Liberty!

Liberty!

Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. 2 Corinthians 3:17 KJV

In putting this verse in the right context, it is important to know what brought us here. God had established a covenant with Israel, and had laid down terms and conditions for engagement with Him. The commandments on the tablets of stone were just a few of these terms, and Moses spent quite some time with God to receive these instructions. When Moses came down from the mountain where God met him, he didn't know that his face shone. No man comes into the Presence of God without an imprint of God becoming real and evident upon his/her life. 

Moses had to put on a veil so that the people could listen to him as he gave and taught them the words of God. The glory must have been quite awesome for Moses to have put on a veil, yet the Bible calls it fading glory, because there is a glory that God reveals in the new covenant He enters into with us. When God has met with me, his message to the world requires me to give it as He has given me, without any modification. There is a new relationship God wants to have: one deeper than an occasional visit to His presence. It is one where I practically carry His presence everywhere I go, so that men know that I have been with Jesus. They do not need to even hear me speak first; His glory will be so evident upon me that it cannot be ignored. 

Are there veils I have put in place to keep intact the old way God dealt with me in the past? Am I laying down markers only for how has God dealt with me in the past, while I have no prompts as to what God wants me to do NOW? I cannot deceive God, yet I try. I hide my intentions and motives behind attractive veils of fervent devotion and service; I live on the altar, zealous for the things of God, but am I hiding my real intentions behind the veils of pretence and hypocrisy?

It is instructive that Moses only kept the veil on when he spoke with the people of Israel, but he had to take it off anytime he had to go in to speak with God. The same applies to us now. If I will come to God and He will accept me, I cannot keep in place these veils. When a man turns to God, all veils are taken away. You cannot turn to God and at the same time turn to other self-help projects and schemes. Turning to God means acknowledging that your help is only from Him, and that you are focused on Him, to the exclusion of anyone or anything else. 

That's the context of today's extract. The Lord is the Spirit, through whom insight into who God is can be found. No man is truly free until s/he is totally bound to God, and no man is really at liberty until the Son is the reason behind that person's inspiration and perspiration. Wherever the spirit of the Lord is operating, no operation of the devil can succeed there, unless a man willingly surrenders to the operations of false veils. God wants to do a work of freedom in us, because He knows that as long as a person's heart is not free, s/he cannot open up that heart to allow God do the work He alone can do. He is still that same God, and for all who will come, liberty is on offer. Are you looking for the original template God gives? Turn now; He's waiting. His time of favour is here.