordinary detail that should never cease to amaze us.
“And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom.” (Matthew 27:51)
Notice the direction.
From top to bottom.
God tore the veil.
The separation had ended.
The barrier had been removed.
Access had been restored.
This is one of the greatest miracles of the Gospel.
Christ did not merely forgive our sins.
He opened the way back into the Father’s presence.
The writer of Hebrews says it beautifully:
“Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” (Hebrews 4:16)
Think about those words.
Draw near.
Confidence.
Grace.
Mercy.
Help.
Those are not the words of a distant God.
They are the invitation of a loving Father.
Prayer is possible because holiness has made a way.
Not our holiness.
His.
Jesus did not lower God’s standard of holiness.
He fulfilled it.
His righteousness became our righteousness.
His sacrifice satisfied divine justice.
His resurrection defeated death.
His ascension secured our eternal High Priest who, as Hebrews tells us, “always lives to make intercession” for those who belong to Him.
That means we never approach God alone.
We approach Him through Christ.
Every prayer offered by a believer is grounded not in personal merit but in the finished work of Jesus.
That truth should forever remove both pride and despair.
Pride has no place because we did not earn access.
Despair has no place because Christ has already secured it.
The door is open.
The invitation has been given.
The throne of grace awaits.
The only question remaining is whether we will walk through it.
How Does Prayer Actually Work?
Recently, my son asked me one of the best questions I have heard in a long time. It wasn’t a question intended to challenge the existence of God or the value of prayer. It was a sincere question that every thoughtful Christian eventually wrestles with if he takes his faith seriously.
“Dad, how does prayer actually work?”
He continued.
“If I pray for strength to resist temptation, what actually happens? Does God somehow give me strength? Does He remove the temptation? Does He change my circumstances? Or is strength something I still have to develop?”
Those are excellent questions because they move us beyond religious clichés and force us to examine what Scripture actually teaches. Too often Christians answer these questions with simplistic explanations that fail to capture the richness of God’s design. Some speak as though prayer is little more than placing an order with heaven, expecting God to immediately deliver whatever has been requested. Others swing to the opposite extreme and treat prayer as though it changes nothing at all except our emotions.
The Bible presents a far richer picture than either of those extremes.
Prayer is neither magic nor mere psychology.
Prayer is participation in a relationship with the living God.
One of the most remarkable truths in the New Testament is that both Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit are described as interceding for believers. Paul writes that when we do not know how we ought to pray, “the Spirit Himself intercedes for us according to the will of God” (Romans 8:26-27). Later in the same chapter he tells us that Christ is seated at the right hand of the Father, “interceding for us” (Romans 8:34). The writer of Hebrews echoes the same truth when he declares that Jesus “always lives to make intercession” for those who come to God through Him (Hebrews 7:25).
Think about that for a moment.
The Son intercedes.
The Spirit intercedes.
The Father receives.
The entire Godhead is involved in our communion with God.
This does not mean that Jesus is trying to persuade an unwilling Father to love us. The Father Himself sent the Son because He loved us. Rather, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit work together in perfect unity to accomplish our redemption and sanctification. The Son secured our access through His sacrifice. The Spirit dwells within us, shaping our hearts, illuminating the Scriptures, convicting us of sin, strengthening our resolve, and helping us pray according to God’s will.
Prayer, then, is not about convincing God to become interested in our lives.
Prayer is about participating in what God is already doing.
Suppose I pray, “Lord, give me strength to resist temptation.”
Does strength suddenly appear like a bolt of lightning?
Sometimes God grants extraordinary grace in extraordinary moments. Scripture certainly records occasions when He intervenes dramatically. More often, however, He answers that prayer by transforming the person who prayed it. He renews our minds through His Word. He convicts us when we drift. He reminds us of truth in the moment of temptation. He provides a way of escape. He places godly people around us who strengthen our resolve. He develops spiritual disciplines that gradually reshape our desires.
In other words, He forms strength within us.
Prayer does not eliminate our responsibility.
Prayer empowers it.
This is exactly what Paul teaches in Philippians 2:12-13 when he writes, “Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.”
Notice the beautiful partnership.
You work.
God works.
You obey.
God empowers.
You choose.
God transforms.
This is not a contradiction.
It is the mystery of sanctification.
As a psychologist and coach, I often tell my clients that change requires awareness, decision, and disciplined action. Scripture would agree, while adding something far greater. Lasting transformation is not simply human effort. It is human effort empowered by divine grace. God rarely does for us what He intends to do through us. Instead, He invites us into a relationship where His power meets our obedience.
Prayer is where that partnership begins.
The Prayer of a Righteous Man Avails Much
James writes one of the most encouraging statements in all of Scripture:
“The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.” (James 5:16, NKJV)
That verse has inspired generations of believers, but it has also been misunderstood. Some assume James is describing a spiritual elite whose prayers somehow carry more weight because they have reached a higher level of holiness. Others reduce the verse to little more than positive thinking wrapped in religious language.
James is teaching neither.
The righteous man is not the sinless man.
He is the man whose life has been surrendered to God.
He is the man who has stopped resisting the King and begun walking with Him. Through Christ he has been declared righteous before God, and as he grows in spiritual maturity, his desires increasingly reflect the desires of his heavenly Father.
