An Unveiled Lifestyle..Craig Denison Ministries;

 An Unveiled Lifestyle

Craig Denison Ministries;

Weekly Overview:

Living an unveiled lifestyle is the way in which we experience the fullness of what’s available to us in our restored relationship with God. It’s a powerful lifestyle of faith, direct encounters with our heavenly Father, and life transformation. It’s when we live our lives in light of the perfect sacrifice of Jesus that we begin to experience all his death was purposed to bring us. God longs for his children to walk in intimacy with him directly connected to his wellspring of love for us. May you experience a more tangible, loving, and powerful connection with your heavenly Father this week.

Scripture:“But when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed.” 2 Corinthians 3:16

Devotional:

By the grace of God the veil that represented our sin and shame has been replaced with shameless, limitless, and face-to-face encounters with our heavenly Father. Scripture says,

Since we have such a hope, we are very bold, not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face so that the Israelites might not gaze at the outcome of what was being brought to an end. But their minds were hardened. For to this day, when they read the old covenant, that same veil remains unlifted, because only through Christ is it taken away. Yes, to this day whenever Moses is read a veil lies over their hearts. But when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit (2 Corinthians 3:12-18).

God longs for us to live an unveiled lifestyle. He longs for us to behold his glory and be transformed into the same image: a reflection of his glorious Son, Jesus. The idea of looking like Jesus used to seem utterly impossible. How could I ever look anything like Jesus? In my sin and shame, how could I ever resemble the perfect, sinless Son of God? But God has an enjoyable and perfect process by which he transforms us. As we seek out all that God has for us in an unveiled lifestyle, God longs to renew our minds to his plans for our transformation.

2 Corinthians 3:18 makes it clear that in “beholding the glory of the Lord” we are transformed. Just as Moses went into the tent of meeting and came out with his face shining (Exodus 33:7-11), we are to go into our own tent of meeting and come out having met with God with unveiled face. Allow the truth of Scripture to define what spending time with God is meant to look like for you. When we spend time alone with God, the Holy Spirit longs to lead us into direct, tangible, and transformative encounters with the glory of God. Christian spirituality is all about direct connection with our heavenly Father and not about engaging in religious practices just because we feel we should. The death of Christ has made unveiled encounters with God completely available to you whenever, wherever. We enter into our tent of meeting clothed with Christ, washed completely clean of our sin by the power of his blood.

And 2 Corinthians 3:18 also makes it clear that when we see God’s glory we are “transformed into the same image,” the image of Jesus. Genesis 1:27 says, “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.” God’s intention was always for us to represent him well. When sin entered into humanity that image became grossly distorted. But through the death of Jesus and encounters with our heavenly Father that image is being restored. We can now be reflections of God to a world that is desperately searching for relationship with its Creator. We now bear the image of the one who has saved and redeemed us.

Living an unveiled lifestyle is simply encountering our heavenly Father and living our lives as a response to his love for us. Every encounter with God changes us and makes us more like him. Every taste of his presence fills us with his love and equips us to love others. To live an unveiled lifestyle is to experience the abundant life Jesus came to bring us. May you behold the glory of your heavenly Father and be a reflection of his love to a lost and dying world today. 

Spend time in prayer practicing what 2 Corinthians 3 describes for us: beholding and being transformed by the glory of God.

Guided Prayer:

1. Meditate on the availability for you to encounter God face-to-face, unveiled.

“But when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed.” >2 Corinthians 3:16

2. Ask the Holy Spirit to lead you into the tangible presence of your heavenly Father. Ask God to make his nearness known to you.

“You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.” >Jeremiah 29:13

“My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.” >Exodus 33:14

3. Spend time in God’s presence being transformed by his love. Ask the Holy Spirit to make you more like Jesus. Ask God to reveal himself in a way that would mold and shape you into his likeness.

“And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.”>2 Corinthians 3:18

“For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.” >Romans 8:29

How incredible is our God that he would make transformation such an accessible and enjoyable process. Fully letting go of our sin and shame is difficult to be sure, but the depth of grace, love, and relationship he offers us in return makes it all worthwhile. Allow God to continue to heal any areas of your life where you feel brokenness and shame. Open up your heart to him completely today in faith and allow him to create in you a new foundation of his on which you can live freely and healed.

Extended Reading: 2 Corinthians 3

Responding to Disappointment..Dr. Charles Stanley

 Responding to Disappointment

Dr. Charles Stanley

Matthew 1:18-25

To find examples of wise, godly reactions to disappointment, you’re more likely to turn to Psalms than to Matthew. But thevery first chapter in the New Testament tells the story of an upright man’s reaction to painful and disheartening news.

