iPray Fridays: Reclaiming the Priesthood

But you are a chosen people, a ROYAL PRIESTHOOD, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

But you are the ones chosen by God, chosen for the HIGH CALLING of PRIESTLY WORK, chosen to be a holy people, God's instruments to do his work and speak out for him, to tell others of the night-and-day difference he made for you—from nothing to something, from rejected to accepted.

1st Peter 2: 9-10 (NIV, The Message)

Awimayehun, you are the One who never goes back on your word. Father I give you praise and magnify your name for you are worthy of all praise. Another Friday is here, the first in the second half of this year and I am alive and well, finding myself before the throne of grace to obtain mercy in the time of need. I am so special. Daddy, thank you for everything, for rain and sunshine, for summer and winter. For good food and good friends, thank you for direction, thank you for closed doors for if all doors had been opened we wouldn't have known which one was the right one.

Eliashib the high priest and his fellow priests went to WORK and REBUILT the Sheep Gate. They dedicated it and set its doors in place, building as far as the Tower of the Hundred, which they dedicated, and as far as the Tower of Hananel.

Nehemiah 3:1

Father you spoke through your son, telling us to rise up and take up our calling, our royal priesthood. Hmm, I'd always thought priesthood  was reserved for clergy folk, those with pulpits, those with sheep but Lord you have shown us through your word that in this new Covenant we have via the blood of your son, we are all priests and you have given us a mission in your house to the Body and outside to the world. Lord, forgive me for abandoning my calling to pursue my own interests like the Levites in the time of Nehemiah or those in the time of Haggai who thought it not important to build the house of the Lord. Father, forgive me for I know I have been so distracted from Kingdom work as I tried to put my life 'back in order' but You created me, You chose me, You called me to be a priest, You know the purpose for my life. My prayer is just like Paul's to be crucified with you, that I no longer live but Christ lives in me.

Daddy, the priests were different from the congregation of the Israelites because they had been ordained by you for a special task. They lived by a different set of rules for they were to distinguish between the holy and the common. Father, these days I know that I easily fall sway to trying to 'blend' in with my surroundings instead of recognising my priest hood as one that is set apart. Forgive me for not making pleasing you my highest priority. Lord, the priests stood in the gap between You and Israel, to make atonement for their sins. Priesthood is not about being recognised but about service. Instill a servant's heart in me O Lord in the mighty name of Jesus.

Father today I ask for the grace to honour and respect my priesthood. To realise that I am the temple of the Holy Spirit and being a priest is not a part time job, that being a priest is something I am and not something I do. I am a priest, 24 hours of the day, 366 days of the year.Father, for the priests, You were their inheritance. I pray as Paul prayed 'to know the hope to which You have called me, the riches of Your glorious inheritance in the saints and Your incomparably great power at work in us who believe.' The calling of the priesthood is one of awesome responsibility because it is for life but Lord I know your grace is more than sufficient. You have set me a mission and I shall fulfill it in the mighty name of Jesus. I separate myself from the distractions of this world and ask for renewed focus daily to fix my eyes on that high calling of God in Christ.

I am reclaiming my priesthood, I allow You to change my wardrobe, to take off the filthy garments of the old nature as you did for Joshua the high priest (Zechariah 3) and receive new garments, the garments of purity. I receive a new turban, that of holiness to the Lord. Father, help me to walk in in your ways and keep your requirements because in these last days, we can no longer afford to have business as usual. It is time for your children to reclaim their priesthood, rebuild the altars and present a pleasing sacrifice, the sacrifice of our wills.

Thank you Father, thank you Lord. I pray for those who have not yet come into a relationship with you. Priests are born, in the Old Covenant via Levi, in the New through the blood of your Son. I pray that they come to the knowledge of your Way, that the seed of the Word of God sown by many witnesses will find a receptive place in their hearts and bear much fruit in the mighty name of Jesus. Thank you my God and my King in Jesus name.

I am a Priest of the Most High God, anointed and consecrated for service.