Spirit

Man of Steel, (Wo)Man of Spirit

I am not a big Superman lover, other than Dean Cain, but I did in fact see “Man of Steel” not too long ago, and I did fairly enjoy Henry Cavill. However, it wasn’t until this last time I watched it that God encouraged my heart, and thus this post.

In the beginning, Clark parents decide to put the Codex, the power of a race, in him to man of steelpreserve their people, and had to send him to Earth, knowing he would stick out, but possibly help it. When I was thinking about that, it reminded me of God and how he put his Spirit, all of Heaven’s power, in us as believers, and we are called to stick out, but it’s that power we have that can change and impact the world.

As Clark grows up, he becomes overwhelmed by his gifts and often times is frustrated and afraid. His journey is all about learning to control his powers, rather than his gifts control him. In the same way, our life of purpose provides us gifts that if not used properly, can prove to be too much, thus God has to prune and purge us, so that we can properly develop and strengthen our gifts. Truth be told, sometimes our gifts scare us and we are afraid of what God is ultimately calling us to do, and it never helps when there are the naysayers and those that always have something to say and will criticize you at every chance they get. But remember, as a child of God with purpose, people are supposed to talk about you; they talked about Jesus, It may make you cry and may make you want to give up, but there is greater yet to come if you hang on.

The most profound line, in my opinion, is found in the first 25 minutes of the movie. When Clark is in the classroom, his powers start to kick in overdrive and he runs out the classroom and hides. Let me stop here and say, don’t hide from your gift and or your purpose. God gave it to you, He chose you for a reason. It was then that his teacher called his mother who came to console him and made this statement, “focus on my voice.” I was floored. There are so many voice that we are out there some that sound reasonable, but are still just plain wrong. When you live a life of your God-given purpose, you will have to block out all the other voices you hear in books, on social media, in music, on television, in politics, from family and friends, etc. Nevertheless, God is saying the same things Clark’s mother said to him, “focus on My voice.”

God’s voice is the only one that matters. He is the only one who understands what is inside of you and wants to be your support, refuge, and strength. His voice knows your destination and your future. It’s only His ‘yes’ that matters, even when everyone else says ‘no.’ So, to whoever is reading this, focus only on His voice, which means getting into His word, calling out to him, believing he will answer and show up every time, as Cal did with his Kryptonian father, and surrounding yourself with like-minded and like-spirited people. Still, the story isn’t over.

As Clark grows up and begins to accept his gift, there are many times he wants to use it, but his father won’t let him, because he doesn’t think the world is ready for what he has to offer. In the same way, you may feel like you are ready and that this is your season to break free and make your mark on the world. I encourage you to have discernment, many times we think we are ready, but God is saying “not yet My child,” because we may have some maturing to do. Other times, as for Clark, the world just isn’t ready for your full glory to show, and at times you may show glimpses of it, enough for people to notice the greatness locked inside of you, but don’t get prideful. God, your Heavenly Father, is Sovereign and knows best so just wait on Him, and sooner than later, you will hear him say, “this is your time. You are ready. The world is ready.”

It is then that Superman was born, but it happened at a time of fear and struggle, and as it often times happens here, God usually calls us off guard or when we least expect it, and like Superman you are thrust into your calling, which is why the Scriptures say “be ye also ready, in season and out of season.” More importantly, don’t doubt God. Of course, Satan, like general Zod, will try to misuse and destroy you and or your gift, or make you doubt or question it or belittle what’s inside of you. but you are an overcomer, so keep fighting and  “keep testing your limits,” don’t doubt yourself or your gifts.

I am so sure of Jesus and who he is for the simple fact that even when people attempt to discredit or devalue or cover him up, he still leaves footprints if you watch for them, and this movie is no different. You are a super man or a super woman, and you are called to be different and for people to talk about you, but you are destined for greatness and are the hope, like the ‘S’ symbol on Superman’s chest, that the world has yet to see and so desperately needs. Don’t be afraid, don’t run, don’t hide, but rather embrace and learned the gifts and the power that is inside of you. And when that moment comes, you. will. fly. And the world will never be the same.

