As we again give thanks and praise to God for healing as we, in community on Thursday night, laid hands on one of our home group members, makes one understand how together we create rhythms of life. These rhythms ultimately have a marked affect on our spiritual development and growth.

I was listening to the audio version of Erwin McManus’s book ‘The Barbarian Way’ this week on the way to college and in it he makes mention of, and I quote;

“Somehow Christianity has become a nonmystical religion. It’s about a reasonable faith. If we believe the right things, then we are orthodox. Frankly, whether we ever actually connect to God or experience his undeniable presence has become incidental, if not irrelevant. We have become believers rather than experiencers” (McManus: 61).

He goes on to say that the faith of the Scriptures is a mystical faith, which leads us beyond the material world into an invisible reality. We are at the core spirit. God is spirit. To walk with God is to journey in the spiritual realm. 

I am in the process, during whatever spare time I have and that is not much, to write a sermon I am preaching shortly entitled “Who am I” with strains of the Casting Crowns song driving it. Whilst researching it I have been reading snippets of a book by Parker Palmer entitled “Let your life Speak” and found a study of the book on the Mars Hill Church site.

In the book there are two quotes that are so fitting both to my life, and, I am almost certain, to yours. I will deal with them one at a time;

“What a long time it can take to become the person one has always been. How often in the process we mask ourselves in faces that are not our own”.

The question we need ask ourselves here is; “how long have we been trying to gain the approval of others in an effort to supposedly run our lives successfully and to be the person that they will want to associate with and believe that we will then “fit in”?

The answer; too long! The world is, in truth, critical of others, yet hesitant to look at their own lives, their own shortcomings, and their own limitations. One-upmanship is merely the mode of their trying to pull the veil over their own half – truths and an attempt to disguise the reality that they are very much like everyone else…like you and me.

The second poignant quote is; “We ourselves, driven by fear, too often betray true self to gain the approval of others”.

Similar to that of the above, if we are driven by fear, it is easier to look at another person and point out shortcomings than it is to look at our own. Fear may motivate us to do the right thing for the wrong reasons.

Learning who you are doesn’t simply mean learning your strengths, but also your limitations. “Who are you?” Really. I may not be able to tell you “who I am,” but, if I be honest, I’ve got a list of stories to tell you who I am not!

Whilst I may not be able to get to this site during the course of this week, I would ask you to get out your journal and answer the question of yourself; “Who am I”? Be truthful and not afraid to write from your heart! You may astound yourself!

"Those who are wise will shine like the brightness of the heavens" (Daniel 12:3).

Who are the wise? What is wisdom and whose version do we consider – the worlds or that of Christ? Which ‘version’ am I? What is man's goal in life and what is the good or right way to live?

Tough questions to consider for us. Those who are ‘unwise’ will likely not even get close to being able to answer those questions if they are meant  to be; "those who impart wisdom who will shine like the brightness of the heavens" that is.

Those mentioned in the verse are people who have stepped up and stepped into the River Jesus and have therefore been rendered able to "lead many to righteousness". Without that fact we continue on our aimless meander of life.

I would truly dig to shine like the stars for ever and ever! Think of the legacy we leave behind – it would be pretty tough to steer a straight course without such reference points!

Having just completed our second part of Mark Driscoll’s Spiritual Warfare series as a home group and having engaged with the devil’s role, the verse of 1 Corinthians 1:18 resonated with me which has resulted in a sermon in the making.

1 Corinthians 1:18; “For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God”.

Jesus dealt the devil an eternal blow on the cross from which the devil can not recover. Jesus has left it to us, the church, to administer his victory. The devil would therefore attempt to distort what happened at Calvary in an attempt to gain the upper hand.

He would attempt to make us believe that God’s ways are foolish. As I suggested in the sermon on Jeremiah we are distinctly different and often called “peculiar people” or “foolish” by the world. But Paul indicated that being different or ‘foolish’ is truly the greatest wisdom the world has ever known.