Standing in the gap

   I looked for a man among them who would build up the wall and stand before me in the gap on behalf of the land so I would not have to destroy it. (Ez. 22:30)

  The ultimate example of intercession is Jesus Christ. In Isaiah 53 tells how Jesus would suffer and be "cut off from the land of the living and stricken for the transgression of his people." The Lord of the universe takes the position of a lamb led to the slaughter. Then at the end of that chapter we read, ‘Therefore I will give him a portion among the great, and he will divide the spoils with the strong...For he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors’.

  In Philippians 2 we read how Jesus took the position of a servant and as an act of his intercession for transgressors he was "obedient to death, even death on a cross." Therefore God exalted him to the highest position and gave him the name above every other name.

  Then in Hebrews 7 we read how our Lord, from that highest position as our great High Priest, "always lives to intercede" for us. From the position of having all authority in heaven and on earth, he always lives to act as our advocate before the Father.

  Intercession, then is taking our position, according to the authority we have as believers, in the places he assigns to us. From that position we express our intercession through various means such as prayers and petitions, praise and worship, with prophetic acts of intercession, or with language from the Spirit not expressible in natural language: "but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express." (Rom. 8:26)

   Levitical worshippers  take the position of  intercessors.

   Levitical worshippers, who are called to a lifestyle of standing before God to minister to him, by their very acts of worship take the position of  intercessors. Through their worship, they "stand in the gap" between heaven and earth. Our worship opens the door to God’s presence. It opens heaven over the geographical areas and political or social arenas, governments etc that we are given responsibility for.

  All of worship is intercession. Worship does not just prepare the heart for intercession or open the way to effective prayer. Every expression of worship offered in spirit and in truth, brings the worshipper into a position of intercession.

  Giving God the glory due his name, praising Him for the splendour of his holiness, and declaring "The Lord is good, and his love endures forever" is intercession, as, by the very act of worshipping him for who is, we release God’s grace and favour over the land.

  Jehoshaphat appointed men to sing to the LORD and to praise him for the splendor of his holiness as they went out at the head of the army, saying:

"Give thanks to the LORD, for his love endures forever."

As they began to sing and praise, the LORD set ambushes against the men of Ammon and Moab and Mount Seir who were invading Judah, and they were defeated. (II Chron. 20:21-22)

 So worshippers let us rise up, take our position, and bless Him with all our strength. Let all that is within us, bless his holy name. The Father is seeking true worshippers, who will worship in spirit and in truth (John 4:23), and the world is crying out for our worship – to take our position as intercessors between heaven and earth. Our worship will open the gates of heaven over our land, over our communities, over our families, our government, our cities, and over our nation and the nations

What is a Levitical Worshipper exactly?

  When the Tribe of Levi was first set apart and identified for their calling, the Lord gave foundational directions concerning their unique role in the following instructions recorded by Moses:

 Deut. 10:8.   At that time Yahweh set apart the tribe of Levi to carry the ark of the covenant of Yahweh to stand before Yahweh to minister to him and to bless in his name, to this day.

   These words give us the clearest description and call of the Levitical Priesthood anywhere in the scriptures in both the Old Testament and into the New Testament (e.g. Luke 1:8-10), we see how this calling was applied.

 There are three specific aspects to this calling:

1. "To carry the ark of the covenant of Yahweh"

2. "To stand before Yahweh to minister to him"

3. "To bless in his name"

    To carry the Ark of the Covenant

  The ark of the covenant represented God’s presence and his glory. It was a weighty and awesome responsibility to carry this ark, and this was the first specific mark to their calling. The Israelites were to follow the ark, the Presence and Glory of Yahweh, wherever it led them. If the Glory rested, they rested. If the Glory moved, they moved.  

  The Levites were assigned the responsibility of carrying this Glory of God. So today, to be called as Levitical worshippers, we need to know that we carry the Glory of God with us. Wherever we are, the Presence and Glory of God can rest on us.

  As twe enter a room, the Presence of God can fill the atmosphere.

  Called as Levitical worshippers we need to see ourselves as carriers of God’s Glory, shining from our faces, with ever-increasing glory (2I Cor. 3:18), and flowing with the healing, restoring, transforming Presence of God where we walk.

      To stand before Yahweh to minister to him

  As those with a Levitical calling, we are mandated first of all "to stand before the LORD to minister." Ministry to the Lord takes precedence over all other ministry.

 What does it mean to minister to the Lord? It means to focus our first love, our highest attention, our greatest energy, our deepest passion on Him. It means to express our love and devotion to him first of all with all that is within us (Ps. 103), and with any and every means he has given to us: through thanksgiving and praise, through loud shouts and exuberant dancing, as well as with quiet devotion and deep reverence; with tambourines or clapping or the use of any instruments we have, to express our highest praise. It means to lavish our love on him with the best we can offer, as Queen Esther did in preparing a feast for the King, or Mary of Bethany in pouring her most precious ointment on the feet of Jesus. We have seen this in abundance in our meetings and gatherings.

