Colleen Orchanian

I graduated from college in 1980 with a degree in Women's Studies. It was a new thing back then and the man who would later become my husband asked me if that meant I studied cooking and sewing. (He may have been joking…) At the time, I was interested in equality – in men and women having the same opportunities and rights in the law, work, and so on. My ideal was that each person be empowered to be all they could be.

Applying that idea to a Christian worldview, we desire that each person be all that God created them to be. The word most often associated with this idea of equality is Empowerment, which is defined as the authority or power given to someone to do something.

If I am empowered, I have authority. As a Christian, where does that authority or power come from? From Jesus Christ. The Apostle Paul wrote in Ephesians 1:3 that we have every spiritual blessing in the heavens. These spiritual blessings give us the power to do the work God has for us. But sometimes we don't use that power.

My pastor, Fr. Mario, often challenges us to act. "You can lead a prayer. You don't need me to do that." "That's a great idea. Go do it!" He has empowered us to boldly go beyond our comfort zone and serve God.

Here are some ways we are empowered as Christians:

Pray. Praying for others out loud can be uncomfortable. It was not something I grew up doing. I might tell someone I would pray for them, but to actually pray right then and there, spontaneously, that wasn't my thing. Yet, I was empowered to do just that. My fear of sounding foolish kept me from embracing the power to pray. This is fairly typical for Catholics. When I began Sisters in Faith, I knew I wanted us to pray together, and I knew that would be uncomfortable for many of the women. So in the beginning I had them share their needs with a partner and commit to praying after the meeting. At one point, though, God convicted me to step out in faith and tell them to pray together in the meeting. And they did. We had this tremendous power and had not been using it. Now, because of the regular practice of spontaneous intercessory prayer, we have become great prayer warriors. We have embraced our power to pray with others.

Start a faith-sharing group. Maybe you long for a group of friends to share your faith with and you keep waiting for the church to start something or for someone to invite you. But why? You can do that on your own. Years ago a long-time member of Sisters in Faith was moving away and lamented that she would not be able to join us in the future. She loved the friendships that had developed in the group and would miss them. I told her she could create a group in her new home church by inviting a few friends over for coffee and conversation. We are empowered to do that. You don't have to be an expert in leading a group. Let God lead you and trust that he will give you the gifts you need – all the spiritual blessings in the heavens.

Start something new at church. Last year I suggested that we have a New Member Welcome Dinner. We had never done anything like it in the past. So I made the suggestion and the powers that be said, Great idea! Let's do it. And we did. One thing to remember when bringing an idea to those in charge is that you must be willing to help make that idea a reality. It's not about saying, "You guys need to do this." It's more, "I have this great idea. Can we make it happen?"

Witness and share the Good News. We are more than empowered – we are CALLED to witness and share the Good News. We have an obligation AND we have the authority to do it. God changed our lives – transformed us – and we should tell the whole world. We should love others enough that we want them to know the Truth so they, too, can have the power offered by God. Jesus told the Apostles in Acts 1:8 – You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses… to the end of the world. That's a lot of power!

Fight Satan. In Luke 10:19 Jesus tells the apostles I have given you authority over all the power of the enemy. We don't have to fear him. Satan is smart – and tricky. But by the grace of God, we can see through his tactics and reject his lies. We have that power from God. We don't need to be slaves to sin. We are empowered to resist.

The Parable of the Good Samaritan is an example of an empowered soul. He sees a man beaten and near death and takes care of him. The priest and the Levite were empowered but did not act. They didn't use the power they had to care for their neighbor. Sometimes we're like that. We don't act on the power we have. Satan is behind this. He wants to keep us from using the power given by God. Sometimes he tells us it's not our business. Sometimes it's not our job – let someone else do it. Or he convinces us that we aren't capable. Whatever his deception, the bottom line is that we are not acting on the power we have.

The devil wants us to feel powerless. But that's a lie. We have the power. We must overcome the fear in our hearts and minds. God knew we would be fearful and ignore our power. That's why he often said, Be not afraid. And it wasn't just – Hey, don't worry about it. No big deal. The fear was reasonable because there were great risks in living the life of a believer. But God tells us over and over again – Do not be afraid. I am with you. God empowers us with the gifts of courage and fortitude. We need those gifts to embrace the power given to us at baptism. I am not a nobody. I am the daughter of the King. I am a child of God. I have all the power I need to do something for God.

So, if you tend to lament your powerlessness, I encourage you to ask the question: am I truly powerless or am I too afraid to act on the authority God gave me? Is there an area of empowerment that God has offered but I am rejecting? If so, why?

There is one caveat. Empowerment does not mean that we steamroll others to do what we think we're called to do. My great idea for the parish might not be seen as a great idea by my pastor or maybe not the right time for the idea. He likely knows better than I do what will work. If I have explained the idea well and he says no, maybe I've misunderstood what God was asking of me. I need to bring that to prayer. It could be that your great idea gets changed and it's not the same as what you wanted. Can you surrender your vision and allow changes?

We are empowered. We have the spiritual gifts to carry out God's plan for our lives and to serve others as they become who God created them to be. We have so much power! Do you feel that power? It's like that old song from the 70's I am woman, hear me roar! Whether a woman or a man, you are empowered by God to be all you can be. It's up to you. Use your power wisely to grow closer to God and to draw others closer as well!

Questions for prayer:

1. Do you feel empowered by God? If not, what has bound you? Ask God to reveal that to you.

2. In what area of your life do you feel the most empowered and why?