“2 Corinthians 3:18 – Seeing clearly without any hindrances is God’s desire for us… looking at this mirror that both exposes us, but also gives us a glimpse of the glory of God… and we see the contrast… and looking at these two things draws us closer to Him and into greater alignment with Him…
• But the enemy can twist even good things to keep us from this…
“When people have real spiritual experiences- such as worship, prayer, Bible study, fellowship, Sunday morning service- they mistakenly believe they are doing fine, even if their relational life is fractured and their interior world is in disorder. Their “apparent progress” then proves the spiritual reason for not doing the hard work of maturing”
“Instead of being a 22 year old Christian, I was a one year old Christian 22 times!”
Here are some symptoms of being emotionally and spiritually unhealthy…
• Using God to run from God… it’s doing things in Jesus’ name that He never asked you to do…
• Ignoring anger, sadness and fear… We don’t give ourselves license to feel these things… balance…
• Compartmentalizing secular and sacred… Keeping God in a box from 10:30 AM to noon on Sundays…
• Spiritualizing away conflict… Not approaching conflict well…
• Living without boundaries… We cannot minister to all people at all times…
• Making it a habit to judge other people’s spiritual place…
Augustine said, “How can you draw close to God when you are far from your own self?” His prayer was, “Grant, Lord, that I may know myself that I may know Thee.”
“The vast majority of us go to our graves without knowing who we are. We unconsciously live someone else’s life, or at least someone else’s expectations for us. This does violence to ourselves, our relationship with God, and ultimately to others.”
God is calling us to ‘know thy self and know thy God’… to look into the mirror of His Spirit…
Let the Spirit show you your;
• Past… 2 Corinthians 5:17 NKJV
• Part of going back to our past is being honest about those things that have molded our lives… it is identifying the old things that need to go away…
• God is desiring to loose us from the “old things”… but how can we be free of those things if we’re unwilling to see them clearly…
• Personality makeup… strengths and weaknesses… Embrace those good aspects and personality traits that are uniquely you… We don’t have to be someone else…
• Social awareness… know the moment… 1 Chronicles 12:32
Our feelings are not bad in themselves, but are indicators as to what’s really going on inside… lights on a car dashboard… 1 John 4:1
Principle of testing… Sometimes our desires are fleshly and from the enemy… other times it’s the Holy Spirit dealing with our hearts… The Holy Spirit can guide you through your emotions and feelings…
• Anger (hostility/annoyance/righteous indignation)
• Sadness (grief/self-pity/loneliness/envy)
• Fear (Anxiety/ timidness/ common sense)
• Enjoyment (joy/relief/thrill/ Good and bad)
• Love (acceptance/ trust/ devotion)
• Surprise (shock/ amusement)
• Disgust (Contempt/ scorn/ revulsion)
• Shame (guilt/ remorse/ humiliation/ embarrassment)
If you’ll let Him, the Holy Spirit, can use those feelings to expose you to yourself… and be a refiners fire within your heart… but if we don’t allow ourselves to feel the emotions, how will we know… When we deny the fact we feel, we become less human…
The Holy Spirit will use our feelings to prune us…
• allow yourself to be pruned… pruning allows for healthy growth…
This willingness and pruning will allow us to be teachable… When things are exposed…
Romans 12:2 / 2 Corinthians 3:18
The question we have to ask ourselves is this;
• Will we allow ourselves to truly know ourselves… to look into the mirror of the Holy Spirit, and as He exposes the reality of ourselves, and the reality of Himself… Allow His Holy Spirit to transform us from glory to glory…
• Will we allow this work of the Holy Spirit to come in whatever vehicle He may choose to come… it maybe the word… it maybe prayer… it maybe the voice of a friend… It may be on a Sunday morning, or a Monday morning… It may be the voice of our children… it may be the voice of our spouse… and maybe there’s still small voice of the spirit that lies with him…
But when He speaks and reveals Himself, and reveals yourself… will you allow yourself to be encouraged, convicted, and matured…”