Elijah came near to all the people and said, “How long will you hesitate between two opinions? If the LORD is God, follow Him; but if Baal, follow him.” 1 Kings 18:21.
Today your LORD (יהוה) God (אלהים) says:
The priests were set apart as holy. They were to live pure, holy as I am holy, for they handled divine and precious things that I had entrusted to them. My prophet Jeremiah was a priest, in fact, the son of the high priest, Hilkiah, and I told him that he if he would repent and return to Me I would restore him to stand before Me and if he would take out the precious (yaqar (יָקָר): precious, valuable, rare, esteemed) from the vile (zalal (זָלַל): to be worthless, to be light, to be gluttonous, to be vile) he would be My spokesman to intercede and to exhort, comfort, edify, and encourage My people at a pivotal time in their history. The time had come for the choice of whether My people would keep ignoring My commandments for their own enrichment (among other things those in power would not keep the Jubilee and let their slaves go free, restore ancestral lands, and forgive debt) or follow Me with pure hearts. They had gone way too far in disobedience and worthless pursuits and it was time for a reckoning and awakening.
As My royal priesthood to pray effective prayer and live a life of fruitful joy that brings salvation to the nations and carries out My Will upon earth, your life must be a prayer in and of itself. A place of constant communication and answers, and this only happens, as I told Jeremiah, who I made a prophet to the nations, from a place of living pure. It came down to watching his mouth, separating the precious from the vile, getting rid of idle words.
With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in the likeness of God; from the same mouth come both blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be this way. Does a fountain send out from the same opening both fresh and bitter water? Can a fig tree, my brethren, produce olives, or a vine produce figs? Nor can salt water produce fresh. James 3:9-12.
It all starts in your heart, but it does not stay there. The mouth speaks from the heart’s abundance.
“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” Matthew 5:8.
The cities of refuge where Levites lived and had their pasture lands among the tribes of Israel were primarily mountain cities on the heights, cities set on the mountain where those seeking asylum from the avenger of blood could stream. Joshua 20:1-9.
“You are the light of the world. A city set on a mountain cannot be hidden; nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven. Matthew 5:14-16.
You too, no matter where your physical location is, should be living on the heights, seated above with Jesus in the heavenly Mount Zion.
O send out Your light and Your truth, let them lead me; let them bring me to Your holy mountain and to Your dwelling places. Then I will go to the altar of God, to God my exceeding joy; and upon the lyre I shall praise You, O God, my God. Psalm 43:3-4.
There comes a time in everyone’s life when they must get serious and make the choice of who they will follow—Me or idols. And the time for you is NOW.
It is time for you to take this message very seriously. For the time is short. What sort of people you must not be! Choose life, not death, blessing, not cursing, that you may live, and that is forever. This is a matter of eternal life or eternal death. It is time to stop straddling the fence.
If you have been babying yourself, allowing worthless words mingled with precious ones. If you have been judging, complaining, despising and apprising others, speaking against your parents or your siblings, complaining about your work, your co-workers, your boss, your days, your nights, yourself, everyone else, allowing depression, crying, resentment, hopelessness, it is time to STOP and re-evaluate your life.
“What right have you to tell of My statutes and to take My covenant in your mouth? For you hate discipline, and you cast My words behind you. When you see a thief, you are pleased with him, and you associate with adulterers. You let your mouth loose in evil and your tongue frames deceit. You sit and speak against your brother; you slander your own mother’s son. These things you have done and I kept silence; you thought that I was just like you; I will reprove you and state the case in order before your eyes.” Psalm 50:16-21.
What is the answer? Grace. My life shared with you so you can live pure like Me. I am your helper.
The Mighty One, God, the LORD, has spoken, and summoned the earth from the rising of the sun to its setting. Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God has shone forth. . . Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I shall rescue you, and you will honor Me. . . He who offers a sacrifice of thanksgiving honors Me; and to him who orders his way aright I shall show the salvation of God.” Psalm 50:1-2;15;23.
Don’t make it all about yourself, live pure with no offense. You don’t know everything, not even close, be able to learn. Forget the sins and mistakes of the past, you are forgiven, go forward.
Quiet and calm, loving and pure, no evil, no harm, you are secure in Me. Be the royal priest I made you to be. Take this seriously.
If your priority is Me, this will be joy. Order your day around Me and refuse frustration. Do not budge off My Word. Be thankful. Be generous. Be alert. Be quick to respond. Sing a song in your heart all day long. Do not go share and discuss your life with people who have no wisdom, that is wasted time, even if you live with them. Do not cast your pearls before swine or give what is holy to dogs. They were trample them underfoot and perhaps tear you to shreds.
This is the day of Salvation. On this day I cleanse you from all your iniquities. Ezekiel 36:33. Rejoice and live pure as I have made you. It will turn you desolate places into Eden. Ezekiel 36:34-36.
Today for you, in your hearing, NOW, I have fulfilled the prophecy of Ezekiel in you and it is My doing, not your works, but you must receive it and walk therein. Be serious about responding with corresponding thoughts and actions what I have put in you already in Christ.
Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances. You will live in the land that I gave to your forefathers; so you will be My people, and I will be your God. Moreover, I will save you from all your uncleanness; and I will call for the grain and multiply it, and I will not bring a famine on you. Ezekiel 36:25-29.
Choose for yourself today who you will serve. Your emotions or Me. Joshua saw My wonders and what happened when he trusted Me while the majority of his generation followed their emotions and missed all My good promises that he enjoyed.
“Now, therefore, fear the LORD and serve Him in sincerity and truth; and put away the gods which your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the LORD. If it is disagreeable in your sight to serve the LORD, choose for yourselves today whom you will serve: whether the gods which your fathers served which were beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living; but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.” Joshua 24:14-15.
Think now, what do your thoughts, words, and actions tell to others of what choice you have made?
If you make the choice to obey, I will work it in you, with you, for you, and together we will do it. I am not asking you for perfect performance I am asking you to decide to walk in perfection. I then can take care of the rest. I will make you perfect as I am perfect.
But examine everything carefully; hold fast to that which is good; abstain from every form of evil. Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete, without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Faithful is He who calls you, and He also will bring it to pass. 1 Thessalonians 5:21-24.
And how did Joshua become so successful and so able to control his emotions so they did not hold him back or destroy his life? With Me in My Word and I will be with you wherever you go.
“Only be strong and very courageous; be careful to do according to all the law which Moses My servant commanded you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, so that you may have success wherever you go. This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it; for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have success. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous! Do not tremble or be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.” Joshua 1:7-9.
The Word is not off in Heaven or across the sea that you should have to go great distances to find it. No, it is very near to you—in your heart and in your mouth. When you find My Words you find life and health to all your being.
“For this commandment which I command you today is not too difficult for you, nor is it out of reach. It is not in heaven, that you should say, ‘Who will go up to heaven for us to get it for us and make us hear it, that we may observe it?’ Nor is it beyond the sea, that you should say, ‘Who will cross the sea for us to get it for us and make us hear it, that we may observe it?’ But the word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may observe it. Deuteronomy 30:11-19.
Start in your heart today by gardening and doing heart transplant with Me, also known as renewing your mind and thus being transformed. To be an effective intercessor and royal priest you must live pure. It is time to put your foot down and stop permitting yourself to live as the unbelievers do, as controlled by your spirit and not by your flesh.
I love you. Come live with Me on My holy mountain and be joyful with Me in My house of prayer as My royal priesthood, My people set apart. Make your choice today and do not delay. You will never regret choosing Me over other things.
And in our next lesson you will learn the protocol of the priest’s offering of spiritual sacrifice by intercessory prayer unto Me.