"And Ministering Before The Priests"

Today's Word of Encouragement from Wayne:

"Now according to the ordinance of his father David, he appointed the divisions of the priests for their service and the Levites for their duties of praise and ministering before the priests"

2 Chronicles 8:14

When you and I participate in our "royal priesthood" (1 Peter 2:9), "ministering to the Lord" (Acts 13:2) in His presence, we are to (of course) praise our Lord, and we are so blessed in every way to do so. This portion of Scripture, regarding Solomon’s appointment of the priests, offers us yet another insight concerning our "ministering as a priest" (Romans 15:16). Yes, let us occupy our priesthood to God pro-actively because, in truth, the entire body of Christ, in God’s eyes and word, is His present day "holy priesthood" (1 Peter 2:5), and all Christians need to know this reality.

Jesus Christ, through Whom we have received salvation and eternal life, "has made" every one of us, no exceptions, "to be a kingdom, priests to His God and Father" (Revelation 1:6). For whatever the reason, it seems that hardly anybody in the body of Christ presently knows or regards this great and important truth, of our specific identity and purpose in the kingdom of God and to this world today as God’s Own dedicated priesthood. So, the call for those of us who do regard and understand our priesthood before God is that, in addition to ministering to the Lord in His beautiful presence, we must set the example and proclaim this to the body of Christ, even as Solomon designated the Levites specifically to praise God not only before His presence but also "and ministering before the priests."

In the Old Testament temple, the thought was that continuous praise as a priest in the temple not only glorifies God, but also edifies all the other priests, reminding them always to occupy their sacred priesthood in the true Spirit of praise and adoration to God. It certainly appears to be an uphill battle today, just to get God’s people off of their own list of wants for a moment, to behold and become obediently transformed into this glorious kingdom of priests. But this is what is needed for the entire body of Christ, to take up the mantle of our corporate priesthood and, Scripture indicates, even more so in this day as we are in increasingly difficult times. As ministers to our Lord, we need to occupy our place in His presence (all joy for us, for sure) AND we need to be "ministering before the priests" so that hopefully, by the grace and truth of Christ Himself, the entire body of Christ will be attendant to our Lord, in Spirit and in truth, and rise up to our glorious purpose and identity as God’s Own kingdom of priests.

Come Lord Jesus and breathe life into Your priesthood. May we be attendant to You Lord God. May this become reality for Your entire body in this world today. Hallelujah!