Joseph—Jesus’ earthly father—was a righteous person. A godly man wants a wife who shares his desire to honor and obey the Lord, and Scripture indicates that Mary was exactly that sort of woman (Luke 1: 45-55). So imagine how stunned Joseph must have been when Mary returned from a long visit with her relative Elizabeth and told him that she was pregnant. Moreover, she was claiming no man had touched her.

Any way Joseph looked at the situation, it appeared grim. And yet Matthew 1:20 says that he “considered”—in other words, he sought a wise, righteous response. God entered Joseph’s life in a dramatic way to confirm Mary’s story and put a stop to his “quiet annulment” plans.

The Lord turned Joseph’s mourning into joy. Mary had told the truth—strange and startling as it was. The couple would bear the intense public censure of an early pregnancy, but Joseph stopped thinking about what others would say. God had blessed work for him: to raise the Messiah alongside a faithful woman. 

Followers of Christ should seek a godly response to disappointments they face. Since the Lord always has a plan, the wisest reaction is to anticipate the good He can do and await His timing. God certainly blessed Joseph for his willingness to “seek first His kingdom” (Matt. 6:33).

4 Things You Must Do Every Time You Give..Clarence L. Haynes Jr.

 4 Things You Must Do Every Time You Give

By Clarence L. Haynes Jr.

“Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.” - 2 Corinthians 9:6-7

I went to a church of a man who carries the title of prophet. A friend of mine invited me. During the service, he asked ten people in the congregation to make a $1000 vow. He said something to the effect that the Lord told him there were ten people in the room tonight who needed to make this $1000 vow, and if you are one of those ten, please stand up. After making this statement, only four people stood up. This did not please “the prophet,” so he repeated his declaration that ten people here needed to do this. As he waited for more people to stand, I believe only one more stood up, so now five people were standing. You could see this disturbed him, but he remained determined to get to his number of ten people. After a few moments of waiting, no one else stood up, so he made this statement, and I am paraphrasing it. “I know there are ten people in here who need to give $1000 tonight. You know who you are. Don’t let me get a word of knowledge and call you out.” After making this statement, five more people stood up, and he had his ten people. After seeing this disgusting display of manipulation, I left that church and never returned.

The Problem with the Approach
The problem here is obvious. This type of manipulation violates all the heart and spirit of giving. By the way, if you ever see something like that in your church, don’t wait until the service's end. Run and run quickly. Giving is an important part of our lives as Christians, but it is not just about how much we give but the heart we do it with. As you think about your giving today, please remember these four things about the attitude of giving and make sure they are present in every gift you give.

4 Things you must do every time you give:
1. Give generously… Whoever sows generously will also reap generously.

Paul encourages us to be generous. How you define generosity will differ for every person, but generosity speaks to the person's attitude and not the size of the gift. People can write what for many is a big check and still not be generous. The word generous means to be ready to give more than expected or necessary. Based on that definition, giving has nothing to do with the amount and everything to do with the attitude.

2. Give confidently… Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give.
Giving is a choice you make. Some would say giving is an act of obedience, and it is, but since obedience is a choice, so is giving. The most important aspect of giving is that you decide what to give. You should come to this decision prayerfully so that when you give, you do it confidently because you are giving as God directs you to give.

3. Give willingly… not reluctantly or under compulsion.
You should never give a penny when you feel manipulated or pressured to give. Sadly, it is not the only church that uses tactics like these to get people to give. If you feel pressured to give or if they promise you some great blessing if you give to a particular ministry (usually their own or one of their friends), that is a compulsion. You should never give in that environment. If you are not sure if God is leading you to give or if you feel pressure at the moment, then wait. Leave the service and ask God, is this what you want me to do? If God leads you to give, you can always do it after the service. He will let you know if this is what he wants you to do. This way, if you decide to give, you will know you are doing it willingly and are following God’s direction and not under compulsion.

4. Give cheerfully… for God loves a cheerful giver.
You should always feel excited when you are giving. This excitement comes when you think about the ministry you are helping or just the fact you are helping the church continue to do the work God has called them to do. All of this is exciting; you should sense that as you give. If you feel as if you just got swindled, robbed, or cajoled into giving, or if your excitement in giving is because you are thinking about the harvest you will receive, these are not the reasons for giving. In these cases, it would be better for you not to give.

Intersecting faith and life:
I pray you would give to the work of the Lord and to other causes that are important to you. In doing so, just do it with the right heart, and you will experience genuine joy in giving. If you give with the right heart, then it becomes something you want to do, not something you must do.

Further Reading 

• 1 Chronicles 29:12-14
• Deuteronomy 15:10
• 1 Corinthians 13:3

3 Steps to Exposing Pride in Our Lives.. Lynette Kittle

 3 Steps to Exposing Pride in Our Lives

By Lynette Kittle

“Why do you look at the peck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?” – Matthew 7:3

Have you ever noticed how pride is very recognizable in others, yet so very difficult to distinguish in our own lives? Matthew 7:3 explains how easy it is for us to see wrongdoing in others while completely missing it within us. “Why do you look at the peck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?”

