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lOGIN

The Power of the Priest

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Written by Dr. Nathaniel Duffey III

 

 

 

The power of the priest must be understood if the church is to grow into the fullness of the spiritual evolution and maturity that we must, to apprehend Christ. The priesthood of believers is a dimension that all believers must grow into. The revelation of our individual priesthood is truly a progression from mere sainthood. Past understanding our own justification, redemption, and sanctification toward sainthood, we should see a paradigm shift in our awareness of purpose and perspective. Simply put, after we have understood the forgiven and blessed position that we have personally attained in Christ, we should come to a place within our own hearts where we begin to contemplate our responsibilities to the one who in His benevolence and grace has blessed us. Now that he has vested within us His love and charity, perpetuating and investing backwards into His work should be the only conscionable resolve. And what is that task to which we would reciprocate backward to the one who has no need? What is that thing that we could give, not as a repayment but an appreciative token to the one who’s account is untokenable?  Is it not to love the ones he has loved? Is it not to be charitable to the ones that he would desire to see His benevolent gifts?

 

 

 

Now, when we understand our imposed ministry in the light of our obligation to minister, we must come to the understanding of the institution designed to resemble all spiritual service and ministry. The priesthood is that institution, that framework, and that vehicle through which all ministry must flow through. Therefore it is incumbent upon us to appropriate in our minds the operation of a priest. And all saints must begin to move into the revelation that the priesthood is their calling and the service that the Lord has foresaw all believers walking in.

 

 

 

Now one of the most important points involved in appropriating the priesthood is the element of balances. The priesthood is distorted in the world today through the imbalances that we see throughout the body of Christ.  These imbalances in ministries and between ministers have played a significant role in dividing the church and promulgating the strife, which continues to inhibit our ultimate unity. Until these imbalances are brought into right perspective in the light of the true function of the priestly role, we will be hampered in our pursuit of the priestly power and the priestly crown.  Which crown represents the honor and glory which we will walk in, in the sight of the world. Which glory only comes through the alignment and in the balance that more perfectly reflects the mind and thought of God regarding the priestly role.

 

 

We understand that a priest represents God. But we sometimes forget that the priest is to also represent man. The priest represents the peace between those that dwell in heaven and those that dwell in the earth. The priest represents the reconciliation from the division caused by the error of man’s ways. The priest embodies both God and man in the earth as a sort of medium. Not as holy as God but touching his holiness, and not as sinful as man, yet being born into sin and touching sin. Having fellowship with God, a priest should have some understanding of His mind, and perspective. Yet in his fellowship with men and in his humanity, a priest understands the human condition and the infirmities that plague earth dwellers.

 

 

Now, for the most part, what we see are ministries and ministers that lean. Some tend to focus so much on the aspects of fellowship with God and apprehending His holiness, that they often become legalistic, harsh, and judgmental. These ministries tend to be smaller in size because they are too intense for most people. They are often welcoming, but their perspective is so bent on perfection that they fail to make the necessary room for the imperfect people of this world that they are called to help. It is hard for them to see their error because their pursuit of God is sincere, and they have attempted ‘and I say too hard’ to be acceptable to the Lord.

 

I say too hard because these ministries often err in not fully apprehending the liberty message of Christ and His work to make them acceptable by His blood alone. Though many understand this principle and may even rigorously preach it, they have failed to apply it appropriately in their lives. These ministries have a weakness in regards to slipping into self-righteousness, even the self-righteousness of striving in the flesh to not become self-righteous. They can also tend to have the tendency to feel more persecuted then is warranted as a means of psychologically rationalizing the rejection of people who are offended by their untreatable stance. They can fall into elitism feeling that they along with a small few are the remnant of the faithful. They will underwrite their lack of ministerial success by judging even more harshly and alienating themselves even more from the assistance of the rest of the body of Christ. They accuse others and judge others as being weak to explain their personal failures to walk in love. Many even assume that church growth must mean compromise with the devil. This is wrong, and some increase is a blessing of the Lord. And when you are obedient and faithful to the Lord and His principles, you should expect increase in the appropriate season.

 

The function of a priest is to help people know the Lord in spite of their shortcomings and misjudgments. An overbalance of truth without a proper measure of the preeminent principle of love can open the door to many hardships and deceptions of the devil. Our first approach toward our fellow man must be an approach of unconditional, non-judgmental, uncompromising love not just truth. Then when truth is appropriated toward the relationship, that truth must be measured in wisdom. No man can immediately handle all truth. Truth as light and illumination can be harsh and unforgiving. As light at the proper measure can help you see clearly, light increased too rapidly and at too frequent of a velocity has the ability to blind temporarily. And if light is increased at extreme measures it has the ability to blind a person permanently.  When a person has been in darkness for a long time and the Lord deals with them in His kindness and mercy, and He increases the light in such a slow and loving way as not to harm the individual, to some of our more enlightened saints it may appear that the increase in light that the Lord has blessed them with is insignificant and not much different or greater then the darkness they were previously in. When in actuality the person may be coming into greater understanding the only way they can at the only rate they can at that time, and the Lord is aware of their difficulty for one reason or another, in regard to receiving more light. Rather than erring in judgment, we must recognize God’s providence and see the person on heaven’s timetable.

