Some Thoughts on Priests (Thirty Days To Greater Fruitfulness, Day 12)

This blog has been temporarily overtaken by my Thirty Days To Greater Fruitfulness Challenge.  You can find out more by checking out the Introduction.

Most of my house church friends make a big deal about how God has abolished the priesthood.  To them it’s a big deal that no man stands between us and God anymore.  For me, though, the more radical truth is that instead of a select group of people ministering before God,  we all get to act as priests.  Peter tells us that Christ has made us “a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light,” (1 Peter 2:9, ESV). That means we all get to do exactly what this thirty day challenge has been about.  We get to stand before Him, hear His voice, and obey it.

None of this means that we are peoples’ only link to God.  They can touch Him themselves just like we can.  The point isn’t that someone can’t have a relationship with God, but that we all get to help someone else touch Jesus when He is difficult for them to find.  Priests minister to God for God alone.  But they also bring before God the needs of people.  A priest is not a priest if he doesn’t do both.

All of this is to say that today I saw the value of what I’ve been doing on this challenge (standing and listening) as I gathered with my spiritual family.  There were several times as we were together where I saw Jesus moving and I was able to partner with Him on behalf of the needs of the people around me.  A headache one time, a serious concern another, a word of prophecy later that day.  None of these are actually that different than what I normally do, except that this time they were things I saw Jesus wanting to address and addressed them because I saw Him moving.  And while I don’t have any confirmed testimonies that point to exceptional power accompanying my ministry, I (and others not involved) can tell that there is some new level of authority accompanying what I normally do.

You want to know the funny thing?  I’m still not sure what Jesus wants to do with the situations I would normally be freaked out about.  All the while He keeps showing me things He wants me to do, He has shown me zilch on the things that I “need” revelation on.  So I’m being patient and waiting and not doing much on those fronts, assuming, until He tells me differently He doesn’t want me doing much.  We’ll see if that works out in the long run. Until then, I’m going to continue to practice being a priest.

Have you noticed changes in your ministry since you started the challenge? And, what have you been doing when Jesus hasn’t given you revelation on something pressing?  Let me know in the comment section.

Join us on the “Thirty Days to Greater Fruitfulness” experiment.  For the rest of September we are spending 30 minutes in silent prayer listening to Jesus and then acting on what He asks us to do.  Then we blog about the changes that are occurring in our lives through the marriage of listening and obedience.  It’s not too late.  If you’re just checking out that experiment feel free to jump in.  And if you want more information, you can check it out here.

Photo Credit: September WallPaper Calendar by DewDreams