Spectacular joys come to older ones in the faith as we get to witness the next generation coming of age. By coming of age I don’t mean numerically. There will always be individuals in Christ who hardly grow beyond their salvation and will wonder to the grave why God never came through with that meaningful life they thought they were supposed to receive. But the distractions of the world are enormous, demanding and titillating and, well, the phone and all. That we can be in Christ and immersed in a community of faith but never fulfill our calling is clear from places in Scripture like Colossians 4:17 where Paul told the brothers at Colossae,
And say to Archippus, “See that you fulfill the ministry that you have received in the Lord.”
No need to exhort somebody to fulfill a ministry if it’s not possible to leave it unfulfilled.
There will always be those who are enormously gifted and hold tremendous potential to impact community and globe for the kingdom of God but, like the unfaithful steward in Matthew 25, will bury what they’ve been given until Jesus returns at which point they’ll hand it back to Him looking pretty much like it did when they got it. They lost interest. But they are not my concern today as I write this article. These words are to those of you who are doing what it takes. Who are in the thing up to your necks. You, who are coming of age in your calling, though God knows that, most of the time, if you’re like me, you’re not even sure how you got there. Oh, you could try to tell someone younger what steps you took. You could write a blog post about it. You could do a very effective Q&A on a panel about it. You could even write a book about it but you know dang well deep in your heart that you really had no earthly idea what you were doing. All you can say at the end of the day is that you kept doing something – the next thing – however awkwardly, and perhaps even embarrassingly as you look back on it, to somehow serve Jesus. And, lo and behold, something finally started working. Not all the time, of course, but often enough to realize you might be onto something. You might be onto your calling. This season of your calling. Your works are producing fruit. You have this sense that you are where you are supposed to be for now.
That’s what I mean by coming of age. Though it’s not about chronological age, it often corresponds enough for most of you to be in your thirties and forties.
Man, it’s a gorgeous thing for your older brothers and sisters to behold. To get to cheer you on cheers me in a way I find ridiculously exhilarating. Right here on the spot I could list one hundred different names off the top of my head of men and women doing the thing. Some of you I get the chance to watch close up. Hands on. You delight me to no end. First and foremost, my daughters. My son-in-law. My spiritual sons and daughters. Others from across the room at church and others by phone and face-to-face as often as possible, like my beloved Priscilla Shirer. Good Lord, how I love her. Others of you on social media, which I love, by the way, and on which I’ve made some connections that really do have an ounce of substance to them. Jefferson Bethke, for instance. So many like him. Men and women. These relationships mean something to me. Their names are in my prayer journal. About eight young women communicators and Bible teachers are on my mind almost every day and jotted down regularly in a square in my prayer journal.
And I get to see you prosper in the Holy Spirit. I get to see your life bear fruit. I get to celebrate what God is doing through you. And I get to squirm, rub my forehead and groan – often audibly – as I watch you awaken to the war. That is why I’m writing today.
You didn’t know it was going to be like this.
You had no idea what you’d stepped into.
You think you must have done something wrong to make it this hard. When you started out, it wasn’t like this.
You haven’t really told anyone. Or not very many. Mainly because you’re too embarrassed.
You have no idea that every other person worth his/her salt in the kingdom of the living Christ is either going to go through their own version of the same thing or they are enduring it that very minute.
And it is hellacious.
The enemy comes for you. Of course, some of you aren’t calling it spiritual warfare yet because that’s what the older generation called it and you want to be cooler than that. You had sort-of become convinced that the devil was not that real. Not that specific. Not that personal. Not that aware. And surely God would not allow him to mess with your kids.
