Greetings
Have you ever questioned your status/standing as a child of God or been challenged about the legitimacy of your spiritual gift? Consider today’s Holy Nougat. Chew slowly and carefully and allow the Spirit of God to minister to you as I was ministered to.
“They searched for their names in the genealogical records, but they were not found, so they were disqualified from serving as priests.” Ezra 2:62 NLT
Their names were not found. I can only try to imagine how embarrassing and humiliating the experience must have been. Hobaiah, Hakkoz and Barzillsi’s families were operating in the capacity of priests BUT they weren’t Levites. In fact, they were not registered as Israelites. That suggests that they had not done due diligence, despite their expectations.
In one sense, the ban seems unfair: here was a group of persons who had been in exile with the Israelites, yet they were being denied access to the priesthood. Totally unfair right! Except that, in those days, the role of priests was restricted to a Select Few families from the tribe of Levi. And even then, they had to be specially prepared to serve in the Temple. None of these families qualified – their names were not in the record books. (And we KNOW how meticulously the records were kept, based on all the ‘begats’ of Chronicles and the Pentateuch)!
That said, we recognize that there is also a requirement for us to be recognized as members of the Royal Priesthood we are called to. Yes there is – belief in Yeshua, Jesus Christ of Nazareth, the Son of God. We cannot expect to operate in full spiritual gifting and be acknowledged as legitimate Christians if we are not followers of Christ! For this assertion, I make no apologies! Operating in the Spirit is critical for Christian ministry today. And that requires us being ‘Levites’; born (again) into the family through the Blood of Jesus Christ.
Think Noah for a second. The Ark had capacity for more humans on board. But folks had to CHOOSE to enter the Ark. Christ’s sacrifice at Calvary was for EVERY SINGLE ONE of us humans; but each of us has to CHOOSE Christ as Savior to legitimately access our Spiritual Gifts. There are those who operate in gifts Outside of Christianity and they probably have rules for their system. For us in the Christian family, we ought to be begotten of God’s ‘Only Begotten’. That’s our qualification for inclusion in the Royal Priesthood.
(This is not an argument about Who we will find in heaven; this is not an argument for spiritual superiority; nor an argument for religious abuse of any other faith group. This is about our qualifications as Levites in the current dispensation!)
Thereafter, it is our Fruit, Spirit Fruit and long term output that is, which confirms our status. Are we operating in the power of the Holy Spirit – if yes, let us also be defined by the aroma of our Fruit as per Galatians 5. As we operate, are our prophetic utterances, healings, other outworking of our spiritual gifts pointing to Christ and birthing new Christ-ian converts? If yes; Great. Otherwise, time for a dose of daily renewal of our minds.
My dears, it is a new season. Let us each walk as ones called, chosen and accepting of our status as legitimate Levites, heirs to God’s Promises through Christ Jesus!
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In and for Christ’s love
