A RENTED HEART

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The Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation

 A  RENTED HEART

Somehow we have come to believe that the veil torn to allow us entry into the Most Holy place is only that of which constitute the temple.  Studying the details of the temple reveals to us astonishing revelations all that pertains to our blessed Messiah. We see Him in the washing of the water, the menorah, shew bread and so much more.  All three sections of the outer court, the inner court and Most Holy were veiled.

The purpose of this rented veil of Christ, His flesh, is that we may commune with God there at the mercy seat.  There He will speak to us.  A timeless and eternal provision.  The instructions Moses received were to make an exact replica of that which is in heaven.  However, no longer are we required to enter into that which is earthly, but that which is heavenly.  He has made a way.

We can only enter by faith.  The truth is that it took the death of the cross to rent that veil so that we may enter.  And yet, some of us find ourselves still in the outer court or inner court.  Have you given it any thought that we are found in the heavenly tabernacle of God when we enter the tent of meeting?  There where we go to find mercy and grace to help in the time of need.  Even though we are stuck in our stuffy rooms surrounded with crying kids and demands that require our attention, we have actually entered into that realm that transcends time.  No wonder it takes faith.  If you are prone to see things only from a now perspective, that which is earthly and bound to time, you will miss that which is spiritual, transcends time and  eternal.   Our bodies, our very entrapments in our sin, holds us still on earth, but the spirit meets with God there in the eternal.  Did He not say that the Kingdom of God is within us?

Instead of us literally coming to Him, He has made a way for heaven to come down to us, even in us.  Oh the mysteries of God!!  The tabernacle being triune is in fact the image of man, being body, soul and spirit.  The body representing the veil of the flesh still having to be torn in some of our lives.  All that which still lusts and beastly.  The soul which comprises of the intellect, the understanding and human wisdom and knowledge, seems to be an even thicker more tenacious veil, still set in place like an iron curtain.  And then our spirit which is our heart - the very essence of who we are.  Not only our personality, but even that who we were before the foundation of the earth.  As He said to Jeremiah, “Before you were born, I knew you.”

 The truth of the matter is that He meets us where we are at.  If we are still to be found outside of the outer court, He pursues us by His Spirit to repent and come into the “fold”.  The moment we do we find ourselves having to wash ourselves first before entering the inner court, it is there that He as the prodigal Father embrace us and kiss us fervently, along the way.  Once we have entered the inner court, He communes with us on a daily basis to confront and convict us of our wayward thoughts and unrenewed mind.  He enters into our state wherever that may be.  He enters into our hearts, our very being by His Spirit, there in the Most Holy place of our lives.   All of these divine encounters is God with us.  It is a mercy and a grace.  He has entered in, but have we?

What would the tabernacle represent in light of us being a triune being and being the earthly pattern of that which is heavenly?  Made in His likeness.  Which is to say triune.  For just as there is protocol to enter into an earthly King’s courts, so it is in heaven.  We see this preparation in the type and shadow of the priests who served in the outer and inner courts. Even more so in the type and shadow of the High Priests, the type and shadow of our High Priest, Jesus Christ.  Sin was still present in those who served in the outer and inner court.  How do we know this?  Because a mercy was shown to them that was not shown to the High Priests who entered with fear and trembling into the Most Holy Place.  We are not told how many of the High Priests throughout history were struck dead, only to be pulled out by the rope they were bound to.  But what we do know is that no flesh could come into His presence and live.  Why?  Was His presence then not in all the different sections of the tabernacle?  The truth is that His presence was, but not His glory.

David refers to His soul as his glory.  That is to say not that which constitute his intellect and reasoning, but his essence, his being.

Psalms 108:1

“(A Song or Psalm of David.) O God, my heart is fixed; I will sing and give praise, even with my glory.”

 

This glory is H3519 in the Strong's Concordance which is the word Kabod.  The meaning is weight. When we speak of God’s presence, we speak of the weightiness of His presence.  That glory that fills the temple with its weight so that the very air becomes thick.  David is saying he will praise Him with his kabod.  His heaviness, which is to say his whole being.

Something transpired in heaven before it was manifested on earth, on the cross. The Son had to leave the heavenly and enter into our earthly.  He had to enter into our weakness, our temptations, pain and sorrow.  He had to enter into the anguish of fighting against sin and the onslaught of the enemy.  He had to enter into the realm of hatred and murder from that place of perfect peace and love.  It meant entering into our humanity, that which requires us to relieve ourselves in our bodily functions.  Entering into our dependency on a mother’s breast and the guidance of a fallen earthly father.  He had to enter into the heart of what it means to be man.  He became the Son of Man.  It is not only what He left behind, but also what He entered into that we need to consider.

And the word says the following of His earthly struggles and agony:

Hebrew 5: 7 - 10

⁷ Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared;

⁸ Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered;

⁹ And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him;

¹⁰ Called of God an high priest after the order of Melchisedec.

In this we see how He rented His soul in anguished prayer.  But there on the cross, He rented His heart as well as His flesh.  There where His glory resides. And as it was done in heaven, so it was done on earth when God rented His heart for a broken and lost world.  The veil before the Most Holy Place was torn from top to bottom so that we may enter into the Most Holy Place…that is to say not just into the type and shadow as seen in the earthly tabernacle, but into the rented heart of God, as He has entered into ours.  A real felt eternal place in Him.  In this place we are called to abide in Him as He abides in us.  To remain and not just visit.  Not just once a year, but forever.  My question is, have we truly entered into the rented heart of God?

The way into His rented heart has unfortunately been cheapened  by the hyper grace deception where His holiness and a rightful fear of God has been replaced by an unbalanced view of God as only a loving Father ready to allow all into His glory.  The truth is He did make a way and what a grace it is!  Jesus is the Way into the heart of God, the Most Holy Place.  He took upon Him our sin so that we may be the righteousness of God.  But He was being made perfect to become the author of eternal salvation unto all them that OBEY Him. 

