Suzanne Eller, Proverbs 31 Ministries

Leading women in a new direction

Is the Holy Spirit for me? And why it’s important to ask that question.

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Is the Holy Spirit for me?

That’s the question some are asking. Others shy away from this question because it seems so mysterious or complicated somehow.

I gathered with some of my friends — Nancy, Michele, Meggie, and Heather — and we talked about how we formed our view of the Holy Spirit. It’s fascinating to see how we all saw this so different. Then we talked about what we believe today and how that may have changed.

As we discussed this, one of the most interesting comments to me was from my friend, Michele, who said, “I’m almost mad that I didn’t know about this before.”

We need to talk about this. Jesus made a promise to the early church wrapped around this immense gift of a Helper. That promise is for us too. Out of that promise are assurances that we can hold onto, like:

  • We will never be alone in our faith.
  • We don’t have to wander.
  • We can walk in truth.
  • We can hear the voice of God, clear and undiluted.
  • We are braver than we know, with his help.

What might happen if we lived this promise?

My prayer is that we ask that question, embrace the promise of a Helper, and then live it with all our might.

 

Click to watch this LFT broadcast if you can’t see it on the blog 

Let’s take this deeper together

The church desperately needs the promise of the Holy Spirit, more than ever before. That's you and me. www.tsuzanneeller.com/blog #SpiritLedHeart #livingfreetogether #livethepromise Click To Tweet
  • What was your perception of the Holy Spirit?
  • Is that changing, and why?
  • The Holy Spirit helps us live our faith. What might that look like for you?
Suzie

Related resource

The Spirit-Led Heart isn’t just a book for me, friends. I wrote this because it’s a promise Jesus made (John 14:16-17) and I Iong to live it.

In the pages of The Spirit-Led Heart: Living a Life of Love and Faith Without Borders, we examine the promise Jesus made and we become acquainted with the Holy Spirit as our Helper, and the attributes he brings to our faith and how to live that every day.

Good stuff just for you

I have so much good stuff for you today!

 

 

You are never so lost that God can’t find you {{freebies}}

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If you came over from Encouragement for Today or from Ann Voskamp’s blog, I’m so thankful you’ve dropped by. I hope it’s the beginning of a sweet friendship. You are always welcome around this table.

I didn’t see it coming.

Life had finally settled into a sweet rhythm of goodness. 2017 was a year of scars for us, so we were grateful.

Until another hard place rose up.

Can I tell you something? 

This us what life looks like. Sweet times that bring us immense joy. Unbridled moments where we laugh until we cry. All mixed in with hard places where we hold tight to our faith because that is all that we know to do.

Maybe right now you are in a sweet place. Savor that. Don’t miss it. Don’t let anything cloud your view.

Perhaps you are in a hard place right now. Hang tight. God is faithful. He is who he says he is. You are not lost. You are not forsaken. You are not so far away that God doesn’t know exactly where you are.

This is the beauty of our faith. He is the constant in each of those places. That’s why we are never lost. God has never taken his eyes off you and me, not for a second. He knows exactly where we are, and he is near.

But what if you feel totally lost due to choices that now bring you heartbreak?

Surely, God will leave you to your own fate. Surely you are as lost as you can be. Not so. Not so. Not so. Our Heavenly Father is tenacious. He is merciful. He finds where we are hiding and directs the Holy Spirit to nudge and tug, to expose those things that take you away from God’s goodness as you are invited to you to run back into God’s love.

We don’t have to be lost — ever. No matter where we are.

For God has unveiled them and revealed them through the [Holy] Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things [diligently], even [sounding and measuring] the [profound] depths of God [the divine counsels and things far beyond human understanding]” (1 Corinthians 2:10, AMP).

Whether we are in a sweet place or a hard place, or are hiding because we feel we have failed the whole world, we don’t have to wander. God freely gives us what we need, even when we have no idea what to do. He asks us to move beyond our own view, our own ideas of where we are or should be, to accept his leading.

 

So, what does this look like in real life?

  • Start every day with an invitation

A good friend shared that he starts his day by kneeling on the first step of his stairs as he says the words of this old hymn.

I need you, Lord. I need you. Every hour I need you. My one defense.

My righteousness. Oh, Lord how I need you.

It is an act of total surrender. No matter how he feels. No matter what yesterday held or didn’t hold, or how awesome or how frustrating the day ahead might be, he confesses his need for God from the first few seconds of his day. It’s human nature to start our day based on our attitude, or how yesterday went, or based on what the day ahead seems to hold.

When we start every day with in surrender, we are confessing our need for a God who loves us. It’s a beautiful way to walk with him.

 

 

  • Stop

Just stop if you feel lost. Don’t try to figure it out on your own. Don’t let the enormity of what is ahead of you diminish the greatness of what God can do in that hard place. Stop and ask God to show you the next step.

And he will. He may not take you where you thought you were going. He may lead you into deeper waters. He may lead you into healing. He may lead you into rest. He may lead you up higher paths where trust is your compass. He may lead you into new intimacy with him as you leave behind what you thought faith looked like, so you can truly know him. Regardless of where you are today, God knows exactly where to find you.

You are not lost, sweet friend. You are found, always.

Suzie

Related Resources (books to help you grow in your faith)

The Spirit-Led Heart: Living a Life of Love and Faith Without Borders

Come With Me: Discovering the Beauty of Following Jesus

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A Spirit-led woman knows that God can use her, even when her knees are knocking

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I remember teaching my first message.

