Lifting the Veil: Uncovering God's Truths for Our Lives Today

By Paul Gasque

Like so many people today, our lives are inundated with family, community, and work-related activities that seem to deprive us of our time with God in his Word. To awaken each morning to a precious few minutes of silence, devotional reading, and prayer may be the only spiritual food some get to sustain them through their busy day. But what if you could take the devotional thought with you as a part of your day throughout the week? What would it mean to have a conversation with someone who may well be an unconscious instrument used by God to unveil some truth from your weekly reading, as a reality and faith lesson in your life?

In Lifting the Veil you will:

Reflect on Scripture and a devotional thought that leads to a question for self-examination in your faith journey. Recognize how God is placing people in your path each week to enhance your understanding of the weekly reading and how it is shaping you spiritually. Seek God in prayer, asking that your life be transformed, your mind renewed, and your walk with Christ more intimate.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Sep 25, 2013
• ISBN: 9781490808246

Paul Gasque

PAUL GASQUE is a former pastor in the United Methodist Church and a retired investigator with the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division. Following his retirement from law enforcement, he completed the Course of Study at Duke Divinity School and served in pastoral ministry for thirteen years in South Carolina. These two vocations have afforded him opportunities to work with people of various cultures from all walks of life in challenging, heartrending, and rewarding circumstances. He has served on mission teams in Rwanda and Malawi in Sub-Saharan Africa and currently serves as the chairperson of missions in his home church. Paul is frequently called upon to lead worship services in other area churches in times of pastoral absence. He and his wife, Laura, participate in a weekly Reading Buddy program at the elementary school in their hometown of Latta, South Carolina. They are blessed with a son and daughter-in-law and a daughter and son-in-law.

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Copyright © 2013 Paul Gasque.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

The Scripture quotations contained herein are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the U.S.A. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

All Scriptures references cited as KJV are taken from The Holy Bible, King James Version (public domain).

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ISBN: 978-1-4908-0823-9 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4908-0822-2 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4908-0824-6 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2013916313

WestBow Press rev. date: 12/09/2013

CONTENTS

Introduction

A Life’s Journey

Shaped In The Waiting

A Gift To Offer

Sent For God’s Purposes

A Short Sermon With A Long Message

Lifting The Veil

A Matter Of The Heart

The Trumpet Call Of Repentance

Repentance That Does Not Look Back

A New Starting Point

The Way Back Home

A Look Back, A Look Ahead

Taking Up The Towel

Love That Remains

The Hope That Seeks Us

The Power Of God’s Peace

The Testimony Of Lasting Memories

The Certainty Of Christ

Our Best Witness For Christ

Walking In Newness Of Life

The Time Between The Times

The Witness Of Christian Unity

The Spirit’s Confident Assurance

The Truth That Awaits Us

Choose, Follow, And Trust

Called For A Purpose

Love Beyond Words

The Gift Of Grace

He Still Calls Followers

God’s Unlikely Instruments

Life’s Trusted Guide And Companion

What A Wondrous Love

Waiting For The Opened Door

The Dangers Of Chasing Worldly Wealth

The Longing For A Better Place

The Joy That Awaits Us

Not Just Another Face In The Crowd

Do Not Read The Label

Whethering The Costs Of Discipleship

A Smile And A Gift

God’s Sustaining Presence

The Beggar At Our Gate

The Call To Persevere

Coming Back To Christ

Perseverance In Prayer

God Who Gives Back

A Changed Life

From Misgivings To Masterpieces

Glimpses Of God’s New Creation

On Either Side Of The Cross

Stepping Out Of Ourselves And Into Christ

Grace According To God’s Will

The Poverty Of Christmas

Epilogue

Daily Reflections For The Week’s Readings

Notes

To my wife, Laura, my life companion, my soul mate, and a true gift from God, whose encouragement and affirmation instilled in me the confidence to share my thoughts and reflections in writing. And to God in Christ who from one glory to another used the very process of putting these writings together as a means of continuing his work of shaping, molding, and enabling me to see beyond the veils that have blinded me to all that he would have me see. To him be the glory, now and forever.