And it’s not just the enemy. Your own vulnerabilities erupt into liabilities. Life’s taking a crowbar to every crack in your armor. You are tempted to things you swore you’d never do. That you judged ________________ for doing. Your past comes calling. If you’re married, your marriage, which you’d boasted about publicly, looks like it could go humiliatingly belly-up. Your kids are going nuts. Or maybe it’s you losing your mind. Half the time, you think you are going crazy. You’re getting criticized. You’re getting a lot of opposition. You daydream sometimes that you quit and moved to a remote island with your family, wore loin cloths and drank milk out of coconuts and swam with dolphins. You night-dream that you hung in there in your calling and it slaughtered you.
You have come of age.
What you’re going through is how it goes. I don’t know why on earth we older ones are not telling you more often and with more volume. Maybe it’s because we don’t want to discourage you but it’s so ridiculous because you’re already discouraged. Or maybe it’s that you won’t listen to us anyway.
But this is my shot at it today. You have come of age. You have come of notice to the devil. At the same time, your very faithful God who loves you has made a covenant through the cross of Christ not only to save you but to conform you to the image of His Son. His obligation out of His wonderful grace is to grow you up. And there is suffering in growing up. Among other things, you are forced to face the deceiver and pretender in your mirror.
I’m here to say to you today that it will not always be this hellacious. Oh, trust me. It will ALWAYS be hard. It will at times be horrific. But this season of eyeball-bulging nobody-ever-said-it would-be-like-this coming of age will not last forever. Mine lasted about seven years. Yours could last one. Or ten. That’s all up to God. Well, and you. Your cooperation is required.
It’s all about whether or not you’ll quit. Or whether or not you’ll get sloppy. Whether or not you’ll hang onto the first things that so drove you in the beginning. Jesus. The Scriptures. Holy passion. Holiness. And not just hang onto them but press further and further and further into them. Or will you slip into the black hole of busy-ness and business, of name-making, marketing, position, notoriety, self-importance, celebrity and Instacrap? Now that you are no longer naĂŻve, what will you do with all of this? Will you fight for a pure heart that the world and your own flesh have so polluted that you think you no longer have what it takes or will you just go with it and figure this is how it happens?
And, in the words of Galatians 3:3, what you’d begun in the Spirit, you’ll just do from now on mostly in the flesh. You’ll  get prayer warriors to pray for you instead of also scrapping it out yourself on the floor, fighting with everything you’ve got in the heavenlies, hacking it through, bloody and bruised, defending the ground God entrusted to you.
You’re at the most critical place in your calling. The place of slaughter. The place where either the devil’s going to all but kill you, your flesh is going to destroy you or God is going to crucify with Christ that ego and fear and, truth-told, laziness and raise you MIGHTY.
Fight it out. Do not quit. If you’ve gotten sloppy, stop it. If you’re messing around in sin, repent. Go back to your face. Get that Bible open and plant your nose in it. Memorize Scripture. Learn how to fast and pray. Quit talking about Jesus more than you actually talk to Him. Quit letting your mouth overshoot your character. Become that person you’ve made fun of for taking it too seriously and being so dramatic about it.
You have what it takes. Do it. And I’m going to tell you something. What it will get you is Jesus. JESUS HIMSELF. Pre-eminent in all things. He is the joy. He is the prize in the fight. He is what makes getting hit by the debris in the hurricane worth it. Jesus Himself. He is everything.
I’m writing you today because I’m so proud of you. You’re out there doing the thing. And I don’t want you to quit.
Pay the price.
Bless you for this timely blog. I’m in the fight of my life with the devil. He wants me to quit to give up to take the easy road. I feel like I’m loosing my mind and I have fought to get it back. The anxiety and stress is something I have never experienced. God has called me to lead so therefore to be his servant. This season of anguish is like nothing I have ever experienced before. Pray for me send me your love anyone who reads this.
God Bless
Shelly
I needed this encouragement today. Thank you for the encouragement to press on! Love you Beth Moore! Thanking God for all he has done in you and the ways He is working thorough you!
Thank you Beth Moore for a very timely word. Thank you for your faithfulness in writing and prayer through the years and fighting it out! Seven years? Whew! Thank you for sharing your heart and experience!
