The same language used to instruct Adam to "tend and keep" the garden is the same used when God established the temple ministry. The Levites were set apart to minister before the Lord Numbers 3:12 Numbers 8:13-19. They were in charge of tending the Holy Place, ensuring the beauty and luster of the tabernacle or temple was maintained. The Levites tended to the only place where God and man would meet. The reward for the Levites was the Lord. Numbers 18:20.
Through the blood of Jesus God has washed and restored humanity so that now we can return to our created purpose, being the very vessels of God Himself. The holy of holies has been placed inside of us, we now house the living God. The entire work we strive for should be centered around ministry unto the Lord, bringing our temple into agreement with the Being that dwells there. Through the act of tending the holy place we encounter the Holy. When our desire becomes a longing to make the temple pure and beautiful the Cloud settles in. And there is nothing better than living with the burning fire of His presence on the inside.
The issues God has been raising inside my spirit has centered around the concept of protecting the place God dwells, making it as hospitable as possible, fighting with every breath the live in agreement with His holiness and beauty. When God established the temple ministry He assigned a portion of Levites to guarding the holy place. Their duties were to kill anything unclean that would approach the tent of meeting or temple. And in this season of my life I feel the Holy Spirit asking "Where are the temple guards?" "Where are the ones willing to do whatever it takes to encounter Me?"
The primary gates we should be guarding are our eyes and ears.
Jesus makes it clear in Luke 11:34, that what our eyes rest upon either fills us with light or darkness. In my own life God has made it obvious; I have allowed all manner of evil to come through the gates of my eyes and defile the holy place. We have dulled our spirits in such a manner that we don't notice the sexual innuendos in the TV shows we watch, we don't blink at adulterous acts, or homosexual hints. We have become washed out in the name of PG-13. The spirit of prophecy and revelation is being drown out by the spirit of Jezebel. If my four year old son cannot watch a movie, why should I? Is my defense "I can handle it?" Because that is the indictment to my dull spirit. We try so hard to protect the innocence of children yet let our own innocence become trampled. A tender spirit towards God is an undefiled spirit before Him. What we turn our gaze upon comes and takes root in our hearts. Images we willingly place before our eyes will rest in our minds long after it is removed. The joy and pleasure of meditating on the Word has been replaced with an empty defaming lie from entertainment. And what I feel God is calling a generation to is tearing down the idol of entertainment and finding what true pleasure is; gazing into the eternity of the compassionate and merciful God found in the face of Jesus.
The gates of our ears is another issue we have compromised long enough. We have found enjoyment in entertainment that uses the beautiful, glorious, majestic Son of God as an expletive. The One we say is so precious and dear to us is being defamed in what we find pleasure in! We would not stand for anyone degrading and slandering our spouse, yet we feel nothing when the precious name of our Savior is used as a curse word to express violence and anger. We have idols in our living rooms above our fireplaces and in the corners that speak! They speak of immorality, blasphemy, self-promotion and murder. All of those themes are easily found in a PG movie. It is not about the degree of sin, rather the spirit of sin which is slowly lullabying us into a spiritual slumber then death.
The other issue we face regarding our ears is; the entertainment of slander. We have embraced a culture of media, talk shows, sports programs and all other manner of entertainment (and friendships) that degrades human beings. The message we hear is one that looks for any fault and blows it up astronomically. And this spirit has not remained on the outside, it has entered and wrecked havoc on the body of Christ. It has made us so critical and negative towards the Bride of Christ that we can't function as edifying members. We have begun to live in such a state of fear of opinion and slander that it has crippled our progress into Christ. Because of this spirit we live in the easy lane of not being noticed, or we want to be noticed but only in socially accepted arenas. The difficult things of Jesus are pushed aside for fear of man. We have developed lifestyles and a doctrine that couldn't possibly offend anyone. In our attempts to be unoffensive we no longer receive the necessary rebuke and disciplines of Jesus! Revelation 3:19 I need to be rebuked! I need discipline! I need to be sharpened! Iron cannot sharpen iron that flees from the pain of grinding out the imperfections. And iron cannot sharpen itself, I need others to chastise me into who God wants me to be. A slanderous critical spirit has disabled our ability to sharpen each other as we are all constantly guarded against one another. Everyone is entirely suspicious of each ones motives, because we submerse ourselves in a spirit of condemnation and slander through our entertainment. We don't know what it means to rebuke with the intent of bringing forth perfection.
God restore the ministry of temple guards! The ones who will fight off anything that approaches the gates and seeks to defile the holy place. Raise up a generation after Your heart, those who love what You love and hate what You hate. Make us quick to eradicate darkness we have tolerated in our midst, shine Your light into our hearts and make known Your Son.
No comments:
Post a Comment