the veil

Let it Flow

/ Mark Brady / Leave a comment

We, well Americans anyway, like to move, and move fast.  We hurry home, to the store, to work and even to church.  We have drive-thrus to make our trips even faster.  We believe we have too much to do, so we have to go at a frantic pace.  But what if God had something He wanted to get done?  And what if his plan included you?  Would you proceed with the same fervency?  Or would you dig your heels in and say, “Let me pray about it.”

There is nothing wrong with discerning God’s perfect will and timing.  And that is probably a wise thing to do before launching a new church program.  Did we ever see Jesus form a committee to discern the will of God?  No.  Did we ever see him say, “Wait, let me go pray about that before I speak to your disease.”

My point is this; Jesus, who was filled with the Spirit of God, flowed with his heavenly Father.  He didn’t have to stop and pray, or set aside a three day fast first, he just knew already the will of the Father.  He also operated in the power of the Holy Spirit.  For instance, when Jesus encountered the woman at the well, he was operating in the gift of the Spirit of knowledge.  Jesus knew she had many previous husbands and in fact the guy she was currently with was not her husband.

No one has to go and get ceremonially clean anymore before entering the Holy of Holies, the presence of God.  You can walk in his presence and actually live in it.  If you remain in that atmosphere all the time you just know.  You know things.  You can have wisdom and understanding of people and of issues all around you.

It’s important to be filled with the Holy Spirit:

The moment Jesus came up out of the baptismal waters, the skies opened up and he saw God’s Spirit—it looked like a dove—descending and landing on him. And along with the Spirit, a voice: “This is my Son, chosen and marked by my love, delight of my life.” Mat. 3:16 (MSG)

Understand the Holy Spirit gives you power to minister:

But you shall receive power (ability, efficiency, and might) when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be My witnesses in Jerusalem and all Judea and Samaria and to the ends (the very bounds) of the earth. Acts 1:8 (AMPC)

The veil that once separated from the presence of God has been torn in two by God:

At that moment, the Temple curtain was ripped in two, top to bottom. There was an earthquake, and rocks were split in pieces. Mat. 27:51 (MSG)

While flowing in the Spirit you will do great things for the kingdom of God:

I tell you this timeless truth: The person who follows me in faith, believing in me, will do the same mighty miracles that I do—even greater miracles than these because I go to be with my Father! John 14:12 (TPT)

Copyright © 2021 Mark Brady.  All rights reserved.

God’s Favorite Part

/ Mark Brady / 1 Comment

Torn011My favorite part, of Jesus’ death on the cross is this; the very moment he exhaled his last breath the thick, tall, heavy curtain that separated man, from the Holy of Holies was torn from top to bottom.  It’s my favorite part, because now, we have direct access to God’s presence.

Yes, I am so grateful to have my sins forgiven, but I love it when I sense God’s presence coming down, and lighting upon me.  When I sense the Holy Spirit enter me, I feel such a tremendous amount of love, peace, joy, and security.  Feeling God’s embrace is unbelievable.  I hope you know what I am talking about.  It is in those moments, I sometimes receive instruction, correction, words of knowledge, secrets, or my favorite, the keys to someone’s heart.  Jesus had the keys when he spoke to the woman at the well.  When you hold those keys, and unlock the secret chambers of one’s heart, real, authentic ministry can take place.

There are times when God just loves on me.  The other night, my Heavenly Father took me out for an ice cream cone.  While I was enjoying the ice cream, I all of a sudden had the realization that the curtain ripping into, in the temple, was God’s favorite part of the story as well.  Why?  Because now, when He enters the temple, He is entering us.  We, are the temple of God.

“Do you not know that your body is the temple (the very sanctuary) of the Holy Spirit Who lives within you, Whom you have received [as a Gift] from God? You are not your own, You were bought with a price [purchased with a preciousness and paid for, made His own]. So then, honor God and bring glory to Him in your body.”  (1Co 6:19-20 AMP)

Copyright © 2018 Mark Brady, All rights reserved

The Final Curtain

/ Mark Brady / Leave a comment

Torn011The story of Jesus’ death is not a new story to most of us.  We’ve heard it so many times in so many ways.  Whether you first heard it at a church, or saw a version of it at the movies, or heard someone tell you the story through your television.  Perhaps you just heard it again this week as Christians, Disciples of Christ, celebrated Easter.  I’m not going to retell it here, but I would like to share the part of His story that means the most to me.

You see, at that moment, after all the beatings, the ridicule, the mocking’s, the crown, the nails, and His last breath had been drawn He died, and the veil that separated man from God in the temple was ripped from top to bottom.  In the book of Matthew chapter 27, verse 51 it says, “At that moment, the Temple curtain was ripped in two, top to bottom…” (MSG)

The veil, or the Temple curtain, was just no ordinary curtain that perhaps covers the windows of your house, but this curtain was at least forty-five feet tall, and four inches thick.  It was there because God cannot look at sin, or at those who have sinned.  Only the high priest, and only once a year, could go through a long list of rituals that would consider him clean could go around the curtain into the “Holy of Holies” into the presence of God, and offer a sacrifice to God for the forgiveness of sin.

I don’t know about you, but I would hate to walk around all year with unforgiven sin.  Knowing me the very day my sins were forgiven I would probably sin again, and say, “Oh man!  Now I have to wait another year?”  At that moment when the curtain was torn from top to bottom, by God, it now meant that Jesus, who was without sin, became my high priest, and through His death on the cross I now can enter the presence of God any moment I want to, or knowing me, need to.

That’s my favorite part of the story of Jesus’ death, but when the curtain ripped that wasn’t the end of Jesus’ story…three days later He made a curtain call.