Michelle
Just plain and simple THANK YOU!
Thank you! Didn’t get too far into this before tears began flowing. I feel like this was written to me. My husband and I are a little more than two years into planting a church. You have confirmed things in my heart I didn’t know were there and didn’t have words for. Such a relief to know I’m “normal!” Thank you for your faithfulness to use all the gifts God has given you!
Yes! Thank you! I’m 48 and wish I had someone tell me this 10-20 years ago.
As I’ve always felt that Beth Moore could “peek” right into my life and speak life-breathing Holy Ghost inspired words, YOU’VE DONE IT AGAIN! Yes, right here and now ~~ this post just zapped me strong and hard, Beth. I cried and cheered, stomped my feet and raised my hands ~~ doing “this thing” and feeling every single emotion you described and frequent tho’ts of “Lord, I hope I heard you right about this thing …” ~~ can be, shall we say, a whirlwind of activity! You affirmed “this thing” in me that I’ve been “doing” ~~ and I’m past the 40’s (yes, mid-50’s we’re doing); but I BELIEVE in “this thing.” Call it a ministry, call it whispered GPS from God ~~ but doing it has been beyond rewarding ~~ but it isn’t always “easy” or smooth sailing.
Thank you, Beth, for blowing the horn to press onward ~~ I needed to “hear” you do that!
I didn´t realize how much I needed to have someone validate that this is actually what´s going on. And it is HARD!!! Thank you for your words of encouragement.
Amen, Beth! Thank you.
Wow! I almost didn’t read this, as I’m going to turn fifty in a couple of weeks, but I’m sure glad I did. I think that no matter where we are in the journey of our faith in Christ, this is a wonderful and “real” reminder to keep pressing on, get our priorities in order, and not be discouraged when things get rough.
Thanks for sharing!
“So let’s not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up.”
Galatians 6:9 (NLT)
Thank you for your honesty and encouragement in this post. I may have only just tipped into the 30s category but I have seen the truth of this and see inklings of future battles too. Forewarned is forearmed! I am loving Priscilla Shirer’s book Fervent for battle in this too.
Hmmmm. Beth, Priscilla, Jefferson, all Amen!!! Hmmmm to the post content. Jesus is so completely full of Grace I really experience no need for rank and file and maturity level, quite exactly the opposite really. Jesus calls us whenever, however, for whatever. Like your brushing hair story Beth in the airport. Remember? Only at Home will we see all the ways our lives have been used for His Glory! Amen!
Thank you
Beth, As I read this in the early morning hours, I’m surrounded by my husband, sister, and sweet daddy. They are sleeping exhaustedly as we lay in my mother’s hospice room in her last hours of life. Beth, I know you would never take credit and give all glory to God (and I do too), but He has used you so many times in our lives – mom, sister, and I – to heal brokenness and create unbreakable bonds. Years ago in my childhood home church with quite the conservative background my mother and I were first exposed to your materials. Since then, whether it be one of your bible studies, conferences, simulcasts, radio broadcasts, tv recordings, or in this case…blog posts, your words meet me EXACTLY where and when I needed them. I sit here as a 39 year old who being on fire for God left my home church and followed Him to another church that praise and worship filled my spirit in ways that I never knew existed until one of your conferences. My husband and mine’s decision to raise our little family in another place not only left my parent’s pew empty but also their hearts broken (the church had Baptist on the front door! Heaven forbid!! ) It has taken years for them to accept our decision and I’m sure your resources helped mom forgive and eventually…maybe…understand. I wish I could say I’ve stayed on fire all these years, but my walk has had highs and lows; however, I have never felt alone and continued to trust in Him more and more. So now, as I watch my mother taking her last breaths, I felt pulled to hear a word from God. I haven’t logged into your blog in a very long time. I knew God would be waiting for me here though, telling me just what I needed to hear. Telling me just what mom would want me to know but can no longer say. She is proud of me. She wants me to continue on, finish strong, clean up my sloppiness, and be proud of myself as well. She wants me to know Jesus Loves Me…just like we sang together in that little church 40 years ago, that He will be there for my sister and I for the next 40, and she will be next to Him. Thank you Beth, praise God how he has used you in my life the last 10 years. You helped me survive my 30’s and will help me thrive in my 40’s. Love you like you’ll never know. – Tiffany
Thank you, sweet mama.
