Going Beyond the Veil – Karen Austin

As I began reading some of my earlier journals, I found this entry written September 3, 2001. I had been crying out to the Lord to go beyond the veil…into the Holy of Holies. This concept was very new to me but it was a deep, burning hunger and desire in My heart. I knew there was more and I must pursue Him! It has definitely been a journey since those early days. I share below what the Lord said to me that day, in my early days of pressing in to abide under the shadow of the Almighty. My prayer is that this blesses you no matter where you are on your journey with our Lord.

“I have been taking you step-by-step from the very beginning. This is what I do with all My people. Your desire for Me must be greater than any desire of your flesh- your desire for sleep, for food, for relationships – anything you place before Me in your life. When your desire for Me reaches a place where all these other desires of the flesh are put aside, this is when you will enter in beyond the veil. “Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.” Galatians 5:24

For the veil of the flesh must be crucified. “The cravings of the self-life are obvious: Sexual immorality, lustful thoughts, pornography, chasing after things instead of God, manipulating others, hatred of those who get in your way, senseless arguments, resentment when others are favored, temper tantrums, angry quarrels, only thinking of yourself, being in love with your own opinions, being envious of the blessings of others, murder, uncontrolled addictions, wild parties, and all other similar behavior.” Galatians 5:19-21.

As I empower you to deal with the lusts of your flesh, an exposing of your soul, the hidden things of the heart,will also be healed as you yield them to Me. Then and only then will I truly be Lord of your life. Then you will be free to do only as the Father does and you will see purely. “It’s true that all is pure to those who have pure hearts, but to the corrupt unbelievers nothing is pure. Their minds and consciences are defiled.” Titus 1:15. During this process motives will be exposed. Do not fret when something is exposed. My grace will be there to heal and to comfort. Just ask Me.

Only the pure in heart shall see Me. Come, do not hold back. Come to Me daily and allow Me to reveal those things which are hidden. I will be working in you even throughout your day, if you invite Me. Some things take a while to come to the surface. This will be a life-long process as you will never “arrive” this side of glory. So do not get discouraged. Remember, I look at the heart and I see your desire for Me. What you don’t see yet, is My desire for you.”

The Quest (Conclusion) – Karen Austin

We then moved into the “Charismatic Circles”. We were baptized in Holy Spirit and began to speak to move in the gifts of the Spirit. We had the power and we had arrived! We cast devils out of everything that moved. We were now the “elite”…even though there was a little pride in it all. We now had it all. We got our identity from our gifting’s and we could still have somewhat of worldly life. We had now moved into the Inner Court. But still…if we were honest…something is still missing. Something or Someone was drawing us…there was more.

We began to be uncomfortable with things we always did. It somehow did not seem right. Time came where we had to make the decision…to move on or stay where we were, content, spiritual…just like most around us. We were still hanging onto our own successes as our identities. Still, there was a wooing. A hunger for something more.

The only thing…this required dying. Dying to ourselves, to the way we wanted it, to what was comfortable. It was no longer our choices, but we chose what pleased Him. It was costly. It required us to get out of the boat and walk on the water of the unknown. We were entering territory that was not familiar. We ran the risk of being called “too religious or spiritual”. Still we pressed through because what we found is worth the cost.

We can look at the life of Paul and although he was as scholar and had a pretty good position in life. He surrendered all this to life a life for Christ and to become His bondservant. “I know I sound like a madman, but I have served him far more! I have worked harder, been put in prison more often, been whipped times without number, and faced death again and again. Five different times the Jewish leaders gave me thirty-nine lashes. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked. Once I spent a whole night and a day adrift at sea. I have traveled on many long journeys. I have faced danger from rivers and from robbers. I have faced danger from my own people, the Jews, as well as from the Gentiles. I have faced danger in the cities, in the deserts, and on the seas. And I have faced danger from men who claim to be believers but are not. I have worked hard and long, enduring many sleepless nights. I have been hungry and thirsty and have often gone without food. I have shivered in the cold, without enough clothing to keep me warm. 2 Corinthians 11:23-27.

“Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death,” Philippians 3:8-10

Paul said all he had before he counted a “dung”. I’ll let you look that word up. But because of His total submission and passion for God, he moved in such demonstration of the spirit and of power that no one could say it was man doing these things. It was raw power of God. Paul even was even caught up into the third heaven to hear of heavenly mysteries.

It is at this juncture, that many decide to remain where they are. But to those who dared to answer the call of this drawing of Holy Spirit, it was time to go for all He had for you. You yielded and said, “Yes Lord, I surrender.” Now came the time that He revealed Himself to you in a way that you never imagined. The power of His Holiness caused you to prostrate yourself before Him. His love and acceptance enveloped you and gone were the laws of man you thought you had to adhere to. Here was pure love. That which you have been seeking…you never want to leave. This was it!

You now have entered beyond the veil, into the Holy of Holies. It is a place where you have lost yourself as you once knew yourself, but found yourself in the embrace of your Heavenly Father. It is a place of true contentment and joy. There is nothing in this world that compares to what you have found with your Father. Your creation began and is fulfilled with the love that you have been searching for and will continue on throughout eternity. You are loved more than you can imagine!

