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LETTERS TO AARON Part 7 (This is a serialization of a father's heart [Philip] to his son, Aaron. The spiritual lesson in this session is worth the read..) May these installments be a blessing. If so, you may email Philip at ggayle1977@yahoo.com. To review earlier parts of this letter, you may click on the following: (This is the final portion of a serialization of a father's heart [Philip] to his son, Aaron.)Aaron Letter; Part 1 Worship, Part 6 The Holy Spirit will direct us to minister before the Lord in the exact place and at the exact time for us to encounter angels, receive revelations, to be given manifest righteousness (as opposed to imputed righteousness), receive power, wisdom, and things without number. Our being led by the Spirit, in our ministry before the Lord, is the equivalent of the Levitical priesthood casting lots to determine their appoint place to ministry. The Father has ordained before the foundation of the world for us to walk in these things. When it comes to worship it is His agenda, His turf, His time, His time table, and His place. His lordship was not seen its fullness in the visible realm (OT), except for a brief time before Adam fell and during the ministry of our Lord Jesus. Psalm 8:6 indicates that His original intent was for man to bring forth His lordship on the earth. Hebrews 2:8 says, we don't now see that kind of Lordship and dominion from the Almighty through man. Jesus manifested it, when He took the title deed to the earth back from Satan by force, during the period between His death and His resurrection. I wrote to you earlier about the three Greek words in the New Testament that are translated in English as "redeemed or redemption." Two of these words mean "to buy or to make payment." The third one carries the idea of "having bought something and having taken possession of it." In the light of these definitions, we need to understand the Lord has reclaimed the earth back from Satan. However, He has not yet taken possession of what He bought. In Isaiah 9:6-7, there is a prophecy concerning our Lord Jesus. Part of what these verses say about Him is "the government shall be upon his shoulders." Jesus is the head the body; He is the head of the Church. These verses in Isaiah 9 indicate that since the shoulders are in the body, rather than in the head, that He has placed the government of this earth under the authority of the Church. He is the last Adam (I Corinthians 15:45) meaning He closed out the dominion of Adam and took it back from Satan and gave it to the Church. Title to this earth is now in the legal possession of the Body of Christ. Until the day the Lord, as the head of the Church, exercises His legal rights under the warranty deed to the earth-- we will have to deal with Satan and his "kingdom of squatters." While we wait for Him to evict Satan and physically take back possession of His creation, we are to exercise our government authority here. There are two realms of authority in the universe. One is in the visible and the other is in the invisible. His Church is in authority in the visible realm, but in order to fulfill that dominion, we must exert both seen and unseen power. Here in the visible arena, Jesus is not yet manifested as Lord of Lord's. At His time, in the spiritual place of worship in the unseen place called Heaven, Jesus is Lord indeed. As we walk in the pattern of worship in the tabernacle, we bring forth His Lordship in the earth. Coming out of our times of worship, we emerge to bless in His name-- endued with power to overcome the curse. This pattern is by no means the only way to touch the Throne of Grace. I have interspersed this letter with accounts of battles won, of revelations received, and of the walk of Adam with His creator. All of which should be evidence enough that the purpose of this letter not to give my own narrow view of worship, but this letter is meant to help you Aaron, and anyone else who might read it, to learn about the pattern of worship that is most often used by the Lord for His people to approach Him. I can only speak about the thing I know, that which the Spirit has taught me. As I explained of all the tribes of Israel, the Church is most like the tribe of Levi. Our ministry within the pattern of their priesthood brings forth the blessing upon us as we "stand before the Lord to minister unto Him" (Deuteronomy 10:8). As we seek first our place in the kingdom of priests, all of the natural things we seek shall be added unto us (Matthew 6:33). As the lyrics of one song go, "It flows from the Throne unto His own." The Church has innumerable things that are said to be first in the mind of God. Those evangelistically inclined stress winning the lost. Those that ate gifted to finance the Kingdom put forth emphasize our being blessed to be a blessing. In the same manner emphasis is placed on healing, the helps ministry, and the vision of the pastor, not to mention the importance of the family, and so on. But every new soul won by an evangelist, every healing, every financial blessing, and every vision of a pastor or prophet should be a manifestation of what flowed upon them as they took their place before The Lord as kings and priests. The apostle Paul spoke in I Corinthians 12 of the diversities of gifts that the Holy Ghost has ordained to be dispersed through out the body of Christ. There is no such thing as the most important gifting in the Church. There is only the one or ones that the Spirit of God says are needed at a particular place and time. I have been around long enough to have seen the disgrace, the destruction, the marginalizing and the discrediting of many great ministries, who "went to seed" only having a focus on their own ministries and their own visions. I have observed over the years as profound men of God with far reaching ministries have sealed their own demise in ways that regrettably are repeated over and again. They usually do not fully recognize the other gifting within the body of Christ that could have brought them the healing and balance (and many times the deliverance they are desperately in need of). Sadly, it seems that they think that the vision and the call and the need is too great for them to stop everything and return to a ministry in the tabernacle and to the Lord, a ministry that they were once so dependent on. They chose, usually by default, to forsake their only true blessing. It seems that somewhere along the way, they forgot what they once knew when they were "small in their own eyes". They once knew that the divine ability to fulfill and sustain their vision came to them only as they stood in the presence of the Almighty, just like any other "ordinary Christian', regardless of their calling or prominence. Recently, questions I have had, for as long as I can remember, were answered. Over the years, at times, I have prayed and studied and run scriptural references--trying