Hebrews 5: 8 - 9

₈Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered;

⁹ And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him;

This obedience is an ultimate obedience, just as He as the Patterned Son had to do in order to be made perfect.  In Matthew 5 Jesus says the following:

Matthew 5: 48

⁴⁸ Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.

He makes it abundantly clear in John 15 that if we love Him we will do His commandments and abide in His love.  And love is the fulfillment of the law.  Walking in obedience as He did is the very act of love towards Him and others.  For it asks of us an ultimate obedience to love as He did, and therefore to be perfect as our heavenly Father.

In Hebrews 4 we read that the Israelites could not enter into His rest due to their unbelief. This unbelief is described as a hardened heart.  Countless times they were found to be adulterous, compromising and murmuring, desiring to go back to the fleshpots of Egypt.  But God was not mocked by their sin and refused that they should enter into His rest. 

The rented heart of God is a very real place that He has made a way through His Son that we may enter in.  This eternal place is where the spirit of man and God, the Eternal Spirit become one.  Paul says we have the mind of Christ and know all things.  It is a place of knowing, the transcended place Jesus prayed in His High Priestly prayer in John 17.  In this place He reveals His rented heart to those who have come through the Way, that is to say, through the cross.  There He reveals His grieving for the lost damned for eternity without any hope.  It is filled with an indescribable love for His own.  It is a suffering love, a humble love, and eternal transcended love.  It is a sacred place of holy hush and awe where we are undone…it is His glory.

Let us not cheapen His grace by thinking we can enter boldly without considering the cost and therefore think we have entered when in fact we still find ourselves in the outer or inner court.  Those who will enter, enter by unspeakable grace and therefore should not for one moment think that we can deserve it by our obedience.  Rather, the obedience is unto the perfection of the saints, so that we may enter.  We do not allow just anybody into our hearts.  This is wisdom.  Why should He?  Once you have entered, you will come out like Moses from the mount with glory shining on his face, but we will be unveiled because the veil our hearts have been torn and now we see.  We see because we have entered into the rented heart of God.

Let us then therefore endeavor to enter into the Most Holy, renting our own hearts and allowing Him to discipline us.  For there is also a joy set before us to endure our own cross.  Let us therefore enter.  I would like to say that I have entered, but if I am honest, I have not.  I am not yet glorious.  He has extended the invitation to me over and over this week.  I have run from Him because I know in the depth of my being, that when I do, there is no turning back.  He is not inviting me to enter into a place where I am still in control.  He is inviting me into His kabod.  His rented heart, where two hearts beat as one. And so, by this devotional, He is inviting you to enter in. 

Please Read:

Hebrews 12

1Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,

² Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.

³ For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds.

⁴ Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin.

⁵ And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him:

⁶ For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.

⁷ If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?

⁸ But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons.

⁹ Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live?

¹⁰ For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness.

¹¹ Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.

¹² Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees;

¹³ And make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way; but let it rather be healed.

¹⁴ Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord:

¹⁵ Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled;

¹⁶ Lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright.

¹⁷ For ye know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected: for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears.

¹⁸ For ye are not come unto the mount that might be touched, and that burned with fire, nor unto blackness, and darkness, and tempest,

¹⁹ And the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words; which voice they that heard intreated that the word should not be spoken to them any more:

²⁰ (For they could not endure that which was commanded, And if so much as a beast touch the mountain, it shall be stoned, or thrust through with a dart:

²¹ And so terrible was the sight, that Moses said, I exceedingly fear and quake:)

²² But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels,

²³ To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect,

²⁴ And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel.

²⁵ See that ye refuse not him that speaketh. For if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven:

²⁶ Whose voice then shook the earth: but now he hath promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven.

²⁷ And this word, Yet once more, signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain.

²⁸ Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear:

²⁹ For our God is a consuming fire.

BLOOD ON YOUR HANDS

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The Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation

A CALLING UNTO PRIESTHOOD 

I had a vision middle last year that Father only now have revealed to me the meaning of.  It was very simple, but very powerful.  I saw Jesus in His high priestly clothes standing on a green hill.  His hair was white as snow as well as His beard.  He was just standing there majestically and full of authority.  He was waiting.  And the message is..."I am calling you unto priesthood".  

In my previous devotional, Rented Heart, I wrote about the heart of God that was rented for us to enter in.  The cross is what it took to rent that veil and nothing less will be required of us should we desire to enter in by faith.  Our own hearts are to be rented in sanctification.  This devotional will go a bit deeper.  You will note that the requirement is ultimate, for our God is an ultimate God.  He has made a way for us to enter by faith.  We are His workmanship and not only does our heart have to be rented in repentance, but the requirement is HOLINESS UNTO THE LORD.  Not a moment in time, but a way of living.  This is ultimate and only possible by His grace. For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory forever. Amen. (Romans 11: 36)

Hebrews 12:14

¹⁴ Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord:

We are a royal priesthood and a chosen generation (1Peter 2: 9).  The Bible is a Hebraic book and unless we understand the essence of what it is to be Hebraic, we will fall short of the weightiness of what it is to be priestly.  To have an understanding and to know the heart and fibre of something you have to go to its inception.  Our western understanding is limited to priests of the Roman Catholic Church or Anglican Church.  We look upon the ceremonial sacrifices as archaic and irrelevant.  Yet these things are for us as a type and shadow.  We now fall under a different priesthood.  No longer under the Aaronic Priesthood, but the Order of Melchizedek.  This in itself requires of us to have a closer look at who Melchizedek was and what does it mean for us as a royal priesthood called under this order.  We cannot just wear the name priest around our neck as something that was given, without being it.  We have to BE something before we can proclaim it.  And unfortunately, there have been a lot of proclaiming of us being priests unto the Lord without the reality.