Thank you, Beth!! This is what we’re going through! As one 42 year old probably speaking for many, thank you, thank you for always going before us. We love you.
This is exactly what I needed to read…thank you ❤️
I’m new to your blog and love it! Thank you for the insight and wisdom you hold!
Even at 54 years of age I need to be reminded to press on. Thank you so much for these timely words of encouragement. I am amazed as I read this word right at this time. I’m not the only one that gets discouraged in my faith walk! I’m not the only one that allows the enemy to flood my being with insecurity and doubt in my calling. I repent for becoming focused on myself in this, instead of knowing my brothers and sisters in Christ are dealing with the same things. Jesus raises a standard against that flood of doubt, and we are His! It is all for the sake of the cross. The enemy will not win. Jesus alone – and we in Him! Thank you!
YES!! Thank you for this!
Beth, these words have been much needed for me this past year. I stepped out in to a ministry leading women for the first time and I have never felt more in the battle and bruised with loneliness and a what felt like a noose around my heart.. yikes! I wanted to run but didn’t.. God was faithful to teach me through it and I finally got 2 Cor 12:9 for the first time..praise God!! Thank you for not holding back on what can go in in our souls while in the trenches..
Dear Beth,
Oh how I have come to wish sometimes that I could one day meet you face to face! Thank You so much for allowing Jesus to work through you – specifically in my life in ways I can’t even begin to describe! I live in South Africa, Rustenburg, and me and my girl-friends meet every week and we looooove doing your bible study series (currently busy with fruit of the Spirit and did Breaking Free previously and many others too!). Through your obedience, the Lord has ignited in me a passion for His Word and it comes alive and the Lord so powerfully and faithfully provides the practical lessons to go with your studies each week! Thank you thank you sooo much! I can see Him multiplying all the seed of His Words and hoping and praying to see a great harvest soon! In His perfect time .
I don’t visit this blog often, simply bc I’m not a blogger but today I felt led to. And I’m crying. A word timely spoken is like a sweet honeycomb…or something like that. I’m 37, a wife and mom of 4, passionate lover of Jesus, disciple maker and teaching God’s Word is my favorite. The last 9 years have been hellacious. Just when I didn’t think it could get more intense, I was diagnosed with breast cancer in January. Shell.shocked. Floored. Bewildered. But only for a short time because I smelled a rat. This vile thing had come straight from the enemy. Why? Because I think he was sick and tired of hearing my feet hit the floor. 5 months later, I’m pretty sure the sound I make in the morning, afternoon and evenings is enough to make him scream in agony. he over played his hand. his defeat was swift. God always gets the victory. But I will say this, the flesh has cried tears of fear and anxiety. This warfare is no joke. The temptation is to cower to the fear and say, “Are you kidding me? If rising up is this dang hard, then I’m not sure I’m up for the task. It seems a heck of a lot safer on the sidelines cheering the other folks on. This thing HURTS.” And then I realize I’ve given the enemy more credit than he deserves. Have I been viewing his power as equal to my God? No weapon formed shall prosper. And then this morning, as I battle a gripping fear, He says, “Do not be afraid for I am your shield and your very great reward.” He is the reward in every battle. So maybe I really can do this thing. Thank you for your shining light on the reality because I don’t hear anyone around me talking about the messy, painful battle. That brings solitude and loneliness, feelings of defeat. Everyone needs some wind in their sails.
