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Body, Soul and Spirit
Chapter 6: Our Priesthood
Called to Intimacy
The priesthood of all believers is one of the most important truths in scripture. Every true believer, by grace, has direct access to the presence of God through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. There is no other intermediary nor special qualification. Priesthood is not reserved for a special class of believer. Every child of God is His personal possession, free to experience and proclaim His glorious excellencies. Freedom to serve God is the calling and privilege of each believer. Such serving is not an impersonal vocation, rather it flows out of an intimate relationship through prayer and worship which involves our whole person: body, soul and spirit (see Figure 8).
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Ministry in His House
God expresses the calling which He has ordained for His people in several ways, as His sons, the bride for His Son and the body of Christ. Because of its frequency in scripture, the most significant representation of His purpose is probably that of us being the city or house for His habitation; the place of His eternal rest from which one day His glory will be fully and forever expressed to all creation.
There is a unique relationship between His house and our priesthood, something that is still being built today.
You also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
When we come into God’s presence, worship is always the first priority. For this reason, our place in His house, first of all, is as priests. However, we do not worship simply as individuals; we are being built together as living stones in a corporate expression of worship.
There is no higher service than being a priest of God. The contribution of our sphere of service in the body of Christ and our growth of maturity in the Spirit, in the end, depends on the fruitfulness and the harmony of our roles as priests.
For the Lord has chosen Zion; He has desired it for His habitation. This is My resting place forever; here I will dwell, for I have desired it. I will abundantly bless her provision; I will satisfy her needy with bread. Her priests also I will clothe with salvation; and her godly ones will sing aloud for joy.
Our service as priests today is an apprenticeship for the age to come. Those who one day rule on the earth will be those who are faithful today as priests (Revelation 5:9-10). We learn to reign by spending time in His presence and coming to know the burdens of His heart; and we cannot be in His presence without worshipping Him. Prayer is how one develops the concerns of His heart. The practice of prayer, whether it is petitions, intercession or travail, helps to produce brokenness and humility.
Prayer
Scripture describes prayers of the saints as incense. In the Old Testament tabernacle, incense was made by beating together equal quantities of four spices. The resulting incense was stored in golden bowls until such time as the priest placed it upon hot coals of the altar. Only then was its fragrance released to arise into the air. This expresses an important truth. We are not to be discouraged when our prayers are not answered immediately. They are not lost or forgotten. They are stored in the golden bowls of God’s memory. When His timing is correct, they will be placed on hot coals to release their fragrance; our prayers are then being answered (Revelation 5:8; 8:3-4)! Some of our prayers may not be answered in our lifetime, but they are just as important as those which are answered immediately.
We are called to be steadfast and faithful in prayer. We may not pray as long as others do, but we must be ready to pray at any instant. Prayer is the strategy of kingdom life (Matthew 6:9-15).
And they were continually devoting themselves ... to prayer.
Pray without ceasing.
Prayer is as necessary in support of spiritual ministry as breathing is to physical life.
Prayer is to be an expression of faith.
And all things you ask in prayer, believing, you shall receive.
There is additional strength and faith when we pray together with others who are in agreement with us.
Again I say to you, that if two of you agree on earth about anything that they may ask, it shall be done for them by My Father who is in heaven.
An important practice in prayer is to pray in the Spirit. Only the Holy Spirit knows the mind of the Lord. Thus, we need to pray with the spirit, as well as with our understanding. For example, prayer in the Spirit could be the Lord expressing His heart to break down barriers to the gospel in Islamic nations.
With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints.
.. .for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words; and He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.
What is the outcome then? I shall pray with the spirit and I shall pray with the mind also; I shall sing with the spirit and I shall sing with the mind also.
We are to be free from all unconfessed, unrepented sin when we come into His presence. We can only pray with confidence if our hearts do not condemn us (1 John 3:21-22).
If I regard wickedness in my heart, the Lord will not hear.
It is also necessary to be honest as we approach Him, for He will not tolerate hypocrisy (James 3:17). In prayer, we are not to represent ourselves as being in a place we have not yet attained. We may hide our true heart condition from one another, but there are no facades with God. If we are not honest, He will not hear us. He knows all about us, and it is vital for us to come to Him exactly as we are; repentant if necessary, but always in honesty. Additionally, we must come before Him from a place of forgiveness to others. He forgives us if we have forgiven those who offended us. There can be nothing in our hearts against even one of His children.
And whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone; so that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your transgressions. But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father who is in heaven forgive your transgressions.
Finally, God can only use broken men in His service, and prayer is a means of becoming broken. We will never build anything of quality apart from prayer!
Worship
True worshippers are those who worship the Father in Spirit and truth (John 4:23-24). Worship is much more a matter of recognizing His presence by the Holy Spirit’s anointing on our spiritual senses than it is in how well we sing or how loud we shout. The following are four important qualities in how we are to present ourselves in worship.
A Thankful Heart–This quality concerns our heart attitude; a thankful heart must undergird all priestly activities. Thankfulness is more basic and important than other attitudes for it comes out of a recognition of who He is and what He has done for us.
When one surveys the history of Israel, a major failure is seen in their frequent murmuring or complaining against the Lord and His servants. This practice is detested by the Lord, and we need to benefit from their experience (Numbers 14; Jude 16).
Now these things happened as examples for us, that we should not crave evil things, as they also craved.... Nor let us try the Lord, as some of them did, and were destroyed by the serpents. Nor grumble, as some of them did, and were destroyed by the destroyer.
Whether we are standing in a place of great abundance or in dire need; whether we are on top of a mountain or in a valley of despair; whether all is going well or we face a difficult situation, in all cases, we are to be thankful. Our heart attitude should not change because God does not change, and our hope and supply is in Him. Therefore, we are to come into His presence with thanksgiving.
Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving; let us shout joyfully to Him with psalms.
Enter His gates with thanksgiving, and His courts with praise. Give thanks to Him; bless His name.
Always giving thanks for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the Father.
In everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.
A Sacrificial Heart–This quality concerns what it costs to serve as a priest. It is apparent that self-discipline is involved. One who serves must be willing to lay down feelings, and other things that they would sooner do, in order to minister to the Lord. In short, there is a sacrifice involving one’s will, heart and body. It costs something to serve as priests.
Through Him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that give thanks to His name.
I urge you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.
There will arise situations and periods of discouragement when the last thing we will feel like doing is praising the Lord; however, it is during just such times that a sacrifice of worship on our part is required. Indeed, this is the way of victory. In many instances, situations are brought into our lives just to test our heart attitude and, when necessary, to adjust us through repentance. A humble, broken heart produces sweet worship in the Lord’s ears. Brokenness of heart is a precious virtue!
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and a contrite heart, O God, Thou wilt not despise.
Animal sacrifices were tied to the altar during the Old Testament so they could not escape. However, the Lord Jesus willingly went as a lamb to be sacrificed for our sins. It is the same with us; only through a willing spirit can we offer up sacrifices. Worship is a total offering of ourselves; our bodies give expression in dancing or clapping, our souls (will, mind, emotions) magnify the Lord in hymns and song and, above all we worship in spirit and in truth from our hearts. We are to love Him with all of our heart, soul and strength, and to express this love in worship.
A Hearing Heart–This particular quality concerns hearing (or sensing) what the mind of the Lord is when in His presence. Priests are not in the rear of the Lord’s army; they go before and show the direction set by our Commander-in-Chief.
I appreciate so very much the role of worshipping musicians and other prophetic ministries in the assembly. The spiritual success of each meeting is centered in knowing the purpose and will of the Lord for that gathering, for He has a purpose whenever saints come together in His name. As we gather before Him, and minstrels lead forth in worship, His direction becomes known through the prophetic flow of word and song. There is to be a prophetic anointing on the congregation, including the minstrels to reveal this direction, just as there is an anointing on elders to oversee the meeting. This was the pattern for David’s war strategy. Musical ability alone does not make acceptable worship; there must be a prophetic spirit as well, which can include visions.
Moreover, David and the commanders of the army set apart for the service some of the sons of Asaph and of Heman and of Jeduthun, who were to prophesy with lyres, harps, and cymbals….
Whenever we gather before the Lord, worship brings us corporately into His presence where He may speak and reveal His will to us.
Success in ministry is not a question of knowing how to do something, or recognizing what has worked in the past, but on hearing from heaven and moving accordingly.