In Revelations 1: 5 – 6 we read:

⁵ And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood,

⁶ And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.

The meaning of the word Melchizedek is "my King is Righteousness" .  Melchi is King and Zedek is righteousness. We need to consider that the Word, being inspired by the Spirit of God, do not pair words for no reason.  There can be no Kingship without righteousness in the Kingdom of God, which is to say Kingly Priests.  And this is exactly what He is making us to be.  I had a dream last week wherein I was told by one person that I will rule a certain city and later in the same dream I was told of another city that I will rule over.  Sons and Daughters of a King can rule, those who are made priests after the Order of Melchizedek.  To be a son of God is kingly and priestly.

Luke 22: 29 - 30

29 And I appoint unto you a kingdom, as my Father hath appointed unto me;

30 That ye may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom, and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.

When Moses saw the Israelites whoring after the idol of Baal, he asked the whole of Israel, “who is on the Lord's side?”  Only one tribe out of all twelve stood up to stand with him, the Levites. What was his instruction from the Lord?  They had to each one strap their sword to his side and go in and out of the camp and slay every man his friend, brother, mother, father and neighbor.  It was on that day that He consecrated the Levites as priests.  The word consecrate means “blood on your hands” (Exodus 32: 26 - 29). The requirement for this consecration of the Levitical Priesthood was indeed ultimate and in all honesty who of us are able to stand before the Lord today and if required to do this would literally slay our family or neighbors?  The reason I am asking this is to bring home the Hebraic heritage and sense of just how ultimate our God is.  The God of the Old Testament is the same God of the New Testament and that very same God came in the form as a man to be our High Priest.

Hebrews 3: 1

Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus;

Priestliness is vitally connected to the Apostolic, and also the Prophetic.  If we lose sight of the one, we stand to defile the other or even forfeit it.  The main purpose of the Apostle and Prophet as priests, is to present God to the people as He truly is and not as what they would like Him to be.  To set the standard, the plumb line before the people, which is holiness unto the Lord.  

We read the following about Melchizedek…

Hebrews 7: 3

 Without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days, nor end of life; but made like unto the Son of God; abideth a priest continually.

We can easily say that we are no longer required to slay our loved ones and neighbors, but there is something to this “without mother, without descent” that we should take note of.  Why was it necessary to include this in the holy writ?  Does it make a difference whether He had a mother or a descent?  No one knows from where this Melchizedek High Priest came from, but what we do know is that Jesus is now our High Priest after the Order of Melchizedek, which is an eternal Priesthood to which we are called to.  There is more to this as we can see this ruthlessness in Jesus addressing His mother at the wedding of Canaan, saying, “Woman what have I to do with you?” (John 2: 4).  I don’t know about you, but my mother would not take kindly to me addressing her like that.  We also hear Him saying to His disciples when they told Him His parents were looking for Him, “Who is my mother and my brother and sister?”  And when at age 12 found in the temple after being asked where He was, He said, “I am about My Father’s business”.  If my 16 year old daughter had to say that to me, I might have some choice words to say to her, never mind a 12 year old.  And yet, we see Him not shunning His responsibility as a son, even on the cross, as He tells John that he is now to look after Mary as his own mother.  He also tells the one disciple who wanted to bury his father, “Let the dead bury the dead...follow Me”.  Taking all of these examples into account we can see that there was a certain disposition that He had that was true to the Order of the Melchizedek priesthood.

This priesthood, even the Levitical priesthood, requires a savage neglect of legitimate concerns for our own flesh.  If you cannot be ruthless to yourself, you cannot be a priest.  A Melchizedek Priesthood is without father and mother, which is to say without the soulties that bind us of a fleshly kind that would keep us rooted in sentimentality and to be nice, when at times we are required to take up our sword.  After all, God is love and you are supposed to be a Christian.  And Christians make nice.  We just cannot allow our “niceness”, our sentiment to deny our place of utter obedience unto the Lord.  There is no such things as being subject to a mood when you are a priest.  Priesthood is not only beyond father and mother and neighbor, but also beyond culture, patriotism, creed or institute.  The only way for this to be is because the sword has been against the priest’s own flesh in every category of his life.  This is why we read that blood was placed on their ear, right thumb and right toe, which is saying every area is to be consecrated.  

The priests were told in Leviticus 7 to wait for 7 days at the tent of meeting after many sacfirices  before they were allowed in.  This number 7 is the number of completion.  It is not saying we are to wait for 7 days, rather we are to wait until completion.  He is the one making us into priests according to Revelation 1: 6 and we are His workmanship.  It is He who slays us with the Sword of the Spirit and butchers us to death on the altar.  Even piercing into the bone and marrow, dividing our souls and spirit and discerning the motives of our hearts (James 4).  It is a bloody affair and not a surgical and clinical procedure.  One could not differentiate between the priest and the sacrifice as they were slaughtering the different animals on the altars.  Even so our High Priest was slaughtered on the altar of the cross and we are told to take up our own.  Not a neat little beam with no splinters. Our identification with our High Priest is also in the death we die.  In the sharing of His suffering.  The cross was the slaughtering of the spotless lamb, which was the High Priest sacrificing Himself in order to make atonement with His own blood on the mercy seat.  Jesus could not enter the Holy of Holies in the heavenlies as our High Priest without the atoning blood.  We too as a royal priesthood are to wait at the tent of meeting until the work He has started in us is complete.  Covered as the priests of old in blood, where we truly are living sacrifices.  Our ears, thumb and toe concecrated. And waiting is worship.  To the degree that we have entered into His death is the degree that we find ourselves in our High Priest.  Being priests is something that He makes us into so that we not just  verbalize it, but that we can be it.  Romans 12 says that we are to give our bodies as living sacrifices. Meaning no longer bulls, sheep or any other animals to be the sacrifices, but ourselves.  We are to lay our lives on the altar concerning every category of our lives.  If we do not give all, can we really say we have given our lives?  The requirement is ultimate. 