“You’ll get prayer warriors to pray for you instead of also scrapping it out yourself on the floor…” —man, that line hit me square in the jaw. Thank you for always speaking the truth in love, Ms. Beth. I needed to read this.
Oh, Jesus, I want to quit so badly. I don’t want to quit you, but oh, how I do want to quit ministry. Quit my job, quit this church. Quit pretending like what I do matters. But, Jesus. Thank you for this word of encouragement and truth for me today. Thanks for speaking to me to sit down at my computer and go to Beth’s site and read this post. Oh God, thank You. I still don’t know what to do or how to do it or even why. But, thank You for hearing me in my desperation. Thank You for a voice of hope.
Thank you, thank you, thank you! I SO needed this today. My family and I (my husband and two kids) have been appointed as missionaries, church-planters, to France. We are in the extremely difficult time of raising our support and I already feel the attacks of the Enemy on us all. I know things may get worse. France is such a dark place spiritually. God has given us a love for the French people, but now we have to trust him to provide the supporters we need to get there! I will be at the Living Proof Live event in Springfield, MO and I can’t WAIT for you to bring us a word from the Lord! I’ll be praying for you as you prepare.
Thank you Miss Beth. Especially where you say, “Quit talking about Jesus more than you actually talk to Him.” I needed that reminder. God bless you.
Finally getting a chance to read this and WOW! Yes and all the AMENS and Hallelujahs! Oh and the shot between the eyes to pay attention and not be lazy.
I am a 29-year-old foster Mama who so needed to hear these words of defending the ground that God entrusted to me. Of getting back into the Word and Scripture memory. Of remembering that Jesus alone is worth it when going through these hard, frustrating days. That paying the price He has required of me will never be a wasted transaction.
Much love for you, Mrs. Beth!!
love
Thanks, Mama Beth! (read this, today, on my birthday!P.S. you have one coming up soon, too! Happy Birthday! Love Ya!!)
I want to be in the thing. I hope I’m in the thing. Grasping to find the thing.
I am on year 6 of my hellacious battle. What started as my husband almost losing his life to a rare illness blossomed into a call to leave everything we knew and move over 700 miles away from our beloved friends, family, and home in South Texas for my husband to attend Seminary. We have had 3 children join our already one child over the last 6 years. We have and still do struggle financially as we work with one income so I can stay home with my babies. We battle loneliness on a daily basis. Our kids are young, and are still in the training stages. Our bank account is limping along. My husband fights the enemy’s attacks when it comes to schoolwork for his seminary classes. I miss my family and the support system we had back home. I truly cannot see the light at the end of the tunnel and some days I just want to end it all. Just run. Away. Far, far away. But, I can’t. I won’t leave my husband high and dry and I won’t leave my children. So, here I stay and fight. And some days the enemy wipes me out. NO ONE understands how hard we are fighting. When people at church ask us how we are doing, we smile wearily and tell them we are doing okay, but could use prayer. They smile, say “Okay!” and go on their merry way. I have two women who support me, and only one of them is a non-judgmental supporter. I feel like I wear her out, and so I don’t go to her very often. I feel so worn out in my spirit and soul. I am clinging to Jesus. With all I have. Thank You for this post. Thank You for reminding me that one day it won’t be like this anymore. Thank You for telling it like it is. For not beating around the bush. For reminding me there is a price to pay. I’m not quitting. The price WILL be paid.
Bless you, I do understand. We have spent a lot of time isolated–there are times it was almost a relief. Sometimes I think of running off into the hills. Right then. In my nightgown. Sometimes I am fool enough to wonder what will happen next, as if it won’t be hard enough when it comes. Constant medical problems, sudden job losses,…I too have one supporting friend, and the poor thing is struggling so much that she hardly is able to listen–even to herself! What you and your husband are doing is intensely important, and that includes the babies! I cannot always look, as my eyes now have a hard time with screens, but everyone says I am good at listening–and sometimes helping.
