Last weekend sixty beautiful ladies sat physically distanced across our church sanctuary to take in IF:Gathering. This women’s conference is simulcast into thousands of homes and gathering spaces across the globe every year.

We were challenged to hope and trust in the Lord through all the ‘even if’ places in our hearts.

It was like I was in my teens again, taking in a missions or youth conference where the message to pursue personal revival, and live with an urgency to share Christ and disciple our generation reverberated.

I am all in friends—and I know many of you are too!

My mind was awakened; my spirit was stirred; my heart is now even more laser-focused.

Life is brief and as I live for one King and one Kingdom I long for my daily life to align with this calling!

This month we unwrap the final pieces of soulful living with a focus on the spirit.

If you are interested in earlier posts from this soulful living journey here are the links:

The Body:

Get Your Life Back

Your Body Is An Instrument

Mom Can’t Sleep

The Mind:

Ask This Question Daily

Surprised by Paradox

Change Your Mind

Many of you have shared with me the same desire I have, to grow in Christ and leave behind old patterns and mindsets.

While the Holy Spirit is the one who produces good fruit in and through us, we do get to participate by taking steps of obedience, surrender, and faith!

This growth happens not just through our thoughts and actions but in our spirits—the eternal part of our being.

Pierre Teilhard de Chardin is known for this quote:

"We are not human beings having a spiritual experience; we are spiritual beings having a human experience."

After we invite Jesus to lead our lives we begin a daily relationship with the Holy Spirit, whom Jesus gave us as our personal counselor:

“If you love me, keep my commands. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever—the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.

—John 14:15-17

Often the Holy Spirit speaks in a quiet space of conviction, discernment, comfort, or caution. Other times the Holy Spirit shows up more overtly in unusual and miraculous ways.

"But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

—Acts 1:8

I’ve experienced touches and infillings from the Holy Spirit during times of prayer and worship—but two situations where I experienced His very practical and powerful presence stand out.

One was at University… 

I was attending my first day of a required performing arts class in the final year of my education degree.

The instructor was showing our class the daily warm-ups that would be required. I felt distressed by the strange poses, which felt more spiritual than muscle stretching, but when tarot cards were incorporated in the final part of the warm-up my spirit was unsettled—even grieved. Tears were falling, my heart was pounding and I knew with all my being this was a moment where I needed to draw a line. 

Like Daniel in Scripture, but without the degree of heat, I stood when everyone, including my Christian colleagues, bowed.

I left the class, and later met with my professor in her office, a space depicting spiritual darkness and signs she was involved in witchcraft and the occult. She treated me respectfully as I tearfully told her I could not participate in the required warm-ups due to my faith convictions.

While my professor did not change the daily rituals she allowed me to write an annotated bibliography rather than attend the performing arts classes that semester. I ended up with an 'A' on my transcript, a mark that would have been very difficult to come by in such a small, competitive class.

I take no credit, but believe that when we’ve surrendered our lives to Jesus, supernatural things will happen as we are empowered by the Holy Spirit to speak or defend the truth and light of Christ!

“Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,' says the LORD Almighty.” —Zechariah 4:6b

“The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.” —Exodus 14:4

Another story was in delivery...

I experienced a strong move of the spirit that played out in a very practical way years later while delivering my fifth baby.

After a long night of laboring at home, I was fully dilated and in the pushing stage. My midwife broke the bag of waters and found my baby had shifted into a very dangerous position for delivery: not just in the cephalic posterior position (sunny-side up) that she knew we were dealing with but he’d moved into a full face presentation (while sunny-side up) which meant the neck was being stretched backward and the baby could get stuck and injured trying to push past the pubic bone! 

As a precaution, we transferred by ambulance to the hospital five minutes away. In the delivery room, the attempts to manually reposition my baby had no effect. Though no longer in charge of my care my midwife gently suggested to the doctor I try turning onto all fours. As I repositioned I realized I might be able to deliver our baby without a C-section (which I assumed would happen upon transferring to the hospital). A prayer of confidence burst forth from my soul and I spoke out loud, "Gavin John, in the name of Jesus I command you to turn." 

It didn't matter there were nurses and doctors listening in, there were also prayer warriors—my husband, midwife, her intern and I believe angels—who stood beside me, and after I turned onto my back the doctor was amazed to find my baby was now in the perfect position for delivery.

Within minutes I delivered Gavin John naturally with no further complications and as I held him for the first time I knew the grace and power of God delivered him! This is the same sweet boy I wrote about in I Will Carry You when he broke his femur a few years later. Talk about even if…

I can’t imagine living without the Holy Spirit and like David my heart cries:

“Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me.” Psalm 51:11

At times our spirits utter and groan for things we do not even understand.  We may pray in the Spirit, and experience dreams and visions. Whether we realize it or not, the spiritual realm is something we are encountering moment-by-moment as we fight the one who steals, kills, and destroys! Ephesians 6:10-12, 18 says:

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms….

And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.

As we listen with curiosity and look with anticipation we will recognize the Holy Spirit’s power changing the world!

Like Paul the apostle Paul says in 2 Corinthians 4: 16-18:

Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.  For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

Focusing on the eternal spiritual state rather than on the temporal physical state will equip us in the most earthy, practical, on the field, real-life ways. I’m sure each of us could share stories of the Holy Spirit prompting us, guiding us, bringing peace, giving clarity, providing discernment, seeding dreams, offering wisdom…fighting for us and for our neighbors!

I encourage you to pray daily:

God, reveal more of your Holy Spirit to me!

Along with the women gathered across the world for the conference last weekend, we are part of a moment in history where God is orchestrating a great harvest across the world.

In His perfect time, every people group will hear the name of Jesus. Now is our time to align with the Holy Spirit!

Soulful living is walking in the power of Christ through all of life’s beauty and struggles to produce good fruit:

But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!

—Galatians 5:22-23

So even if—I had been expelled from University for taking a stand or the worst happened as I delivered my fifth baby, I pray my soul would have cried out—yet I will hope in the Lord.

Some of you are in seasons where God seems distant, silent, even heartless. I am sorry and I know you are learning to walk by faith and not by sight (2 Corinthians 5:7).

I am so proud of each one of you as you fight through the storms of life with joy, truth, and hope!

If this is all new to you and you want to connect with the Holy Spirit, I pray you will begin by trusting your life to Jesus. Grace and life are waiting for you!

Share a story of the Holy Spirit’s work in your life in the comments…