"Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom" 2 Corinthians 3:17

*Transcription Below*

Jeannie Cunnion is an author who is well known for writing stories that make much of the wild love of Jesus because of how her life has been rescued by it. She is also a beloved Bible teacher and sought-after speaker who has been featured on outlets such as the TODAY show, Fox News, The 700 Club, and Focus on the Family. Jeannie, who holds a master’s degree in social work, worked as a counselor and trainer in the adoption field before writing. She is a wife to Mike and a mama to five boys she is crazy about. To know Jeannie is to know her deep love for Danita’s Children’s Home in Haiti. Connect with her online at JeannieCunnion.com, on Instagram, or Facebook.

Questions We Discuss:

What are some benefits of the Holy Spirit's daily presence?
How can we recognize if we are really relying on the power of God’s Spirit inside us or trying to do life in our own strength?
Will you share about a time you confused the Holy Spirit's protection as punishment?

At The Savvy Sauce, we will only recommend resources we believe in! We also want you to be aware: We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.

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Gospel Scripture: (all NIV)

Romans 3:23 “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,”

Romans 3:24 “and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.”

Romans 3:25 (a) “God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood.”

Hebrews 9:22 (b) “without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.”

Romans 5:8 “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

Romans 5:11 “Not only is this so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.”

John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

Romans 10:9 “That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”

Luke 15:10 says “In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”

Romans 8:1 “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus”

Ephesians 1:13–14 “And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession- to the praise of his glory.”

Ephesians 1:15–23 “For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.”

Ephesians 2:8–10 “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God‘s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.“

Ephesians 2:13 “But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ.“

Philippians 1:6 “being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”

*Transcription*

[00:00:00] <music>

Laura Dugger: Welcome to The Savvy Sauce, where we have practical chats for intentional living. I'm your host Laura Dugger, and I'm so glad you're here.

[00:00:17] <music>

Laura Dugger: I'm excited to introduce you to an old friend and today's sponsor, Justin Maust. He's an expert EOS implementer, a certified speaker for the John Maxwell team, and a passionate coach committed to glorify God by helping business owners get everything they want from their business.

Jeannie Cunnion is a gifted author and speaker, and I'm thrilled to get to host her as my guest today. Through personal stories, examples, and scripture, she's going to unpack transformative lessons about the Holy Spirit, and she'll reveal how life is truly better with the Holy Spirit.

The title of her recent book is her urgent desire for all of us, Don't Miss Out.

Here's our chat.

Welcome to The Savvy Sauce, Jeannie. [00:01:17]

Jeannie Cunnion: Thank you so much for having me, Laura.

Laura Dugger: Will you just give us a glimpse of who you are and what you do?

Jeannie Cunnion: I am a mom, a wife. My husband and I have five boys. They range from five to 24. I am an adoption social worker by training, and I kind of stumbled into the writing life about eight years ago. I grew up as a preacher's kid, been following Jesus since I was about 8 years old, although I like to say I've been stumbling along ever since. I am ever aware of my need for grace. And I am a writer. I started writing back in about 2013, and now I can't imagine doing anything else. I just love the opportunity to write and speak about Jesus and the way He's changed my life.

Laura Dugger: Well, and God recently called and equipped you to write a book on the Holy Spirit. I know that I'm so grateful, because I think it's profoundly important to talk about the Holy Spirit. [00:02:18] But why do you also think that this third person of the Trinity can be considered controversial?

Jeannie Cunnion: Oh, yeah, unfortunately, He is so controversial. I think one of the things that's going to change, that is if we actually just take the time to get to know Him for who He really is, which is what inspired me to write Don't Miss Out. But yeah, unfortunately, there's just so many stereotypes and stigmas because of the way we have seen the Holy Spirit used and abused. Things have been done in His name that are not of Him.

And so I think there's this belief that the Holy Spirit is really reserved for the extremes, that He is primarily just for the super spiritual or the super strange. And if you wouldn't put yourself in one of those extremes, then you don't know His role in your life. Or you might be keeping Him at arm's length because you've seen things, again, seen things done in His name that are not of Him. [00:03:21]

Or your story might look a little bit more like mine, which is I didn't put Him in one of those extreme boxes, but I really didn't know how essential He is in the Christian life. I think a lot of us just don't know, even though I was raised as a preacher's kid in a Presbyterian church that was charismatic. So, the Holy Spirit was not foreign to me at all, nor was I afraid of Him. But I really put Him in a spiritual gifts box. And I knew He was for spiritual gifts, and I knew He produced the fruit of the Spirit in our lives, but I just didn't know all that God sent Him to do in me and for me and through me. So, I spent the majority of my Christian life missing out on really benefiting from the full extent of His role and His function in my life.

