Leviticus 19 - Praying God's Word

 

Please read Leviticus 19.

www.blueletterbible.org/nasb/lev/19/1/s_109001

Notice the repeated phrase: I am the LORD your God.

Meditate on verse 2b.

 

You shall be holy,

 for I the LORD your God am holy.

 

If God is your LORD, you will be holy (sacred and set apart) because He is holy. Leviticus 19 contains behaviors exemplifying those who are set apart to God.

Examine your life.  Do your attitudes, words, and actions give evidence that you belong to God, that He is the LORD over your life?  As you read the commands in Leviticus 19, do any of them bring conviction to your heart?

·      Reverence your mother and father (v. 3). 

·      Do not deal falsely (v. 11). 

·      Do not show partiality (v. 15). 

·      Do not hate your fellow countryman (v. 17). 

 

Submit to Him any area where you falter.  Rejoice!  You can be holy because the LORD Jesus who lives inside of you is holy.  Ask Him to give you His attitudes, words, and actions.

Pray Leviticus 19:2, 32b, and 37 over yourself and those for whom you stand guard as a faithful, prayerful watchman (Isaiah 62:6-7).

 

“LORD, make ________ and me holy,

for You, LORD our God, are holy.

Help us revere You; You are the LORD.

Help us observe all Your statutes

and all Your ordinances and do them.

Because You are the LORD, Jesus~”

 

The WATCHMAN on the WALL – Dr. Ron and Marsha Harvell

 

 

Leviticus 18 - Praying God's Word

 

Please read Leviticus 18.

www.blueletterbible.org/nasb/lev/18/1/s_108001

Meditate on verses 2b and 4.

 

I am the LORD your God.

You are to perform My judgments

 and keep My statutes to live in accord with them;

 I am the LORD your God.

 

The Israelites spent over 400 years living among the Egyptians who engaged in activities abominable to the LORD.  Now they were entering another land full of perverse people with laws condoning lewd and impure behaviors.  God commanded His people not to walk in the statutes of the Egyptians and the Canaanites; God’s people were to obey His rules (vs. 3-4).  He even gave laws for maintaining sexual purity.

 

Here is the LORD’s list of those you are never to have intercourse with:

·      Any blood relative (v. 6)

·      Father or mother (v. 7)

·      Stepmother (v. 8)

·      Sister, stepsister, half-sister (vs. 9, 11)

·      Aunt (vs. 12-14)

·      Uncle (v. 14)

·      Daughter-in-law (v. 15)

·      Sister-in-law (vs. 16, 18)

·      Grandchildren (vs. 10, 17)

·      Neighbor’s wife (v. 20)

·      Anyone the same sex as you (v. 22)

·      Any animal (v. 23)

 

Hear and heed the Word of the LORD.  Nations’ laws do not change God’s Laws.   Stand firm on His Truth.

 

Pray Leviticus 18:30 over yourself and those for whom you stand guard as a faithful, prayerful watchman (Isaiah 62:6-7).

 

“LORD, help _______ and me to keep Your charge,

that we do not practice any of the abominable customs

 which are practiced before us, so as to defile ourselves with them.

Because You are the LORD our God, Jesus~”

 

The WATCHMAN on the WALL – Dr. Ron and Marsha Harvell

 

 

Leviticus 17 - Praying God's Word

 

Please read Leviticus 17.

www.blueletterbible.org/nasb/lev/17/1/s_107001

Meditate on verse 11, pronouncing atonement as three separate words: at-one-ment.

 

For the life of the flesh is in the blood,

 and I have given it to you on the altar

 to make atonement for your souls;

 for it is the blood by reason of

 the life that makes atonement.

 

An animal’s blood represented its life.  That lifeblood was poured on the altar of sacrifice as a covering for sins to make atonement for the people, so they could experience at-one-ment with God. 

 

Understanding Leviticus 17:11 brings richer understanding to Jesus’s words.

 

He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life. 

 He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me and I in him.

The glory which You have given Me I have given them, that they may be one,

 just as We are one; I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity.

—John 6:54a, 56; 17:22-23a

 

When you are in Christ, His blood covers you. You spiritually drink His lifeblood, making Jesus’ life your life. You become one with Him.

Pray Leviticus 17:11 and 14 in thanksgiving for the flesh and blood of Jesus Christ given for you.

 

“LORD, the life of the flesh is in the blood. 

Thank You for giving Yourself on the

 altar to make atonement for my soul;

for it is Your blood by reason of

Your life that makes atonement.

 LORD, You prohibited eating the blood of

 any flesh, for the life of all flesh is its blood.

 Thank You that this prohibition was to

protect the one time I would eat the blood

of Your flesh on the Day of Atonement

when I became one with You, Jesus.”

 

The WATCHMAN on the WALL – Dr. Ron and Marsha Harvell

 

 

Leviticus 16 - Praying God's Word

 

Please read Leviticus 16.

www.blueletterbible.org/nasb/lev/16/1/s_106001

Notice the repeated phrase “make atonement.”

Meditate on verse 30.

 

For it is on this day that atonement shall

 be made for you to cleanse you;

you will be clean from all your sins before the LORD.

 

The Day of Atonement was the day, every year, when blood sacrifices were made to cleanse the people from all their sins.  Atonement means “at-one-ment.”₁  The LORD wanted to be one with His people, but He could not be in the presence of sin. Leviticus 16 gives God’s requirements to be “at one” with Him.  The blood from the sin offerings covered sinful impurities, and a scapegoat was sent into the wilderness, symbolically bearing the sins of the people.

God’s requirements to be at one with Him have not changed.  Blood still must cover sins, and we need a scapegoat.  Jesus Christ is the sin offering and the scapegoat.  The day Jesus becomes your Savior is your Day of Atonement.  He is the only blood sacrifice that makes atonement for your sins, allowing you to be at one with God (Romans 3:23-25).  He is the scapegoat bearing all your sins, taking them away, so you can live at one with Him in righteousness (1 Peter 2:24).

