Heart of a Priest

Part 11

WISDOM

“The Lord God hath given me the tongue of the learned,
that I should know how to speak a word in season
to him that is weary: he wakeneth morning by morning,
he wakeneth mine ear to hear as the learned.”
Isaiah 50:4

The priesthood of the individual believer is a vital truth of the New Testament. The power of this truth alone will transform the life and walk of any true believer from one of faithless inactivity into a life filled with endless possibilities and new horizons. Understanding that each of us as individuals are enabled and gifted in Christ to become priests of the Most High God, and minister into the lives of those around us, brings a sense of purpose to daily life. It is to this end have we been called and sanctified. The Old Testament rituals and laws were for the express purpose of teaching us our own need to be set apart unto Him. Paul says all of these things were written for our admonition upon whom the ends of the world is come. Even the smallest details given to us by God are for our own growth and development.

“For it has been written in the Law of Moses,
“You shall not muzzle an ox treading out grain.” Deut. 25:4
Is it that it matters to God as to oxen?
Or does He say it altogether because of us?
It is written because of us,
so that the one plowing ought to plow in hope,
and the one threshing in hope to partake of hope”
1 Corinthians 9:9-10

Paul takes one little truth out of the Old Testament to breathe into it the very life and purpose of God. If we fail to see the New Covenant written into the Old we are destined to see God in a very dim light. Even this scripture concerning oxen is woven into the truth of the individual priesthood of every believer; it ministers hope to us to be faithful in the walking out of God’s call. Where the truth of the priesthood of the individual believer is lacking so will the understanding of the Body of Christ be lacking. Those who do not see the necessity of the individual’s ministration will have no ability to comprehend this precious truth. It is in touching the Holy truth of the many-membered Body that our walk in God is transformed. As each member is empowered by His grace to bring forth unique expressions of the Head (the risen Christ), His people will experience new vistas of glory and wonder. In this place of seeing Him within each individual, the variety in God’s wisdom, envy and jealously are displaced by love and deep appreciation for each member. When we see the purpose of God in this we are no longer concerned with our own things; the real purpose of giftings is to see the Glory of the One Body become a living reality in the earth. Paul and all of the other apostolic, prophetic and teaching ministrations in the New Testament were to this end. Paul’s heart was to present His people to Him as a chaste virgin; pure, holy, set apart for Christ alone. There was no pervading thought of them having their own church for they simply saw themselves as instruments through whom others believed. We must return to the pure faith; a faith which sees Christ as the Head of the One Body and by whom we all minister the grace and wisdom of God who has “given severally unto everyone that believeth”. Paul admonishes the carnal thinking which was prevalent in the Church of God at Corinth…

“Therefore let no man glory in men.
For all things are yours; Whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas,
or the world, or life, or death, or things present,
or things to come; all are yours;
And ye are Christ’s; and Christ is God’s”
1 Corinthians 3:21-23

The desire for His people to be one in spirit, faith and life is the transcendent cry of those who carry God’s burden for His people. The true priests seek not their own things. Their desire is to become the echo of His heart in all things.

“For this cause I bow my knees
unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named,
That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory,
to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man;
That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith;
that ye, being rooted and grounded in love,
May be able to comprehend with all saints
what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height;
And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge,
that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God”
Ephesians 3:14-19

To be continued…

Brian Troxel
www.aword.info