Do Your Life With Courage

So girlfriends, I brushed Madeline's hair into pigtails this morning (the best way to deal with the tangles in her hair this week) and watched her and Caedmon walk outside to preschool, backpacks on, holding onto each of Daddy's hands.  Then I quickly grabbed the high chair, positioned it in front of the tv with favorite finger snacks, slid Xavier into the seat and got my little stairmaster machine out from beside the futon.  I clicked the TV on to Life Today and I'm exercising next to Xavier and the further Beth Moore gets into her talk, the faster I'm working my little machine.  By the end of her prayer, I'm breaking a sweat, hands are raised and I'm crying out, "Thank you, Jesus," like a good Pentecostal.  Anglicans can recognize the Spirit too!


I have been listening to this one talk of hers from the archives for a week and they ran it again today!  I don't care what you think about her accent, past teachings, even her gender, if you listen to this talk, You Will Be Encouraged, Changed, Strengthened by God and Transformed!


She said, and I'm paraphrasing now: "Live your life with confidence.  Do your life with courage.  The Spirit of Christ is within you.  He has enough courage for everything you are going through."


The powerful, fruit-filled, Spirit-filled life of the early church apostles is available to us today!   Our God has not changed!  The Spirit is not less powerful than He was 2000 years ago! 


Romans 8:11 (New International Version)



11And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you.


Seriously?  The same Spirit who (Ephesians 1:19-20) raised Christ from the dead is within us?  If we are attached to the Vine, abiding in Him, and are being continuously filled with the Spirit, His lifeblood is flowing within us. 


Boy, some days I feel and act like the opposite.  Some days I'm walking with the Spirit in strength, listening, hungry for the Scripture and being transformed.  Other days I'm walking eyes down, defeated, muttering while I clean my house.)  What I forget is how close the Creator of the Universe is!  He is here. Present in my home.  Even within me! 


This is the truth.  If Christ's Spirit is within me, His wisdom, strength, healing power, joy, AND PARENTING ABILITIES are right here for me to call upon, for Him to work into me.  Once you have tasted a life, Practicing the Presence of God (like Brother Lawrence), filled with the Spirit, empowered by Him for your everyday life.  I promise you, you are not going to want to go back! You will know that the Kingdom of God is upon you and you will be the mother you were created by God to be.


(If you want to hear more about this, listen to my sermon on the left, "Epicenters of the Kingdom." And if you do anything today,  you must get yourself over to http://www.lifetoday.org/ You can watch or listen by pressing going to the left hand side and clicking under Beth Moore's picture on flash/quicktime to watch or MP3 to listen.  She's always on LifeToday on Wednesdays and there are archives of each of her talks over the last year.  Almost all of them are worth your time.  I promise you.)