3 Baby Steps into Spiritual Super Powers
3 Baby Steps into Spiritual Super Powers
... and take up your sword
One of the things I want to be known for is how much I love Jesus. Does that surprise you? It probably does.
I’ve been a believer ever since I was a little girl. I’ve never questioned faith or God. I thank my parents and grandparents for that. I’ve had various growth spurts in my faith. I’ve even seen the lower hem of a white robe - was it God, Jesus, an angel? I’m not sure, but it was the brightest white imaginable. When I try to recreate it in my mind, I cannot come close.
I fell away from my faith in college. I tried to find a church but didn’t have good experiences. I reconnected again when I had kids. Then I let the busyness of life reorder my priorities. On my 27th birthday my mother gave me the life application Bible, which has explanations on every page. Thank heavens! It gave such greater insight into everything. Each time I read something, and the explanation, it took on new meaning. Then my faith took another leap this year.
Your faith journey may have parallels to mine, or it may be completely different. Maybe your faith is super strong, like my son’s or my sister’s. I always say my sister is a few rungs higher on the ladder to heaven than me. Regardless of where your faith journey is, bear with me to the end of this piece because it gets easier, and then harder, but it will be worthwhile. I’ll offer 3 baby steps into developing your spiritual Super Powers. Just like anything in life, there is no magic formula or secret recipe that works for everyone. We are incredibly special and unique, so you need to find what works for you, but let me give you some options until you find what resonates with you.
I also want to set the stage and personalize it for you. Faith is a battle, and we are at war. Whatever is most meaningful to you is what is under attack. The devil is alive and well, stealthy and sneaky. He will undermine your efforts, distract you and try to destroy things you care about.
Think about what really matters and take a moment to reflect on the challenges you have seen in your life. Notice the highs and lows, the ebbs and flows, the successes and the failures. For me, the most valuable thing in my life are my relationships. That may also surprise you as I have fallen away from some of them. The most important things are the people in my life – my parents, sisters, children, friends and significant others. Now when I reflect on it, it is not surprising that this is also the area of greatest challenge to me. Relationships are the most cherished, so they are the area that is most under attack.
My little mind cannot comprehend all the wonders of the universe. I don’t thoroughly understand biology and cell structure and how mitochondria can stop and change direction and instantly accelerate to full speed. Nor do I understand engineering and the structural details involved to build a skyscraper and make a building secure and not topple over. I appreciate nature and animals and weather, but mostly I value other human beings. I greatly value the softer side of the world, especially emotions and feelings. I thrive on closeness, love, joy and kindness.
With that said, I don’t have any religious training, nor do I have any ulterior motives other than to help as many people as possible live fuller and more empowered lives. Disclaimer: I do want to sell a lot of sacchettos (see pictures towards the end) and then complete the circular feedback loop and use 50% of those profits to help as many women as possible find their purpose and be empowered. That is my secondary goal. My primary goal is to help you build more Super Powers. As we grow stronger individually, we also grow stronger together. The impact you have on another person’s life may ripple to touch numerous other people.
Here we go. Here are 3 baby steps to build your Spiritual Super Powers.
Show Up for God Every Single Day.
Do you have a cup of coffee every day? Do you brush your teeth every morning? Do you take the dog for a walk? What other daily habits do you have?
Why do you do these things? You do them because they are important and because your day is better as a result. Otherwise, you may be cranky, you may have stinky breath, and you definitely will have a mess to clean up.
It’s the same with taking time for God every day. If you don’t, you will be ornery, have a stinky personality and you will have messes in your life to clean up.
We tend to overcomplicate things. Do you have 15 minutes or 1 hour available to talk to your Father and bestie? Each morning talk to God. Talk to him as if He is your best friend. What things do you share with your best friend? Share them with God. Are you super happy about something, concerned, scared? Take it to God. He is the best listener, and He has the best advice to offer.
Accepted wisdom is that we should put the most important things first. God wants our best time and our best selves, so start your day with him. When you wake up, hit your knees and say thank you for a new day and for your blessings. Brush your teeth, get some coffee, do you, whatever that is. After I hit my knees and brush my teeth, I do pushups and sit-ups. Do whatever works for you to wake up, then climb back in bed (my personal favorite) for your devotion time, or go sit in your favorite chair and open your Bible.
You could follow a devotional booklet or read through a Bible study. I have tabs in my Bible, and I read through all my favorite passages each morning. I also have a devotional, a gratitude journal, a journal for my family and for myself and a few other books on my nightstand. I read through a little bit of each depending on the day. The devil wants us to think it is hard and needs to be super structured. God just wants us to sit with Him and talk with Him. Perhaps read your favorite Bible verse, reflect on it, pray on it, give thanks. You could even pray about what to pray about. The point is, just do it. I like to keep a little notebook and pen handy. If something touches my heart, I underline it. This is when I get inspiration. Thoughts, ideas, answers to problems will come. I write them down. They help guide my day and life. It’s like having a masters class or meeting with your mentor. The cool thing is God is well versed in everything since He created everything, and He can make anything happen.
