A Superhero’S Secret Identity: Finding and Releasing Your Superhero Gifts

By Lori L. Smithson

A superhero is a hero who has extraordinary or superhuman powers and who is exceptionally skillful or successful to perform a specific assignment from God! God has created all of us to be superheroes, and we all have an assignment that we are exceptionally skillful in or are successful to perform. God has given us promises and gifts to do certain things well for the glory and honor of His name. We only need to embrace our assignment and walk forward in confidence in the Assignment Giver, who has given to us in proportion to the abilities He created within us! This assignment is not guaranteed to be easy, but it is guaranteed to be a complete success. Our assignment, if we so choose to accept it, is to be the bearers of a lifesaving, life-changing, totally life-renovating, and very exciting new life message! We are Gods superheroes, gifted with special talents to overcome the power of darkness. We cannot fail.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Jul 23, 2018
• ISBN: 9781973634065

Lori L. Smithson

Lori L. Smithson is passionate about helping others reach their full potential and destiny. She is a Superhero strategically disguised in a registered nurse suit. Her Superhero gifting is to encourage others to rise up and accept their Superhero calling to perform mighty deeds, just like Jesus. She is devoted to inspire others to be healthy and whole to live the abundant life prepared for them. She shares a love for Gods word as it pertains to the Christian journey, and views it as a superhero calling; one that if answered to, will unlock amazing superhero gifts to help others overcome and be all that they were created to be.

Book preview

Chapter 1

PLAYING IT SAFE

I surrender, Lord. I’ll do what You’ve asked!

It seems silly to be so fearful of something that looks relatively easy and harmless. God knows what He wants to accomplish in us and get us out of our comfort zones, where we feel we can play it safe. But comfort zones are for those unwilling to take a risk and rely on God to do the impossible. I needed to step out of my comfort zone if I wanted to achieve the impossible.

After God sent me the gazillionth confirmation of what He wanted me to do through one of our young adults, I pondered why I was so resistant to this assignment that I felt the need to seek confirmation for it for ten years. I asked God what was going on in my heart to make me resist His will so much. God showed me I had been playing it safe for ten years and had thus missed out on all the benefits and blessings He had waiting for me.

I felt an urgency in His call that time; I felt that if I refused it or put it off any longer, He would move on and give this assignment to someone else, who would then reap the benefits and blessings He had been reserving for me.

I don’t think I had risked my salvation over this issue; Jesus is every bit my Lord and Savior. But I believe that when God gives someone an assignment that that person follows through with, there are huge blessings in store for that person. And I believed that if I kept putting off doing what God had asked me to do as I had been doing for the previous ten years, someone else would get the opportunity and perhaps complete it with enthusiasm and love for God. A holy fear came over me as if God were saying, Lori, I love you, but I’m not messing around. You’ll miss what I want to bless you with if you don’t do what I’ve asked you to do.

I love blessings, and I want all God has for me. I saw a large, strong, commanding hand coming down from heaven and a finger touching sand and parting it much as I think He did the Red Sea for the children of Israel. I knew a line had been drawn in the sand; I needed to make a decision—fast. Would I get onboard with the identity God had called me to, or would I settle for less than God’s fullest blessing in my life?

Chapter 2

PROCESSING THE URGENCY AND INADEQUACY

I woke up the next morning still processing the urgency of what God was calling me to do as well as my feelings of inadequacy for taking it on. I began to journal my feelings. I had been journaling for eleven years. If you don’t journal, I promise you’ll be blessed if you do.

I have volumes of journals, and I love to write what I hear and refer to them so I can remember. I have a hard time remembering yesterday let alone a year ago. God is constantly speaking promises and words of faithfulness over my life, so I date His promises as I write them in my journals so I can remember everything He spoke to me and when He did.

God’s written Word is holy, but so is His spoken word to and over us, and I pray everyone can fully understand what that means. God has revealed to me that I have not valued His spoken word over my life as I should. What He speaks to and over us are not to be taken lightly; we should treat them with deep respect, honor, and awe. These are words of power as were words with which He spoke the world into existence. When God speaks, He creates; there’s great power behind His words.