I hope while reading this, you have located yourself on your spiritual journey. My prayer is that you don’t stop. In the Father’s heart are things for you that you have yet to discover. He has more of Himself that He desires to reveal. This is the deepest place of fulfillment that you will experience this side of heaven. Even when we enter eternity, we will still be learning the vastness of His love and His power. I encourage you my friends, continue on for He has much that He wants to show you and for you to experience.

The Quest – Karen Austin

From the moment of our birth upon this earth, the quest for acceptance, true unconditional love was already beating in our very being. We came from a place of unconditional love, as we were created and formed by our Father’s loving hands. “You formed my innermost being, shaping my delicate inside and my intricate outside,
and wove them all together in my mother’s womb.” Psalm 139:13.
But how could we be searching for something that we never knew existed?

My belief is that we knew the pure love of our Heavenly Father in the realm of eternity. Then when we were born flesh and blood, we instinctively knew we were missing something that made us whole. We quickly learned though how to make our parents jump and give us what we wanted.

As we grew into a toddler, the closest thing to fulfilling the empty place in our hearts was our family. Some of us were blessed to live in a family that affirmed us, many did not. Still, even the best of families could not fill that which we sought.

We then became of age to leave our secure home, our dependence on our parents and off to school we went. We believed everyone would love and dote on us as our parents. We believed everyone was just like us. We had not been harshly judged, told we looked funny, or didn’t wear the latest fashion. For the most part, we had been happy.

Once again, we looked to be accepted. The games we played with our parents to get what we wanted didn’t work with our teachers. We were just one of many who were a little “princess” or “prince”. We began playing sports or joined clubs – or wished that we did, but maybe we didn’t have the money or talent to be included. We wanted to belong to something so much and be like everyone else, so we would fit in and be affirmed. By this time, we were willing to try anything to be loved and accepted. Some of us studied hard to make perfect grades. Others joined every extracurricular activity they could to be “in the crowd”. Though some of our attempts we stumbled on to some things we were good at. Little did we realize that these were a gift that our Heavenly Father deposited into us for His glory.

All the while, our Father was watching over us…seeing the wrong choices we made, seeing the hurt and rejection we endured. He saw some of us ended up hiding from others, even ourselves. Still, in His love, He was always lovingly reaching out to us…longing for us to turn to Him.

We went on to search for the exact career that would fill that still aching need to be loved as we had experienced by our Heavenly Father. We thought being fulfilled was being successful – making it in the world so we would have the acceptance of our peers and our neighbors. We met Mr. or Miss Perfect, got married and had children. All this is wonderful but still….the longing remained.

Somewhere along the way, we finally heard the call of our Father. We accepted Jesus as our Savior. His Presence enveloped us and the pure love. That which we have been seeking our whole life was now not only revealed. Unfortunately, many of us learned more laws than unconditional love. We then began again looking for acceptance from our Pastors and those we deemed “spiritual”. We volunteered for everything there was to do. We worked in the nursery, parked cars, cleaned and did lawn work. We fed the poor, joined the choir and went to nursing homes. Still…we knew there was more. We accepted Him as Savior, but had yet to allow Him to be Lord. Still, all of this is just the Outer Court.

Once Upon a Time – Gary Florence

I am sure we all have read “Once Upon a Time” stories, like once upon a time there was a king who lived far, far, far away in a kingdom etc. Did you know before Christ was born there were Greek philosophers who believed that there was a “Supreme Being”? This Supreme Being”  lived far, far, far away in the heavens, where his kingdom was, and that mindset has been passed down to the western church even to this day but now people refer to Him as God.

In order to build muscles in the natural you have to stretch them until they tear and they will then rebuild themselves even stronger. Can we allow our spiritual muscles to be stretched to where we can tear away from vain philosophy and the traditions of man?  What if God is but a breath away? Remember when Jesus said “Some will say that the kingdom is here and others will say no the kingdom is over there but I say to you the kingdom of God is within you.” Christ inside of us the hope of glory. Where the king is you will also find His kingdom. So what if this King Jesus’ kingdom isn’t in a far, far, far away land but is inside of us?

When Jesus was born didn’t He bring His kingdom with Him remember the angelic ( who are part of His Kingdom) gathered on the hill side to sing praises to God because where the King is so is His Kingdom. Just saying that statement causes my natural mind to rise up and rebel, but the things of the natural mind cannot comprehend the things of the spirit. Jesus told His disciples “I go to prepare a place for you so that where I am you too can also be” I am just asking a question here? What if that place He is preparing is us so that we may mature into sons and daughters and manifest His kingdom here on earth? Remember where the King is so is His kingdom.

When Jesus died on the cross, the temple’s veil was ripped from top to bottom exposing the Holy of Holies. What if, because of Christ inside of us, the Holy of Holies (Christ) can be exposed to the world for all who freely want to come, and see clearly this Christ inside of us?

What if now you and I can become the stories; “Once Upon a Time there was a King (Jesus) who did not live in a far, far, far away land but instead He lives inside of us and we are privileged to allow all who desire to come and read and partake of this kingdom that is available to them not when they just die but in the here and now.” Knowing where the king is you will find His kingdom. That kind of puts the ball in our court doesn’t it? Let me ask you a question, are you ready to play some ball???