How to Become A Hero

God wants to use you.

God wants you to somebody’s hero.

If you want to become a hero, you need to allow God to disturb you. Specifically, you need to allow God to disturb 4 important things in your life.

Here are the 4 steps on how to become a hero:

Step 1: Disturb Your Asking

Step 2: Disturb Your Associations

Step 3: Disturb Your Affections

Step 4: Disturb Your Actions

Step One: Disturb Your Asking

We usually pray for our needs. Our problems. Our worries. Our fears.

Nothing wrong with that. God wants you to do that.

But if you want to become somebody’s hero, you need to start praying other kinds of prayers.

If you read the prayers of St. Paul in his letters, he rarely prayed for himself. 95% of the time, he prayed for others.

Disturb how you pray!

Here’s my suggestion. Every morning, pray, “God, help me to bless somebody today.”

Believe me, God will answer that prayer.

One day, I was in a bookstore. All of a sudden, a lady came up to me and asked me, “Are you Bo Sanchez?” I said, “Yes.” And right in front of me, she started crying.

She said, “I read your blog this morning. And I was so touched. And I asked God, Lord, I want Bo to pray for me. And here you are!”

I told her, “God answered my prayer too. This morning, I prayed that I meet someone who I can bless today.”

And right in the middle of that busy bookstore, I laid my hands on her and prayed for her. When I opened my eyes, there was 2 other people in line, wanting to be prayed for. We were going to have a prayer meeting in that bookstore!

Disturb your asking.

Next…

Step 2: Disturb Your Associations

Disturb your associations. Disturb your schedule. Disturb your itinerary. Shatter the protective glass of your comfortable world. Puncture your self-absorbed, materialistic-obsessed world deliberately.

How?

Everyday, expose yourself to suffering.

Get out of your usual route.

Break your pattern.

Here are three suggestions.

1. Mingle with the Lowly

Talk to the janitors. Chat with the security guard. Listen to the vendors. Rub elbows with the small people. Get into their world. Find out about their issues.

You’ll be surprised.

We think we’ve got problems. Wait till you hear their problems–and you’ll realize you don’t have problems.

That’s why I love my Caring Group with my maids. I’m reminded of a world very different from the world I’m living in. One of my helpers said that her 2 brothers are in the province, and she’s praying that they have better jobs. I asked how much they’re earning. She said her brothers are earning P1500 a month. This brother has a wife and a baby. And he’s supporting a family with P1500 a month.

Let me say it again: You think you’ve got problems? Think again. You don’t!

When you expose yourself to suffering, you give room in your heart for God to give His assignment. Perhaps He wants you to do something about it.

2. Volunteer in Ministries

Go out of your small world. Volunteer. By serving in ministries, you serve people you don’t know.

People who won’t be able to pay you back.

3. Meet Non-Religious People

How can you bring the unchurched to God if you don’t talk to them?

Many times, we only talk to religious people.

But all around you, so many people need God’s Love.

So many people are lost.

So many people are living without direction.

Go out of your way and love them.

Be Jesus to them.

Invite them to chat over a cup of coffee.

Listen to their story. And share your story of how you’ve experienced God’s Love

Step 3: Disturb Your Affections

Let me tell you a true and sad story.

One day, a young woman named Catherine was going home to her apartment. Suddenly, a man named Winston attacked her and stabbed her with his knife. She screamed, “My God! I was stabled!” When she screamed, the man ran away. There were 38 people who were around the area who heard her scream. But not one of them approached her. When the man saw that no one came to help, he went back to the woman and finished her off.

By the time the police came to apprehend the man, the woman was dead.

Where does our apathy come from?

Why do we not go out and help?

Because something in our brain tells us, “It’s none of my business.”

The same voice that spoke to Cain. Once upon a time, there were two brothers, Cain and Abel. Out of envy, Cain killed Abel. And when Cain was running away, God asked Cain, “Where is your brother Abel?”

And Cain answered, “Am I my Brother’s Keeper?”

When Catherine was murdered, there were 38 people thinking like Cain. They were asking, “Am I my Brother’s Keeper?”

The story of Cain and Abel is found at the third chapter of Genesis, right at the start of the Bible. And it’s as though the entire Bible is answering that question with a resounding “Yes!”

Friend, God is searching for heroes.

Next…

Step 4: Disturb Your Actions

A whole army of psychologists made numerous experiments to find out why those 38 people didn’t help Catherine.

After years of research, here’s what they realized: Those people didn’t help because they depended so much on what others were doing. Because no one was helping, the others didn’t help too. We practice “group-think” so much more than we realize.

If at least one of those 38 bystanders helped that girl, many of the others would have helped too.

But that was the problem.

Because no one dared, everyone didn’t dare.

That’s how most people make their decisions. Most people don’t want to lead. Most people like to be safe and just follow.

So here lies the importance of at least one person becoming a hero.

Friend, can you be that one person?

Can you lead a movement of love?

Tell someone beside you, “Lead.”

Start Small

Nothing dramatic, mind you.

Act small.

You don’t need mutant powers to be a hero.

You don’t need to be bitten by a radioactive bug.

You don’t need to rescue the world from an alien invasion.

One day, the husband told his wife, “I will do anything for you. I will cross the Pacific Ocean for you!” The wife said, “That’s nice. But I’d rather you carry the garbage from the kitchen to the backdoor every night.”

Perhaps you can give an encouraging word.

Or you can smile at someone.

Or you can invite someone for coffee and just listen.

Or you can pat someone on the back.

Every encounter is an opportunity to be a blessing for that person.

God said to Abraham, “I will bless you so you can be a blessing.”

This is the reason why He wants to bless us. So that we can be a blessing to others. This is the reason why He wants to give you a miracle. So that you can be somebody’s miracle.

Here’s what I believe. If you won’t share your blessings to others, you won’t receive the maximum amount of blessings that God wants for your life.

Everyday, God wants you to be a hero to somebody.

And it’s not complicated.

Just be kind.

As a mother. As a sister. As a cashier. As a saleslady. As a teacher. As a manager. As a nurse.

Do It for Someone Who Can’t Repay You

It’s easy to do something good for someone who can pay you back. But when you do something good for someone who can’t pay you back, the Lord will pay you back.

The Bible says, Whoever is kind to the poor lends to the LORD, and he will reward them for what they have done. (Proverbs 19:17)

You’ll be happier.

To end, pray with me a prayer written many decades ago…

Disturb us, Lord,
When we are too well pleased with ourselves,
When our dreams have come true
Because we have dreamed too little,
When we arrived safely

Because we sailed too close to the shore.

Disturb us, Lord, to dare more boldly,
To venture on wider seas
Where storms will show your mastery;
Where losing sight of land,
We shall find the stars.