CHAPTER 3: REMOVING THE VEIL

Hebrews 10:19 “Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the

holiest by the blood of Jesus.”

As I did my studies this week, I couldn’t help but think about the song “I Surrender All” and how this is the very key to us having a deep personal relationship with God. The song says:

All to Jesus, I surrenderAll to Him I freely give;I will ever love and trust Him,In His presence daily live.

Notice how the song starts off: “All to Jesus I surrender, all to Him I freely give.”

That reminds me of what we talked about last week. We are to surrender everything to God, our possessions, our loved ones, and everything that consumes our life. We are to make sure that the “things” in our lives don’t replace God and that God is Lord of our life.

Then notice the song continues: “I will ever love and trust Him, in His presence daily live.”

This is where our study starts this week. Daily living in God’s presence.

This is sometimes a difficult concept to understand or explain.

To experience such closeness to God, to be in His very presence is a privilege and honor that has been given to us.

Ladies, let’s look at how we can experience God’s presence in our lives.

An old Chinese proverbs says: “The journey of a thousand miles begins with a first step”

So let’s begin our journey.

The interior journey of the soul begins as our restless heart feels the yearning for the presence of God and we say, “Lord, show me your glory” as Moses did.

Psalms 86:11-12 (NKJV) “Teach me Your way, O Lord; I will walk in Your truth; Unite my heart to fear Your name. 12 I will praise You, O Lord my God, with all my heart, And I will glorify Your name forevermore.”

1 Corinthians 6:20 (NKJV) “For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's.”

Ladies, we were bought with a price. Christ died on Calvary that we may live with Him throughout all eternity. Christ paved the way so that we can experience His presence in our lives today.

Let me explain:

We are all familiar with the Old Testament Tabernacle. In those days the High Priest, once a year, was the only one who was allowed behind the veil at the Holy of Holies where God’s Presence was. It was a great honor and privilege for them to be allowed to enter the Holy of Holies. As it is an honor and privilege for us to enter into God’s presence today.

It was this veil that covered the entrance to God’s Presence that was removed when Jesus Christ died at Calvary on the cross.

The removal of this veil opened the way for every child of God to have the privilege of living in God’s Presence.

So many Christians today don’t realize that they can experience God’s presence in their hearts. We stand in the outer court totally content to rest in our position in Christ, to be a child of God. Contentment has taken the place of a burning zeal to know God experientially.

Tozer said, “God waits to show Himself in ravishing fullness to the humble of soul and the pure in heart. The world is perishing for lack of the knowledge of God and the Church is famishing for want of His presence.”

Ladies, this is more than a doctrine to be held; it is a life to be enjoyed every moment of every day.

Sometimes it is hard to explain being in God’s presence.

Definition of presence:

the state of being present; the immediate proximity of someone or something; “she blushed in his

presence” an invisible spiritual being felt to be nearby, the impression that something is present ; "he felt the presence of an

evil force"

To help illustrate what we are talking about let’s go back to our analogy of the husband and wife relationship.

No matter where you are, you feel each other’s presence with you. There is a joy and love just knowing you are in the same room together. There is a quiet calm within knowing that you are near each other. You enjoy each other’s companionship.

When you are apart from each other, you can still since their presence within, knowing you will be joined back together again. Waiting for that phone conversation or email where you can communicate with them. You may even see something and find yourself thinking of them.

It has been two and a half months since we lost our precious little angle. It is her presence and companionship that we miss. The joy her presence brought to our lives. She could be outside lying under her favorite tree and you wouldn’t see her for a while till she woke up, but just knowing she was there brought joy to our life.

God wants an intimate relationship with us. He wants us to feel His presence in our lives.

In order to have an intimate relationship with someone you have to get to know them personally. I am not talking about an acquaintance where you only know the shallow side of a person. I am talking about an intimate relationship, like one you would have with your husband, where you tear down all the barriers in your life. There are no secrets. All the cards are out there on the table.

If you have secrets from each other, or you have a part of you that you do not share, it builds barriers between you.

So when we talk about pursuing an intimate relationship with God, we are talking about tearing down all the barriers in our lives, having no secrets, fully surrendered to Him. He knows our hearts and so even though we think we are hiding something, we aren’t. He knows everything. And when we are not close to Him, he grieves. He wants to have that place in our hearts and in our lives where we enjoy His presence.