Withdrawal & Sacrifice

So, this will be rather short, but I still feel like I need to say it fully. So lately I’ve been feeling so far from God, and I began to realize the truth of working for Jesus, without really spending time with Him just for the sake of our relationship. Many times those lines are blurred and with all the other day-to-day activities it’s easy to fall asleep. As  a result, it was like I have been through a withdrawal, I just felt bad and at times I wasn’t sure which what to do to get back. Jesus, as cliché as it sounds, is my drug and when I was low as I was, my whole being changed, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually concerning several different things. In the midst, I became sensitive to certain things that I was watching. Meaning, I have Netflix and one of my favorite shows from growing up that I was faithfully attending was “Xena: Warrior Princess.” However, that show was full of non-Christian deities and philosophies that was just not cool, so much in so, one of the last episodes I watched, my spirit was telling me to turn it off because it was very very ritualistic and demonic and just not healthy…and I could feel it. I felt weird but I have to admit I wanted to watch it, because like I said, it’s a favorite of mine. However, I was feeling so detached that I had to turn it off and not long after, I wasn’t feeling as nearly as bad and I don’t plan to watch it again.

Furthermore, I am a huuuuuuuge fan of  “Law & Order: SVU” and again, Netflix has the first 12 seasons and I am halfway through season 11. Long story short, after Xena, I picked back up on “SVU.” It was cool, but the show is dark, to be completely honest and some of the principles aren’t necessarily Biblical, and almost every “Christian” character is bonafide psycho which bothers me, but that’s another story. Anyway, still going through my withdrawal, as of yesterday I think, I decided to take a break from watching it. It was so much negativity that was pouring into my spirit and I needed to release. So I’ve been on my Amazon Cloud Player listening to my Worship 2.0 playlist, 7 of my all time favorite worship songs. The list has been on repeat. When I say I feel so much better, feeding that into my spirit and making and effort get back in tune via other measures, may I say the sacrifice was so worth it. Not saying that I would’ve expected different, but when we are living a life of purpose, we have to be mindful and conscious of the things we watch and listen to, because it can put us in  a weird place and we can lose focus like I did. Withdrawal is no joke, but I love it because you can never get too much Jesus, who is the ultimate high, and without my fix, I am no good.

So I encourage you, every bit of whatever you may feel the Lord is pushing you to sacrifice (music, tv show, relationship, shopping habits, etc.), listen. The reward is far far far greater, no matter how big or small. Even if it is small, if you let it fester, it can become a bigger issue than you wanted. Feed your spirit and not your flesh. Fulfilling your purpose depends on it.

Desire

So yesterday, I went to church and the message was on the story of the temptation of Jesus (Luke 4). I loved most how Jesus went through this to prove his humanity, and desiring to show us that we can live victoriously, even in the face of dire trials and temptation. However, the catch is being full of the Spirit. Even as Christians, we still go through things, we still are put in adverse situations, even though it may not be out fault. Yet, this story proves that we can be conquerors.

The particular temptation we looked at in the sermon yesterday, was the first, the personal temptation, of Jesus in the wilderness. Satan had probed Jesus to turn the stone into bread, being as though Jesus was hungry from not eating 40 days. Still, Jesus said no and replied “it is written…” The sin in this situation wasn’t turning stone into bread; he hadn’t eaten in so long and it can be assumed he desired to eat. However, being in a close relationship was God, he knew it was not God’s timing, and blatantly going against God’s timing is the sin. Our flesh is a monster, still, our God is greater and we can fight the temptation of self, of the flesh, no matter how practical the temptation may be, and lets be honest sometimes we want it bad, real bad…but just as Jesus was in the wilderness, we are more than conquerors (Rom 8:37).

Furthermore, it was a great reminder to me that life is full of desires and things we want, and they aren’t all bad or sinful. However, we have to understand that God has a time for everything. It gets hard to wait, especially when you have your mind made up and planned the who, what, when, where, and how. Still, as it is written, we may have our own plans, but God orders our steps and it is His purpose that will prevail and it will always be greater than expected  (Prov 16:9, 19:21). He knows the desires of our hearts, and will give them to us (Ps 37:4). Yet, we must delight in Him and His will first, so that we can know His voice when the answer is yes, no, or wait. Your desire may in fact be good, but I pose the question, is the timing bad? That’s answer can only come from God Himself, so don’t get discouraged. He wants to bless you, and truth be told, He already has. Talk to Him…What is He saying…to you?…