The Priesthood of the Believer

Salvation is by the grace of God. While it is beyond our will, it includes it or else we can have no way of arriving at the goal of our predestination. God has declared His love to us; whether we respond or not, it is now our choice. If predestination is about what God has chosen, then your salvation is about choosing what God has already chosen. We choose God and His purposes when we believe. Believing is what puts us into what God has planned. This is the beginning of our profession of faith (Hebrews 10:23, 4:14).

\”Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called.. \” (Romans 8:30). A calling demands a response. Only those who respond positively to the call to salvation can therefore be called \”the called\”, who are then justified and those remaining in that state of justification are eventually glorified.

Therefore, day by day, we choose God\’s work and ways, as we worship in the temple of our hearts. Before Christ came, we could not think of drawing near to God by ourselves. We would need a prophet like Moses or a priest like Aaron to represent us, albeit annually. But now, in Christ, we do not need such go-betweens anymore. We have been invited into an everlasting covenant with a special relationship with the Trinity. While this may not look like what is widespread among believers today, it remains the truth, if you are willing to settle with God\’s word. 

The proof that you believe this is that you will live like that. The actual temple of worship is no longer a place of meeting; it is now your heart. And the Word of God says \”Above everything else, guard your heart; for it is the source of life’s consequences.\” (Proverbs 4:23 CJB). Your heart is the spiritual temple that determines the actual course and the material consequences of your life. And this is the place where the Word of God is planted, as you meditate and pray through Scriptures, to change the way you think in order to change (the direction of) your life (Romans 12:2, Luke 8:11, 15).

A place of meeting is simply a place to fellowship with others (Hebrews 10:25), of which Christ died for and made accepted in the beloved. It is also a place of instruction, where the Word of God is systematically dispensed to achieve \”…the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ\” (Ephesians 4:13) Also check 2 Timothy 3:16-17

Now, let me ask you a simple question: which of these two places is busy – your heart (being the place in your body where you commune/interact with God) or a physical building that is your place of meeting? 

Where should we have more shouts of praise? Where should we have more supplications and petitions? Where should we have more melodies of joy? That\’s right! Your heart! But we see that service times in churches are more busy with these than our hearts when we are not in church. Even though God has declared you a priest (Revelation 1:6, 5:10), you have to actually carry out your priestly service in the temple of your heart (1 Corinthians 3:16). 

Once this truth comes alive in your heart, you will see how difficult it is for the devil to make you a sinner again. You will understand why sin will no longer have dominion over you in Christ (Romans 6:14). It is a very simple matter. God, whose temple you are, will not allow you to be shared with the flesh, the natural man. Think about that! Once you believe, God is committed to make it your material experience.

The flesh refers to the kind of life Adam received through his disobedience, having lost the glory of God, and is now the type of life we are all born with before we come to Jesus. Genesis 1:27, 2:25, 3:7, Psalm 51:5

When you understand that you have been predestinated to be holy and without blame before God in love (Ephesians 1:3-4), it will drive you into your daily priestly service, where you officiate in the temple of your heart. That simply means you are active in the temple, in your inner man, worshipping God, and offering \”…the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name.\” (Hebrews 13:15).

Since righteousness is your right standing with God, it, thereby, requires you to stand before God daily in the Holy of holies of your heart, as an official of the Heavenly council. This kind of priestly service is what brings you into the obedience of life that is the literal out workings of your predestination by God (Romans 8:29, 2 Thessalonians 2:13, 1:11). 

\”Wherefore the rather, brethren, GIVE DILIGENCE TO MAKE YOUR CALLING AND ELECTION SURE: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall: [11] For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.\” 2 Peter 1:10-11 (emphasis mine)

Note: Unless otherwise stated, all Scripture quotations are from the King James Version.

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