Knowing Your Identity in Christ: I am Free to Approach God (Ephesians 3:12)

If you could approach God with absolute freedom and confidence, how would that transform your life?

On this episode of 7 Minute Devotions for Busy Parents, host Christen Clark unpacks the profound truth that Christians have full access, backstage pass to God through Jesus. With relatable stories from everyday family time and encouragement straight from Ephesians, Christen offers practical truths for raising Christian kids, nurturing faith at home, and modeling simple, daily discipleship even when parenting feels overwhelming.

• [00:02:15] Christen’s backstage experience
• [00:04:41] Real-talk on discipleship at home

Resources:

• Instagram: @7minutedevotions, @christenclark
• Family Podcast: @collidekidspodcast

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:01

Hello and welcome back to 7-Minute Devotions for Busy Parents. I'm Kristen Clark, and I'm really glad that you're here today. I don't know what today looks like for you. Maybe it's busy, maybe it's overwhelming, maybe you're just trying to keep up with your to-do list, but I am really glad that you have taken a few minutes to pause and to refocus. Today's truth is very simple, but it carries so much weight. I hope it encourages you today. Today's statement is: I am free to approach God. In Ephesians 3, 12, Paul says, In Christ and through faith in him, we may approach God with freedom and confidence. When you read that verse right before this, Paul reminds us that God accomplished his eternal purposes through Christ, which makes this verse even more incredible. Because of Jesus, we have access to God, not limited access, not restricted access, full access. I remember years ago working at a conference that was held in a very large arena. And there were all these different entrances and backstage areas. And so your level of access depended on what role you had. The first year I attended, I was just in the crowd. I had a ticket. So I could enjoy the experience, but I didn't have access to any of the back areas of the arena. A few years later, I ended up volunteering. And so I was given a badge that let me into some of the gathering spaces where other volunteers and staff would prepare. And that felt like a big step up. I had more access. I was underneath the stage. But the last year that I served, I was part of the production team and I had a special armband and a different badge that gave me full access to a restricted area. So like a long hallway that was connected to the gathering area. And only speakers and band members and people on staff and production could go through that area. There was even a security guard that was checking to make sure you had the right credentials and the right armband. I went from sitting in the audience to standing just steps away from the stage itself. My level of access completely changed. And as special as that might have felt at the time, it doesn't even compare to the kind of access we've been given through Jesus. Paul uses two words here that are really important: freedom and confidence. Freedom means we don't have to come to God weighed down by shame. We don't have to hesitate because of our past. We don't have to wonder if we're good enough or feel blocked by our sin or our inability to get everything right. Jesus already dealt with all of that. And confidence doesn't come from who we are, it comes from who Christ is. It's not based on our accomplishments or our knowledge or our ability to say the right words or how put together we might feel. It's based on faith in Jesus. He is the one who made the way. Without Christ, there would still be distance between us and God, a great distance, in fact, because of our sin. We are far off. We are on the outside, not even in the same zip code. But because of Christ, we can come near. We've been given access to the throne room. We can approach the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. And here's what's really amazing about that. We don't need a middleman. We don't have to go through someone else to talk to God. We don't have to rely on someone else to pray for us. This verse tells us we can go directly to him anytime, anywhere. We can come into the presence of a holy God and speak to him like a father. That's the kind of relationship we have been invited into. And yet, so often we don't take advantage of it. We rush through our prayer time, we skip them altogether sometimes. We wait until something goes horribly wrong before we finally cry out to him. And listen, God absolutely meets us in those moments. He is always there for us, but he also is inviting us into something deeper, an ongoing relationship, a daily connection, a conversation that doesn't just happen in emergencies, but becomes part of how we live. I remember hearing my pastor saying this growing up. He said, Has it ever occurred to you that nothing has ever occurred to God? God already knows. He sees the full picture. So why do we try to carry everything on our own? Why do we try to lean on our own perspective and our limited understanding when we have direct access to the one who knows everything? Now, this is so important when we think about our parenting because there are so many moments where we don't know what to do. We don't know what to say or how to respond or how to guide our kids through something hard. And in those moments, we have a choice. We can rely on our own understanding or we can go to God. Right then, right there, we don't have to wait for a quiet time. We don't have to have the perfect words. We can just pray in the middle of that moment. God help me, give me wisdom, show me what to do here, show me where to go. And our kids need to see that. They need to see that we don't have it all together, but we know the one who does. We know where to go for that. When we model that kind of dependence on God, we are teaching our kids something very powerful that they can have access to God too. Well, before we pray, we're gonna go over our identity rhythm. So this is something we're doing in every episode for this season. I'm gonna read these three short statements: our identity statement, who we are in Christ, why it's true, and how we live from it. So I will say them through once and then repeat the identity statement at the end so you can say it with me and carry it with you this week. Our identity statement for today is I am free to approach God. Through Jesus, I can approach God with freedom and confidence, not because of who I am, but because of what he's done. And because I'm free to approach God, I choose to come to him daily in prayer, trust his wisdom, and depend on him for every moment. Let's say the identity statement one more time together. I am free to approach God. Let's pray. God, thank you so much for making a way for us to come to you. Thank you that we don't have to earn it or strive for it, but that because of Jesus, we have full access to your presence, to your throne room. Help us, God, not to take that for granted. God, I pray you would teach us to come to you more often, to lean on you and not our own understanding. Help us to trust in you more and get to know you more and carry on that conversation. God, give us wisdom as we are parenting our children. Help us to be reminded in those everyday moments that we can come to you freely and confidently because you love us and you're a loving Father, you care about us. Thank you for your love. Thank you for this time that we can come to you in Jesus' name. Amen. Well, friend, I hope this reminded you today that you don't have to wonder when is the right time to go to God. You can go to him right now. You already have access. So don't wait, don't hesitate. Come to him today. And if this episode encouraged you, I hope that you will take some time to share it with someone who might need this reminder today, too. Sometimes we don't always have the words to say to people about our faith or what we believe or how we can encourage someone that's struggling, but you can let a podcast say it for you. So thanks so much for listening today. And as always, remember who you are and who you belong to.