You can write me whenever you like. I am only sorry that we don’t live near any seminaries, as I am quite happy to help out with thing like diapers and there is nothing contagious about fibromyalgia–it is amazing what an you off can do for you! Prayer time alone without worry can help. Many churches have a ministry of “helps” and some of them will admire what you are doing as much as I do. They can be hard to find, but there are couples and sisters who will fight by your side, once they know. I am certain I will not be the only one praying for you after this post. I believe Beth when she says it will get better, too, and maybe my praying will help you fight–that’s always been the promise!
Wow! How perfect. The more I serve God~Jesus and encourage other women for Him, things get crazy. God is placing all of these ladies in my path and I’m so excited to serve, but the arrows of the enemy are flying towards me at high speed. I stand strong in God’s Word as I wear my Helmet of Salvation, My Sword of the Spirit and my Shield of Faith, but Wow! Sometimes those one or two arrows just nip me in the butt! And it HURTS! I thank God~Jesus for you Beth Moore. I have grown so much In Christ because of Jesus leading His direction and Words from your lips to my heart. The more I do for Christ, the tougher the walk, I trip, I fall, but I keep getting back up again. This msg from you here is perfect. This week has been especially tough; many things. I know God is holding my hand, holding my heart and holding my Faith. It won’t shatter because of the enemy, I refuse to allow it to. Instead, it will be strengthened by God~Jesus who is The Almighty. You are a true jewel and shine. God shines so bright into you and in return, You shine so bright that your light shines onto others. Spiritual Warefare is real. It’s crushing, but Jesus lifts me back up with the palm of His hand and breathes life back into me. Isaiah 40:31 ~ I will soar. Thank you for you, Beth. Love, Cindy Hasko
I came to your blog today in search of something to motivate me to press on. I am 42 and I am struggling. You and God did not disappoint! Thank you for your transparency. It was exactly what I needed to hear today!! Thank you so much!!!
Thank you for this!
I haven’t been by the blog in a few weeks, and to come here today and read this… exactly what I needed to hear right now. Life has been hard the last year or so as I’ve been stepping more into what I know God has for me, and I’ve been getting tired and discouraged with that. This was the encouragement I needed today.
Thank you!
Pure Life worth more than gold
Beth, if you only knew how badly we needed to hear this message in our house today! We have been in vocational ministry for 16 years and we have been going through it for quite some time now. I’ve gotten sloppy. Felt my passion wane. Slipped into laziness. Thank you for being bold enough to speak the tough words we need to hear. That is love, and I love you for it. I will read this post over and over again I’m sure. I can feel it touching that part of me that used to be so ferocious, and I’m praying God wakes that beast up again! Thank you!!
Thank you. Bless you.
Thank you! At first I didn’t think this post was exactly for me, but as I kept reading it began to challenge and convict perfectly. I am at a place to grow and press on in the Lord’s work or shrink back out of the front lines to the background. Thank you for your encouragement to press on and live in Christ’s victory.
Thank you. This morning I was getting ready to quit. This season is long…but let me set my eyes on Jesus!
Beth,
Thank you for this scary, encouraging and very hopeful word. I really never thought I was doing much to make a difference but I guess it was more than I realized. This journey has been filled with some wonderful moments and with some of the most difficult moments. And at times I didn’t think I was going to make it. I didn’t think my marriage would survive and I thought my children would receive a legacy that would haunt them rather than help them. It has been heart wrenching at times. But it has served to make me who I am today and am still becoming. I’m not serving on any kind of massive scale but what and Who I am serving must be of some significance because it’s not easy at all. Thank you for reminding me that I need to be on my face, crying out, reading and memorizing scripture and listening to God for myself. There are times that I thought I was finished, too old and just needed to let the young people handle everything (I’m 48). But I know that God is definitely not finished with me yet and I have a sense that my best days are yet ahead of me! Thank you!
I love your heart for God, Jesus and The Holy Spirit and I Love your heart for people.