One of my favorite devotionals is Draw the Circle: The 40-Day Prayer Challenge by Mark Batterson. It’s an awesome book, short and easy to read. I highly recommend it. Take to heart one of the things he writes about in Day 35. Batterson writes that God gets excited when we take a baby step. In one example he talks about the people rebuilding the temple and the only thing that had been done was the measuring. The people just got out the plumb line (the equivalent to the current day tape measure) and measured. That was it. Yet in Zechariah 4 it says God rejoices to see the work begin. If in a project as big as rebuilding a temple, God gets excited about simply the measuring being done, imagine how excited He will be when you open your Bible each day and talk to Him. You will both be thrilled.
Put on the Armor of God
Ephesians 6:10-19 talks about the armor of God. When my mom gave me my new Bible, she specifically mentioned these verses because she knew I would be attacked. One way to fight against the attacks is to put on the armor of God and pray. Another way to fight is to recognize that you are in a war. The author of the Bible study “The Armor of God” Priscilla Shirer, describes herself as just a girl . . . with a Sword. She had my respect and attention immediately from that description.
Shirer states that in the first century, people were well acquainted with the spiritual realm. Most everyone who lived in the Mediterranean world during that time period believed evil spirits existed. They didn’t spend time trying to determine whether or not a spirit world was real but rather how to manage and hinder the beings who lived in it. The armor of God was needed.
Nothing has changed in regards to evil spirits. Yet in our culture, do we recognize the need to defend against it? Do we realize that the enemy is gathering intel to develop a strategy against us? I’ve asked people if they have ever felt spiritually attacked? Some have said, “Yes, of course.” Others have said, “No.” Sometimes we need to have our spiritual eyes opened to see that we are being attacked, and then to see what is at our disposal and working on our behalf. Read 2 Kings 6:15-17 for more on that.
Arm yourself. Take up your sword and put on your armor. Previously I said that it was going to get harder. As you takes steps to increase your spirituality, you will be attacked. The thing is, you are already being attacked. You just may not realize it. Open your eyes, realize what is happening, then act and pray. The more we are attacked, the more we can pray, and the more God can do mighty miracles in our lives.
Glorify God in Any and Every Situation
The purpose of prayer is not to change our circumstances but to change us, and then to glorify God for all that He has done through us. I used to pray for God to change things in other people, then I started asking Him to reveal to me what I needed to change. I like when people are direct, and boy was He ever direct. There was an avalanche of things He revealed to me. I realized that if I changed myself, the things I was asking him to change in others fell away and didn’t matter. I had the ability and power to make any situation better by changing myself and making myself better. The other people didn’t have to change at all. That was life changing for me and awe-inspiring and just downright amazing. It reminds me of the movie Hidden Figures. They are trying to solve the math for getting the space shuttle back into the earth’s rotation. With a challenge this big, they thought it had to be new math. When Katherine realized it was an old math principle that would solve it, Kevin Costner’s character simply says, “It’s not new math at all. Hmmmm.”
The second part to changing ourselves is that God said to me that when we are done changing everything in me that needs attention, then we can focus on the other person. I found that to be quite humorous because the list for me is so long that it will never be finished, so we will never focus on the other person. And, that I think . . . is the point.
The reason we were put on this earth is to glorify God. He gave us this life to do with what we choose, but all for his purposes. He wants us to have fun and enjoy the many gifts he gave us. He wants us to be joyful, to have integrity, to serve, to be kind, etc. Each of us have a special purpose, and actually I think we may have different purposes at different times of our lives. Again, I have no divinity training. I’m on this journey with the rest of you, but I try to stay open, listen and learn from others. And, that’s what I am hearing right now.
King Solomon is one of my favorite characters in the Bible. He really loved God, asked for wisdom and knowledge to rule God’s people and evaluated life. He tells us to eat, drink and be merry because the work is hard, so we might as well enjoy life while we work. Stay focused but enjoy life too. In my experience, I asked God for encouragement while I wait for one of my prayers to be answered. What I heard back was, “Did you think this was going to be easy?” Actually, I did. I love the chapter in Mark where the Centurion says to Jesus, “Just say the word.” And Jesus answered his prayer for healing because of his incredible faith. I know prayers can be answered that simply, and I do believe. But, I guess the answer to this particular prayer is going to be a bit more involved. They key is not to be discouraged but encouraged and grateful for all that we learn in the process and glorify God for all things. The food, the drink, the joy and the hard work.
There you go. 3 baby steps to building your Spiritual Super Powers.
1. Show up for God every day and open your Bible
2. Put on the armor of God
3. Glorify God in all things
Let’s be mighty warriors as we build our spiritual super powers. Please comment and tell us how it goes for you.
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Thank you for reading.
Wishing you beauty and joy, kindness and compassion and many great blessings.
About Super Powers
We break the year down into 12 areas of balance. You will achieve greater growth and life balance by intently focusing on one area at a time. This month’s Super Powers focus is on spiritual life. Next month is about intellectual life.
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