Spiritual Sacrifices

Just by starting to understand what our role is in the kingdom of God, that being priests, will help us to make sense of a lot of things. So many times I hear people wanting to know what the will of God is for them. Perhaps by understanding what the priesthood entails according to scripture, saints can live a mature life, a clearer life. I assume that is what you are asking me.

I am no expert in this matter, I only can talk about what He has taught me to practice. I looked up what spiritual sacrifices are and this is what I found;
"You also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ." 1Peter 2:5
And when I searched into what are spiritual sacrifices, I found this.

"Therefore by Him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, confessing thanks to His name." Hebrews 13:15
And I see that praise is not saying over and over, "praise you Jesus" rather it is describing to others what good God has done, testifying. (see - Psalm 51:15)

Now in Hebrews 13:16 God says that doing good and sharing what we have is considered a sacrifice that would be acceptable to the Lord. I also want to add that God has told us that whatever we offer Him on His altar must be holy. (see - Romans 12:1) So these sacrifices I am discussing are what the Lord says are acceptable to Him. As well, and I love this, when we give it, it is a sweet smelling sacrifice to God. (see - Philippians 4:18)

We are to also offer the sacrifices of righteousness to God. Psalm 4:5 And biblical righteousness is defined as, obedience to the will of God. Abraham's righteousness came by believing (obeying) what God had told him. But also Romans 6:16 says this;
"Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one's slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness?"

Thanksgiving is also an acceptable sacrifice to God.
"Giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ." Ephesians 5:20 Thanksgiving is also a form of praise to God or you can call it gratitude which is the expression for being grateful or thankful.

Anyways, presenting our physical bodies to God as a living sacrifice, is also acceptable to Him. And the offering must be holy, that is, without blame or innocent. For the word says;
"I urge you therefore by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your rational service." Romans 12:1

Moreover, we cannot offer anything we want to God otherwise why does the bible give us specific examples of what to offer? What we offer must be holy and our very best. - "A son honors his father, and a servant his master. If then I am the Father, where is My honor? And if I am a Master, where is My reverence? says the Lord of hosts. And when you offer the blind as a sacrifice, Is it not evil? And when you offer the lame and sick, Is it not evil? Offer it to your governor! Would he be pleased with you?" Malachi 1:6,8.

Prayer too is a spiritual sacrifice meant to be offered to God and as in every other offering, this one must be holy too. The scripture says this;
"Then another angel, having a golden censer, came and stood at the altar. He was given much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne. And the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, ascended before God from the angel's hand." Revelation 8:3,4 Remember, since our prayers are an offering, they too must be holy and acceptable to God. There are prayers that are not acceptable to God. These would be prayers that conflict with His will. So we must ensure we know His nature, His personality, likes and dislikes, so that we can pray holy prayers that are acceptable so that the angels may offer them on His golden altar. This requires understanding. Many words are spoken to God but there is little or no understanding in there words. And there prayer is in vain and is rejected by God. Yes God rejects prayers. We must be holy and we must obtain understanding before we open our mouths and speak.

I am sure there are tons more of examples of the types of sacrifices acceptable to God in the new testament however, this is merely to show that as priests, we are required by commandment from Christ, to offer sacrifices holy and acceptable to God.
I also want to make clear that our offerings are to be daily, since the bible says;
"If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me."
Since the Lord requires we deny ourselves to be able to follow Him, this means that He is asking us to sacrifice our will and take up His will. And He tells us we must offer ourselves daily to Him for His service; that daily we are to lay down or put away our agenda, and take up His course.

I have also discovered that not only are we priests, but that we are also, the utensils, and the temple.
"Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If anyone destroys or defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are." 1Corinthians 3:16,17. Wow! This scripture has really helped me to stop willful sinning.
Verse 9 says "We are God's fellow workers; you are God's field, you are God's building."
And,
"And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God." 2 Corinthians 6:16
This also makes sense as to why Jesus talks so much about abiding in us.

We are also His utensils and the fastest way for me to prove this is by going to the temple in Israel and how that every utensil in the house of the Lord had to be sprinkled in blood to make those utensils pure and set apart for solely the work of God. Deuteronomy and Leviticus give plenty of examples of this.
"Do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God." Romans 6:13
Plus the word instrument is also defined as vessel, bowl, pot, pitcher, or receptacle, all things used for containing something. In our case we contain Him. Furthermore the scripture says;
"Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ." 1Peter 1:2
This scripture tells us that we have been elected by God, that is, picked by Him to be used by Him. But before He could use us we had to be made clean, because all vessels in His house must be sprinkled by blood for purification and sanctification; thus, Jesus blood accomplished the necessary consecration. And now we may conduct a life of holiness, innocence and iniquity free because of the redemptive qualities of God's Son's blood.

This seems to be a vast subject! But I will mention one other priestly duty as far as I can tell from the bible, and that is, our mind and thoughts. The priests of Israel had God's laws tied on their wrists and written on their foreheads to remind them of what their purpose was, to serve the Lord all the days of their lives. When the priest was in God's temple attending to his duties, his mind had to be on the tasks at hand. So too must we also have our minds stayed on the Lord. The bible says;
"Keep my commands and live, and My law as the apple of your eye. Bind them on your fingers: Write them on the tablet of your heart." Proverbs 7:2,3
Moses was given the law on two tablets and later those tablets were kept in the inner sanctuary and guarded over by the priests. The words of God were placed in the holy of holies in the Ark of the covenant. Presently, the Lord has placed His law once again with His priests in the holy of holies, which we are by Jesus, the New Covenant. He has written His words on the tablets of our heart;
"Clearly you are an epistle written in our hearts, known and read by all men; clearly you are an epistle of Christ, ministered by us, written not with ink but by the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of flesh, that is, of the heart." 2Corinthians 3:2,3.

I thank the Lord for revealing His works. As I have learned more about this particular subject, it has helped me tremendously to be a Christian. I realize that I have a responsibility to obey God and consecrate myself from the affairs of this life as the scripture says;
"No one engaged in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please him who enlisted him as a soldier." 2 Timothy 2:4
I am commanded to live a blameless life before the world through Christ, so that no one may reproach the name of the Lord except by a lie. -
"Just as He chose in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love." Ephesians 1:4
And'
"That you may become blameless and innocent children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as light in the world." Philippians 2:15

I absolutely love these scriptures! Hearing these words give me such hope. I am glad that I am a priest and can live an innocent life without fault before the Lord in the midst of this crooked world! And I am appreciative that I am called to serve Him and not the world or ungodly men. The Lord truly has done something incredible through Jesus.