When I see those cruel and immature saints who feel compelled to force the meat of truth upon babes that should at the time be hearing more about the milk of God’s unconditional love and the good news in regard to Christ, I am inclined to view them as having impure motives. Love is patient and kind, especially with the weak and babes. Pride and ego asserts self (even religious self) and personal knowledge to prove a point rather then taking the necessary amount of consideration to the state of the hearer. Without regard of the spiritual harm it may exact upon the beloved of God, these egomaniacs just charge in swinging the sword of God’s word haphazardly. Love is not only confrontation and aggression, but Love is kind.

Much of the aggressive religious preaching style that is common in the Pentecostal charismatic traditions and Baptist traditions is rooted in legalism and condemnation. While expounding has its place when there is a valid point to expound, this excess has served to isolate and divide these ministries from others who don’t have this same tradition or may find being yelled at excessively as being offensive.

 As many are drawn to this preaching style, it can be argued that perhaps the attraction comes from a perverted understanding of the gospel. Perhaps some (I don’t say all) have a view of God as one talking down to them in an aggressive fashion, condescending, condemning, and wagging the judgmental finger. Some don’t feel they are hearing God if they aren’t being sternly rebuked and talked to about their shortcomings. But as we transition and prepare for the global unity of the church, I believe we will see a moderation growing in this area.

As an example of what I’m saying, take a look at the Pope. We see the Pope in his recent visit to the United States, addressing the Holy Catholic See. The people as always respond with the utmost respect, in joy and heartfelt emotion, with folks crying and fainting and reaching over the fence trying to break past the secret service men just to touch the hem of his pope mobile. You would think he was running and screaming and preaching the house down. No! But in simplicity he reads his previously prepared sermon, at times being even remised to look up. You may take issue with parts of the catholic doctrine. But putting the doctrinal differences aside and just looking at the numbers that are commanded by his presence, the Roman Catholic Church is the largest church in the world with over a billion members! We must consider that the growth in some of the churches that focus on the screaming approach to speaking could be in spite, not because of this speaking style.Perhaps structure is more important then hype when it comes to church growth.

 Now on the other hand, there are those churches that lean the other way. As the prior emphasizes our relation to God and promulgating truth, the  priestly emphasis of this church can neglect God in it’s pursuit to gain man.These can be focused so much on the principle of love, and so focused on the people, that they become impotent and powerless as a church. The user-friendly churches that have this extreme tendency may grow relatively easy in size, but may have trouble developing depth of soul, character, and spiritual understanding. They may have the numbers, but become unsatisfying to the Lord because they bear little if any of His image.

 These churches tend to be easy targets for division (even within the weak and listless leadership). They are also prone to church splits because unity is a product of spiritual maturity. Vision and direction can be weak, in that their prophetic operation and revelatory giftings ( as a congregation) aren’t developed or mature. Lawlessness and moral failures are easy to slip into because of the lack of true community fellowship and accountability. These ministries become prey for many diverse spiritual attacks.

 When there is no militancy among the members and intercessors there is a wide open door for the adversary. Every assembly must be trained in how to handle spiritual warfare. There may be greater punctuality in ending services on time to accommodate the lackadaisical members, but how much control is the Lord given over the actual service for His will in the meeting to truly be done. Worse then this, there can never be multiplicity of ministers and ministries. There is nothing comparable to the unity of the spirit and the body flowing together in the divine symphony, making the harmony that the church in its collective parts was designed to do.

The priesthood that the Lord is developing in this hour and at this time will not be encumbered by the imbalances of the previous generations. There will be strength and a resolve in the churches that are springing forth at this hour, and many older churches will be renovated to become the balanced orderly house that God designed, taking full care of the youth while not neglecting the maturing. It will take hard work in bringing the bipolar parts of the priest and locking them together into the unity of the saints, but it will be done. And the house will surely become the house of God and the house of man. The power of the priest is to reconcile God and man! And the Lord will dwell together with His people like never before. As the priests begin to embody this reality and the balance of loving God and loving man and speaking the truth in love, we will all grow up into Christ in all areas.

 

Your servant,

Dr. Nathaniel Duffey III