Well, now that you know what it is to be a prophet in the place of listening prayer, I am going to move into the next phase, which is your role as a priest.
In this installment, I will be showing you about the ministry of PRIESTHOOD, the Priesthood of the believers. Remember in the first part of this teaching, when I mentioned PROPHET, I said, that just as the Father SENT Jesus on earth to REPRESENT Him to man, so God has SENT us on earth to REPRESENT or RE – PRESENT Jesus to man. A Prophet is simply one that ONLY REPRESENTS back to man what he HEARS and SEES the Father do and say. Again in John 20:21 we find…”Jesus said to his disciples, “Just as the FATHER has SENT me forth, so I am SENDING you.” Remember, I am not talking about the 5 fold office or ministry of a prophet, but one that simply hears the Father and sees what the Father is doing. A PRIEST as a SENT ONE, REPRESENTS MAN TO GOD. He SPEAKS on behalf of MAN to GOD. HOWEVER…this has TWO aspects to it. Since we, individually are also MEN, the 1st aspect to our ministry of a PRIEST is to speak on our OWN behalf to God. In Exodus 19:6 we see the very 1st ministry of a Priest…“and YOU shall be to Me a Kingdom of PRIESTS, a holy nation CONSECRATED, SET APART TO THE WORSHIP OF GOD.” Our first and foremost MINISTRY to the Lord is to WORSHIP Him. ALL OTHER MINISTRY WHETHER AS A PROPHET, PRIEST OR KING comes out of our devotion and consecration to walking in that intimate place with Him. 1 Peter 2:9, ““But you are a chosen race, a ROYAL PRIESTHOOD, a dedicated nation, God’s own purchased, special people, that you may set the wonderful deeds and display the VIRTUES AND PERFECTIONS OF HIM who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light” Revelation 5:10 – ” “And YOU have made them a KINGDOM (royal race) and PRIESTS to our God, and they shall REIGN as KINGS over the earth.” Do you see that? NOW in this life, we are to reign as Kings over the earth. The 2nd aspect or our ministry as Priests is speaking on behalf of OTHERS to God. The Priest is AUTHORIZED to appropriate the POWER of God, which is the BLOOD OF JESUS on behalf of others. So therefore, he or she represents man to God. He is standing in the gap between man and God and he is pleading on man’s behalf to God. Now once we are hearing God, what do we do with what we are hearing? Ahh…glad you asked that. We will either step into our ministry as Priests, or we will move into our ministry of Kings, which I will write about in more detail at a later time. But as for now, just to wet your appetite, the ministry that we have been called to as KINGS simply means that we REPRESENT GOD to MAN. The KING is also AUTHORIZED to apply the AUTHORITY of God by SPEAKING on His behalf! So a Priest REPRESENTS MAN to GOD, BUT a King represents GOD, His will, His decrees, His rule, His kingdom, His final word that supersedes any other judgment set against man that is CONTRARY to His FINAL word! That is what a King does! But as I said, I will write more about this later. Now, let’s get back to the next phase of ministry we need to step into….PRIESTS. Now, a lot of times we can’t even step into our ministry of Kings until we have 1st been Priests. WHY? You see the Old Testament Priests used the blood of the animals to make ATONEMENT for all the congregation of the Israelites, and they were forgiven. Numbers 15:25. As New Testament Priests, we need to apply the atoning BLOOD of the Lamb (Jesus) to the sins of the people. God is looking for someone who will COVER the sin. Why do we as New Testament Priests need to cover sin? BECAUSE GOD HAS TWO ASPECTS TO HIS BEING. HIS CHARACTER HOLINESS RIGHTEOUSNESS, JUSTICE AND TRUTH HIS NATURE LOVE MERCY COMPASSION LONGSUFFERING FORGIVENESS On one hand we have the aspect of His Character and on the other hand, we have the aspect of His Nature. The two DON’T seem to mix do they? How can He be totally Holy and deal with sin issues? How do those two things mix? I will tell you, THEY DON’T! He is looking for someone who will stand in the gap and COVER THE SIN. God cannot intervene where there is sin without compromising His CHARACTER. His Nature is always looking for an excuse to intervene. That’s why all He needs is an intercessor to cover the sin, so that all He sees is His blood. Then He doesn’t compromise His holiness! He CAN’T be totally Righteous and look at sin, so the sin has to be covered by someone with the blood of Jesus! He is always looking for a way to break through into our lives, or the lives of our loved ones, but the only way He can break through and intervene WITHOUT COMPROMISING HIS CHARACTER is to find someone who will cover the sin so that the sin is no longer seen; only the blood of His son Jesus will be seen….
More to come in the next couple of days!! Such as, how offense and forgiveness brings you to a higher level of authority…