Laura Dugger: Well, we've mentioned your book. The full title is Don't Miss Out: Daring to Believe Life is Better with the Holy Spirit. [00:04:23] I loved reading it. It highlights 30 benefits of the Holy Spirit's daily presence. But will you just choose about five of those that were most surprising that you discovered through this writing process?

Jeannie Cunnion: Sure. I think one of the things that stood out to me the most is when I really went on my own journey of really asking the question, "Who is the Holy Spirit? What does the Holy Spirit do? And why does it matter so much?"

One of the first things I actually did was I called my mom and my dad and I said, “Hey, what are some good books you can recommend on the Holy Spirit?” My mom mentioned several, all of which I devoured. But before we hung up the phone, she said, "Jeannie, I'm just curious, what's inspiring you to study the Holy Spirit?" And I laughed and I said, "The Holy Spirit." He is making me curious about Him. It was an answer to a prayer which I was praying, which was this, "Lord, I want all of you. I don't want to miss out on any part of you. I want to know all of you and all your fullness." [00:05:22] And really the way the Lord answered that prayer was by making me curious about the Holy Spirit, really reintroducing me to the Holy Spirit.

So as I began to read and study and just look for Him in Scripture, I remember one of the things my dad said was, Jeannie, just go to John 14 through 16. Read those three chapters. God only knows how many times you've read them before, but go look at the work of the Holy Spirit. Look at what Jesus said. What did Jesus say about the person of the Holy Spirit?

One of the things that struck me the most, really, I mean, jaw on the floor, was when Jesus was preparing His disciples for His ascension, He said to them in John 16, He said, "It is better for you that I go back to the Father so that the Holy Spirit will come." And in other translations, it reads, "It is to your advantage. It is for your good."

So Jesus is telling the disciples, it is to your advantage, it's for your good that I leave so that the Holy Spirit will come. [00:06:25] And Scripture tells us that the disciples were filled with sorrow because they didn't understand how anything in all the world could be better than Jesus' physical presence with them.

And I resonated with their response. I think a lot of Christians do. We say, Jesus, I don't want, quote-unquote, just your spirit. I want you. And they didn't understand, like many of us today don't understand that the Holy Spirit is Jesus. It is the Spirit of Christ. He was going to send His Spirit to live inside of them so they would no longer just be dependent on His physical presence but now they would have the Spirit of Christ taking up residence inside of them so that they would never be alone and they would never be without what they needed to spread the gospel. And I just think that's incredible.

Laura Dugger: I love how you're summing up some of this that He really is to our advantage. I love another way that you put it in your book. Can you elaborate on three different ways that God reveals Himself to us through the three persons of the Trinity? [00:07:30]

Jeannie Cunnion: Yeah, I would love to. You know, one of the things I think is so beautiful about the Holy Spirit is when we think about Him as God's personal presence inside of us, right, I mean, that's really mind-blowing if you think about it, that God takes up residence inside of us.

It is the personal presence of God in the person of the Holy Spirit. One of the things that I found so fascinating in my study was something that was actually written by Billy Graham about the distinct functions. And I'll just read it to you because I think it's so powerful.

But he says, "The operations of the Holy Spirit among men in the three periods of human history may be defined by three words: upon, with, and in. In the Old Testament, He came upon selected persons and remained for a season. In the Gospels, He is represented as dwelling with the disciples in the person of Christ. But from the second chapter of Acts onward, He is spoken of as being in the people of God." [00:08:29]

So what is so incredible for us today is our post-Pentecost promise is that we never have to fear Him leaving us or abandoning us. And I think that's incredible, right? We know we can grieve Him; we know we can quench Him and those are important things to understand and those are things that I unpack in the book, but we never have to fear losing Him. You know, when Jesus said, "I will never leave you as orphans," it was because He was putting His Spirit inside of us so that we would never be without the power of Christ to live the Christian life.