At first glance we can in our own understanding easily say what is holy and what is profane.  But we are called to more than that as priests.  There are many people to be found in the world that would put some Christians to shame with regard to how “good” they are.  Real discernment is to discern between good and perfect.  A priest is acutely honed into what purports to be nice, right or moral, knowing that even that is a threat to that which is holy and perfect.  It is all about the glory of God and without sacrifice there can be no glory.  Even so we know that the Apostles waited for 10 days in the upper room before the glory came down.  And who can say what kind of ultimate sacrifices in the spirit happened at that time.  They were not told that they would have to wait for 10 days, but to wait until.  It just so happens that the meaning of the number 10 is also completeness.

The Levites who at the beginning stood up and sided with the Lord, also eventually profaned the priesthood by defiling themselves in compromising with the gentiles. (Ezek. 44)  They were told that from now on they could no longer serve the Lord, but are to be serving the people in the outer court.  A necessary function, but a very costly price to pay.  How much more are we to jealously guard the holiness of God in our lives as royal priests, lest we too stand to lose it?  Not holiness as we see it, but as He sees it. The purpose of the priests is to teach the people the difference between the holy and profane.  Through their lives and service unto the Lord His sanctity and holiness is expressed, preserved and maintained on the earth. This will be the standard that will be upheld in the coming Kingdom of God on this earth.

We have to maintain our distinction.  And what is this distinction of a priest apart from holiness?  Amongst many things it is a sense of dignity and poise one carry yourself with.  You are set apart and not one of the boys or girls.  You do not get to say what you want to, or even do what you want to when you want to.  All of your life is an act of worship.  Whether you eat or drink, whatever you do, do it for the glory of God (1 Cor. 10: 31).  It is a service unto the Lord, because the priests belongs to the Lord and no longer to themselves.  They did not get to do what the rest of the tribes did, neither did they receive any inheritance.  The Lord is their inheritance and their portion.  The moment any service is done unto man or to serve self, is the moment that defilement comes.  All is worship.  There is no secular and religious with a priest.   We have to have a priestly mindset that speaks of dignity where we ask ourselves whether what we are doing, no matter what, is indeed priestly.  Does it defile?  Very often that which we search out in the name of truth comes with a heavy price where it causes defilement.  Holiness is to be at the forefront of all our considerations.  We have to be able to BE holy without saying a word, for in our being we are communicating the sense of God as He truly is. 

The priests of Zadock were the only ones who did not turn away from the Lord when the Levites turned their backs.  They were given the privilege to minister unto the Lord.  This Zadock is also the “zedek” that forms part of the name Melchizedek. 

Zadok (or Zadok HaKohen, also spelled Sadok, Sadoc, Zadoq or Tzadok; Hebrew: צָדוֹק הַכֹּהֵן‎, meaning "Righteous, Justified") was a Kohen (priest), biblically recorded to be a descendant from Eleazar the son of Aaron (1 Chron 6:4–8).

We maintain our Melchizedek priesthood to the degree that we are in Him and to the degree that we are without father, mother, neighbor or ancestry.  That is to say from above and not below, our identification with Him verses our identification with family and neighbors and that which is earthly.  Priests are above, heavenly…they have their citizenship in heaven.  There is no Jew, Gentile, American, South African or Indian.  They are all together other!

Not to enter is an affront to the great privilege bestowed to you in the rending of the veil of His flesh that has kept you out previously.  He is saying, “I have made a living way for you to come, not only to come, but to abide forever, for this priesthood is eternal."  It comes from out of the indestructible life of God.  We are to approach the mercy seat with faith and boldness, but we can only do this with a clear conscience. 

Many of us have been prepared like the Levites having no longer father, mother, neighbor or ancestry.  No longer holding on to the credo of this world, but have become all together other, even unto our own brethren.  However, you have not yet entered into priesthood.  What I mean by that is that you do not see yourself yet as a royal priest and therefore do not commit to the standard required. And because you do not truly see yourself as a priest, you do not live up to the name and therefore do not abide.  You still cut the corners here and there and are still playing it safe.  You are still going in and out of the Holy of Holies and not having your being from out of that transcendent place.  You are existing beneath that which He has formed in you thus far and not even knowing it.

We are called a royal priesthood, but in order for us to BE this royal priesthood we have to lay down our lives so that we may enter in and abide. And the only way to truly communicate who He is as He is, is in the Holy of Holies.  When you come out from that transcendent place with Him, you carry within your fibre and being the aroma and indestructable life, which is to know Him. 

As David says in Psalm 27:4

One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after.  That I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life.  To behold the beauty of the Lord and to enquire in His temple.

Let us earnestly seek to enter into the veil, where we may meet with Him at the mercy seat.  Let us enter by faith.  Unto us who are but dust He has made a way through His Son that we as Sons and Daughters of the Most High may walk in obedience as His Son did and lay our lives down. Waiting as long as it takes for Him to complete the work in us to be that royal priesthood after the order of Melchizedek.  Let us not think that we will never be able to enter and in that find ourselves in unbelief because we are looking to ourselves.  We are to look at the author and finisher of our faith who endured the cross for the joy set before Him (Hebrews 12).

