2Corinthians 3:13 - Prayer Tents

3Does it sound like we're patting ourselves on the back, insisting on our credentials, asserting our authority? Well, we're not. Neither do we need letters of endorsement, either to you or from you.G756G3825G4921G1438G1508G5535G5613G5100G1992G4956G4314G5209G2228G4956G1537G5216 2You yourselves are all the endorsement we need. Your very lives are a letter that anyone can read by just looking at you.G5210G2075G2257G1992G1449G1722G2257G2588G1097G2532G314G5259G3956G444 3Christ himself wrote it—not with ink, but with God's living Spirit; not chiseled into stone, but carved into human lives—and we publish it.G5319G3754G2075G1992G5547G1247G5259G2257G1449G3756G3188G235G4151G2198G2316G3756G1722G4109G3035G235G1722G4560G4109G2588 4We couldn't be more sure of ourselves in this—that you, written by Christ himself for God, are our letter of recommendation.G1161G5108G4006G2192G1223G5547G4314G2316 5We wouldn't think of writing this kind of letter about ourselves. Only God can write such a letter.G3756G3754G2070G2425G575G1438G3049G5100G5613G1537G1438G235G2257G2426G1537G2316 6His letter authorizes us to help carry out this new plan of action. The plan wasn't written out with ink on paper, with pages and pages of legal footnotes, killing your spirit. It's written with Spirit on spirit, his life on our lives!G3739G2532G2427G2248G2427G1249G2537G1242G3756G1121G235G4151G1063G1121G615G1161G4151G2227

Lifting the Veil

7The Government of Death, its constitution chiseled on stone tablets, had a dazzling inaugural. Moses' face as he delivered the tablets was so bright that day (even though it would fade soon enough) that the people of Israel could no more look right at him than stare into the sun.G1161G1487G1248G2288G1722G1121G1795G1722G3037G1096G1722G1391G5620G5207G2474G1410G3361G816G1519G4383G3475G1223G1391G846G4383G3588G2673 8How much more dazzling, then, the Government of Living Spirit?G4459G1248G3780G1248G4151G2071G3123G1722G1391 9If the Government of Condemnation was impressive, how about this Government of Affirmation?G1063G1487G1248G2633G1391G4183G3123G1248G1343G4052G1722G1391 10Bright as that old government was, it would look downright dull alongside this new one.G1063G2532G1392G3761G1392G1722G5129G3313G1752G1391G5235 11If that makeshift arrangement impressed us, how much more this brightly shining government installed for eternity?G1063G1487G2673G1223G1391G4183G3123G3306G1722G1391 12With that kind of hope to excite us, nothing holds us back.G3767G2192G5108G1680G5530G4183G3954 13Unlike Moses, we have nothing to hide. Everything is out in the open with us. He wore a veil so the children of Israel wouldn't notice that the glory was fading away—G2532G3756G2509G3475G5087G2571G1909G1438G4383G4314G5207G2474G816G3361G816G1519G5056G2673 14and they didn't notice. They didn't notice it then and they don't notice it now, don't notice that there's nothing left behind that veil.G235G846G3540G4456G1063G891G4594G3306G846G2571G3361G343G1909G320G3820G1242G3748G2673G1722G5547 15Even today when the proclamations of that old, bankrupt government are read out, they can't see through it. Only Christ can get rid of the veil so they can see for themselves that there's nothing there.G235G2193G4594G2259G3475G314G2571G2749G1909G846G2588 16Whenever, though, they turn to face God as Moses did, God removes the veil and there they are—face to face!G1161G2259G302G1994G4314G2962G2571G4014 17They suddenly recognize that God is a living, personal presence, not a piece of chiseled stone. And when God is personally present, a living Spirit, that old, constricting legislation is recognized as obsolete. We're free of it!G1161G2962G2076G4151G1161G3757G4151G2962G1563G1657 18All of us! Nothing between us and God, our faces shining with the brightness of his face. And so we are transfigured much like the Messiah, our lives gradually becoming brighter and more beautiful as God enters our lives and we become like him.G1161G2249G3956G343G4383G2734G1391G2962G3339G846G1504G575G1391G1519G1391G2509G575G4151G2962