Promise 11 from Leviticus 18:3-5

Lev. 18:3-5 - "'You shall not do what is done in the land of Egypt where you lived, nor are you to do what is done in the land of Canaan where I am bringing you; you shall not walk in their statues. You are to perform My judgements and keep my statutes, to live in accord with them; I am the Lord your God. So you shall keep My statutes, and my judgements, by which a man may live if he does them; I am the Lord.'" - In most of the societies we live in, there is an understanding that if one conforms to the norms of the culture then they will have peace in that culture and will live in harmony with those around them. As cultures change with the shifting of morality, (I perceive it personally as a decline in moral integrity) our cultures tend to integrate around the morals, or the lack thereof, so as to say, "This is OK now, so if you do not agree you are going against the flow of the cultural wrong, therefore we wont like you anymore." We see this happen over and over again in our industrial societies. God's desire is not for us to live in harmony doing the things that those around us do, but to conform ourselves with Him, with His Kingdom culture, which says, "Whatever things are true, honourable, right, pure, lovely, of good repute, excellent and worthy of praise... think on these things", not only think but dwell or be conformed to these things (Phil. 4:8). We may not be loved or respected by those who do not agree with us, but the Lord said, when we live according to His Kingdom standards, there is life. He increases the quality of life in those who practice righteousness.

Promise 10 from Leviticus 16:30-31

Lev. 16:30-31 - "For it is on this day (the annual day of atonement) that atonement shall be made for you to cleanse you; you shall be clean from all your sins before the Lord. It is to be a Sabbath of solemn rest for you, that you may humble your souls; it is a permanent statue." - Once a year the high priest is to perform a ceremony of atonement for all the sins of the people, once this is done the Lord says, that the people shall be cleansed and that their sins will be forgiven. This is to be a day of humility, a solemn day. How often do we take time to be silent before the Lord, for a whole day and offer all our sins before the Lord? Praise the Lord that Jesus is our High Priest and we don't have to wait for the annual day of atonement to confess our sins and wait for forgiveness of them. However, even though we have immediate access to the Lord, it wouldn't be a bad thing to set aside a day of personal reflection in prayer for the Holy Spirit to reveal sins in our lives that maybe we didn't realise we have, so that we may offer those up and walk in holiness. Freedom from sin is a gift given to us through God's promise of forgiveness for our sins. We should seek that gift as often as needed then be thankful for it, so as to not think that we earned it nor deserved it, but because God's mercy made it possible for us to receive it.

Promise 9 from Leviticus 11:44-45

Lev. 11:44-45 - "'For I am the Lord your God. Consecrate yourselves therefore and be holy, for I am holy. And you shall not make yourselves unclean with any of the swarming things that swarm on the earth. For I am the Lord who brought you up from the land of Egypt to be your God; thus you shall be holy, for I am holy'." - Sometimes we think that uncleaness or unholiness just falls on us and we find ourselves stuck in it. Recently in a conversation with a friend about the topic of sin, she said, "Well, everyone has their own secret sin that they hold onto and don't want to give up." I wonder how many other strong Christians feel that same way? It is sad to think that sin can be easily reasoned away through the justifying words of "well, everyone does it" or "everyone sins." But I want to argue and I firmly believe, that this is not true. God clearly states two things in these verses. One, man makes himself unclean and two, holiness is possible because just as man can make himself unclean, he can make himself clean by consecrating himself before the Lord so that he maybe holy. God commanded that we be holy so it must be possible. He is not going to command something of us that is impossible for us to do. Am I saying that there are sinless people in this world? "No" because all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (Rom. 3:23), However, that sin can very easily be given up and wiped away so that righteousness and holiness takes its place. God's promise to us, when we take those steps of getting rid of our sin is that we will be holy, for He is holy therefore all things are possible through Him.

Promise 8 from Leviticus 9:23-24

Lev. 9:23-24 - "Moses and Aaron went into the tent of meeting. When they came out and blessed the people, the glory of the Lord appeared to all the people. Then fire came out from before the Lord and consumed the burn offering and the portions of fat on the altar; and when all the people saw it, they shouted and fell on their faces." - After Moses and Aaron blessed the people then the glory of the Lord appeared to all the people. Look what happens when God shows up... the remnant of sin is wiped away. The Lord Himself shot fire down to burn away any reminders of the people's sin. The offferings were representative of their sin to the Lord, and He consumed them all in fire. That is what He does when He shows up. His presence alone demands purity and holiness, no one can stand before Him unclean, Yet He appeared before all the people. That was possible because they confessed their sin, then offered up a sacrifice as a replacement of that sin. Then they were blessed in assurance that their sins were forgiven, afterwards to seal it, God wiped away all memory of it. When we give our sin away to the Lord, there is no taking it back. After it has been forgiven, it is gone. That is our promise. God doesn't bring it up again, so we shouldn't go looking for it either.