I was young. It was bad. Really, really bad. I chose to teach on Revelations. I had been a believer for about 10 minutes. Well, almost 2 years actually, but what I knew about Revelations could fit on the end of a needle. I gave it my best try. The teenagers in the room gave their best try too, but about 20 minutes in I had lost them. The whole time my knees knocked. Literally. I was shaking so bad that my voice quivered and my knees beat against each other like tambourines.

When I finished, the youth pastor (who had asked me to share) said, “Well, that was . . . um, thoughtful.”

I can only imagine his conversation later with his wife.

I thought she’d never stop. 

What was I thinking?

Revelations, really? 

Years later when I felt God asking me to speak, moments like these made me want to say no. It’s a lot more fun to say yes to things that don’t make my knees knock. Like, book reviewer. Yep, I could do that in a heartbeat. I love to read. I can write. Those two things go really well together. Or cheerleader. Put me beside someone else and I can encourage them all the way to the finish line.

Go, sister, go!

But comfort and ease is rarely where God leads. Instead, he leads toward purpose. Toward growth. Toward himself.  [Read more…]

That day we missed you — and what you taught us

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17 years ago.

That’s when we wrote the cards. It was my suggestion, my brother-in-law told me. I vaguely remember it. Evidently, I asked everyone to write a postcard for my 1-year-old niece, and to put it in a box — to be opened on her 18th birthday.

And here she was, tall, beautiful, ready to graduate high school. The box on her lap.

The first few cards were hilarious. Her cousins, all older than her, had dispensed wisdom with their teen and tween selves. They told her how they’d be rich, or have lots of kids, or how they’d buy her a car. We laughed at how some of these were so far off, and how others came kind of close.

The box had things like the price of gas. A headline or two. But then she picked up a card and tears started to flow. It was from “Papaw,” who we lost this January after a long battle with Alzheimers.

[Read more…]

Silencing the Lies that Steal Your Confidence {{Giveaway}}

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Enough Already!

We are enough because He is enough. Yet too many of us aren’t living in that truth.

So, what do we do?

Today I host a Living Free Together conversation with my friend, Sharon Jaynes. She’s a speaker, Bible teacher, and author of 22 books. She’s the author of a new book, Enough: Silencing the Lies that Steal Your Confidence.

In today’s conversation, we discuss why feelings of inadequacy are such a problem for us, and how those lies get ingrained in our thoughts and even our identity. Sharon also shares her personal battle with believing a lie, and how that showed up even in her faith.

I believe this conversation is going to change some of you. Grab your journal. Listen all the way to the end. Share your thoughts, and let’s take this deeper.

(If you can’t see this video, you can view this on the Living Free Together YouTube Channel.) [Read more…]

Am I too busy doing things for God to realize my need for him?

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It came out of the blue.

I was driving down a busy highway. Cars pressed on every side. A semi rumbled beside me. Tears flooded. The tears had come on with no warning as I listened to a simple worship song.

Lord, what is happening?

I can only describe the feeling as desperation. Not misery. Not torment or despair. Instead, I was suddenly aware of how much I needed Jesus. How much we all need him. It had been a crazy, busy day. A crazy, busy week. In the midst of all my doing, the Holy Spirit was leading to a place of sweet desperation. I realize those words don’t often go hand-in-hand, but I had been praying a specific prayer recently.

Lord, don’t let me just talk about the Holy Spirit. Let me live this.

You see, we can get so caught up in talking about God, or our faith, that intimacy finds it way to the back burner. God was taking me up on my prayer, but not in the way I thought he would.

Not in the place I thought he might.  [Read more…]

It looks like fear, but the target is our faith {{giveaway and freebie}}

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If you came over from Encouragement for Today, welcome!

She asked me to baptize her.

I sat with my friend on the sidelines, not far from the baptismal tank. When she asked I was so honored that I forgot to be nervous. But now I was.

Would I remember the words? 

Would I remember to bring her up out of the water?

This may seem silly, but this was new to me. In every church I’ve ever attended, pastors baptize people, but in this church those who are to be baptized choose who they want to do the honor. And my friend had chosen me.

As the time came close, she leaned in and whispered, “Don’t drown me.” It was just the right thing to say. We both giggled and my nerves eased, as I realized she was a little nervous too. Baptizing my friend was one of the most amazing things I’ve ever got to do. It was sweet, sweet, sweet. The presence of God was there. When my friend came out of the water, she threw her hands up in the air in celebration and I wanted to dance with joy.

Isn’t it funny how fear tried to rob me of a beautiful gift? [Read more…]

4 things to help you not give up too soon

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That thing you’re doing for God, it feels hard.

You show up. You work hard. You are trusting, and trying your best to listen for the voice of the Holy Spirit. But there are so many obstacles. You know you’re supposed to keep going, but the temptation is to give up.

Maybe that’s you today. Whether it’s ministry or marriage or loving that person who is difficult, being in the trenches is hard. I’ve been there.

So, what do we do when we are in that place?

Check in with God

Check in with God often. That’s where we find assurance. Especially when things are hard. Especially when people let you down. Especially when it’s not as “successful” as you thought it should be.

If God is in it, then you are exactly where you need to be (Acts 5:39).

Don’t mistake hardship with failure

Just because it’s hard, doesn’t mean you failed. Sometimes hard comes with it. In fact, most of the time hard comes with it. If we follow Christ, then we march into the hard places because that’s where the miracles occur. Maybe it’s a miracle everyone can see. Maybe it’s a miracle that completely changes you from the inside out.

Either way, it’s still a miracle. [Read more…]