When George Lucas created Star Wars, he looked at religions in the world, and he saw that in almost every religion there is a god with some sort of a power. He used that concept in his films. He called the power “the force” and used the phrase, “May the force be with you.”

In Star Wars: The Annotated Screenplays, Laurent Bouzereau points out that the expression “May the force be with you” is actually a variation on the Christian phrase, “May the Lord be with you and your spirit.” Bouzereau said that phrasing “was often written by St. Paul in the end of his letters.”

I often pray to God to understand His Spirit better. It is a power. It is the real force! Everything George Lucas produced is mere fantasy. God’s power is real. Baptized members of God’s Church have the real force, God’s Holy Spirit, within them! Even as an unbaptized teen, you can have that Spirit working with you.

George Lucas was fascinated by biblical phrases such as, “The Lord Jesus Christ be with thy spirit” (2 Timothy 4:22). He knew there was a spiritual power of God. But it will not do anything for you if you don’t have, as Paul wrote here, Jesus Christ with that Spirit.

Consider the Laodiceans, the lukewarm saints of God (Revelation 3:14-22). They had the Holy Spirit, but is Christ with them? Is He with the Spirit working in them? No, He is not. So they are doing nothing of any spiritual value. That Spirit is dormant in their lives. Christ must be with your Spirit. Then it will always be effective.

How important is it to you that Jesus Christ be with you and with your Spirit?

God’s Work is involved in many exciting projects. But without God’s presence, without Christ empowering us through His Spirit, none of it would amount to anything.

Christ has to be there with the Spirit, or the Spirit won’t help you in any way. We have to be led by the Spirit—that is Christ leading us. We need to make sure that He stirs up that Spirit as we pray to God and ask for that to happen.

“But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law” (Galatians 5:18). If you don’t keep the law, you will be broken by it. But if you are led by the Spirit, you won’t have to suffer the penalties of those sins you have repented of.

“And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit” (verses 24-25). We live in the Spirit, but we must also walk in the Spirit with God. He gives us the power to walk with Him and walk by faith with works!

“The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit” (Philemon 25). This is “the force” George Lucas was inspired by. We must keep Christ there. The Spirit doesn’t lead us. Christ leads us by the Spirit. But if we don’t have Christ, that Spirit will not function; it won’t do anything for you. Christ wants to be right there with you. When He is, what power there is in that! That is a real force!

The Power of Drive

In writing Star Wars, George Lucas displayed the drive it takes to succeed. He had a great work ethic. He hated writing, but he couldn’t find anybody who really could write Star Wars. So he decided to write it himself. He would allocate eight hours of every day to writing the script. Some days he would be there eight hours sitting and not have a word to write—that’s how difficult it was for him. But he kept pushing himself until the script was complete.

If we give ourselves to God with that kind of work ethic, then great things will happen! God is going to bless your life in ways you probably could never imagine!

If you really want to make it with God, you must be a great servant. Don’t desire “vain glory”
(Galatians 5:26). Don’t think about that at all. Instead, focus on being an outstanding servant to God and to His Work. Focus on getting His message out to this world.

Stir Up God’s Power

“Wherefore I put thee in remembrance that thou stir up the gift of God, which is in thee by the putting on of my hands. For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind” (2 Timothy 1:6-7). This really is the force! Stir it up, and you will have real power! What George Lucas created was all fantasy. This is reality!

When the Apostle Paul wrote these words, he was sitting in jail, waiting to be put to death. The Church members were disturbed and fearful. But Paul was composing the most inspiring of his 14 epistles! And he wrote, “God hath not given us the spirit of fear.” He was trying to encourage God’s people all he could. And he reminded Timothy that the Spirit within him is a spirit of power!

Some Church members were ashamed of Paul, saying they couldn’t continue to support a prisoner. But he wrote, “Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner: but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God” (verse 8). If one of God’s ministers were thrown in jail like Paul, would you be ashamed? Paul truly was a “partaker of the afflictions of the gospel”—he had some tough trials! He encouraged Timothy to remember the big picture. Despite those trials, because of his loyalty to God, Paul is going to be ruling over the Gentiles under Daniel forever! (Please request The Wonderful World Tomorrow—What It Will Be Like to learn more.) That is a great portion of the world’s population!

Paul was about to be put to death. 2 Timothy was his final epistle. And it is one of the most stirring and uplifting books in the entire Bible! How could this man achieve such a feat? By using real power! By using the Holy Spirit of God, with Jesus Christ right there empowering him.

God makes that same power available to you! We are God’s Family, and we have to proclaim this God Family message. If we yield ourselves to God as we do that job, and really have Christ with our spirit, then the real force will be with us!