to get answers to these questions. But all I did was accumulate knowledge. My questions were along these lines: "How can a man minister to God? How can my faith possibly please God? How could a man possibly bless the Lord? In a recent worship service, in the church I attend, the Lord himself was ready to show me the answers to my long held questions. As the Spirit led the pastor, He artfully directed the service. The Holy Ghost chose this Sunday morning to have us worship according to the pattern of the tabernacle. As we entered into worship, I was impressed to wash my hands and my feet at the laver and to put on my priestly garments. The Lord then directed me to by pass the other points in the tabernacle and walk through the tabernacle, to take my seat beside the Him. As I left the outer court, going toward my appointed place, the pastor, who also leads the music, was taking the people to a place in worship and praise at the altar of sacrifice that was remarkable by any standard. What was going on was so remarkable. If the Spirit had not already directed me elsewhere, my inclination would have been to join the rest of the people as they worshiped there at the Brazen altar. But, I had already been urged by words and impressed in my inner man to take my seat beside the Lord Jesus in the Holy of Holies. As I sat there, the Lord himself urged me to observe this church service and see what He was seeing. After a while, this minister was led of God to take the people into the inner court. The ministry then flowed to the golden altar of incense--where high effectual prayer in other tongues ascended with the holy incense up before the mercy seat. Then, in answer to those spirit inspired prayers, the menorah was aflame with revelation and prophecies. These prophecies and revelations issued forth from the lips of the pastor and several of the people. Then the light of the Spirit fell on the table of shew bread, as testimonies came forth out of the crowd. There seemed to be no thought in the air to seek things from the Lord, only to seek His face. But He answered greatly in healings, peace and all manner things. We all had truly entered into His courts. We came into His presence empty, but now we were full. I did not know, also, that on this morning (having been obedient to come and sit) that I was going to have the Lord answer my long held questions. I was where He intended me to be for these moments. I sat beside His Throne and from His vantage and His perspective I beheld His people worshipping Him. I would have been blessed just to have had the privileged of having Him tell me to sit beside Him. My obedience opened the venue. The Lord Jesus, Himself, had instructed me to observe all that went on in the unseen tabernacle as His people worshiped Him. Then, as the worship began to subside and the pastor began preparing to teach the word of God, the Lord asked me a question. He said, "You know how it makes you feel when your children have developed and they are doing what you have seen that they could do and could be?" And I said," Yes sir, I know how that feels." He said, "You have poured your life into your children and I have poured my life into My children. What you sat here and observed pleases Me, it ministers to Me, and it blesses me." That service came close to the fulfillment of what it means to worship the Father in spirit and truth. Revelation 5 indicates that our redemption was intended to find its completion when we stand in the place where that church stood on that day. Aaron, the worship that is shut up in your heart was put there by God for you to take His people to that place. What happened in that church service is to be the norm. You are called to "come and build in the Temple". You were created, at least in part, to be a co-laborer with the Lord who, "shall build the temple of the Lord, and he shall bear the glory" (Zechariah 6:13-15). I have one final point, son. The priesthood is the heritage of every member of the body of Christ, but know that not every one will take their place. Figuratively speaking, maybe what I am saying here will help you understand the lay of the land. In Matthew 18, Mark 4, and Luke 8 are different accounts of Jesus' parable of the sower and the seed. The Lord describes the hearts of men as the soil into which the seed of the word of God can fall. He says that the hearts of mankind are divided into four categories, only one of which has the capacity to bring forth fruit once the Word is sown into it. And He said that only one third of them could produce fruit according to the maximum potential of the seed. In my experience, the percentage of people who could really be what Jesus called, "good ground" in this parable, appear to be smaller than one quarter of the human population. I believe you can also classify people into four categories based on how they normally live their lives in relation to the pattern of worship set forth in the tabernacle. Most Christians normally walk outside of the outer court. Another, smaller class, venture into the outer court to worship the Lord at the altar of sacrifice with any regularity. A diminished number spend some of their time in the holy place to approach the Lord at the altar of prayer. However, it regrettably appears that a relative small group of God's people are even acquainted with what it means to stand before the Lord at the Ark of the Covenant in the Holy of Holies. I am not saying that none of those first three classes never venture any deeper into the unseen places of worship. They usually only seek the Lord at a deeper level during times of need and in times of trouble and testing. Only when they know they need the blessing of God do they seek the Lord. When the need or crisis has passed, their inclination for what they call "normal" draws them back to their routine patterns. Many of the questions as to the great failures within Christianity can only be answered in the light of the four types of human hearts and the four classes of worshipers among the Lord's people. The Christians who Jesus called good ground are likely also those who take the wearing of their priestly garments seriously. The constant fulfillment of God's promises is only assured to those who abide in the vine and those whose resting place is the secret place of the Most High. This would indicate that for this fourth class of saints standing before the Lord to minister unto Him is the business at hand. It is their business norm. Aaron, this concludes all I have from the Lord to pass on to you presently. As He reveals more, I will share more. Love, Daddy
(This concludes the installments entitled Letters to Aaron. Aaron is a real person and Philip Gayle is a real Daddy. The letter was fully intended to be an open letter to Aaron about the taking up of his position as an elder in the Lord. Philip was led to share these thoughts with our greater audience. Many blessings, Philip. Dr. Oliver) |
