And the Lord said to Moses, “Put back the staff of Aaron before the testimony, to be kept as a sign for the rebels, that you may make an end of their grumblings against me, lest they die.”
– Numbers 17:10
This is a really interesting chapter with incredible ramifications for our lives today.
I don’t have time to explain the whole thing, but basically the picture in Numbers 17, is God causing the staff of Aaron to bud, to overflow with what Numbers 17:8 says are buds and blossoms and ripe almonds. It’s this picture of how God had chosen Aaron and his family, the priest, to be the ones who could enter into his holy presence and no one else. They were priests on behalf of everyone else, so everyone else needed to stay away. The priests are the ones who had the privilege and the responsibility to come into the throne room of God, the most holy place, to intercede, to offer sacrifices on behalf of the people.
Numbers 17:10 pictures the ongoing communion we now have with God.
You might wonder, well, why does that have significant implications for my life today? Well, here’s the reality. Because of Jesus, our Great High Priest who has entered into the most holy places, what the book of Hebrews is all about, to pay the price, to offer sacrifice for our sins, he has opened the door for you and me to come into the holy place, to come into the presence of God himself. Hebrews 10, we have a wide open door to come before the throne of grace, to come before God’s throne, to be with him, to commune with him, to enjoy him, to speak to him, to hear from him, to walk with him, not just at a certain place or at a certain time, but keep going.
The whole picture of the Holy Spirit in us, which we’ve prayed about multiple times in Numbers already, is the holy presence of God dwelling inside of us like we have nonstop communion with God himself. I just want to encourage you to live in this and in the fruit of this. I pray this a little bit when we were praying in light of Numbers 14 in the picture of Caleb, but I just want to pray for the fruit of God’s Holy Spirit to flow through us, to just blossom from us, and that it would all be the overflow of the privilege and joy and responsibility and honor that we have to live in the presence of the holy God of the universe.
Numbers 17:10 challenges us to be a testimony of God’s work in us.
Oh God, we praise you for this privilege. Even right now in all the different places where we are right now, that we have the privilege of dwelling with you, that we have the privilege right now of talking to you, and you’re listening to us, to each of us, and we can live in prayer all the time. God, help us to pray continually. All the time, help us to walk in communion with you. Help us not to compartmentalize our spiritual lives on the side over here. God, help us to live in spiritual vitality and life walking with you. We pray that out of the overflow of communion with you, you would bear the fruit of your Holy Spirit in us.
God, I pray this over my life. I pray this over every single person listening right now. We pray that supernatural love would flow from us today. And joy, supernatural peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. God, we pray the fruit of your Spirit would blossom from our lives today. In such a way that people would see the effect of your Spirit in us. Be drawn to you, be encouraged in their relationships with Christ, or be drawn to relationship with you.
Jesus, oh God, we pray for spiritual fruit among the nations from your church today. Bless those who are working for the spread of the gospel in all kinds of places all around the world. Bear the fruit of your Spirit through them. Draw people to yourself.
Prayer for the Panan People
We pray for the Panan people of India for 269,000 of them, Tamil, Hindu, men, women, and children. God, please cause the gospel to spread to them, to bear fruit among them. We pray for disciples who made churches to be multiplied to bear fruit among the Panan people of India. Please, oh God, may it be so. We pray all this according to your Word, which we love… According to this privilege we have through Jesus, our Great High Priest. In his name, we pray. Amen.
David Platt serves as a Lead Pastor for McLean Bible Church. He is also the Founder of Radical, an organization that helps people follow Jesus and make him known in their neighborhood and all nations.
David received his B.A. from the University of Georgia and M.Div., Th.M., and Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. Some of his published works include Radical, Radical Together, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, and Don’t Hold Back.
He lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area with his wife and children.