Scripture ref:

Leviticus 7 and 8

Hebrews 3

Hebrews 12

BLOWING THE WHISTLE ON WORSHIP

BLOWING THE WHISTLE ON WORSHIP - AUDIO

 

Something that has recently grieved my spirit is the influx of these “stars” into the church.  We find that there is more and more celebrities that are now “coming to Jesus” and find themselves on stage, very much in their comfort zone and sphere of influence.  Such as Justin Bieber, Demi Levato who was baptized recently, but now identifies as binary, DMX who passed away recently, or Matthew McConaughey who has been giving teachings from out of the Bible and of course Mr Kanye West.  Many more have come to the “church party” and many more will.  Firstly, let it be known that there is nothing impossible for the Most High and that He can save those who have not blasphemed the Holy Spirit.  But what I find disturbing with regard to these people is that there has been no open repentance of their involvement in the occult, of them being worshipped, or a public declaration of denouncing Lucifer.  Instead we find that they only have to declare "Jesus as Lord", without anyone questioning whether they are in fact declaring their own false Jesus as Lord or the real Yeshua HaMaschiach.  Nobody questions it and everybody is so glad that these lost souls had entered into the sheepfold.  And of course, if the pastor is okay with it, who are we to question it?  I frankly do not know who to be more upset with.  The fact that they are up on a stage and are a voice in the church or the fact that the church has actually freely given it to them.  Justin Bieber opens his mouth to sing, looks as sad as can be and this constitutes him being saved.  What insanity do we have here?  Not of them, but of the church.  The Church who is to be the prophetic voice and standard to the world.  People, the only repentance that is the true repentance is that of a changed lifestyle that bears fruit. Singing on a stage or giving a sermon does not constitute being saved at all. Getting saved in these days has been cheapend to a prayer.  What are they being saved from?  From hellfire?  From condemnation? Does the Word not say that there is no condemnation for those who no longer walk after the dictates of the flesh, but are led by the Spirit?  This is a condition that speaks of a person's life and not a prayer.  The rich young ruler came to Yeshua and asked Him what he must do to be saved?  What did Yeshua say?  Sell all you have and follow Me.   Right off the bat He made it clear, "Your goods, your livelihood that constitute your security and identity needs to be sold.  You come into My Kingdom naked as a babe."  This may actually be the actual selling of all their goods, but the context is that of all that you hold on to and makes up your identity has to be "sold". There is a difference from being redeemed and being saved.  When we are redeemed we have accepted the price paid for us by Yeshua on the cross, by which He purchased us and we enter into covenant with Him by laying our lives down.  But being saved is to be saved from this world.  Not the earth, but the system by which it functions that constitute the spirit of the world and how it operates.  We are saved from this world system.  All is under the power of the enemy: politics, education, medication, pshycology, finanace, everything that makes up this world.  Even food and especially entertainment. These are the very entrapments that the enemy use.  Not because they are bad in itself, but because of the authority given to the enemy over them.  This is why satan could offer the world to Yeshua during His temptation in the wilderness.  So in a way we are redeemed of sin in our personal lives, but we are saved from this world, this matrix.  This however is a process as we know that we are not of this world, but still in this world.  When we are baptized we come up out of the water which resembles the world.  We are dead to the world, but alive to Christ.  This baptism speaks of a baptism into death where the person now no longer walk after the dictates of the flesh, but are led by the Spirit.  However, just because you got wet does not constitute the reality.  This is a process by which we are saved of which the baptism is a type and shadow and declaration, and this process is called sanctification.

1JOHN 2: 15 - 17

15 Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.

17 And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.

Nowadays you qualify as a worshipper on the basis of your talent and the fact that you say "Jesus is Lord".  It is no wonder that fornication and adultery are found amongst the worshippers in church.  Worship is predicated on the flesh if not sanctified.  What we find today is that Kanye gets to not only have a platform, but have his own church.  By the way, this happened just after his breakdown, after which he returned sporting white hair.  This dyed hair is to signal that he has reached enlightenment and "godhood" status.  And what better way to celebrate his godhood by creating his own church.  Having said all this, the point is that what the Most High deems as the standard for us, as His children, is the same standard for them.  Holiness.  The easiest place for them to have come in was through the door of worship.  This devotional is not about them or even their agenda.  They are plain and simple paving the way for the false "Jesus", the anti-Christ agenda to be accepted.  At the same time, they receive worship from their followers within the pews.  What people do not understand is that these "stars" see themselves as gods.  And so we now see nothing less than what we saw during the 70’s of the "hippy era", where the main theme was to love all and judge none.  Simply put, “Do as thou wilt is the whole of the law.”  So nobody is to judge these "stars" coming to Jesus and having a platform to now worship.  And what does it say about those who allow this?

What the Most High impressed upon my heart is worship itself.  Worship is one of those words that one should rather leave alone.  The word itself is pregnant with so much more than songs and lifting up our hands. It requires the whole being for it to be authentically worship.  Although it can be expressed in various ways, it ultimately is an expression of Spirit and Truth and if any of these two qualities are missing, it is ipso facto not worship.  I don’t care how big your stage is.  I don’t care how impressive your band.  I don’t care how beautiful the lyrics or the atmosphere.  I don’t care how many goosebumps or thrills and spills.  These all constitute that which is seen and felt.  But what the Most High is after is that which constitute Spirit and Truth, which is eternal.  If it is not in Spirit and in Truth, it is not worship. In fact Yeshua told the Samaritan woman at the well that the Father is seeking those who will worship Him.  He said that the time is coming that those who will worship Him, will worship in Spirit and Truth (John 4).  He seeks those who will worship Him.  He seeks this.  Will He accept anything that is not true, when He himself is Truth?  The lack of these two qualities, Spirit and Truth, is the exact reason why the enemy found entrance into the church at present through the door of worship.  It is also the reason why we are so eager to accept any kind of worship or praise as from Him.  To the degree that we are not walking in the Spirit and in Truth, is the degree that we will compromise in all areas of life.  And though one would like to categorize worship as the act of singing and lifting up our hands, worship is life.  All is worship.  There is no half way mark or a category when it comes to worship.  How you wash your dishes, how you clean your house, how you drive, what you do at work, what you watch, everything is worship.  The same is true in the enemy’s camp.  The enemy sees all acts of allegiance to him as worship.  You do not have to sing a song to him for him to see it as worship.  All we do are to be worship unto the Lord and thereby worship is not just a song, but how you live. Jeremiah 6 says the following...

