As we enter into God’s presence in worship and shut out the distractions of our minds, we step into the Holy of Holies. It is the sanctuary of the Lord,
and we enter in spirit to the place of nearness to God. In Ezekiel 44:15-16 we find priests who were faithful to minister unto God in the sanctuary.
“‘But the priests, the Levites, the sons of Zadok, who kept charge of My sanctuary when the children of Israel went astray from Me, they shall come near
Me to minister to Me; and they shall stand before Me to offer to Me the fat and the blood,’ says the Lord GOD. ‘They shall enter My sanctuary, and
they shall come near My table to minister to Me, and they shall keep My charge.'”
Those who keep ministry to the Lord first place in their lives will enter into deep and intimate service to the Lord. These sons of Zadok continued to enter the sanctuary even when others had abandoned God. They were told not to wear anything into
the inner court that caused them to perspire. Then, when they went to the outer court to minister to the people, the clothes they wore while ministering
to Him in the sacred chambers were left behind so they would not become contaminated.
When we come into His presence we know that Jesus has already gone before us to prepare the way. We can enter with complete confidence that we belong,
because He has given us His robe of righteousness through our simple faith in Him. It is not by our own perspiration, not even our work for God, that
brings us near to Him, it’s only by our confidence in Jesus’ sacrifice and a willingness to enter.
He said, “They shall come near to Me to minister to Me.” This is service to God that can be done no other way. We must come before Him. We cannot serve
Him from a distance. The outer court is where we approach people, but the inner court is where we approach God.
Many times we feel that all we do in the outer court gives us a good excuse for not drawing near to God in the inner court. But without closeness to God
through fellowship and ministry to Him in our inner chamber, we will find that our busyness with people — even ministry to them — is being
done more to gratify our flesh than to build the Kingdom of God.
It seems, for the most part, that there is a lot of sweat in today’s ministries and little waiting quietly in the presence of God to obtain His counsel
and wisdom. I want God to look at me and my service to Him and say as He did about the sons of Zadok, “He shall be my minister and shall stand before
me.”
Our input will determine our output. If we will simply allow God to open our lives and draw us close to Him, His very presence will saturate us
with His influence. He will put in us the things that He wants to flow through us. It becomes a beautiful relationship that continues to increase as we become more and more comfortable being alone with Him.