Beth, I just read this today, and it speaks directly to what I am dealing with in my life. I’m in my early 30’s, and for the last two years I have been barely keeping my head above water, so to speak. If I were honest, I keep wondering “Really? This is it?” Thank you for the push to Truth. Thank you for reminding me of the bigger picture this morning! Love you so. Love Him more 🙂
I came across this post today and I cannot begin to tell you how much it spoke to me. I have had a hard day. Really a hard two months but today was so difficult and that quit and moving to an island with my family about nails it on the head. Thank you for your words and letting God use you to speak to me.
Obviously I found this late, but thank you. This means a great deal, though I know you only know me from Eve because I’m nowhere near that lovely. I was graced with a husband as committed as I am; I fell in love with Evan partly because he was focused on finding the truth and living by it no matter what the cost to him. Both of us were raised on homes that were committed officially but never mentioned spiritual warfare. My mother thought she could protect me from her childhood nightmares by insisting that the devil never existed as a real thing. I am here to tell you that it makes everything worse, instead. My late grandmother saved me in many ways. We both, (my husband and I), believe but have a terrible time directly recognizing the source of the trouble. This both helped in and of itself but also refocused me on the good we have been able to do. My husband dozens of teenagers and a bunch of adults refocus or act on the faith they were straying from, I have been startled by the number of people who insist that I’ve done well. All we see is how hard things always are and forget that the enemy really does focus, and that the snake’s focus is in itself a compliment, though one I would rather do without. It also explains some of the weird bad stuff. We started to wonder for all the wrong reasons. I cannot list all of the things this helped with–which included a wild idea of running off into the mountains where I couldn’t bother anyone. Thank You.
You are so loved by me, Miss Beth. Thank you for introducing me to Jesus in the realist, most accessible way possible. He once was just a figure, a picture, an unknown, someone I admired from a distance because I did not know He wanted a relationship with me. That concept was so foreign to me, but now I am at the courting part of our relationship and I am still nervous. Do I look pretty? Is my hair okay? How’s my out fit? Will I know what to say or will I be tongue tied? What I do know and feel is that I can be the real me with Him and he is so gracious, so merciful, caring, loves to laugh and dare I say, smitten with me as I am smitten with Him. Just holding hands on the porch swing, visiting and sipping some good sweet tea. I know in my heart that this is so good and I have so much to look forward to, that is going to be a grand adventure and a grand relationship because of the cross he hung on to sit with me for all eternity.
Thank you so much for writing this. I can only say that it hit me right square in the forehead. I have allowed the pain of lies and criticism keep me from fulfilling my destiny and I am sick and tired of it. I will rise from the ashes and you are encouraging me. I am currently reading Believing God and it is reaffirming everything I already knew and teaching me things I didn’t.
Blessings to you and your staff!
Teri
Thank you for this message which I so desperately needed to hear. Thank you Jesus for using Beth to write this post and thank you for leading me back to this blog at the exact time I needed to hear.
Thank you for this timely blog! My family and I are in our last month of our first term on the field and our first term has been amazing yet hard, full of joy, as well as full of sorrow…..but most importantly, full of growing us up in the Lord. God has been so faithful and today He has used your words to remind me to not lose heart. Blessings to you!
Thank you so much for this. It resonated.