Pray Leviticus 16:30-31 in thanksgiving for your Day of Atonement and for those who need a Day of Atonement. 

 

“LORD, thank You for the day You made atonement to cleanse me. 

Thank You that I am clean from all my sins before You. 

Thank You for the solemn rest that comes from You. 

Keep my soul humble before You.

LORD, please let _________ desire their

Day of Atonement with You.

Because of Your blood, Jesus~”

 

1. Easton’s Bible Dictionary.

 

The WATCHMAN on the WALL – Dr. Ron and Marsha Harvell

Leviticus 15 - Praying God's Word

 

Please read Leviticus 15.

www.blueletterbible.org/nasb/lev/15/1/s_105001

Meditate on verse 25.

 

Now if a woman has a discharge (an issue) of her

 blood many days, …she is unclean.

 

A discharge or an issue coming from a person’s body made him/her unclean.  Their issue made everything they touched unclean.

Knowing Leviticus 15 makes this story from Mark 5:25-34 even more marvelous.

A woman who had a hemorrhage (an issue of blood) for twelve years came up in the crowd behind Him (Jesus), touched His cloak, and the flow of her blood dried up. Immediately Jesus turned around in the crowd and said, “Who touched My garments?”  The woman fearing and trembling, aware of what had happened to her, came and fell down before Him and told Him the whole truth.  He responded, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace and be healed of your affliction.”

This unclean woman touched Jesus in the middle of a large crowd.  No wonder she feared and trembled!  It was against the law for her even to be there.  She was unclean—she risked contaminating hundreds of people hoping to touch Jesus and be healed.  The moment she touched her Savior, He healed her issue and gave her peace.

What issues are discharging in your life?  Issues like anger, pornography, jealousy, lying ... can pour forth in your life, bringing uncleanness to you and those around you.  Touch Jesus.  Tell Him the whole truth; He wants to heal your afflictions and give you peace.

Pray Leviticus 15:2 (using the King James translation) as a prayer of confession.

 

“LORD, I am unclean in this issue of ___________.

My flesh runs with this issue.

LORD, stop this issue in my flesh!

Because You can make me clean, Jesus~”

 

The WATCHMAN on the WALL – Dr. Ron and Marsha Harvell

 

 

Leviticus 14 - Praying God's Word

 

Please read Leviticus 14.

www.blueletterbible.org/nasb/lev/14/1/s_104001

Notice the repeated phrase: the one to be cleansed.

Meditate on verses 1-3a.

 

Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,

“This shall be the law of the

leper in the day of his cleansing. 

 Now he shall be brought to the priest,

and the priest shall go out to the outside of the camp.”

 

The LORD cares about lepers, dedicating 116 verses to them and the dreaded disease of leprosy.  While leprosy is a condition caused by bacteria and is not sin, its parallels to sin’s consequences and what God requires in order to be cleansed are not coincidental.

A leper was cleansed outside the camp through great sacrifice involving birds, blood, living water, oil, lambs without defect, clothes washed ... And just like God cares about the individual cleansing of one leper, He cares about the individual cleansing of you from sin, going to great sacrifice to ensure you are “the one to be cleansed” (vs. 4, 7-8, 11, 14, 17-19, 25, 28-29, 31).

But God demonstrates His own love toward us,

in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

Therefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people

 through His own blood, suffered outside the gate.

 So, let us go out to Him outside the camp.

—Romans 5:8; Hebrews 13:12-13a

 

As a faithful, prayerful watchman (Isaiah 62:6-7), use Leviticus 14:24-25 as a prayer of thanksgiving and a prayer of intercession.

 

“Jesus, You are the Lamb of my guilt offering.

You were slaughtered, and Your blood put on me,

so I can be cleansed.  Thank You!

Let _____________ accept You as their guilt offering

to be cleansed of their sins.

In Your name, Jesus~”

 

The WATCHMAN on the WALL – Dr. Ron and Marsha Harvell

 

 

Leviticus 13 - Praying God's Word

 

Please read Leviticus 13. 

www.blueletterbible.org/nasb/lev/13/1/s_103001

Notice the repeated phrase, “The priest shall look.”

Meditate on verse 34b.

 

The priest shall pronounce him clean;

and he shall wash his clothes and be clean.

 

Leviticus 13 contains the criteria for diagnosing the infectious disease called leprosy.  It is a condition that starts unnoticeably small and grows to affect and rot other parts of the body.  It is a real condition, and it is a poignant picture of sin.  Sin infects your life, starting small, but when left undiagnosed and unchecked, grows into a putrid decay that affects you and those around you.

Thankfully you have a High Priest, Jesus the Son of God, who sympathizes with your sinful weaknesses and delights to heal leprosy (Hebrews 4:14-15; Luke 5:12-14; 17:11-19).  Humbly come to your Great High Priest and ask Him to look you over and reveal the infectious sin in your life.  Ask Him to cut out the sin sickness and make you clean.  Hear your Priest say:

I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and

the last, the beginning and the end.  Blessed are those

who wash their robes, so that they may have the right

 to the tree of life and may enter by the gates into the city.

—Revelation 22:13-14

 

Pray Leviticus 13:34 over yourself and those for whom you stand guard as a faithful, prayerful watchman (Isaiah 62:6-7).

 

“LORD Jesus, You are my Priest. 

Look at _________ and me. Stop the spread

 of sin in us.  Do not let it go any deeper. 

Pronounce us clean.  We want You to wash

our clothes and make us clean.

Only because of You, Jesus~”

 

The WATCHMAN on the WALL – Dr. Ron and Marsha Harvell