Seeing Beyond the Veil

Posted on by Jennifer Arimborgo

Eye blue

“I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you…” (Eph. 1:18, NIV, emphasis mine).

When you look ahead towards the future, is your heart full of positive expectation for what is to come? If not, then you probably need Holy Spirit to cultivate more of His gift of hope in the core of you. This devo is going to look into what makes such a thing possible. Let’s delve together into how gazing on His glory in steadily increasing degrees is intricately tied into the development of hope in our lives.

As you meet with God in the secret place, He starts to enlighten the eyes of your heart, enabling you to perceive Him more clearly. The more you gaze on Him, the more you get to know Him. This is what He means by “beholding the glory of the Lord” (2 Cor. 3:18).

As you gradually build intimate relationship with Him, little by little, you come to see Him as He really is. Everything about His glorious, beautiful heart is made known to you in ever-increasing ways. What results from this is a spontaneous growth of hope inside of you.

“How?” you may ask. This is how.

When you come to understand, deep, deep in your heart of hearts, how tenderly, fiercely, and relentlessly He loves you…
How utterly cherished you are…
And in what capable, gentle, mighty hands you are held…
…Then all your thoughts about what is to come become sealed into a cocoon of hope.

A God so good, so fervently devoted to you…
One who has pledged His everlasting love to you…
Could only have the most precious of plans for you…
…Thus, coming to know Him through close communion breeds living, burgeoning hope in your being.

This same beautiful passage in 2 Corinthians 3 tells us that we need Holy Spirit to take away the veil that keeps us from looking at God (vv. 15-18). When, and only when, He removes this shroud of unbelief from our hearts, we can begin to behold His glory. Then we can get to know Him more and more deeply. Then hope can start to thrive and flourish in our spirits.

Hebrews 6:19 also makes reference to this veil: “This hope we have… both sure and steadfast… enters the Presence behind the veil” (NKJV). The hope that Holy Spirit incrementally develops inside of us takes us further and further into God’s presence. It moves us entirely beyond the veil that used to keep us from seeing Him.

We can conclude, then, that seeing God produces hope; and hope, in turn, allows us to see even more of Him! What a breathtaking cycle upwards in ever-increasing glory!

Let’s pause and think further about this for a moment. We know that beholding the glory of the Lord causes hope to blossom in our lives. We know that we need that hope for our spirits just like we need oxygen for our lungs. This can only mean one thing. We desperately need to make space in our lives to gaze on Him and drink in His glory!

As we digest this principle, Holy Spirit does not want us to get down on ourselves about how much or little we have begun to walk in these truths. Our growth in both hope and intimacy with God must, by nature, take place gradually. Sometimes we are tempted to be frustrated when it feels like we are progressing very slowly. However, we are guaranteed, as Hebrews 6:19 assures us, that what He is doing in us is “both sure and steadfast!”

So then, resting in His promise to complete the good work He has begun in us (Phil. 1:6), let’s simply start where we are. With profound passion and ardent hunger, let’s make space today to draw near to Him and behold His beauty.

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On your own journey, in what specific ways has Holy Spirit fostered hope in you? I’d love to hear about it!

 

24 thoughts on “Seeing Beyond the Veil”

  3. About 10 years ago, this area was hit hard by an ice storm which knocked power out for several days. It started on a Monday night, and by Thursday night, fatigue and tension and a too-full house prompted me to put on my coat and wander out to the frigid front yard. In the pitch-black night, with still not a single light on in the city, I looked up and beheld more stars than I would ever have seen with the streetlights on. As I gaped in wonder, I received the intended message: no matter how, well, dark, things seem, God is present, and with that, there is always hope. The following day, power was restored to a portion of the city, and by the weekend, the entire town was up and running. God is so good. == Mike

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  4. Jennifer and friends in Christ, it so challenges me each day, when I look at those around me and hear of those throughout the world, that manifest a lack of HOPE. I must acknowledge that there have been times in my life, yes, even after receiving Jesus as my Lord and Savior, whereby I feared that all was futile. The Spirit of God then draws me to King David and his heart filled book of Psalms. He too felt hopeless in times of darkness. This man after God’s own heart, could not move forward until he began to worship and give thanks to our Father in heaven. Job too remained in dread and darkness till his eyes were focused on God himself. Until we are willing to surrender these moments we fear and call out to the Father and receive His Word as truth, we may remain where we are. We must Declare in the presence of our God, that all hope is found in Him ALONE. Amen. Len Wisniewski

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    1. That is such an important observation, Len. There are many moments and seasons in life when we have to fight the good fight of faith to protect and nurture hope, only found in His presence. I sure appreciate you bringing out that point. Many blessings to you!

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  5. In Christ alone, my hope is found…this line of this song has been an anchor for me these past few years. Sure, I was walking with the Master, sometimes, but when things began getting rocky all around, I truly discovered Christ is my only hope, and all others grounds, are sinking and uncertain.

    This position or posture came only after “coming to know Him through close communion” and this daily “breeds living, burgeoning hope in your (my) being.”

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    1. That is a beautiful, precious testimony, Precious One. I was in a breakout session of a Leaders’ Advance a few years ago and the speaker said something that really stuck out and has stayed with me since then. “There’s absolutely nothing that can replace your own personal journey with Jesus.” It’s so true! Walking intimately with Him through the intense adventure that life is, and getting to know Him along the way deeper and deeper — there’s just nothing that could provide anything like it.
      Thank you so much for sharing, dear!

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      1. Wow!!!
        Amen!
        Hallelujah!!!!
        Absolutely nothing!
        Abba, thank You initiating and inviting us along for the ride; the adventure; the whole shebang…
        What a joy it has been and continues to be getting to know You, and the other sheep of Your pasture 🙌🏽🙌🏽

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  7. Thank you dear Jennifer. To all the beloved who read your blog how grateful we are to you for keeping ‘life’ and Word relevant. Being spiritually born-again when we can truly surrender our lives to Christ….pick up our ‘cross’ and follow the SAVIOUR, there are endless possibilities and the Word continues to grow and become illuminated and God the Holy Spirit ever points our eyes to CHRIST and heavenwards to what lies beyond the veil. Beautiful start to this day. Thank you.

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  9. Thank you, Jennifer! Your blog is great! So glad to know that there are so many believers and much more so many young people, who received Jesus Christ as their Savior and Lord! Thank you, Jesus! Our God is three in one-the greatest! Thank You, Jesus for taking my life and giving me new life, new body, new hope. Never had so much peace in my life, like with Jesus!
    Bless you all,
    May God save more of us!

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