Superpowers and Spider senses

Have you ever considered that a blessed life doesn't necessarily mean a transformed life?

The Spiderman analogy might be (just a little) cheesy... but I've sensed God talking to me through it (those who know me well know they are my fave films!) Spiderman was given powers, yet it took a personal renewal for him to awaken them and become a hero.

If you've chosen to follow Jesus, you have His spirit, His power, within you, but this power alone doesn't transform you. Perhaps you're not sure what I mean by this? Well, buckle in!

God provides us with blessing

It's probably helpful to take a step back and explore what God's "blessing" really means, particularly as it's a word we use for many different things, for example, when someone sneezes, when we're being sympathetic and when good things happen! Blessing is something God gave humans from the very beginning. God blessed the earth and it's inhabitants, giving us the ability to live a fulfilling and fruitful life.

God's blessings are weaved into the very fabric of mankind. In Genesis, God gave us dominion over the earth's creatures, God blesses Adam with a woman to partner with, and gave them the ability to multiply.

On day 5, God made the first living beings in the waters below and waters above, He blessed the birds and the fish saying "be fruitful and and increase in number..." (Genesis 1:22)

God's speech brought reality into being, The Bible Project describes it as "performative speech". It was an effective blessing, multiplying the species.

God commanded man to "be fruitful and multiply and rule over the creatures". God gives us the ability to do this - the blessing here is 'reproducing'. This provided humans with freedom and opportunity, a legacy on earth.

With this blessing comes the responsibility to fulfil and protect it, for humans and the creatures we have been given dominion over.

Based on the law of first mention, this was the first blessing and sets the principle that with blessing also comes a choice, and this continues to happen throughout the Bible and in our lives today.

God's blessings are optional

So what do we get from this? For me I noticed that entering into blessing is a choice. God presents us with gifts, but gives us the choice on how we respond.

'Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.' - Romans 12:2

In this verse, Paul was writing to people within Rome who were already Christians and had received God's spirit - he pointed out that we are 'transformed' when we renew (also translated as 'change') our minds. The word 'transformed' is also translated to 'changing into another

form' i.e. we begin to appear more like Christ. (This meme came up towards the end of writing this post, and had to add it here because it really made me laugh!)

This something we have to actively work on. To enter into Christ-likeness, we have to actively change our minds. This isn't comfortable work, when we become a Christian, we should be more aware of our sin (i.e. the things that separate us from God), because we learn how God truly intended the world to be, and the world we live in is not it. So, as we walk closer to God, we should find ourselves confessing more, not less.

“Some days we may be more acutely conscious of our sinfulness and hence more aware of our need of His grace, but there is never a day when we can stand before Him on our own two feet of performance, when we are worthy enough to deserve His blessing.” - Jerry Bridges

Our Superpowers

When we make the choice to follow Jesus and accept the Holy Spirit, God gives us 'super powers' and 'spider senses'. In other words, he gives us power and guidance on how to use them. So, what are the 3 things we can lean on for this?

1. The Spirit

God has given us the spirit of power, love and self-control (2 Timothy 1:7). This "power" that Timothy talks about is from the Greek word "dynamis'', and is used elsewhere in the Bible to describe God's works, His very own power!

Get this, the Biblical usage of this word is:

1. inherent power, power residing in a thing by virtue of its nature, or which a person or thing exerts and puts forth:

   1. power for performing miracles

   2. moral power and excellence of soul

   3. the power and influence which belong to riches and wealth

   4. power and resources arising from numbers

   5. power consisting in or resting upon armies, forces, hosts

Wow! Just take that in for a moment.

The spirit of the living God resides in us and gives us the power to do his works, how awesome is that?! He has literally given us supernatural abilities. I have experienced this in my own life, seeing miracles when it comes to my health and also answers to prayers and words of knowledge over other people.

However, as well as being the source of our power, it's also our guide. To get to this place, we need to walk in the spirit. Galatians 5:16: I say then, walk in the spirit.

Spiderman's uncle gave him a piece of advise before he died, he said "with great power comes great responsibility." In the very first Spiderman film, Peter Parker listened to this, but didn't respond - he went onto make a mistake that led to the death of his Uncle (eek!). It hits home how closely this aligns with the biblical narrative - God died for our sins, our mistakes.

