Reported examples include their twelve-step group, nature, consciousness, existential freedom, God, mathematics, science, and Buddha.
The term has been cited as found in the King James version of the Bible, again in the plural form, in Romans 13:1: "Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers.
However, in this passage Saint Paul is referring to civil authorities such as kings and governments, rather than a spiritual power.
[11] An empirically based recovery framework likened faith in a higher power to motivation for personal growth as described by Abraham Maslow and Carl Rogers.
[14][15] Celebrate Recovery was founded by a group of Christians who criticized the higher power concept as being too vague.