Laura Dugger: I love some of those other truths that you're bringing up, too, Jeannie, just about Him never leaving us. I think about that in moments where I'm awakened in the middle of the night with insomnia or I'm having a really tough parenting day and there's no other adult to process with. Those are times I'm most grateful for the Holy Spirit and just His availability. And He's so generous with His presence to us. [00:09:28]

Something else that you talk about is a super over natural life. So what does it mean to live a super over natural life?

Jeannie Cunnion: You know, one of the things that really struck me in writing Don't Miss Out was how often in life we settle for the natural. We settle for what is only possible in the power of self. And I'm speaking about myself here, right? That God has given us the opportunity to live a super over natural life, to experience the power of God breaking into our everyday life and rhythms. And yet we settle for doing things in our own strength. We settle for doing things in our own power. We miss out on seeing what's only possible by the power of God. Right?

If we're not saying, "Holy Spirit, come, I welcome your work. I welcome your presence. I'm going to lean into your leading. I'm going to yield to your nudging and your conviction," when we don't do that, we don't get to experience what's only possible with God. [00:10:40] And so this super over natural life is really an opportunity to know the presence of God, the fullness of God.

Like you said, in those moments where we're at the end of a long day, right, we need to know that He is in us and for us and with us and He's going to give us what we need to get through the end of the day, to get our kids in bed, to love them with patience and to reflect the heart of God to them.

He's going to give us what we need in hard conversations with our spouses or co-workers. He's going to be there providing the power that we need for life that can be so hard and heavy. And that should give us such assurance that we don't go through it alone.

Laura Dugger: And now a brief message from our sponsor.

[00:11:26] <music>

Sponsor: Thank you to my friend and sponsor, Justin Maust, for making this episode possible. As an expert EOS implementer, Justin has provided over 500 full-day sessions helping business owners implement EOS into their business. EOS is the Entrepreneurial Operating System, which is a complete set of simple and practical tools to help entrepreneurs get what they want from their businesses.

Justin helps business owners and leadership teams achieve three things: Vision, traction, and health. For vision, that's simply helping you get everyone in the organization 100% on the same page with where they're going and how they plan to get there. For traction, that's helping to instill focus, discipline, and accountability throughout the company so that everyone executes on that vision every day.

When we think of healthy organizations, let's be honest, there's often a fair amount of dysfunction with teams. But Justin loves helping leaders create a more cohesive, functional, and healthy leadership team. And once the leaders are healthy, they help the whole team become healthy.

Mark and I have been friends with Justin and his wife, Jenny, for years. We've witnessed them apply these practices to their own life and their family and their business and the results are transformational. With Justin's love for Jesus and passion to serve business owners to be better stewards of their businesses, I highly recommend you learn more about his services at his website, justinmaust.com. That's Justinmaust.com. Thanks for your sponsorship.

[00:13:09] <music>

Laura Dugger: And so then how could we recognize if we are really relying on the power of God's Spirit inside of us or trying to do life in our own strength?

Jeannie Cunnion: I started with the question, you know, how can I live in the power of the Holy Spirit? And one of the questions that flowed out of that for me was this. It was, how can I make the Holy Spirit feel more welcome in His home? Because the truth is, I am home to the Holy Spirit. Laura, you are home to the Holy Spirit. He takes up residence inside of us.

I think about how much time I spend making my physical home, a loving place and a warm place and a welcoming place for my family and my friends. But I want them to be at peace. I want them to feel welcome. And it really convicted me because I thought, Oh, how much energy and effort do I put into making my heart a welcoming home for the Holy Spirit to dwell? [00:14:04] That means repenting of my sin. That means receiving the forgiveness and the grace and the mercy of God. It means yielding to those nudges and that conviction.

So to live in the power of the Holy Spirit, we can't be grieving Him and then we can't be quenching Him. And so we need to yield to His leading. Galatians 5 says, let the Holy Spirit guide your life and then you won't be doing what the sinful nature craves, because these two forces are always battling each other.

So the question for us every day is, am I letting the Holy Spirit guide me and lead me so that His power is unleashed in my life? Or am I turning my head away from that nudging or that conviction and therefore quenching Him or grieving Him and then not experiencing the full power of the person of the Holy Spirit in my life? [00:15:07]

Laura Dugger: I love how you bring up that word "nudging". Do you have any personal stories about just little nudges that the Holy Spirit has prompted you?