That is why his prayers become so powerful.
As our hearts become aligned with God’s heart, we begin asking for the very things God delights to accomplish. Our ambitions change. Our priorities change. Our understanding of success changes. We become less concerned with building our own little kingdoms and more concerned with advancing His.
James immediately points to Elijah as an example. Elijah was not superhuman. James intentionally reminds us that Elijah “was a man with a nature like ours.” He struggled. He feared. He became discouraged. Yet he prayed, and God acted.
Why?
Because Elijah’s life was aligned with God’s purposes.
Prayer does not manipulate the will of God.
Prayer joins the will of God.
This is why Jesus taught His disciples to begin with the words, “Your kingdom come. Your will be done.”
Everything else flows from there.
Men Must Teach Men to Pray
One detail in the Gospels has always fascinated me.
The disciples watched Jesus heal the sick.
They watched Him calm storms.
They watched Him cast out demons.
They watched Him raise the dead.
Yet the only recorded occasion where they specifically asked Him to teach them something was this:
“Lord, teach us to pray.” (Luke 11:1)
They recognized something many people overlook.
The public ministry of Jesus flowed from His private communion with the Father.
His authority did not begin in front of crowds.
It began in prayer.
That observation carries tremendous implications for men today.
One of the great tragedies of modern culture is that many boys grow into adulthood having never heard another man pray with humility, conviction, and confidence. They have heard sermons. They have attended Bible classes. They have learned verses. Yet they have never watched a father, grandfather, mentor, coach, or elder regularly seek the Lord with genuine dependence.
We should certainly be grateful for every faithful woman who has taught children to love Christ. Many of us owe an enormous debt to godly mothers, grandmothers, wives, and Sunday school teachers. But Scripture consistently places the responsibility for spiritual leadership upon mature men as well. Fathers are commanded to teach God’s ways diligently to their children. Older men are instructed to train younger men. Shepherds are called to model lives worthy of imitation.
Part of that responsibility is teaching men how to pray.
Not merely by giving them information.
By giving them an example.
Prayer is often caught before it is taught.
A son who hears his father pray learns that real strength kneels before God.
A husband who prays with his wife demonstrates that leadership begins with submission.
A business owner who prays before making major decisions acknowledges that profit is never his highest authority.
A coach who prays before leading others reminds them that every gift ultimately comes from the Lord.
The strongest men I have ever known were not the men who believed they had all the answers.
They were the men who knew exactly where to find them.
The Door Is Already Open
Perhaps the greatest misunderstanding about prayer is that we think we are trying to gain God’s attention.
The Gospel tells a different story.
God has already acted.
The Father planned redemption.
The Son accomplished redemption.
The Holy Spirit applies redemption.
The veil has already been torn.
The invitation has already been extended.
The throne of grace already stands open.
The question is no longer whether we have access.
The question is whether we will use it.
Every day we make countless decisions. We face temptations, disappointments, victories, opportunities, fears, and uncertainties. Each one becomes an opportunity either to rely upon ourselves or to walk through the door Christ has opened.
That is why I return to the principle we teach at Undisputed Mastery Dominion.
A good king has access.
He knows where wisdom is found.
He knows where strength is found.
He knows where mercy is found.
He knows where grace is found.
Most importantly, he knows the King.
My prayer is that you never again think of prayer as a religious obligation or a spiritual checklist. Instead, I hope you begin seeing it for what it truly is.
It is an invitation into relationship with your heavenly Father.
It is access to the greatest wisdom, the greatest love, the greatest authority, and the greatest power in all of existence.
Christ has already placed the key in your hand.
The only question that remains is this:
Will you use it?
Questions for Reflection
- When you face a major decision, where do you instinctively turn first: your own understanding or God’s wisdom?
- What does your current prayer life reveal about what you truly believe regarding God’s power, goodness, and availability?
- In what areas of your life have you quietly become self-sufficient instead of God-dependent?
- Are your prayers primarily focused on changing your circumstances, or on allowing God to transform you?
- Who is learning to pray by watching your example?
References
The Holy Bible (English Standard Version unless otherwise noted)
Augustine. Confessions.
John Calvin. Institutes of the Christian Religion.
- W. Tozer. The Knowledge of the Holy.
- C. Sproul. The Holiness of God.
John Owen. The Mortification of Sin.
- M. Bounds. Power Through Prayer.
Suggested Reading
On Prayer
- E. M. Bounds – Power Through Prayer
- Paul E. Miller – A Praying Life
- Timothy Keller – Prayer
On Holiness
- R. C. Sproul – The Holiness of God
- A. W. Tozer – The Knowledge of the Holy
On Christian Formation
- John Owen – The Mortification of Sin
- Richard Foster – Celebration of Discipline
- J. I. Packer – Knowing God
Scripture for Further Study
Genesis 3; Exodus 33; Psalm 23; Psalm 27; Psalm 51; Proverbs 3:5-6; Isaiah 6; Matthew 6:5-15; Matthew 7:7-11; Luke 11:1-13; John 15; Romans 8; Ephesians 2-3; Philippians 2:12-13; Hebrews 4; Hebrews 7; James 1; James 5; 1 John 2.