The Priesthood of the Believer (Part 3)

By Bishop Dr. Fred Akama

There’s a law called the law of territorial jurisdiction. This law defines what can survive where. If you take fish and put it out of the sea, it does because you’ve taken it out of its territory.

Spirits are not designed to operate on earth because by creation the earth belongs to a spirit inside a human body. Because of this territorial jurisdiction, priesthood is necessary.

Priesthood is the process that allows man to interact with spirits and by so doing allows the spirits to affect things on earth.

There is dark priesthood and the priesthood of light. Because God is a Spirit, God also will follow the laws of priesthood. God created man to be a priest, so that man can have legality to operate on earth.

2 Corinthians 3:17 NKJV Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. 

We know God is a spirit because the Bible says so. Anything that applies to spirits applies to God.

God created man, the whole essence being that he could be a priest unto God and now God would affect the earth with His power. Adam failed in this and God decided to make a whole nation a priest unto Him. He gave Moses this vision and mission. This has not changed.

Exodus 19:3-6 NKJV  ³ And Moses went up to God, and the Lord called to him from the mountain, saying, “Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel: ⁴ ‘You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I ^[a]bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to Myself. ⁵ Now therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people; for all the earth is Mine. ⁶ And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words which you shall speak to the children of Israel.”

God gave Moses the mission statement. But when Moses went down, he found the people playing. The people were playing because Moses had taken too long in the presence of God and they decided to make gods.

Moses didn’t have an opportunity to give God’s mission statement to the people of Israel. The Ten Commandments were God’s structures to make the Israelites into priests. Moses broke the stone tablets containing the Ten Commandments and stood outside the camp and asked who was on the Lord’s side.

Exodus 32:26 NKJV Then Moses stood in the entrance of the camp, and said, “Whoever is on the Lord’s side—come to me!” And all the sons of Levi gathered themselves together with him.

Moses refused to enter the camp, He said those who were on the Lord’s side to go to him. All the sons of Levi went to him.

The people said they didn’t know where Moses was so they asked Aaron to make a god to lead them in the journey.

The Levites are the ones who chose themselves to be priests because Moses was a Levite. God chose them as the next body of people that God would try to make the priests with. At this point God separated the priesthood from the kingship. The priesthood was left with Levites and the kingship was left with Judah.

When Jesus came, He restored the original pattern of kings and priests within the same people. 

Revelation 1:6 NKJV and has made us ^[a]kings and priests to His God and Father, to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.

God has never abandoned his purpose to create priests and kings. The mission statement that God had given Moses is now with us as Christians and it’s upon us to exercise priesthood.

The first job of a believer/priest is to minister to God.

Exodus 28:1NKJV Now take Aaron your brother, and his sons with him, from among the children of Israel, that he may minister to Me as priest, Aaron and Aaron’s sons: Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar.

The second  job of the priest is to carry the ark because the ark is the glory of the Lord. The ark of the covenant that was in Israel is now in you, but you need to know what the ark of the covenant inside you can do.

Deuteronomy 10:8 NKJV At that time the Lord ^[a]separated the tribe of Levi to bear the ark of the covenant of the Lord, to stand before the Lord to minister to Him and to bless in His name, to this day

Mercy’s seat is on the ark of the covenant. That is also the seat of judgement. The ark of the covenant was placed in Obed Edom and they were blessed because of this.      

 2 Samuel 6:11-12 NKJV ¹¹ The ark of the Lord remained in the house of Obed-Edom the Gittite three months. And the Lord blessed Obed-Edom and all his household. ¹² Now it was told King David, saying, “The Lord has blessed the house of Obed-Edom and all that belongs to him, because of the ark of God.” So David went and brought up the ark of God from the house of Obed-Edom to the City of David with gladness.

You have a right to be blessed because of this . You can’t believe God for what you don’t know. You must begin to stretch your faith to receive because you have the ark of the covenant that is in you.

God blessed Obed Edom so much that the king was told about it. As a priest you’re legally allowed to carry the ark.

The ark of the covenant was also put side-by-side with Dagon by the Philistines. That ark destroyed Dagon. Where the ark of the covenant is an altar and where the ark is there is an angel beside it. Because you’re a carrier of the ark of the covenant, God fights what fights you. Faith is what activates this.

Whoever you bless is blessed. When the church exercises priesthood there is judgement. The Bible says Herod took ahold of James and killed him and it pleased him

Acts 12:2-5 NKJV Peter was kept in prison waiting for execution. Because of prayer, Peter was rescued and brought him where believers were praying for him. They didn’t do priesthood for James and he was killed but when they did priesthood for Peter he was delivered.

Peter’s deliverance resulted in the deaths of the squad of four guards. 

Acts 12:19 NKJV But when Herod had searched for him and not found him, he examined the guards and commanded that they should be put to death

It was the priesthood that scattered priesthood.