Jeannie Cunnion: Yeah. I mean, I think the more we pay attention, the more we realize He's basically doing that all day long, right? Whether it's with my kids when they're disobeying or arguing and my flesh wants to let my tongue unleash on them, that I want to respond in anger or with harshness or bitterness, and I feel the Holy Spirit reminding me, Anger doesn't lead to repentance and hold your tongue, Jeannie. And yet I have a choice in that moment.

Or if I'm in an argument with my spouse or a disagreement with my spouse, and I feel like I'm justified in my position and I want to hold on to bitterness. And the Holy Spirit is nudging me to go to him for reconciliation and forgiveness, and yet the flesh is saying, you know, no, you have the right to be bitter, even though I know that grieves the Holy Spirit. [00:16:09]

Or little things where you're walking out... I tell the story in the book. I'm walking out of Dunkin Donuts, and it was a long line and I had places to be. And there was a woman sitting on the curb who clearly needed help and wasn't able to go in and get her own coffee. And I felt the Holy Spirit say, "Go back inside and get her a coffee, and then give it to her and tell her that God sees her and He loves her."

You know, and we have opportunities in those moments to either follow those nudges or to go, "Lord, I got places to go and things to do, and I'm just going to keep on going." And the truth is, that moment blessed me more than it blessed her, because I saw how it touched her.

These are all opportunities for us each day to say, well, Holy Spirit, am I going to follow those nudges, that sense in my gut or that thought in my mind, you know, call this friend. The Lord puts somebody on your mind and you're not sure why, but He nudges you to reach out to somebody who might need you.

Or, you know, there can be awkward times, right? I tell a story in the book about, I was talking to a friend at the pool and she said something along the lines of, you know, Jeannie, I don't consider myself a religious person, but the things that you post on Instagram have made me curious about Jesus and God. [00:17:16] And she continued to talk and I felt the Holy Spirit encouraging me to tell her that God sees her and that He loves her. Just again, the simple affirmation that He knows you and that He wants to have a relationship with you.

I remember internally, like in my mind, arguing with the Holy Spirit, like, Oh, but I like having friends, you know? I don't want to be the weird girl at the pool who like says things that takes people off guard." But I've learned the Holy Spirit can be trusted.

So I said it and her eyes actually welled up with tears instantly. And she said, "Really, you think so?" And I said, "Oh, girl, I know so. I know so." And it opened the door for me to share a little bit more about how being in relationship with Jesus is radically different than, you know, following religion and rules.

So I think the more that we pay attention and the more that we heed those nudges and follow those nudges, the more we get to experience that divine dance where He leads and we follow and, and He guides us into truth and He guides us into deeper relationship with Jesus. [00:18:23] But we have to have our eyes open for it. We have to be looking and expectant. And then I think as we do, those things become more obvious to us as we go throughout our day.

Laura Dugger: And then I think you're bringing up too, that there's a point where we do have a choice if we are going to surrender or obey. I love to gather perspectives on the topic of our part and God's part. So how do you believe we cooperate with the Holy Spirit to become more like Jesus?

Jeannie Cunnion: Yeah. I mean, He has given us free will, right? So we have the choice to either let the spirit of truth guide us deeper into the truth, which is the person of Jesus Christ and in the gospel, or we have the choice to do things our own way. Right? I mean, I write in the book about how when I heed those nudges, and when I don't, I have to clean up the mess. Because the Holy Spirit is always guiding us in the perfect will of God. [00:19:24] He intercedes for us. He prays for us in accordance with the will of God. But He's always leading us in God's will for our lives. So we have a choice to make.

For me, it comes down to yielding. Am I willing to yield to His authority in my life? And His conviction doesn't always feel good, even though it always is for our good. And that's an important distinction that conviction is not condemnation. So when it feels shaming, or when it's an accusing voice, we know that's the enemy. That's not the advocate. The Holy Spirit's our advocate. His job is always to lift our eyes to Jesus, to spur us to run to the Lord in repentance and to receive forgiveness. He's our advocate. He is for us. He's advocating for us. And that's His conviction. Condemnation comes from the enemy, from the accuser. It always is shameful. It always makes us want to turn away from Jesus in shame. [00:20:24]

And so we have to be willing to yield to that conviction. But it's always for our good, even though it might always feel good, because it requires us to confront and deal with maybe decisions or behaviors or attitudes in our life that are not in alignment with the gospel, that He wants to purify, that He wants to change, that He wants to transform so that our lives can look more like Jesus.