A Joyous Heart–There is a great strength in spiritual joy which can only be found in His presence.
… in your presence is fullness of joy; in Your right hand there are pleasures forever.
…for the joy of the Lord is your strength.
His joy is totally unrelated to our feelings or circumstances. Satan is the author of fear and discouragement, but the joy of the Lord is our strength as we keep our eyes on Him and not on the problems and circumstances.
Worship is woven together by cords of joy and rejoicing to give us special strength during spiritual warfare and in situations of distress. At such times we must keep our eyes on Him, for if our eyes are on the problem we can miss the joy and strength that is in Him. His joy is our strength; it depends only on our relationship to Him (Isaiah 35:10).
So the ransomed of the Lord will return, and come with joyful singing to Zion; and everlasting joy will be on their heads. They shall obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing will flee away.
Joy is our inheritance in Christ; we are to go in and out from His presence with joy, being led forth with peace to serve Him (Isaiah 55:12). The kingdom of God is joy, peace and righteousness.
Even in the midst of great difficulties, by faith, we are hidden in His tabernacle, our heads are lifted above our enemies and we can offer sacrifices with shouts of joy (Psalm 27:4-6). The city of God has walls of salvation and gates of praise. Ancient cities were protected by the strength of the walls around them. It was their salvation. However, gates were the means of life (food, etc.) flowing into the city. Gates of praise provide a life flow of joy for the city of God today.
But be glad and rejoice forever in what I create; for behold, I create Jerusalem for rejoicing, and her people for gladness.
Therefore you will joyously draw water from the springs of salvation.
Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice!
Joy is the language of worship!
The purpose of God is to establish His kingdom on earth. The essence of the prayer that Jesus taught His disciples to pray is, “Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. (Matthew 6:10)
When we examine scripture to see what is happening in heaven, we discover the following: twenty-four elders cast their crowns before His throne and worship Him; four living creatures, on the sea of glass around the throne, worship Him; myriads of myriads and thousands of myriads of angels worship Him; every created thing in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and on the sea worship Him (Revelation 4:6-10; 5:11-13).
Jesus made it clear that His Father seeks worshippers.
But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers.
It is apparent that becoming worshipers is how we are to prepare ourselves for the close of this age, and for the age to come.
Grace
We are saved by grace; by grace we grow in the Spirit; our service in the body of Christ is by grace, and our priesthood flows out of the grace of God. Our entire spiritual life is rooted in grace! Our High Priest, Jesus, sits on His throne of grace, both interceding for us and ministering to us the grace that we need to be priests and ministries of the Lord. We are commanded to be strong in the grace of God!
As a young believer, I saw grace simply as God’s condescension to save me; and once saved, it seemed to express His permissiveness for what I would be allowed to do within my testimony as a Christian. However, grace is not related to what we can do, it is related to what we are not able to do.
God’s grace expresses His willingness to provide all we will ever need “to become” or “to do” what He has commanded us. The better we understand His purpose and plan for us, the more we will see our need for grace; the clearer we see the greatness of God and the weaknesses of our humanity, the more we can grasp the dimensions of that grace. Grace expresses the heart and the character of God in His free offer of all things pertaining to life and godliness.
Grace is extended to us according to His purpose for our life, and we appropriate it by faith. The wonder of it, is that all grace we will ever need was prepared for us before the world was made.
Who has saved us, and called us with a holy calling, not according to our own works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was granted us in Christ Jesus from all eternity.
The most important call anyone can receive, the one from which all other aspects of His purpose for us emanate, is our call to be holy and blameless, being conformed to His image in character. There is nothing greater than this, and only by grace can it happen!
There is always more grace available to us than there is sin, weakness or failure on our part. Our victory lies in repentance and seeking grace to overcome when we fail.
… where sin increased, grace abounded all the more.
How is grace dispensed? Not in massive transfusions, but just as we need it, day by day. It is grace upon grace, upon grace, upon grace ....
For of His fullness we have all received and grace upon grace.
Because He foreknew our response to the gospel, He brings into our lives those circumstances and events that will most encourage us to make the correct decisions–decisions to help us grow and enable us ultimately to be conformed to the image of His son (Romans 8:28-32). Many of these circumstances are not pleasant to walk through, but we know they do work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. These are the times when we must draw upon His grace. There is both pain and time involved in this transformation of our nature. It is a work that the Spirit of God must do; but it only happens with our willing consent and cooperation. This is where grace plays so important a role. Financial difficulties, the death of one dear to us, marital discord, problems with our employer, education or physical limitations–these all can be opportunities for the grace of God to work His character into us.