We are pretty good at accurately recognizing pride in others, while being totally oblivious to it in us. Mostly because we see ourselves differently than how we look at others, rationalizing why we do the things we do and validating our own actions.

“Wife Swap” is a television series where for two weeks, two wives switch places in the platonic role of wife and mother at each other’s home. Producers usually choose wives for each episode who are very opposite from each other in their worldviews. It’s a show quick to illustrate the Scriptural truth of clearly seeing what’s wrong with another, while missing the obvious in our self.

It’s pretty amazing in watching the episodes, how accurate the wives are at stepping into the situation and seeing problems in the other woman’s home, all while not recognizing problems and issues in their own homes. Also, how they believe their way of being a wife and mother is the right way and the other woman’s way is wrong.

At the end of the two weeks when the wives meet for the first time to discuss their experiences at each other’s home, it usually doesn’t go very well. While a few wives welcome the visiting wife’s help and changes brought to her home, overall most women become defensively offended by the other’s observances and changes to her household.

With the visiting wives feeling they have the answers to the other family’s issues, their meeting at the end of the show often results in what Matthew 23:12 describes as those who exalt themselves being humbled.

How to Expose Pride in Our Lives

Because pride is so hard for us to recognize in our own lives, how can we go about exposing it? Below are three steps to help start the process.

1. Pursue reading God’s word because when we do, it will expose pride within us. Hebrews 4:12, explains how it works in our lives. “For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.”

2. Ask God to help us in weed out pride in our lives. Often when we are put in a stressful or new type of situation like the wives in “Wife Swap,” hidden issues of our hearts emerge and roar their ugly heads. When they do, we can seek God’s help in ridding ourselves of arrogance. James 4:6, explains how He will give us more grace and show us favor, when we humble ourselves before Him.

3. Consider if actions we see as unacceptable in others are things we rationalize in our own lives. 2 Corinthians 13:5 urges us to examine ourselves and Psalm 139:23 encourages us to ask God to search our hearts. As Lamentations 3:40 urges, “Let us examine our ways and test them, and let us return to the Lord.”

A Prayer to Find Eternal Meaning..Ashley Moore

 A Prayer to Find Eternal Meaning

By Ashley Moore

"What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun." Ecclesiastes 1:9 NIV

It was another long day; I stayed constantly busy but couldn't exactly tell you what I'd done all day. Have you ever had a day like that? You put your head on the pillow, utterly exhausted, but didn't check one thing off your chore list? Your body aches, yet, you didn't get to that workout, the yard work went undone, and you didn't come close to hitting your daily steps. Your mind refuses to turn off because even though you put in a full day's work, making sure the kids did their homework and prepped for the event this weekend, you still have a laundry list of things to do. 

Life is so busy, isn't it? It doesn't matter your season; there will always be things to do. And yes, we make various choices to make our already overflowing calendars bleed with get-togethers, dates, and events, but life's day-to-day can be overwhelming. Many people think the book of Ecclesiastes is depressing, the "Debbie- downer" of the Bible. But, when we filter these ancient words of wisdom through the correct biblical lens, the message is really one of hope and encouragement. 

As a society, we have transitioned from working to live to living to work in many areas of our lives. We can get so quickly wrapped up in everything it takes to live in this world, placing too much value on what we do, accomplish, or achieve. It's not enough to simply exist; we must chase the mighty dollar, run the rat race, and look like a cover model while doing it all. No wonder we are exhausted; if we constantly pour our energy into things that have no eternal significance, no matter how much we do or have, it will never be enough. Alllow the words of Ecclesiastes 1:9 to give you comfort, 

"What has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun."

The fate of the world doesn't depend on what you do! What happened yesterday, last month, or a hundred years ago will ultimately occur again. That's not disheartening; that's uplifting! The dishes will always need to be done, bellies are in constant need of food, and the grass will continue to grow; your chore list will never be completed—and that doesn't make you a failure. Let us pursue lives that have eternal meaning in whatever we do! 

Let's Pray:
Heavenly Father, thank you for giving us these wise words from Solomon; we are grateful for the opportunity to read and study the Scriptures. Help us shift from an earthly perspective to an eternal mindset, realizing that only the things of You will last forever. Guide as we make decisions, and above all, hide the words of Colossians 3:23-24 in our hearts. Let whatever work we do be for the Lord since we know our inheritance is from You. You are who we are serving. Let us do it wholeheartedly.

Like your servant Solomon, we humbly ask for wisdom and discernment as we seek to be lights in this dark world. We pray for those who don't know You as Lord and Savior and desire to receive Your Truth. We also pray for those who have lost their way, choosing to follow the prince of this world. May we live in a way that will lead them back to You. Thank you, Lord. We love you. In Jesus' Name, Amen.