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THE VEIL REMOVED

12/8/2021

December 8, 2021 THE VEIL REMOVED
2 Corinthians 3:15-18 “But to this day whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their heart; but whenever a man turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.”
These verses explain why many reject God and have no interest in the word of God. They are blind; they have a veil that lies over their hearts preventing them from knowing and believing God. You cannot by debate and argument cause one to believe in God. Those who have a veil over their hearts are convinced that the way to live is through logic; and because they cannot logically explain God, in their own mind, He does not exist. I have recently talked on separate occasions, to two different elderly men on who have brilliant minds, and I’m sure very high IQ’s; in our conversation, they both said that “This life is all you have-you die and that’s the end.” How sad. Both of these men are very nice people and likeable. We should not be surprised that those who have a veil over their hearts reject the truth of God-after all, they are spiritually blind. In the verses above, we learn how the veil is removed-and it is really simple. When a man or woman turns their heart to the Lord, the veil IS REMOVED. With God, it’s about the heart. Once the veil is removed, one can see truth for the first time-can see that yes, God is real and He is alive! And for the first time he or she is free from themselves and all that imprisoned them. One may instantly turn his heart to the Lord, or it may be more gradual, but what matters is that they are turning their hearts to the Lord. Of course our part is to pray for those who do not know God; that God would draw their hearts to Himself; and, it is our part to live our life in such a way that it is a testimony of the goodness and love of God; we are not called to judge, but to be light. The passages above are in reference to those who do not know God; however, the truth of these verses can be applied to believers as well. Even though as believers we have been made new, we can chose to revert back to our old self and live according to the flesh. When we do this, our hearts become hardened and we in essence, become spiritually blind. (The difference in the non-believer and the believer is that the Holy Spirit is work in the believer, drawing him back into fellowship with the Father.) There are times when we sense the Lord leading us to do something that we may resist, but once we follow His leading (turn our hearts to His ways) we are glad we did and we often see why He lead in that direction. Let us pray for those who have a veil over their heart that they would turn their hearts to the Lord that they may see; as believers, let us always be saying yes and amen to the ways of the Lord and make sure our hearts are turned fully to Him.
Ephesians 1:18-19a “Having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which He has called you, what are the riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe.”
Blessings,
Buddy

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YOU WILL HEAR A VOICE

12/6/2021

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December 6, 2021 YOU WILL HEAR A VOICE
Isaiah 30:21 “Your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, ‘This is the way, walk in it,’ whenever you turn to the right or to the left.”
Psalm 32:8 “I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with My loving eye on you.”
John 16:13 “When the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all the truth, for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak, and He will declare to you the things that are to come.”
I don’t know about you, but I know that I often need to hear ‘a voice behind me;’ I need wisdom from above to guide my steps. In today’s culture, there are many choices, many voices clamoring for our attention, and many distractions that could get us off course, plus, the nation is politically divided and there is strife on every hand. If we have ever needed to hear God say ‘This is the way, walk in it,’ this is the day. As believers, we are blessed to be able to hear from God as to what steps we should take, the direction we should go. Those that do not know God as Savior are limited to human wisdom; but we have access to wisdom from God. How do we hear God? God speaks in many ways. The obvious is that He speaks through His written word; as we read His word the Spirit will often high light a passage that speaks in a specific way to us. However, there are many decisions that we must make that are not addressed in His written word; such as whether to buy a particular house, or whether to take a new job, etc. We must remember that we are spirit, and God is Spirit and that God communicates with us Spirit to spirit. Before we knew Christ, our spirit was dead; but when Jesus was raised from the dead, our spirit was made alive and we were joined to God. Because we are now alive spiritually and are ‘connected’ to God, we can relate to Him as Father and can enjoy fellowship with Him and can hear what He says to us. Having God guide our steps simplifies life and prevents us from hitting the huge ‘potholes’ of life. We are used to audible sounds; but we must tune in our spiritual ears. There will be times when we are just not sure if God is saying a certain thing to us or leading in a certain direction. The apostle Paul once said that ‘It seemed good to us and the Holy Spirit.’ Acts 15:28. When we are having difficulty discerning God’s direction, we can do as Paul did and take the direction that ‘seems good to us and the Holy Spirit.’ We serve a loving God who communicates with us; our part is to have spiritual ears that recognize His voice. God is gentle and kind, and He desires to direct us, to guide us, to fill us, and to give us abundant life. So, if you are I are needing wisdom and direction from God, let us step away from the pressure of the moment, and take time to listen in our spirit, to read in His word; let us pray and make our request know to Him, knowing and believing that we will hear His voice.
Matthew 11:15 “The one who has ears to hear, let him hear.”
Romans 8:26 “Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groaning’s too deep for words.”
Blessings,
Buddy