When his uncle died, his worldview changed - from a man looking out for himself to someone who helps others. Life as a Christian is similar - our life doesn't change when we are filled with God's spirit - we can still accept God and make many mistakes. I think this is something that Christian's forget. It's when we see the world through His eyes that we are transformed.

You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love - Galatians 5:13

When we welcome God's spirit, we are blessed with freedom, but it's deciding to use the power within us for good, rather than bad. It's reading our Bible and learning to walk in step with the spirit of God. It's learning God's voice and following that over any others.

We will all make mistakes, even as a Christian. The important thing is that we continue to learn and grow, to repent/turn away from things we realise are wrong.

2. The Scriptures

Hebrews 4:12 describes scripture in this way; “the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword...”.

The Greek word here for 'word' is Logos, which is also translated as “speech,” “principle,” or “thought.” In Greek philosophy, it also referred to a universal, divine reason or the mind of God. The point here is, scripture is the living and active speech of God. It's the foundational way for us to learn about who God is and what his voice sounds like, because, in order to be guided by the spirit, we need to be tune with God's voice. In John 10:27 Jesus says "My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me."

In Luke 3 and 4, we learn that, once he was baptised, Jesus himself received the Holy Spirit and then led by the spirit into the desert where he was tempted for forty days. Jesus himself was tempted. God himself, was tempted. Just read that again.

What really struck me about this verse was that the spirit guided him into the desert, not Satan. It is good for us to go through trials, it's how we train ourselves! I like to think of Jesus in the desert as a movie montage, where he practices his skills, gradually becoming more badass (yes that's the technical term), ready for battle.

So, when Jesus is faced with temptation, how does he resist it? He resists by responding with scripture. He knew His Father's voice. Scripture is our super power, and that's why it's so important that we are rooted in it, making an effort to enter into His word daily.

3. Our Surrender

A key thing we learn from Spiderman's story (and the Bible of course) is that hero's put others before themselves. Spiderman and Peter Parker remain mutually exclusive identities, and Spiderman's struggle with romance is huge because the truth of his identity puts others in danger. We see that he is always having to surrender his own will for the good of others.

We are called to continually surrender our own desires in place of God's will for the good of His Kingdom. Our decisions go beyond ourselves, they impact those around us and even the predisposed weaknesses our biological children have (I could write a whole other blog on that!).

We have a responsibility to extend God's kingdom and strive for Christ-likeness in the ways we live. That doesn't necessarily mean we need to build up a good reputation, or to appear perfect to be used for amazing things - God is far more concerned with the condition of our heart. There is a big difference between gaining knowledge and being wise - like the Pharisees, you can know scripture off by heart, but if your heart isn't ion the right place, you're missing the point entirely.

In Mark 2, where Jesus forgives the paralysed man, it says 'some teachers of the law were sitting there, thinking to themselves, “Why does this fellow talk like that? He’s blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?” Immediately Jesus knew in his spirit that this was what they were thinking in their hearts, and he said to them, “Why are you thinking these things? Which is easier: to say to this paralyzed man, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up, take your mat and walk’? (Mark 2:6-8).

What we see here is that Jesus is far less concerned about what the teachers are doing and how they are behaving, than he is with the condition of their hearts. He responds to what they are thinking in their hearts, perhaps not anything they say out loud.

When we root ourselves in scripture and the spirit, we become more aware of what is right and what is wrong, and we have a responsibility to act on that.

So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin. - James 4:17

The Bible teaches us that our hearts are incredibly powerful and also deceitful. It is the part of our body we are called to steward the most; Proverbs 4:23 says "Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life."

We are to continually put down what we think is right and pick up our cross. To have a posture of surrender to God.

Maybe you're new to faith, or a seasoned Christian, either way, we can always journey further into discipleship, laying down our own plans and taking up our cross, and I hope that this post encourages you to do so. Maybe this begins with setting a routine of reading your Bible and praying for 10 minutes each day, perhaps it's praying with more faith, or even beyond your faith, that you'd see God's power work through you in new ways. It's only been this year that I've started to see visual pictures from God, and also set in more sustainable rhythms of prayer and reading scripture. I encourage you, if God is nudging you, lean into it, transformation takes time, but all you need to begin with is a posture within your heart.