An Exercise
I would like for you to make a journey into your soul to converse with your Inner Spirit about spiritual power. Spiritual power is the ability to ignite or activate spiritual consequences in one’s self or others principally through the energy of attraction, charm, and delight. You need not, and should not, seek spiritual power. It will arise of its own accord when you make yourself into a loving, caring, compassionate and serving person. Even so, it is good if you recognize these powers for what they are and cooperate with them.
Spiritual fruits convey spiritual power. Spiritual fruits arise naturally as consequences of your communicating with the Spirit of God residing in your soul. They have the power to lure and attract other people into trust, cooperation, kindness, respect, and helpfulness. This is power you have right now. It is a consequence of being spirit led.
Most of us do not know that this power is given to us. Still fewer understand that it is exercised by following spirit leading, rather than by preaching, or even by believing. It is a special charm from sincerely caring about other people.
These are gifts given to you by your indwelling spirit. You do not have to earn or deserve them. You do have to act on the positive urges your spirit gives you in order for these characteristics to become part of you and how you are known to others.
Some spiritual fruits of following the leading of the Inner Spirit are:
- Loving service
- Unselfish devotion
- Courageous loyalty
- Sincere fairness
- Enlightened honesty
- Undying hope
- Confiding trust
- Merciful ministry
- Unfailing goodness
- Forgiving tolerance
- Enduring peace
Spiritual weapons are somewhat different from spiritual fruits, but they too give you spiritual power. They are gifts of a different spirit. They are gifts of the spirit of Jesus which also inhabits your soul. These are the specific weapons Jesus wants all of us to use to establish the kingdom of God’s love and mercy in the hearts of everyone. The spiritual weapons are:
- Unfailing forgiveness
- Matchless goodwill
- Abounding love
These weapons are to be applied continuously. They overcome evil with good, vanquish hate and anger by love, and destroy fear with a courageous and living faith in truth. Always are Jesus’ followers to be active and positive in their ministry of mercy and in their manifestations of love.
The enemies to be banished with these weapons are evil, hate, anger, suspicion, and fear. The enemies are behaviors, not persons. The wielders of these weapons are to use no coercion but are to display consistent goodness, love, and courageous trust in the truth that God’s love and kindness will eventually transform all creation into God’s ideal of loving connectedness and cooperation.
Faith has spiritual power. Faith is trust in God to do God’s part in making truth, beauty, and goodness victorious over evil, both at the individual level and on the community level. Faith is most needed when events seem to be going the wrong way.
Righteous living has great spiritual power for growth in its practitioner and for all who see it. It is living loyal to the meanings and values God stands for. It is goodness. It is adopting the virtues of God.
Try this: I want you to visit with your Inner Spirit about developing your skill at manifesting spiritual power through spiritual fruits, spiritual weapons, faith, and righteous living. Think, ask, dialog, and/or hot pen (spiritual stream of consciousness writing). Make notes. You will likely find your written thoughts repeatedly to be meaningful to you. Visit with your Inner Spirit about your developing graciousness and charm in exercising these powers. Visit with your spirit frequently, even more than daily. It will continue to bring you joy and satisfaction.