Laura Dugger: That makes sense. Because I think my experience is whenever He's convicting me of something, it just hurts so good. There's a positivity to it. I like the way that my Aunt Mary Beth has put this before. She said in her experience, with His grace, God will keep giving us different tests until we pass. So those times that we push away the Holy Spirit or we quench Him, we can always turn to God, just repent for that and ask Him for a do-over. And I feel like He is always gracious to provide that.

Jeannie Cunnion: Yeah. Amen. And it's also, I think, so beautiful that it's the person of the Holy Spirit who leads us to repentance. [00:21:36] He's really the one who makes Jesus more beautiful to us, gives us the courage to go before the throne of grace and to receive that mercy and to receive that forgiveness.

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How do you see our enemy Satan looking for opportune times to get us off track or thwart our understanding of the Holy Spirit's power in our lives?

Jeannie Cunnion: Yeah, that was something else that really struck me as I studied the work of the Holy Spirit, because what you're referring to, I know, is the story about when Jesus was led into the desert full of the Holy Spirit and He was tempted by Satan and He defeated Satan. [00:22:43] And He had access to the same things we have access to today, which is amazing, right? He was full of the Holy Spirit and He had the Word of God. He had the sword of the Spirit, and that's what He used to defeat Satan.

We have that today. The same Holy Spirit that empowered Jesus is the same Holy Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead. It's the same Holy Spirit that filled and radically transformed the disciples of Pentecost. And it's the same Holy Spirit that lives in you and me today. And that's wild.

And yet, Scripture says that even after Jesus defeated Satan's temptation in the wilderness, it specifically says Satan left but waited for another opportune time. I've never noticed that before. And if you waited for an opportune time with Jesus, oh, we can rest assured He's waiting for opportune times with us, right? [00:23:36] He knows our weaknesses. He knows when we are, you know, the most vulnerable. And He waits for those times to lead us into temptation.

And yet we are never without the help of the Holy Spirit. Whenever Satan finds those opportune times to attack, maybe it's with toxic thoughts in our minds that we struggle with, really negative thoughts or destructive thinking, maybe it's, you know, struggles or addictions, whatever it is, we have the victory in the person of the Holy Spirit who lives inside of us. And He empowered Jesus and He empowers us today. And so we are never without what we need, even when He waits for those times when we are feeling most weak or most vulnerable. We have the Holy Spirit.

Laura Dugger: My training is as a marriage and family therapist, and we would always talk with clients about HALT B. That's a more vulnerable time for each of us. And that stands for hungry, angry, lonely, tired, or bored. [00:24:43] Not that that gives us excuse to sin, but just to be aware when we're in those states that we're a little bit more vulnerable.

I think even that practical self-awareness to be aware when our enemy wants to pounce and attack us at that opportune time, like you said, just turning to the Holy Spirit and that He has abundant, endless power to help us overcome in those times of weakness.

And just to personalize this topic a bit, will you share about a time that you can use the Holy Spirit's protection as punishment?

Jeannie Cunnion: Yeah. So it was a season in which, you know, my last book, Moms That Pray, had recently come out and I was receiving just many wonderful opportunities to travel and speak about what the Lord had taught me about my freedom in Christ as a mom.

One of the things I always do when I'm asked to speak is I pray about it. And I think that's another important way that the Holy Spirit communicates with us. It's through peace. Like give me peace about this decision. [00:25:49] And I suddenly wasn't getting peace about these opportunities, and I thought, "Lord, this doesn't make any sense. You called me to write this book and now people are asking me to come speak and share the good news, this wonderful message, and suddenly I can't get peace about saying yes."

My first question as I wrote the book was, "Have I done something wrong? Is there something in me that you need to correct? Are you withholding your favor on these opportunities? Why can I not get peace?" And I've learned through proceeding without peace. So I've learned the hard way that that's always a bad idea. That if the Lord doesn't give you peace about a decision, about a relationship, about any kind of next step that you're taking, that to proceed without peace is not wise.