JEREMIAH 6: 16 - 17

16 Thus saith the Lord, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls. But they said, We will not walk therein.

17 Also I set watchmen over you, saying, Hearken to the sound of the trumpet. But they said, We will not hearken.

If one wants to know how something must be, you have to return to its inception or beginning.  This is the restoration that is required.  Just this morning I saw a quote of A. W Tozer saying, "The kind of revival we need today is a revival of reference and sacredness in the presence of God."  This is what the church is to return to, the ancient paths.  I obviously do not have anything against musical instruments, however I do have something against the flesh trying to duplicate that which is holy.  I have no problem with noise or celebration.  Heaven's rejoicing is as thunder.  The issue is flesh versus Spirit, but worship has even now reached a status of being worshiped itself.  It has become a way to cover what needs to be dealt with, by elevating the mood, an escape and even a subtle means of self-adoration. This is very subtle in the worship where the focus is on how He loves us and will use us and have called us and the list goes on and on.  Where worship is all about Him.  This is not to say that we are not to be grateful for what He does, but the subtle line of self promotion and adoration lies within the lyrics.  We need discernment.   In Exodus 25 the Most High gave Moses the measurements and requirements of the Ark of the Covenant and tells Moses that it is there where He will meet with Him.  Not in the outer court, not in the inner court, but in the Holy of Holies.  And I am afraid many believers still find themselves at the outer court where everything is still driven by what is felt or sensed, seeing this as the Most High's seal of approval as being authentic worship.

EXODUS 25: 22

²² And there I will meet with thee, and I will commune with thee from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubims which are upon the ark of the testimony, of all things which I will give thee in commandment unto the children of Israel.

We know that only the High Priest was allowed to go in the Holy of Holies once a year.  No flesh was allowed to come near the Holy of Holies.  The act of coming into the temple was by means of a “lift” where the ankles of the High Priest were not to be seen.  No flesh was allowed to exert itself or be seen.  The requirement of entering was ultimate and it was holy.  In the Inner Court one still found the light of the Menorah lampstand and the showbread and incense, but in the Holy of Holies it was utterly dark with only the mercy seat.  The only light in there was the glory of the Most High.  How can we ever fathom the tension felt outside as the people waited for the priest to go in.  I can see the nation holding their breath in nervous anticipation with the hope that this High Priest would not have to be pulled out of the Holy of Holies with a rope due to some unknown and unconfessed sin in his life.  And the joy of having their sin pardoned knowing that they will receive the blessing and favor of the Most High must have been a tremendous relief.  All of this hung on the life of the High Priest. 

Our High Priest, Yeshua, has made a way through His torn flesh that we may enter by Him into the Holy of Holies.  There to stand at the mercy seat where He has promised He will meet with us as He there met with Moses.  There we are to hear His instructions and obtain mercy that we so desperately need, especially now.  I find it interesting that He required two cherubims to face each other and to cover the mercy seat.  This in itself speaks of the protectiveness and holiness of the blood that still speaks from the mercy seat.  But somehow these two cherubims also speak of the place where we as His children now meet each other that we may obtain mercy for each other as well.  That there we are to face our differences and walk in truth and in Spirit.  This is where there is no black or white, Jew or Gentile.  Here the husband and wife meet in their differences.  The teacher and the prophet, the parent and the child.  All those who are drastically different, but one in Christ.  Not so that we may accept each other in the name of love as the world do, but rather as Paul exhorts us, we may speak the truth in love.  Here we face each other and we learn from each other in humility.  Here we are stripped from pretense and stand willingly under His searching gaze with the disposition of “Change me Lord, whatever the cost.”  Dietrich Bonhoeffer made the quote, "God meets us in our brother." Here nothing is brushed under the rug, but the heart touches the other heart and the Body functions not just in gifts, but in Spirit and in truth.   Truth that does not just build up and comfort, but truth that also hurts and breaks down.  You cannot have the one without the other.  Our differences are divinely orchestrated by Him for this purpose, that we may know the truth of our own hearts.  He said that it is here where He will meet with us.  In that place of truth and authenticity.  This is the place of true worship.  Not a place where you enter into a building, but rather in the Holy of Holies where you stand before the mercy seat in the presence of the Most High who is the TRUTH.  A good dose of the fear of the Most High is required.  This makes me think of Ananias and Sapphira who sold their land and only gave a portion to the church.  Peter filled with the Holy Spirit knew that they have lied to the Holy Spirit, allowing the part to stand for the whole and they suffered the consequence of death.  And is this not what we are doing in our worship.  Allowing the act of worship through songs and music to stand for the whole, when in fact our lives are not resembling that which we sing.  We still hold grudges, we still tell white lies, we still watch that which we should not, we still hold bitterness in our hearts, we still cannot let go of that one thing.  All of these habitual sins that we see as little “boo-boos”, which we will get to later or just do not seem to get rid of, we take into the Holy of Holies, lift up our hands in worship and say, “I worship you Father”.  And this we call holy unto the Lord.  Just like Ananias and Sapphira death enters in not just into our lives, but the death that comes slowly where the standard by which He wants to be known is lowered and all together flesh.