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EMBRACING THE TRIAL

12/4/2021

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December 4, 2021 EMBRACING THE TRIAL –KEEP ON REJOICING
1 Peter 4:12: “Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you, which comes upon you for your testing, as though some strange thing were happening to you; but to the degree that you share the sufferings of Christ, keep on rejoicing, so at the revelation of His glory, you may rejoice with exultation.”
I don’t know about you, but I do not like trials and conflicts-never have. In fact, most of us do our best to live a life free of conflict and trials. I think Peter is referring to the “fiery ordeals” that come because of their commitment to follow Christ. In our day and time, in America, we do not yet see a lot of suffering as the result of being Christian-if things continue on their present course, we will see an increase in suffering that takes place for following Christ. In this article I want to talk about trials, conflicts, and suffering in a broad sense. Some trials we face are of our own making; self- inflicted, a result of bad decisions, and has nothing to do with our being a Christian. Some trials come from things beyond our control. Regardless of the origin of our trials and no matter the severity of the trials; how we face or respond to the trials and “fiery ordeals” is crucial. Every human being will have to deal with trials-some more than others it seems, so we should not be surprised when they come. We should not live life thinking that we will not have trials; we should not be surprised when they come our way. Trials are not random events that just happen and there is a purpose behind the trials. Trials have a way of exposing our heart and they reveal our level of trust that we have in our Father-trials do indeed test us. While we do not like the trial, the trial can produce good fruit in us. Verse 13 goes on to say: “but to the degree that you share the sufferings of Christ, keep on rejoicing so that at the revelation of His glory, you may rejoice with exultation.” The idea of rejoicing in suffering may sound contradictory to us, but if we understand that our suffering in some way brings glory to God, then we can rejoice. Also, if we suffer because of our faith, we will have every reason to “rejoice with exultation” when Jesus appears. It may be minor by comparison, but we will encounter some suffering-some resistance-if we are being a witnesses in a dark world because we will come across those who reject anything and anyone connected to God. It is our place not to fear suffering, but to embrace all that our Father allows in our life-including suffering and trials. We can be assured that the trials have a purpose and we can be assured that our Father will not forsake us.
James 1:12: “Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love Him.”
James 1:2-3: “Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance.”
Psalms 34:17-18: “When the righteous cry for help, the Lord hears and delivers them out of all their troubles. The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.
Blessings,
Buddy

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FOR ALL WHO CALL UPON HIM

12/2/2021

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December 2, 2021 FOR ALL WHO CALL UPON HIM
Acts 10:9-12 “that if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that Jesus raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved; for with the heart man believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation. For the Scripture says, ‘Whoever believes in Him will not be disappointed.’ For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, abounding in riches for all who call upon Him.”
Psalm 50:15 “Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I will rescue you, and will honor you.”
Ephesians 3:20 “Now unto Him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us,”
What a blessing that we serve a God who not only invites us, but also encourages us, to call upon Him. On our own, we cannot figure it all out; we have questions; we have no answers to the ‘whys’ of life; we are limited in knowledge and wisdom; and we do not know what the future holds. With that being said, we do have access to our Father who has all knowledge, all wisdom, and all power. God sits on His throne in heaven, BUT He is also present with us and He gives us all we need for life on planet earth. The amazing truth is that He is “abounding in riches for all who call upon Him.” Of course, all of these blessings are reserved for those who believe in Him, for those who call on Him. If we truly believe that God is who He says He is, it is only natural to call on Him; “whoever believes in Him will not be disappointed.” I think the battle for us revolves around the issue of whether we live according to our own dictates-what seems best for us-or according to the Spirit who lives in us. The life we have in God is truly a super-natural life; it is contrary to the life that is rooted in the ways of the world. Even though we can live a supernatural life in the Lord, we still live in the nitty-gritty of life where we must be about the day-to-day activities of life; but the good news is that we can do the day-to-day activities, the routines of life, as unto the Lord in such a way that even the mundane takes on new life. Romans 6:4 tells us that we can walk in newness of life. We must not be limited by what we think we can do or accomplish, or limited to the logic of the world; God is ‘able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us.” God invites us to ask and to call upon Him; however, we must understand that His answers and His provision may not be exactly what we asked for, but the answer He gives and what He provides is far better than what we might ask for. His ways are better than our ways. Some become disappointed because God did not answer a prayer in the way that hoped He would-so they give up on prayer and pursuing God. Let us not so foolish as to try to put God in a box; let us take Him up on His offer and call upon Him and make our request to Him, knowing that He hears our prayers and knowing that He always knows what is best and that He always answers our prayers in a perfect way. There is one point we must not overlook; we should have a desire to pray according to His will-what He wants to do in a certain situation. Discerning His will is not always easy, but as our hearts are turned to Him, as we spend time in His word, and as we worship Him, we begin to sense what His will is. But we do not have to fear that we might not be praying according to His will, as He is able to guide us and teach us how we are to pray. So, let us be bold and act on the invitation from God that invites and encourages us to call on Him.
Hebrews 4:16 “Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”
Blessings,
Buddy

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THE VEIL REMOVED

YOU WILL HEAR A VOICE

EMBRACING THE TRIAL

FOR ALL WHO CALL UPON HIM

Buddy Fitzgerald

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