May the Force be with You

The Star Wars franchise is probably the most successful movie series of all time.  Love it or hate it (and people usually fall into one of those two camps), you must admit that George Lucas has a pretty good idea.

Note: if you hate Star Wars, don’t just give up on reading this blog!  Skip down to the application.

In the first Star Wars movie (which was the fourth to be released) we are introduced to the idea of midi-chlorian.  Midi-chlorian is an organism that lives inside of the cells and gives Jedi their unique ability to use the force.  Not every Jedi has the same number.  In the Phantom Menace, we are told that Anakin Skywalker had a higher midi-chlorian than Yoda. The meaning: if he gives enough attention and effort to his training, he could become the most powerful Jedi.  But for some that have a much lower midi-chlorian count, there is a ceiling on how powerful you can become.  Your Jedi awesomeness is determined by it.

Note: if you skipped the Star Wars stuff, jump back in here.

As Christ followers, we have something more powerful than the force living inside us: The Holy Spirit, third person of the Trinity.  Unlike the Jedi, we all have the same amount of access to the same Spirit.  God does not give more Holy Spirit to some and hold back on others.  Everyone has the same dose.

I want you to pause and think about that for a minute…the God that created the Heavens and the Earth lives inside YOU!

But, even though we all have the same access to the Spirit, we don’t all pursue with the same fervor or intentionality.  We all have equal access to Him (yes, the Holy Spirit is a Him and not an it), but He doesn’t have equal access to us.  The Holy Spirit does many things in our lives: He convicts us of sin, empowers us to overcome sin, strengthens and gifts us to do God’s work, gives us the words to say in difficult situations, enlightens our minds to understanding scripture, etc. (there are many more things the Spirit does in our lives…too many to list in this blog).

How do we tap into this power source?  How do we have more of the Spirit in our lives? We must walk in the Spirit.  Start by reading Romans 8:1-17 and follow that up with Galatians 5:16-26 (these are good places to start the conversation, but keep in mind it’s just the start).

Richard Foster has famously said, “A Spiritual Discipline is an intentionally directed action by which we can do what we can in order to receive from God the ability (or power) to do what we cannot by directed effort.” He goes on: “…Spiritual Disciplines involve doing what we can do to receive from God the power to do what we cannot do.  And God graciously uses this process to produce in us the kind of person who automatically will do what needs to be done when it needs to be done.” –Richard Foster, Life with God, pgs. 16 and 18.

The more we pray, fast, study, meditate on scripture, worship, etc. the more we will pay attention to and be given the strength to follow the Spirit’s leading. 

If you haven’t prayed yet today, stop what you’re doing and do it…right now.  Pray and ask God to move and stir in your heart to be aware of the Spirit’s leading in your life.  If you haven’t read yet today, pull out your Bible or Bible App and read a chapter from Proverbs and process and reflect on one phrase to determine how you can apply it.  It’s in these moments that God’s Spirit works in our lives.  And if we give Him the opportunity, the Holy Spirit will do much bigger things in our lives than the force ever did for a Jedi.