Let’s look at Genesis 1:3 (NLT): Then God said, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light! This verse describes the amazing power of God’s words in action. I imagine being in absolute darkness on earth, afraid to move, and then I hear a mighty voice calling out in the darkness, Let there be light! All around me an intense, bright, and amazing light appears. My eyes are overwhelmed by the brightness. Everything around me is illuminated. God’s words are so powerful! When God’s word goes out, the results are immediate.

When God speaks to us about our identity, He speaks according to how He created us. He knows what He formed us for. He has given each of us gifts to do certain things well. Romans 12:6 (NLT) tells us, In His grace, God has given us different gifts for doing certain things well. When God speaks, His words are power in action—they create.

Genesis 1:26–27 (NLT) reads,

God said, Let Us make human beings in Our image, to be like Us. They will reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, the livestock, all the wild animals on the earth, and the small animals that scurry along the ground. So, God created human beings in His own image. In the image of God He created them; male and female He created them.

God created us in His image. His words are powerful. He speaks, and creation and destiny happen, and identity is revealed.

His words always produce fruit; He will do what He says He will. God sends out His words to accomplish something; His words are not passive. God says in Isaiah 55:11 (NLT), It is the same with My Word. I send it out, and it always produces fruit. It will accomplish all I want it to, and it will prosper everywhere I send it. What God says to and about us is vitally important, so we must not dismiss it or take it lightly. Believing God’s words and his Word is the key to walking in our identity and destiny.

How beautiful it is that the God who formed the universe, spoke, and created light takes the time to speak directly to and about me. It overwhelms me to think that God wants to share His heart with me about my family, friendships, circumstances, and future. I am honored by His communications of love; I write them down and refer to them in times of doubt and confirmation alike. There’s more than just recording God’s promises and feeling flabbergasted by His attention and intentions for us that we’ll discuss later, but recording His words of promises is a great first step.

Hebrews 4:12 (NLT) tells us, The Word of God is alive and powerful. The NIV translation reads, living and active. We must view God’s Word this way. God intends to be powerful in and through our lives. He sends out His words to speak promises over us and to us, and we must not take them lightly. We must believe and embrace them if we want them to have their full, intended power in our lives.

His fulfilled promises to us, His children, are not random occurrences. The Bible was inspired by Jesus (the Word) and given to people like us who penned God’s faithfulness so others could read them and be encouraged, informed, and warned.

These inspired writings became the Bible, the written Word of God, the Son of God in written form! John 1:1 (NIV) reads, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. God’s Word, His Son, is alive and active and still speaking and working in us today.

God gave instructions to faithful servants concerning writing down His words: After the victory, the Lord instructed Moses, ‘Write this down on a scroll as a permanent reminder, and read it aloud to Joshua: I will erase the memory of Amalek from under heaven’ (Exodus 17:14 NIV). Then the LORD said to Moses, ‘write down all these instructions, for they represent the terms of the covenant I am making with you and with Israel’ (Exodus 34:27 NIV). This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: Write down for the record everything I have said to you, Jeremiah (Jeremiah 30:2 NIV). And the One sitting on the throne said, ‘Look, I am making everything new!’ And then He said to me, ‘Write this down, for what I tell you is trustworthy and true’ (Revelation 21:5 NIV).

What if these faithful servants had just tried to remember God’s faithfulness instead of writing His words down? Much would have been lost, and much can be lost in our lives as well if we don’t write it down. God speaks covenantal words to us—if we write them down, we will have something to refer to that will encourage us during challenging times. And our faith will grow when God comes through in His faithfulness just as He promised He would. But if we fail to write it down, we might not remember the details of the promise.

The words God speaks to us are just as inspired as they were with the people we read about in His Word; they are worth writing down so others may benefit. Hebrews 4:12 (NIV) tells us, For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. His words are powerful; they create. They are more than just warm, fuzzy moments of connection.

Learning to hear God correctly takes time. What God speaks to us will always align with scripture and often come with confirmation in some way. It’s vital that we remember what He says to us, and journaling helps.

In my journal, I told God all my fears and cast my insecurities at His feet. I confessed to Him that I was afraid I would let Him down, and as I confessed, I wrote in fear and trembling, I was afraid, so I buried my talent in the dirt. That heavy revelation spoke so deeply to my soul that I began to cry and tremble from what I believe was a holy fear.