We are now the priests of the Lord to enter into the Holy of Holies, there to lift up holy hands.  This speaks of all our doing to be holy.  The priests had the blood of consecration placed on their right ear, thumb and right toe.  All must be holy, that is to say set apart for Him and unto Him.  In Leviticus where the first priests were consecrated we find the first worship service demonstrated, and it ended with the glory of the Most High through fire. 

LEVITICUS 9: 22 - 24

²² And Aaron lifted up his hand toward the people, and blessed them, and came down from offering of the sin offering, and the burnt offering, and peace offerings.

²³ And Moses and Aaron went into the tabernacle of the congregation, and came out, and blessed the people: and the glory of the Lord appeared unto all the people.

²⁴ And there came a fire out from before the Lord, and consumed upon the altar the burnt offering and the fat: which when all the people saw, they shouted, and fell on their faces.

Is it possible that we are not now seeing a demonstration of the fire of the Most High falling on our own personal lives due to the fact that we are trying to duplicate the real thing, but in fact failing, because of our own personal lifestyle that is not in sync with what we are singing?  Shall the Most High be mocked?  Did He not say that those who sow according to the flesh shall reap corruption?  Through a literal show the atmosphere is charged with a felt presence by the means of the correct musical wavelength to capture the masses to be swayed?  It is all together a celebration of the flesh.  Do you not find it appalling that we think that by conjuring up an atmosphere we can bring the Holy One down to us?  If we repeat it just enough or set the amplifier louder or we whisper just softly enough, maybe He will come down.  If we cry and sway our arms or shout loudly, maybe then He will come?  How far have we moved from that which is required, which is holiness.

EXODUS 30: 8 - 9

⁸ And when Aaron lighteth the lamps at even, he shall burn incense upon it, a perpetual incense before the Lord throughout your generations.

⁹ Ye shall offer no strange incense thereon, nor burnt sacrifice, nor meat offering; neither shall ye pour drink offering thereon.

The incense speaks not only of prayers, but of worship and this is the sweet fragrance that goes up before Him.  The High Priest was to first place one hand into the veil that separated the Holy of Holies from the Inner court, containing the incense.  The incense was warmed with fire and the smoke would rise as worship.  In fact, worship in itself requires sacrifice.  When Abraham went up to the mount to sacrifice Isaac, he told his servant that he and the lad will go further alone to worship.  All of the worship in the Holy of Holies is called an offering or a sacrifice.  It requires of us more than lifting our hands and singing a song.  It requires a life poured forth in obedience in the fear of the Most High so that when we worship it is in Spirit and in Truth.  And because we have not worshipped Him according to His standard, we have readily received any other strange fire and at the same time think that He approves.  As long as we can feel a thrill or a heaviness, we label it as anointed.  This is not to mean that all worship is not of the Lord, but what gives us the right to sing that which is not true of ourselves?  What gives us the right to sing that we are lifting up holy hands, when our hands are full of blood?  What gives us the right to worship Him with the same lips that curse our enemies?  What gives us the right to trample His holy courts with presumption?  Why have we lost our awe of the Most High?  Why do we no longer tremble at His Word and His presence?  Why do we say it His glory when His glory will not rest on that which constitute flesh? 

We will be held accountable for every idle word we speak, or sing.

JEREMIAH 6: 13 - 20

¹³ For from the least of them even unto the greatest of them every one is given to covetousness; and from the prophet even unto the priest every one dealeth falsely.

¹⁴ They have healed also the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace.

¹⁵ Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? nay, they were not at all ashamed, neither could they blush: therefore they shall fall among them that fall: at the time that I visit them they shall be cast down, saith the Lord.

¹⁶ Thus saith the Lord, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls. But they said, We will not walk therein.

¹⁷ Also I set watchmen over you, saying, Hearken to the sound of the trumpet. But they said, We will not hearken.

¹⁸ Therefore hear, ye nations, and know, O congregation, what is among them.

¹⁹ Hear, O earth: behold, I will bring evil upon this people, even the fruit of their thoughts, because they have not hearkened unto my words, nor to my law, but rejected it.

²⁰ To what purpose cometh there to me incense from Sheba, and the sweet cane from a far country? your burnt offerings are not acceptable, nor your sacrifices sweet unto me.

And who suffers the most because of the strange fire we bring?  Is it not in fact He Himself who is by this worship depreciated as who He is?  Something is lost from His side where He is not worshipped in Spirit and Truth, but also in us as the standard is lowered in our perception as to what is true worship.  The Kingdom suffers loss because of this, and this opens the door for the gods of this world to enter that they in turn may receive the worship.  The people may feel that they are in fact lifting up hands to worship the Most High, whilst the idol they have always worshipped is standing right in front of them, receiving the worship they long for.  But the people love it so to be entertained. The lights, the atmosphere, the joy of all loving Jesus, but the question is, "What Jesus?"  All then done in the Name of Jesus, once again allowing the part to stand as the whole.  If it is not true, can it then be called worship?  Can we validate this kind of worship?  Can we justify worship that it is more about sweeping up the crowd and getting them to a stage of unity in false love, when the love that He requires of us is the love that is spoken in truth at the mercy seat? 

PSALM 133

¹Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!

² It is like the precious ointment upon the head, that ran down upon the beard, even Aaron's beard: that went down to the skirts of his garments;

³ As the dew of Hermon, and as the dew that descended upon the mountains of Zion: for there the Lord commanded the blessing, even life for evermore.