     To bless in His Name

  The word translated "bless" is the Hebrew word "barak." It comes from the Hebrew root "berech" which is the word for "knee." It is one of the seven Hebrew terms used for expressions of praise or worship, and is almost always used in the context of "blessing" God, e.g. Let us kneel (barak) before Yahweh, our Maker. (Ps.95:6) However, in this context, the Levites are mandated to bless "in his name." In other words, as they "barak" - kneel before the Lord, blessing him first, then they are also called to "bless in his name." Similarly as Levitical worshippers today are called to first of all bless the Lord, He then also mandates them to "bless others in His name."    

  Those called to this Levitical ministry, will be constantly blessing others. Wherever we go, blessings flow from our mouths to those around us.

  We seek to speak blessings to our environment, into workplaces, into our Churches, to our families, to our society and culture.

 As Levitical worshippers we will release blessings, because we first "barak" - kneel before the Lord, and bless Him.

 That is the three-fold mandate of a Levitical worshipper.

   There is one more distinguishing characteristic that the Lord gave the Levites in their calling:

  Deut. 10:9  "Therefore the Levites have no portion or inheritance with their brothers. YAHWEH IS THEIR INHERITANCE."

  The Levitical tribe did not receive the same allotment of land as the other tribes. Rather, as a tribe set apart wholly to serve the Lord, they depended wholly on the Lord as their inheritance, as their source. However, since all the land was Yahweh’s, and there was no limit to His possession, there was also no limit to the inheritance of the Levites.

   With Yahweh alone as their inheritance, all they had was His, and all of His was theirs.

Today's Levitical Priesthood

   Today, those called as Levitical worshippers are so fully given over to Him, totally devoting their lives as a living sacrifice of worship, so completely focussed on his glory and passionately pursuing his presence, that they also say, "The Lord is my inheritance. He alone is my all-in-all. ALL I need, all I am, and all I desire to be is found in Him! He alone is my source, my sufficiency, my everything!"

   We are consumed with one desire: to see Him lifted up, to give Him Glory, and to love Him above anything or anyone else. Our passionate desire is for Him, for His presence and for His Glory to be made manifest wherever we are in the land.

  John 4:23 But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for such the Father seeks...

 Mal 3:1- 4 says Malachi 3 New International Version (NIV)

1 “I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me. Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, will come,” says the Lord Almighty.

2 But who can endure the day of his coming? Who can stand when he appears? For he will be like a refiner’s fire or a launderer’s soap. 3 He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; HE WILL PURIFY THE LEVITES AND REFINE THEM LIKE GOLD AND SILVER.

 Then the Lord will have men who will bring offerings in righteousness, 4 and the offerings of Judah and Jerusalem will be acceptable to the Lord, as in days gone by, as in former years.

  Are we ready for this calling and duty in this day?

The Glory of God has been manifesting in our midst as we worship.  

   Over this last few months in our gatherings the heavy Glory of God has been manifesting among us in our times of ministering to Him confirming His calling to us as Levitical Worshippers.

   When we have been abandoned to him in times of worship He has come in power many times unexpectedly.

   Also when we have been visiting revival sites across Wales He has come unexpectedly in awesome power.

   His manifest presence has caused us to be in awe of Him and almost afraid to dishonour Him in any way. We have not known what to do or say, just silent before Him.

   Many of us have repented of everything on the spot and prayed for everyone and everything; some of us were just stunned and enjoyed the peace that transcends all understanding.

  Our inheritance as Levitical worshippers is not so much land, buildings and homes but the VERY PRESENT LIVING GOD ABIDING WITH US! Our inheritance is HIM.

   Haggai 2 - The desired of all nations will come!

6 “For thus says the Lord of hosts: ‘Once more (it is a little while) I will shake heaven and earth, the sea and dry land;

7 and I will shake all nations, and they shall come to the DESIRE OF ALL NATIONS, and I will fill this temple with glory,’ says the Lord of hosts.

8 ‘The silver is Mine, and the gold is Mine,’ says the Lord of hosts.

9 ‘The glory of this latter temple shall be greater than the former,’ says the Lord of hosts. ‘And in this place I will give peace,’ says the Lord of hosts.”

  The Shekinah Glory

2 Chronicles 7: 1 Now when Solomon had finished praying, fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, and the Glory of the Lord filled the house.

2 The priests could not enter into the house of the Lord because the Glory of the Lord filled the Lord’s house.

3 All the sons of Israel, seeing the fire come down and the Glory of the Lord upon the house, bowed down on the pavement with their faces to the ground, and they worshiped and gave praise to the Lord, saying, “Truly He is good, truly His loving kindness is everlasting.”

   We must be purified worshippers whose desire is to minister to Him day and night.

One song we are singing all the time is You are worthy of it all. Just look at the words:

All the Saints and Angels, bow before the throne,

All the elders cast their crowns before the Lamb upon the throne.

Day and night, night and day let incense pour out

Day and night, night and day let incense pour out etc.

(Rev. 4:8) Day and night they never stop saying: "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come."

(Psalm 134:1) Praise the LORD, all you servants of the LORD who minister by night in the house of the LORD.

(Ps. 135:2) Praise the name of the LORD, praise him you servants of the LORD, you who minister in the house of the LORD, in the courts of the house of our God. (Ps. 135:2

     Our offerings - Romans 12 - A Living Sacrifice

1 Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.

2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

    Let us take up our call to intercede and worship the Lord as He urges us to by His Spirit. Amen.