There will always be grace for each situation we face. His power is made perfect when it can be demonstrated in our personal weakness. Paul’s “thorn in the flesh” was a weakness to him personally, but through grace it became a strength, for it helped prevent a character flaw of pride from coming into his life (2 Corinthians 12:7-10).
God does not give us grace after we have expended all of our ability; ministry is based on grace from start to finish. All ministry is an expression of the Lord’s life, and therefore, of His grace. Our responsibility is twofold: first, to recognize our inability to perform; and secondly, to know that we are spiritually empowered. There is a unique relationship between the ministry and grace that we have been given. We cannot minister beyond the dimension of grace that is given to us. This is true, both for our ministries and our priesthood.
And since we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let each exercise them accordingly ....
As each one has received a special gift, employ it in serving one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.
When Paul left the elders of Ephesus, knowing he was seeing them for the last time, he commended them to God and the word of His grace. The Lord’s word is not only truth, but it also carries His grace to help us possess truth. Jesus did not simply speak words of correct doctrine, He also spoke out of a heart of love that extended the help of His Spirit to bring the truth of His words to pass in those who received them. The law came through Moses, but grace and truth were brought by Jesus Christ.
For this reason, when we speak for Him our words must convey grace; we are to minister truth and grace when we speak. Too many words, or speaking with a wrong spirit can destroy grace.
Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, that it may give grace to those who hear.
We are exhorted to make sure that no one in the assembly comes short of the grace of God.
See to it that no one comes short of the grace of God; that no root of bitterness springing up cause trouble, and by it many be defiled.
There are three simple keys involved in receiving grace. The first is that we will grow in grace as we grow in our knowledge of Him. The better we know Him, the clearer we will see His greatness and the more we will see our unworthiness and need of grace.
But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ….
The second key is that we only receive grace if our heart attitude is right. If we believe that we can make it on our own, we will be too proud to receive grace. Grace is only extended to the humble of heart.
… for God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble.
The third key is recognizing that grace comes only from the throne of God. It requires humility to approach His throne, and prayer is an attitude and expression of humility. Grace means something granted by “a greater” to those “who are lesser.” Thus, prayer and worship mingled with faith, brings us to the source of grace.
Let us therefore draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and may find grace to help in time of need.
The enemy of our souls continually points to our needs as the reason we will fail. God points to them as the reason why we will succeed, since He is our strength in them. Consider the dimensions of His supply:
And God is able to make all grace abound to you, that always having all sufficiency in everything, you may have an abundance for every good deed.
I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
We know from church history how God’s grace has been sufficient for those who were persecuted and martyred for His name’s sake. We have also seen how His grace has brought revivals of power and righteousness to the church from time to time. In the days that lie ahead, there will arise new dimensions of persecution and troubles to be faced by the church as she prepares for her Lord’s return. At the same time, there will also be manifestations of the power of God upon His people as a great harvest of souls will be brought into the kingdom. These two events cannot happen apart from the grace of God. There is great need today for a strong vibrant priesthood!
We require a fresh appreciation of how much we need His grace in the days that face us. Peter expresses it this way:
Therefore, gird up your minds for action, keep sober in spirit, fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
What Lies Ahead?
What do I anticipate will mark the coming, great, end-time revival? I believe that it will be greater than anything ever experienced by the church. Deep darkness will cover the earth, but the glory of God will rise upon the church everywhere to draw people to Himself from all nations (Haggai 2:6-9). I don’t believe this revival will be identified with a man or even a nation; all will know that the Lord Himself is sovereignly responsible for what takes place. The church will be marked by both unity and glory!
The purpose of God is the burden of the Lord. Our call as priests is to share that burden in prayer and worship, and to make His heart known to the church. I believe the Lord will raise up a “faceless generation” of priests who will not build personal kingdoms of ministry. They will be committed to prayer, not simply to pray for the Lord to move as He has in past revivals, but to move according to the burden on His heart for the last days. It will be a time of great harvest!
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