Wow. This post. Let me tell you how timely this one is (I feel weird about posting a comment so long and so public, but I’m doing it with the hope you might see it, Beth…) My battle has been ten years, but I’m finally coming of age (I turned 37 June 13th). And I know exactly what I was doing when this battle kicked off. I was going through a “Beth Moore Phase” or “BMP” hereafter, where I ravaged nearly every study of yours I could get my hands on, and was accused of bringing you up in conversation a little too often. (Oh, I heard Beth Moore tell a story…” “Well, you know, Beth Moore says…”) I didn’t comprehend what was being planted in me through your teachings during that season until my toddler yanked an old Living Proof Live conference booklet off my bookshelf a couple of days ago. I opened that booklet and read through my notes from that event, and they read like a roadmap (nearly a chronological one) of the journey the Lord has taken me on since 2006, when you came to my hometown, Phoenix, in December. All throughout my “BMP” God was laying a foundation that corresponded to the first four points of your message, which was: God has invested in me 1) Purpose (my what) 2) Plan (His how) 3) Will (Which will it be? His or mine) 4) Call (I’m the who.) As I transitioned out of my “BMP,” God began leading me and my husband to take huge steps of faith. We went big, Beth. And then it got ugly. Because the time came for us to live experientially what we’d previously only known superficially. Oh yes, the enemy went for our kids–he fought so dirty. And I learned that truly nothing is off limits with a God who’s dangerously confident in His supremacy and His sufficiency, even when I’m hunkered in a corner choking on it. I read those conference notes and my prayers from that quiet time and couldn’t pick my jaw up off the floor. Because somehow God knew I’d need a written record to believe how intricately he’d been involved in my undoing. Also recorded there were vaguely worded questions I now held clear and specific answers to, by the grace and mercy of God. You see, I’d made it through your point number 5) He’s invested supernaturally empowered gifts in my life (I began pursuing those in 2012) and 6) Humblings (those hit hard in 2010 and didn’t let up until…last week) and then there was number 7) Specific experiences (He’d crammed a bunch of those in places I never realized or expected) and now we’re on to numbers 8 & 9. That is I’m finally ready to receive God’s investment of His heat and His anointing in my life. I’m resolved to fiercely pursue my anointing by removing Spirit quenchers and refusing to despise prophecy (because the Spirit has whispered to me about certain things and it’s time for my to get my rear in gear.) I’m ready to be lifted up after being laid low for so long. And the most beautiful thing of all is I now KNOW Who is in charge here, and Who everything rests upon in a way I never could have without this past decade. I’m drained, at last, of everything that has kept me from coming of age prior. For the first time in a decade I can sense my time has come. I won’t be eating carpet forever. God is lifting my head. And he’s bookended the process with encouragement from you. …just wanted you to know how very grateful I am for your ministry. Thank you.
God brought me to this blog today, June 17, 2016. I am a ministers wife and was a ministers daughter growing up. I have spent 48 years serving the kingdom of God in one way or another. In the past five years our life began to take turns. We helped a congregation through a terrible split, were blamed, shamed, and condemned publicly. We stayed the course and rebuilt. We helped our congregation see the poor and the children in our community who needed Christ. We began a ministry to the housing authority and baptized a woman into Jesus one month before she went to meet Him forever. We began meeting the needs of the helpless. I began to teach ladies and found out I loved it. Then Satan entered the picture. It all fell apart. One of our leaders began to teach that Jesus was not Deity. The leaders of our church put unreachable expectations on my husband. My daughters fell under the influence of an ungodly young man. My life reached a darkness I had never known. We sold everything we had, moved, stepped down from the pulpit, and prayed our hearts out. The hurt began to be physical. Suddenly I was in the hardest battle I had ever seen. Harder than a church split, harder than moving, harder than my growing up years as a preacher’s daughter, harder than anything I could ever conceive. I literally thought I was going to die. Literally. Ministry gone. Teaching gone. Income gone. Home gone. Marriage strained. And fighting with every ounce of energy I had for my daughters lives. Its been 24 years of ministry battles. Some of my stories could keep you awake at night. But this. This is different. I began to feel defeated. I believed I was defeated. I began acting defeated. I don’t want to be defeated. I want Satan to know he has already been defeated by Jesus the Messiah and that I will not quit. I will teach ladies again. My husband will minister again. I will not lose my marriage and I will not stop fighting for my daughters. I am so tired. I am so weary. My soul is so faint within me. I need to get up. I need to get down. I need to find my one true love, Jesus Christ again. Thank you for reminding me.
Thanks, Beth.