Ladies when you are living a godly life pursuing a deep personal relationship with God you will feel His presence, you will experience His love wrapped around you like you have never felt before.

Unfortunately, the sad thing is, is that very few are pursuing a deeper relationship with God. So many are standing in the outer court but will not enter into the Holy of Holies.

What is preventing us from entering the Holy of Holies; into God’s Presence? What is our veil keeping us from experiencing Him? How can we get past that veil?

Tozer shows us that “It is the veil of our fleshly, fallen nature living on, unjudged within us, uncrucified and unrepudiated. It is the close-woven veil of the self-life which we have never truly acknowledged, of which we have been secretly ashamed, and which for these reasons we have never brought to the judgment of the cross.” (p.42)

We need to bear our souls to God. Take those secrets and bring them to God. Tear down the barriers that prevent you from having an intimate relationship with God.

We must say, and mean it, “Lord, remove the veil that prevents me from entering into your presence. Take my self-love, my flesh, and remove it.”

John 3:30 says: “He must increase, but I must decrease. “ (NKJV)

We need to decrease and allow God to increase. Remember, Tozer refers to self-love being the thread from which this inner veil is woven. It is not a pretty veil.

Page 43 refers to the “self-hyphenated” sins.

To be specific, the self-sins are:

self-righteousness, self-pity, self-confidence, self-sufficiency, self-admiration, self-love and a host of others like them.

They dwell too deep within us and are too much a part of our natures to come to our attention till the light of God is focused upon them.

Ever notice that sometimes a piece of pottery will be cracked, but you cannot see it with the naked eye. It is not until you put it in the light that you see the cracks. That is how it is with us. You don’t always see the “cracks” until God’s light is shown on them. He needs to reveal to us what it is that we need to surrender to him.

Do we have the courage to let go of all the hidden “hyphenated-selfs”? It is not easy to be shown flaws in our lives, and it hurts to see some of those flaws. But the end result, if we truly want a deeper relationship with God, will be a beautiful experience.

Tozer goes on to say on page 44, “The cross is rough and it is deadly, but it is effective. It does not keep its victim hanging there forever. There comes a moment when its work is finished and the suffering victim dies. After that is resurrection glory and power, and the pain is forgotten for joy that the veil is taken away and we have entered in actual spiritual experience the presence of the living God.”

We have talked a lot about “self-hyphenated” sins in our lives.

How do we combat “self”?

We need to make sure that we are in the word daily and communicating with God daily. Not just a meek reading where we read a quick chapter or a quick encouragement for the day.

I am talking about deep searching, studying the scripture not just reading it, but asking God to reveal His word to us in our hearts.

We need to ask God as David did in Psalms 139:23-24: “Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me, and know my anxieties; 24 And see if there is any wicked way in me, And lead me in the way everlasting.” (NKJV )

Ladies, we can experience the presence of God in our hearts, but it takes work. We cannot idly sit by and expect God to reveal His presence in us. We

need to walk through the veil into God’s presence as the High Priest walked into the Holy of Holies.

Ladies we need to make sure that we have surrendered all to God, that we don’t leave any roots of the “things” in our lives to take the place of God. What happens when we leave roots – they grow back, don’t they? We need to ask God to help us pluck them out. We need to ask God to help remove the self-hyphenated sins in our lives.

Life is not all about me, as Abraham learned the meaning of “my” and “mine”, it is about God.

We were made in His image. We need to take stock and ask, “Do I glorify God in everything I do?” “Am I experiencing the Presence of God in my life or am I still waiting in the outer court?” When you live in total surrender to God, there is a peace and joy that will flood your soul.

Tozer’s Prayer:

Lord, how excellent are Thy ways, and how devious and dark are the ways of man. Show us how to die, that we may rise again to newness of life. Rend the veil of our self-life from the top down as Thou didst rend the veil of the Temple. We would draw near in full assurance of faith. We would dwell with Thee in daily experience here on this earth so that we may be accustomed to the glory when we enter Thy heaven to dwell with Thee there.

In Jesus' name. Amen.

—Pursuit of God, The