DAY 10 of DANIEL🍅🍇🍆🥑FAST

" But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light " - 1 Peter 2:9

PRAYER INTENTION

Ask the Holy Spirit to activate your priesthood

Let me explain PRIESTHOOD. Don't let your mind go far, priesthood here refers to someone who mediates between humans and GOD, (so you are a priest anytime you mediate between humans and God) - simple as that. 

Priesthood, as an office refers to, a ritual expert learned in a special knowledge of the technique of worship and accepted as a religious and spiritual leader. We have priesthood as in your church leaders, who have been called, trained, and ordained to work as clerics, however, all of us are priests by virtue of our BAPTISM...

  Throughout the long and varied history of religions, the priesthood has been the official institution that has mediated and maintained a state of equilibrium between the sacred and the profane aspects of human society. The primary role of the priest is that of the ritual expert, the one who has a special and sometimes secret knowledge of the techniques of worship, including incantations, prayers, sacrificial acts, songs, and other acts that are believed to bridge the separation between the divine or sacred and the profane realms. 

First, priesthood is the power and authority of God. It has always existed and will continue to exist without end. Priesthood is the power and authority that God gives to us to act in all things necessary for the salvation of God’s children. The blessings of the priesthood, therefore, are available to all who receive the gospel.

1 Peter 2:4-5 – “ As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ .”

Take note that the text says we are being built up as a spiritual house. The Spiritual House, therefore, becomes operational like the PHYSICAL TEMPLE: The Temple was a physical location where God chose to let his presence dwell. If anyone wanted to come to God, they had to travel to this location. 

But, once they traveled to this location, they would still be limited on how close they could get to him as he dwelt in the holy of holies, where only the high priest could go. 

So now that we are a SPIRITUAL HOUSE another scripture text will say in 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 “ Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies .” - 

Thus all believers collectively make up the location where God’s presence dwells on the earth. Wherever believers are, God also is. The house of GOD then is no longer confined to a geographical location where people have to travel to be with God, but it is mobile and now goes to the ends of the earth. The kingdom of heaven is now in our hearts. 

Furthermore , his presence is no longer hidden in the holy of holies but is open to all who come by faith in Jesus Christ. That is why Jesus will say in John 4: 21- 24- “ believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the SPIRIT and TRUTH, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and truth .”

 It took COVID, and the shutting down of churches for about 11 weeks for us to get the understanding of this prophetic statement Jesus made but after that experience I wonder if we grasped this - that the kingdom of God is more about the hearts of men and women than the physical structure called the temple.

The priesthood is responsible for communicating between God and man and man and God, orchestrating and conducting worship, ministering to God’s people, and making God known to the world. Since Peter says that all who come to Jesus through faith are now a holy priesthood, we are the ones who carry these duties on. We communicate between God and humans and humans and God. We tell people what God says to them (through His Word) and help them respond to Him (through prayers and supplications). 

We collectively orchestrate and conduct the worship of God. We are all ministers to God’s people and we are all responsible to make God known to the world.

The point we need to take away is that we are the Body of Christ. Every member is a priest. You were employed as a priest the moment you were saved. The only thing that makes you qualified is that you are in Christ. The only thing that makes you able is that the Spirit of God dwells in you. 

The priesthood is a spiritual principle, that’s why it can be found in every serious religion. Take all the major religions they have a concept of priesthood on different levels. The priests who mediate between the mundane and the spiritual -

Priesthood plus prayer and the word  plus breaking of bread and keeping your watch will break things- that’s how our early fathers of faith- the apostles did it.

Permit me to circle back to the issue of summons- Your heart must be textured to recognize a summon. In fact you must know the experience of a summon and prayer goes with a summon. My dear friends in the technology of moving the hands of the Lord there are dimensions of participation that is above your human senses- dimensions of participation that is beyond the realms of your vocabulary so much so that the Holy Spirit himself has to give you utterance to persecute some transactions in the spirit realms, and he does it by Romans 8:26- “ In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans .” 

I need to relate to you the organic experience of a summon.  Like I said some days back, a summon is when God is calling you to come up to him. In the experience of a summon, namely when God wants to speak to you- you can become troubled- that sign of trouble is God calling for your attention to come into his presence and communicate with him.  When this calling comes- nothing will be sweet again- because his calling is sovereign. Ahh , you don’t know he is sovereign – okay when he created you -was it because you prayed or you did a vigil? -as unreliable as we are God chose us-God wants to partner you hence the summon.

For those of you who do not know that apart from God there is no answer your case is an emergency- some of you after praying for 3 weeks about a situation, then you throw in the towel and say you are tired-  let me encourage you to stay there oh- because only God can change the issue, by all means stay there and pray- engage spiritual mysteries until the burden is lifted. 

 Take Simon-  Simon was waiting for the consolation of Israel and Anna was in the temple for 53 years – doing what—waiting… so stay there till PEACE floods your heart.

Peace means you are in control and God will always give you a signal that's why some of us don't weep over losses the way unbelievers do because we live by his witness in our hearts. Faith is the substance of things not seen - that outside what is happening is sorrowful – but the Holy Spirit inside of me is ever joyful and am at peace. 

When people are stuck or in a bad place or they need some breakthrough urgently -the first thing I look out for is PEACE- after sometime I ask- are you feeling some inner peace- that is indicative of the Holy Spirit possessing the person- and I know it is just a matter of time- answers will come- even if you don’t understand trust his PEACE- forget aba the outcome in the natural once you have that inner peace you are in sync with God, just rest in what the spirit of God furnishes in your heart and the joy that he makes available will become your strength.

TO BE CONTINUED...

Shalom and God bless you

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