It didn’t work out too well for the servant who buried his talent.

Then the man who had received the one talent came. Master, he said, I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed. So I was afraid and went out and hid your talent in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you. His master replied, you wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed? Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest. (Matthew 25: 24–26 NIV)

Wicked … lazy. Yikes! The kicker of this story is that each man was given in proportion to his abilities. The servant who had been given one talent could have produced something for his master with it just as the man who had been given five talents had, but he chose to bury it. I love God, and I want to be called faithful as was the servant with five talents, to whom the master said, Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness! (Matthew 25:21 NIV).

Can you imagine God saying that to you? There could be no greater joy or feeling of accomplishment than to hear my Father say to me, Well done, my precious daughter. But instead, God has had to gently but firmly remind me I have not followed through as He wanted me to. I didn’t know why I hadn’t been obedient until I started writing this portion of the book. God is working something out in me as I faithfully follow through with His assignment. Glory to God!

Our amazing God uses our circumstances for our good; He longs for us to be set free to trust Him completely, free to believe His powerful words spoken over our lives. God want us to believe what He speaks over and to us so we will walk in freedom to be all that He has created us to be.

As I pondered these verses, the truth began to jump out at me and I became overwhelmed as God lovingly revealed what was going on in my heart. He showed me that the truth to what was going on in my heart lay between Well done, my precious daughter and Come share in my happiness.

Listen to the sentence that falls between the first and last statement: You have been faithful in a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. That in between sentence can strike fear in the heart of someone who feels inadequate: You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. What? This is a few things? Stretch me further? And then I’ll be in charge of many things? Fear gripped my heart as I heard the words many things.

I asked God to reveal what was going on in my heart, and He showed me I was playing it safe because I was afraid to be in charge of many things; I felt unworthy of that. I had bought the lie that it was better not to try at all than to fail God, and I believed failing God was just a matter of time. God told me I’d let fear and false humility control me.

Wait a minute! What’s false humility? Ouch! God, show me more! It was a revelation right off the press. You get to take a look at another breaking news headline with me as we interrupt our current thought process to see what God wants to share with me about what He means by false humility and how it has affected how I responded to His calling on my life. As He shares it with me, I will share it with you.

Chapter 3

FALSE HUMILITY VS. TRUE HUMILITY

False humility speaks against who we are and what we were created to be. It appears humble at first glance, but it is counterfeit, cleverly disguised humility. False humility reduces our gifts and talents. It’s thinking and speaking less than what God thinks or speaks about us. It devalues what God has spoken over and to us. Basically, it’s calling God a liar. False humility directly attacks the value God assigned to us.

False humility is very dangerous because it paralyzes us from operating in our full identity. It makes us powerless and ineffective, it unnerves and stuns us, it stupefies us, and it brings our assignments to an end and prevents us from fulfilling the tasks God gave us. It ultimately destroys our confidence in God, who gave us our assignments.

False humility twists the gifts God has given us into feelings of unworthiness and inadequacy for His assignments. It devalues those gifts, and that results in assignment paralysis, and that’s huge!

My heart was overwhelmed with this revelation. I needed to write it down and repeat it until I could realize when the enemy tried to deceive me into a condition of helpless inactivity, into assignment paralysis. It goes something like this: Lori, I have given you the gift of sharing My Word with others, so walk in it. As I hear that, my flesh starts denying and discrediting the identity God has given me. Me, Lord? I’m not good at formulating my words well. Why would someone listen to me? I mess up all the time. No, Lord. You’ve made a mistake I’m unworthy. I am nothing. I couldn’t possibly be the one You want to use for this assignment. So and so is much more gifted in this area, and I’m sure that person would be better for this assignment. That’s false humility; our self-perception keeps us from walking in the confidence of our true identity. False humility keeps us from fulfilling our assignment.

