3 “Say to them: ‘For the generations to come, if any of your descendants is ceremonially unclean and yet comes near the sacred offerings that the Israelites consecrate to the LORD, that person must be cut off from my presence. I am the LORD.
Hebrews 7:25-27 (NIV)
27 Unlike the other high priests, he does not need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for his own sins, and then for the sins of the people. He sacrificed for their sins once for all when he offered himself.
As I opened my morning`s devotionals for today, I was partially dreading reading Leviticus, but then when we pray and prepare our hearts to receive something from God, He uses the most uncommon scriptures for that or whatever He has available at hand. Today to me was available the book of Leviticus, and one of the things that God started to show me is the importance of sanctification and being set apart for Him, so He could use me.
Looking back to when Moses wrote out the law, we can clearly read what were God`s standards for the Israelites in bringing their offerings—they had to be perfect, without blame, and for the priests—to be "ceremonially clean". I think these same standards translate into our daily walk with God, except we don`t have priests anymore, but it is Jesus, Who was the sole Sacrifice without blame to stand for us, and now we have that responsibility when we come to God and when we consecrate our life to Him that our sacrifice has to be clean.
It is so easy for us to take advantage of what God offers, and in return bring our "Ceremonially unclean" offerings of our carnal living. God made it very clear that He would not tolerate that, and He did not change that standard in the New Testament.
Peter commands us as a truly believers:
13 Therefore, with minds that are alert and fully sober, set your hope on the grace to be brought to you when Jesus Christ is revealed at his coming. 14 As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. 15 But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; 16 for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.” (1 Peter 1:13-16 NIV)
God made it very clear that His standards for our living are to be set apart in His holiness to serve Him with our entire heart. Our body is the Temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:19), and we are not our own. Our Father bought us with a very costly price of Jesus` blood, and I better make sure I remind myself of that every day and stay mindful of that.
Oswald Chambers said:
When we pray, asking God to sanctify us, are we prepared to measure up to what that really means? We take the word sanctification much too lightly. Are we prepared to pay the cost of sanctification? The cost will be a deep restriction of all our earthly concerns, and an extensive cultivation of all our godly concerns. Sanctification means to be intensely focused on God’s point of view. It means to secure and to keep all the strength of our body, soul, and spirit for God’s purpose alone. Are we really prepared for God to perform in us everything for which He separated us? And after He has done His work, are we then prepared to separate ourselves to God just as Jesus did? “For them I sanctify Myself, that they too may be truly sanctified. ” (John 17:19 NIV).
As I was praying and worshiping God on a way to work today, He showed me the meaning of all the comotion that He is trying to teach me right now: let go of everyone and letting Him step up instead and care for them (everyone in my family).
I spend a lot of time on the road in traffic, and I have a lot of time to pray and intercede throughout the day, and as I was praying yesterday for my husband, I started to think of all the bad things that could possibly happen to him as an outcome of our current court proceedings because of all the evidence that I have against him where he incriminated himself in all the counts of his violent, profane, and sinful behavior through his own confessions, and I wouldn`t even have to testify against him in order to convict him in things that he`s done to me and in order to gain full custody of our daughter; his own words would do serve justice. As I was thinking about all these horrible things that could happen, God showed me to stop trying to protect everyone like I`ve been doing throughout my life: be that my sister, my mom, my husband, my daughter, my aunt, my cousin, but just to let them go and let God protect them. Lord showed me that even if my husband had to be taken to the place where he was homeless, without food (like the prodigal son in Luke 15 where he had to eat with the pigs before his mind cleared up and he realized that only if he went to his Father and repented, maybe his Father would allow him to work for him and even that would be better than eating with the pigs).
I had to let go of my motherly protection of everyone because as women, we have this motherly instinct that kicks in whenever we see someone in need, and that`s how I lived my whole life: I would try to protect everyone I see in need in my family, and God really had to stand me on the sidelines and show me that I`m only hindering His work by doing what I`m doing. I had to restrict my "earthly concerns" and rely completely on God, but I could only do that when I brought myself to this place of full surrender and trust in Him.
Be encouraged that if there is any area in your life, in relationships, that you`re holding dear, give it up to God, and you will see that His fullness and greatness superceedes anything that you could ever do yourself. It took God to corner me in my current circumstances in order for me to see the whole reason behind of what I`m going through and to accept the fact that it is God`s hand on everyone and everything, and He is much better of taking care of things than I could ever be. I had to give up my relatives, my mom, my daughter, my husband, even my freedom in order to give God enough room to move and to produce necessary results for His glory. I encourage you to do the same: set yourself apart for His sanctification by surrendering your life completely to Him if you have not done so yet, and pledge to live your life as holy as you can for His glory!
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