We read in Acts 2 how the disciples came together to wait on the promise of the Holy Spirit.  It was there they had to wait in unity, seeking His face and calling upon His name.  It was here after so many years that the Most High answered with fire again.  Here they met each other according to His requirements given to Moses, which was at the mercy seat.  Not with the actual mercy seat in front of them, but as ones that seek the mercy of the Most High whilst facing each other in truth and Spirit.  Can we even begin to think that this was done with a music band, a lead singer and lights on a stage?  No.  This was done in Spirit and in Truth.  In the Upper Room they had to meet each other face to face, knowing that the fire will not fall unless the sacrifice is holy.  We are that living sacrifice that is to be offered as a whole burnt offering on the altar of the Most High.  All is to be devotion and worship.  We cannot claim entrance into the Holy of Holies based on faith and grace, but forget that the same chapter in Hebrews 12 says that without holiness nobody will see the Lord.  To the degree that you abide in Him and are in fact in Him in authenticity, is the degree that you will enter into that place.  The veil was torn.  Please read my devotional called "A rented Heart" discussing this topic further. (A Rented Heart - link)

Some of us may not have been duped into the whole celebrity in the church scene, but we may still be offering strange fire before the Lord.  And because we lower our standard we depreciate who He is and we fall short of the glory of the Lord in our own lives.  In a time where we need to meet Him at the mercy seat we cannot take the chance to enter in boldly without a life lived in repentance and holiness that gives us that boldness.  If not for the Blood of Yeshua, where would we be?  But we cannot cheapen His blood and use it as a cheap means to enter just because we can and then expect glory and fire.  The reality is that you may think you are entering, but are you?  May we seek Him according to the standard He has placed, which is by not just offering worship, but being it.  And be it in Spirit and in Truth.  Worship is holy and sacred.  It is set apart to be only for Him and He desires that His creation will come to Him and worship Him with pure devotion in Spirit and Truth, which is the only way the fire of His glory will come.  Where is the worship that no longer looks like the world, but is after the pattern of those who fell on their faces in awe and wonder?  Those who rent their hearts before a holy God and have learned to wait in His presence and be silent as long as it takes.  And just so you know, silence is the highest form of worship, but the silence where you are as dust.  Not feelings, not noise, but a holy awe.  I asked Father why He wanted to talk about this subject.  After all, are there not a lot more pressing things now to discuss?  His answer, "My standard do not change with time and My standard do not change with circumstances,"  He does not change.  Now more than ever to truly worship Him in the midst of persecution is to bring a sacrifice of praise.  It costs us.  It asks of us to be real with Him and ourselves.  The enemy is trying to snuff out the voice of the Bride and the Bridegroom.  He is trying to silence our worship.  In the darkest hour the song of the Redeemed rises above all and sets those in prison free.  Songs of His deliverance and faithfulness where there seems to be no hope are songs sung not based on feelings or a set atmosphere.  They are songs that rise from the Spirit and in Truth.   Nothing can silence these songs.  At the same time we have to remember that the Most High is the God who devastates.  He brings us to a place where our categories we would have wished to place Him in, no longer makes sense.  He brings us to the place of devastation where what we thought would be, does not happen.  He allows things to devastate us and reminds us afresh that His thoughts are not our thoughts and that His ways are higher than ours.  Here in the secret place of the Holy of Holies, our categories and ideas are brought to the submission of who He is.  That we may cry, "The Lord! He is God!"  This is the place of true seeing.  Where we see as He sees, not only our own hearts, not only how He sees the world, but we see Him as He is and want to be known.

ACTS 16: 22 - 30

22 And the multitude rose up together against them: and the magistrates rent off their clothes, and commanded to beat them.

23 And when they had laid many stripes upon them, they cast them into prison, charging the jailor to keep them safely:

24 Who, having received such a charge, thrust them into the inner prison, and made their feet fast in the stocks.  (Could it be that our inner prison can be transformed to the Holy of Holies?)

25 And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them.

26 And suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken: and immediately all the doors were opened, and every one's bands were loosed.

27 And the keeper of the prison awaking out of his sleep, and seeing the prison doors open, he drew out his sword, and would have killed himself, supposing that the prisoners had been fled.

28 But Paul cried with a loud voice, saying, Do thyself no harm: for we are all here.

29 Then he called for a light, and sprang in, and came trembling, and fell down before Paul and Silas,

30 And brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved?

I SEE (Word received March 2021)

I see the heart and I see that which is done in secret.  I know the thoughts and intents of the hearts of man.  And I know the wickedness of every heart.  For those who think they are pristenely clean, I see as white washed tombs, full of death and evil.  They are convinced of their own purity.

What can wash away their sin?  Nothing but the blood of Jesus.  What can make them whole again?  Nothing but the blood of Jesus.

There is no other way but by the blood.  So come and make ready.  Do not think you can stand before Me without being washed.  Not once, but every day.  For every day brings with it its temptation.  Every day the eyes lust, the flesh desires, and pride goes rampent.  Every day an assault on the senses.  Nothing but My blood, the blood of My Son.  

Many will say, "But Lord, did we not cast demons out in your Name, and do miracles in your Name?"  But they never built their lives in obedience to Me on the Rock.  Therefore, they will be caught unawares in the storm coming.  They will not stand, because they have not cut off the hand and plucked out the eye.  They have in secret held their hand to their bosom that no man could see.  But I see.  All stand naked before Me.  All will have to stand before Me that sees everything.  

I still seek those, My eye still goes to and fro across this earth in search of those who tremble at My Word.  Those of old trembled, but this generation is stiffnecked, lusting after the flesh pots of Egypt.  

Examine yourselves.  Examine yourselves whether you will be able to stand before the Son of Man.  Examine your wicked hearts and prepare to stand before Me.

Have we considered the ultimate length we are to go in cutting off the arm or in the plucking out of the eye?  Have we been singing "I surrender all" when in fact not all is surrenderd?  May we examine our hearts before the One who sees all before we come and worship Him.  May we give Him what He seeks in this hour, which is worship in Spirit and Truth.

Amen.