INTRODUCTION

Lifting the Veil offers you a unique opportunity to gain insight into the ways in which God weaves together Scripture, people, and prayer to reveal how he is at work drawing you into deeper fellowship with him. This work originated by way of my continuous study of the Holy Scriptures with no intention of ever writing a devotional book. Only later, with my wife’s encouragement, did the process evolve into what has become my first publication. My study during this time was in the Scriptures for Year C of the Revised Common Lectionary. For this reason, the recommended Scripture references for each week’s readings have been taken from Year C. Exceptions to be noted are: Romans 13:11-14 (Stepping Out of Ourselves and Into Christ) from Year A, RCL; Mark 11:1-11 (A Look Back, A Look Ahead) and Luke 1:26-38 (Grace According to God’s Will) from Year B, RCL.

The world in which we live today is beset on many fronts with complex issues and concerns that seem impervious to any real, lasting solution. We long for the day when permanent peace shall be the end for which we strive and reconciliation the means through which such a noble goal is attained. But underlying such a lofty vision for humankind are issues that are more personal to each of us that confront us daily.

One such issue that has, in many ways, gone largely unnoticed and affects so many is our contagious individualism. New strides in technology, social media, and the Internet have left us, for the most part, with a seat in front of a computer screen instead of the personal contact we used to enjoy. This is not to say that modern technology does not have its benefits, only that there is still lasting value in the people God puts in our paths from day to day. That is what this devotional is about and what sets it apart from conventional devotional books—its focus on human contact.

The weekly readings and the accompanying Daily Reflection activities beginning on page 163 are intended to give you thoughts to reflect on so that your daily life and the experiences you encounter may themselves become exercises in devotion. But it takes the additional step in asking you to consider the people you may encounter during the week who might lift the veil of understanding for that week’s devotional thought. You are also asked to journal these weekly interactions and, at the close of the year, look back over the readings and entries to gain an appreciation of the many people God has placed in your life over the preceding twelve months.

It was my original plan to include with each week’s devotional reading a question for reflection and a prayer. At the outset of the initial draft, I left these sections blank with the intention of coming back to them later in the course of this work. Only weeks into the process did I realize why I had done this. A careful reading of any passage of Scripture and an accompanying devotional thought always give rise to questions that surface in your heart and mind based on where you are at a particular time in your faith journey. Questions challenge us to consider and rethink our personal lives in light of how we are walking with Christ in some ways and straying from him in others.

God seeks to draw us closer through the circumstances that surround us, the challenges that confront us, and the people who meet us in our daily lives. For this reason, the Question of the Week for Daily Reflection has been left open intentionally for the purpose of allowing you to formulate your own question as it rises from the scriptural text and finds its place in your mind. The question then becomes a seeking point throughout the week for ways in which God’s truth from the weekly reading becomes a living reality.

The interactions with other people during the week help to form and shape these truths and enable you to recognize that living in a community with other believers is a vital aspect of the Christian life. The Prayer for the week then becomes the heart’s way of assimilating the Scripture, the reading, and the question into your being as a way of listening for the Spirit in order to reveal who you are and to whom you belong. Jesus Christ does not want to be a stranger on your path but a companion for the journey.

A LIFE’S JOURNEY

MATTHEW 2:1-12

It seems as if nothing has really changed in humankind’s attitude toward Jesus since the time he walked the face of the earth. Some are still seeking to destroy anything that represents his presence in the world while others are seeking him in order to open the treasure chests of their hearts in praise, adoration, and worship. As you embark on a new year, consider how each step you take may well be a step in one of these two directions. Herod sought the wisdom of the chief priests and the scribes of the people in order to learn the birthplace of the Messiah. Having learned this, he secretly called for the wise men of his court to determine the time of the star’s appearance.

There is for each of us a place and a time when we can come to experience the living presence and reality of Jesus Christ in our midst—an answer to our own question that lies deeply within us: Where is he who has the ultimate reign and sovereignty over my life? Where is he who is worthy of all my worship and devotion?

We all have the star of life experiences, of the people God puts into our