Acts 12:21-24 NKJV  ²¹ So on a set day Herod, arrayed in royal apparel, sat on his throne and gave an oration to them. ²² And the people kept shouting, “The voice of a god and not of a man!” ²³ Then immediately an angel of the Lord struck him, because he did not give glory to God. And he was eaten by worms and ^[a]died.²⁴ But the word of God grew and multiplied

Priesthood is a powerful thing. The fact that Peter was set free was not enough; the enemy had to be punished.

To bear the ark of the covenant is the job of the priesthood. The job of the priesthood is to legislate the law and dispense knowledge.

The Bible says the lips of the priest shall keep knowledge. So your priesthood is enhanced when You have knowledge and nullified when you are ignorant.

Malachi 2:7 NKJV “For the lips of a priest should keep knowledge,And people should seek the law from his mouth; For he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts.

If you’re a priest it is your job to go and seek knowledge so that your lips will keep knowledge. An ignorant one of knowledge is no priest.

When something is going against the law, change it. Stand in your priesthood and command it to change. If a situation is becoming lawless, stand in your priesthood and command it.

Jesus did everything on earth but the ascended ministry of earth is the ministry of priesthood. He intercedes for us.

If you don’t rub knowledge your priesthood is void. If you have rejected knowledge your priesthood is null and void even though your priesthood is from Jesus. You must take solid steps to gaining knowledge.

The Bible says my people perish for lack of knowledge. 

Hosea 4:6. NKJV My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I also will reject you from being priest for Me; Because you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children.

You must have knowledge so that your priesthood is effective. The Bible says through knowledge the righteous shall be delivered. Knowledge helps the righteous escape.

Proverbs 11:9 NKJV  The hypocrite with his mouth destroys his neighbor,But through knowledge the righteous will be delivered.

Every spirit seeks to turn the priest into it. The objective of the priesthood is to turn to the one you’re serving. The objective of God’s priesthood is so that we can become Christ. The objective of the Holy Spirit is to become one with Christ.

A priest must get knowledge. Every spirit seeks to turn a priest into it. 

Christians were called Christians in Antioch because they were one with Christ. If your priesthood is the priesthood of light, we must see Christ in you.

The spirit you’re serving will give you certain consecrations that are to turn you into it. The more you serve in an altar the more the Spirit gives you certain advantages so that you can become one with it.

As your priesthood advances you begin to merge with the spirit and You become one and the Spirit uses you to gain territories.

John 3:34 NKJV For He whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God does not give the Spirit by measure.

Our aim as priests is to become more and more yielded to Christ so that he can gain jurisdiction and begin to expand through us. To yield to the spirit requires instructions from the spirit. These instructions are called spiritual intelligence. If you are in a situation and you begin to pray about it, you will receive instructions on how to overcome it.

The spiritual intelligence is specific to your situation. The people who won battles in the Bible didn’t have anything to rely on, so they relied on immediate spiritual intelligence to overcome.

Because God is unique for different people, there are different instructions for you. You can’t copy another person’s intelligence. Priesthood should lead you to obtain spiritual intelligence for a particular situation.

God must give you tailor made spiritual intelligence for your particular situation. The fact that God gave you spiritual intelligence for something does not mean it will be used in a different time.

You need spiritual intelligence for every situation. Your heart must be clean enough to download spiritual intelligence. If you don’t hear anything you must sacrifice. Priesthood is pushed forward by sacrifice.

Don’t put off the responsibility of seeking God for your Pastor. Your pastor is not as intimate with your situation as you are. The quickest way of activating your priesthood to the next level is to put something on the altar.

Hebrews 8:3 NKJV For every high priest is appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices. Therefore it is necessary that this One also have something to offer.

Every priest who comes to perpetuate priesthood must offer sacrifice. It is sacrifice that identifies you. When you come and offer sacrifice you come as a priest. Jesus was not exempted from this.

There’s no sacrifice that is given with people laughing. It is in tears. If you want to operate as a priest, you have to leave your heart there.

Psalm 126:6. NKJV He who continually goes forth weeping,Bearing seed for sowing, Shall doubtless come again ^[c]with rejoicing, Bringing his sheaves with him.

It is not easy, it is not cheap. You must enter your priesthood. The Bible says gather to me those who have made a covenant with me through sacrifice. The higher you want to go in priesthood, the higher the sacrifice.

The Bible says Jesus was in the synagogue and he sat by the offering basket and he saw who gave the greatest.

Mark 12:41 NKJV Now Jesus sat opposite the treasury and saw how the people put money into the treasury. And many who were rich put in much.

Priesthood is not something you do one time, it thrives in consistency. Consistency is greater than one burst of effort. When you enter the Tabernacle, the first thing you meet is the place of sacrifice. On the altar of sacrifice, the fire must not go out. The priest must put firewood to make sure the fire does not die out.

Everyday, you must make sure your consistency is up. Consistency is key in the matter of spiritual things.