In 1 Chronicles 17:16 (NLT), King David was so overwhelmed by God’s assignment for him and the amazing favor promised over his life that he asked God a profound question that showed his true humility and awe of God’s acknowledgment of Him. Then King David went in and sat before the LORD and prayed, ‘Who am I, O LORD God, and what is my family, that You have brought me this far?’ This is not a false humility question but a question asked out of overwhelming awe. David said, And now, O God, in addition to everything else, You speak of giving Your servant a lasting dynasty! You speak as though I were someone very great, O LORD God! (1 Chronicles 17:17 NLT). David had a revelation of God’s heart and plan for his life. God spoke about David the way He saw him—as someone who was great. God speaks to us the way He sees us—as great people. We need to have a revelation of God’s heart plan for our lives.

When God looks at us, He sees us as He created us to be. He sees us walking in our full destiny. We are great in our heavenly Father’s eyes because He created us that way and gave us unique gifts to enable us to walk out our destiny.

David saw himself as God created him to be and verbalized his destiny. David said, What more can I say about the way You have honored me? You know what Your servant is really like, (1 Chronicles 17:18 NLT). Wait a minute. That statement almost sounds like David was saying, Lord, You know Your servant’s heart. You know my limitations and weaknesses, so how can You use me?

But David didn’t stop his conversation with God. His next statement was the heart of the conversation: O LORD. For the sake of Your servant and according to Your will, You have done this great thing and made known all these great promises (1 Chronicles 17:19 NIV). By faith, David received and embraced God’s promises over his life. David saw his limitations, but he also saw the power of God and trusted God would work in his weaknesses. David stepped out in faith to be the man God had destined him to be.

True humility can start out with the same thought processes as false humility, which is why false humility is so hard to recognize. False humility starts with recognizing our weaknesses, which should lead to the realization of our great need for God to partner with us to accomplish what He has called us to do. Our response should be, You know what I am made of, but You also know what You created me to accomplish and be, so I will trust You and Your promise, plan, and purpose for my life. But somewhere in our thought process, our flesh, the enemy starts speaking fear and doubt over what God is revealing and unveiling about us and what He actually created us to be and do. God is speaking our true identity and destiny while Satan cleverly and quietly starts telling us our limitations. He brings up our insecurities and our shortcomings, which we are already well aware of, so it looks like truth to us, and the seed of fear is planted.

At first glance, this realization of our shortcomings looks like godly humility, but it is not. It is a clever attack designed to paralyze us and prevent us from walking in our true identity and fulfilling our true destiny.

False humility is a result of putting all the strength and focus on our own abilities to carry out the assignment. A false sense of humility is anything that we believe and speak about ourselves that is contrary to whom and what God says we are and whom He says He created us to be! True humility is walking in our true identity and giving God the glory and honor for living and working in and through us. Listen to David’s continued response to God’s promise over his life.

And now, O Lord, I am your servant; do as You have promised concerning me and my family. May it be a promise that will last forever. And may Your name be established and honored forever so that everyone will say, The Lord of Heavens Armies, the God of Israel, is Israel’s God! And may the house of Your servant continue before you forever. (1 Chronicles 17:23–24 NIV)

Do others look at me and have that reaction? Is God so glorified in my life and His name so established and honored that people look at me and say, The Lord of heaven’s armies, the God over Lori is Lori’s God!?

God wants to show His glory and bring honor to His name in and through us. He has given us promises and gifts to do certain things well for the glory and honor of His name. Discounting the strengths and talents God has given us according to our abilities is false humility. He has given us different gifts for doing certain things well (Romans 12:6 NLT). God’s Word is true. True humility is not making light of our identity or the strengths God has placed in us. When we walk in true humility, we walk securely in the gifting God has given us knowing He alone is the source of our gifts.

In the story of the parable in Matthew 25:14–29, the master gave the servants talents according to their abilities. Much like the three servants, we are each given talents according to how God created us, according to our unique identities. What we do with those God-given talents says a lot about our humility.

Being used to the fullest is not being prideful. Believing what God says about us and walking in our identity is not being prideful. But we can get so caught up in trying to be humble that we can miss being used to the fullest! I don’t want to miss what God wants to do in and through me; I want to be used to the fullest, and I bet you feel the same way.

By faith, two servants stepped out in faith to double the talents the master had given them. But one servant was so focused on self that he did