Promise 7 from Leviticus 9:5-6

Lev. 9:5-6 - "So they took what Moses had commanded to the front of the tent of meeting, and the whole congregation came near and stood before the Lord. Moses said, 'This is the thing which the Lord has commanded you to do, that the glory of the Lord may appear to you!'" - After Aaron and his sons spent 7 days in anticipation waiting for the Lord to show up, then He appeared to them. At that point the congregation got to join in and stand in His presence and His glory. The Holy Spirit works in us individually and draws us closer to the Lord, but He also works through us corporately in drawing others to the Lord when we are obedient in relationship to Him individually, and we have "no issues." When there is nothing "pressing" to be dealt with between us and the Lord then the Power of the Spirit increases within us, which then positions us to draw others into His presence and glory. Bill Johnson from Bethel church Redding, CA says, "Public battles are won only after the private ones are." When there is nothing else left to distract us regarding our own righteousness before the Lord, then it frees us up to see clearer how the Lord is working in the lives of others. As we remain in His presence and glory, then others will be drawn to that as well. They will see the freedom that righteousness brings and the peace and joyful results that living in the presence of the Lord yields. Others will be drawn into His presence once we find a comfortable place in it ourselves.

Promise 6 from Leviticus 9:4b

Lev. 9:4b. - "For today the Lord will appear to you." - After Aaron and his sons waited, worshipped and prayed for seven days, they were told by Moses that on that 9th day the Lord will appear to them. I'm sure, by the 5th day in the tent of meeting that Aaron and sons were probably wondering if God even knew they were there, after all they were sitting in His "house" for all that time but they hadn't seen Him yet. After the instructed time was over (the 7 days) then the Lord shows up. Many people feel like God doesn't see them, hear them or care for them, when they pray to Him and nothing seems to happen. They don't hear His voice, they don't feel His presence and they don't see any results of their time seeking Him. This tempts many people to believe that either God doesn't exist or He doesn't care. To have faith in believing that He will answer prayers requires a prerequisite of faith to believe that He is who He says He is. It requires a belief that not only is He there listening to those prayers but He is also caring for what is being prayed, even though we don't see any immediate fruit of that prayer. To have faith in believing that God answers prayers requires the prerequisite belief that God is good All the time. It also requires that belief that the terrible things that happen are not caused by Him. So many people loose out on the blessings of God because they turn away in their blaming of Him. They accept an offence from God that should be an offence that belongs to the enemy of God. But people are deceived. Once people begin to truly believe that God is good all the time, and that He truly cares for them, the power of the deceit will fade away and the presence of the Lord will be seen. That is the promise.

Promise 5 from Leviticus 8:33

Lev. 8:33 - "You shall not go outside the doorway of the tent of meeting for seven days, until the day that this period of your ordination is fulfilled, for He will ordain you through seven days." - In the verse the word "ordain" literally means "fill your hands." After Aaron and sons were cleansed and their sins offered up, after they were consecrated into their positions as priests, then they were commanded by the Lord through Moses to not leave the presence of the Lord for 7 days, so that He may fill their hands. Way too often people in ministry go straight to work with empty hands thinking that the robe, tunic and accessories are enough. The identity of a true priest or minister goes deeper than what he or she is dressed in, true identity lives within the core of the heart. There is no way we can have any effectiveness and joy in ministry if we just walk into our positions wearing our robes and tunics representing diplomas and teaching and preaching experience. All that is just preparation for entering the tent, like to earn the ticket to get in the door. The best comes after the education, after the "doing" of church responsibilities, the best comes during the encounter, during the glory presence time with the Father. The best comes as we stop doing and just "Be" in His presence. That is when He speaks our identity into us, that is when He fills our hands with the Kingdom riches that are meant to be shared with those outside the tent. It is His desire to fill our hands, it is His desire to spend that precious time with us. How full are your hands today?