Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.....

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.
~Nelson Mandela




Courage

   How do I as a man exhibit this for my sons and not screw it up. Culture has taught me and the rest of us that courage has to be a certain thing, event, risk, X-Game/RedBull/Street luge thing.
   Can it be to simply hug and kiss my 19y/o son in the parking lot as I leave him 300 miles away for college. Or to let myself cry when I miss the days of having all of my kids small enough to sit in the same chair as me and read them .(my favorite book to read to them)

So, my next handful of posts will be to unpack this very powerful and unbelievably deep quote from one of our days most prolific mystics.

   Why would we ( I ) fear being "powerful beyond measure"?

   I think part of it is I don't really understand "power(ful)" at all. My mind paints all kinds of explicit pictures of power. Some of them intertwined with Hollywood movie scenes, others, childhood memories of beating up bad people and rescuing my elementary school crushes (whom I still remember, but will remain unnamed to protect the innocent).
    I've heard it said once that, there are things you know, things you don't know, and things you don't know you don't know. Go back and read that a few times, marinate in it for just a minute or two. This very real truth I have tried to let reshaped the way I engage life and relationships.  Although, there was one place that I really got stuck.....

   I have spent the last 5 yrs. in a church ministry position that was cloaked in "The Gospel", but void of most of its power. It didn't start out that way, but a change of leadership came with a "Reformed" agenda. What was once a place that I experienced as alive and spirit led slowly became a place entrenched in legalism and liturgy. Rules and man made doctrines became mainstay.
   At every turn, at every discussion, at every meeting, there was a shift. Another degree of movement away from the original intent of those that started the fellowship. With that, the freedom I once knew in Christ and the once beautiful and often present voice of the Holy Spirit in me was almost silenced.

Exodus 9:16 (NKJV)

                          ¹⁶ But indeed for this purpose I have raised you up, that I may show my                power in you, and that My name may be declared in all the earth.

   "Powerful beyond measure" can only come from one place.

                      It does not come from church.
                      It does not come from vocational ministry.
                      It does not come from the pulpit.
                      It does not come from "The Gospel".
                      It does not come from doctrine or dogma.

   True power comes from knowing personally and intimately Jesus and His Father and His Holy Spirit.

   Jesus said, "If you really know me, you will know my Father as well. From now on, you do know Him and have seen Him.” John 14:7

   We are "Powerful beyond measure". It is a fact that you and I must come to grips with.

                  "With great power comes great responsibility" by Stan Lee

Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God.

Peace to all