So God knows but He has to take us through experiences where what's in us surfaces. It's like the refiner refining gold. They heat it until it melts and it's only when it melts you see what was in it, so God knows just how to get you up until you melt and usually that means you lose your cool: I'm losing control! Good, maybe there's going to be a control transfer here. Maybe there'll be a trust take place, because what you fear will control your life so when you feel you're about to lose control it's just the point where you've got the chance to grow in your faith, your believing, your trust in God. Okay, now in order to do that then you've got to look in your inner world, so God uses a bit of pain sometimes and real change requires we be a bit honest. Now what I've observed in my life and other people over years is our preference, our preferred choice is to control and manipulate our exterior life so we won't have to face the inner stuff. Is that true? Tell someone next to you I think he's talking to you about that one. [Laughter]
See how easy it is to put it outside us? It's not me, I'm okay mate, see? So we'd prefer to try and get control over what's around us. God wants to transform what's in us and change the ownership of what's in us, so how do we do it? How do we do it? What are some keys or what are some things I can build into my life that will help the process of change so I get deeper with God and get to know myself and begin to start to grow in my awareness of God in my life? There's many things. I want to talk primarily today about beginning to connect with the things which are inside you which you may not be aware of and I guarantee as you just take a little bit of time over the next couple of weeks you'll find all of these things surfacing, especially around the Christmas time.
Okay then, the first one is develop an awareness of what you're feeling and doing. Develop an awareness. Awareness means you're conscious of what you're feeling and what you're doing - develop an awareness or consciousness of what you're feeling, what you're doing. Now it's easier said than done because most people don't want to feel bad stuff inside. In John 13 and Verses 3 through to 5, it says this. It says Jesus, knowing He was, where He'd come from, where He went to. Let's pick it up here; Jesus, knowing the Father had given all things into His hands, knowing He came from God, He was going to God, rose up and laid aside His garments, took a towel and then He began to pour water into the basin and wash the disciples feet and wipe them with the towel that He was girded with. Now you notice here that Jesus knowing, He knew some stuff. What did He know? He knew His identity. He knew where He came from, knew where He was going. He actually was fully aware of who He was and fully aware that He's the creator, the king of glory, He's able to bend down and wash disciple's feet. That's a pretty amazing thing.
He had no need to keep up a show, a pretence, or say listen, I'm in charge here. Listen, you guys need to do something. No, He did it you see, so He was very secure because He was fully aware of who He was. Jesus was very secure in His identity. The second thing is Jesus was deeply aware of what He felt and was unashamed to express it. He was very aware of His emotions. The Bible says in John 11, I think Verse 33, Jesus wept. There's other places He got annoyed, angry; other places He was furious, other places He was astonished, other places the Bible tells us He prayed with strong crying and tears. So Jesus was a passionate man, connected to His feelings. When you're moving and flowing with the Holy Spirit one of the most common ways that we experience the Holy Spirit is we feel an impression inside, but there's many other things we feel inside too and that's in our emotional area.
So Jesus was connected very strongly to His emotions. Because He was aware of His own feelings He could be aware of the feelings of others. I've found when people are disconnected in their own life they're disconnected outside as well. In Mark 1, Verse 41, the leper came and the leper was desperate. He was emotional, he was in terrible need and the Bible says Jesus was moved with compassion. He felt the pain in another's life and it moved Him to enter their life and help them. We can walk by people, we can be sitting beside people, we can relate and talk and be totally unaware of the pain they are carrying in their life. We carry on like everything's just perfect. We live life at a surface level, but if you want to make impact in people's lives you have to be able to go beyond the surface to what's really happening in their life.