And so I followed him and I just began to say, "I'm so sorry, I can't accept this invitation right now. You know, I'd love to circle back with you, but I don't have peace about traveling right now in this next season." [00:26:48] And little did I know at the time that all of these things would be changing in our lives and that my family would very much need me present. We were going to go through a lot of things. My husband's job was going to become incredibly busy. My boys were all going to go through some unique challenges and just circumstances where they really needed their mama present.

We went through a foster care situation that was really hard on our family and very much needed my presence and the young woman very much needed my presence while she was with us. I also didn't realize that my mom would get sick. And my mom is the one who always shows up. My mom and dad always show up and help us with the kids when I travel. And I love my kids having that experience, but I couldn't have foreseen that my mom would be sick and wouldn't be able to come help us for several, several months. So it was the Lord's protection. He knew what was coming. He knew what this next season would hold and so He withheld peace because He knew I needed to be here more than anywhere else. [00:27:46]

But at the beginning, you know, I mistook that as punishment, like, "Oh no, Lord, what have I done that you're not giving me peace?" I kind of forgot that my first ministry is here at home. And when He opens the door for me to go speak, I love that and I enjoy it. But again, it's just another way that the Holy Spirit communicates with us, that He keeps us in the middle of God's will for us, right? That He is advocating for us by giving us peace when we're supposed to proceed and withholding peace when we're not.

Laura Dugger: And even another outcome of that, didn't that provide the margin that eventually led to the opportunity to write this book as well?

Jeannie Cunnion: It did. It sure did. It was really during that season that I was praying that prayer, Lord, I want all of you. And it's because I needed all of Him going through these seasons, you know, when we were like, "Lord, I don't know how people go a day, an hour, a minute without knowing that they have you sovereign over their circumstances, that your love is in abundance for us when life feels so hard and heavy. [00:28:53]

It was in that season that I was just praying, "I need all of you. I want all of you and all of your fullness and all of your glory. Fill this home. Fill our lives." And that's when he began to make me so curious about the Spirit and really gave me bandwidth to begin to study and read and just devour books by other theologians who had gone before me in getting to know the Holy Spirit in a fresh way.

And ultimately led to me writing the book, even though I fought the Lord on that for a while. I said, "Lord, I love learning about your Spirit, this is changing my life, but I do not feel equipped to write this book. I am not Francis Chan or Billy Graham." And like you said earlier, it's such a complicated topic. It's controversial and I don't like controversy.

But the more my own heart was moved and the more my life was transformed by leaning into the person of the Holy Spirit and developing that relationship and just growing in so much gratitude for how He's been there all along and He's been working in my life, even when I wasn't aware of it and now knowing that the more I lean into Him and welcome His work and do life with Him, the better it gets. [00:30:10]

And it became the book I couldn't not write, Laura. I just could not write it because a) I knew the Lord would equip me. He always does. He always equips us in the work He calls us to. But it was also something I couldn't keep to myself because I couldn't believe how much I'd missed out on, even as somebody who'd been following Jesus for most of my life.

I was so captivated by the presence of the Holy Spirit that it became the book I had to write because I know so many other Christians, women in my life who love Jesus, follow Jesus, but didn't feel like they had a full understanding of the person of the Holy Spirit. Our conversations led me to realize a lot of us are missing out on who he is and what he does and why it matters so much.

And so that's really what led me to write the book and I'm just so glad. It's been so fun to watch God work through it and use it to just draw His sons and daughters deeper into kind of that relationship with the Holy Spirit, whose ultimate goal, whose whole aim is to make Jesus more beautiful to us. [00:31:11] His whole goal, as Jesus said is to glorify Jesus. So the larger the Holy Spirit becomes in our lives, the more our lives will be a love song for Jesus.

Laura Dugger: I love that. Because likely we're all waiting on something right now. So when we get to hear your situation and that experience come full circle, I think it can help us view our situation in a different light, but especially in line with God's promises that even with holding peace can be for our protection and not as punishment.

Jeannie, I know you have so much more that you could share with us. Where can everyone go to learn more from you?

Jeannie Cunnion: Everything is pretty much Jeannie Cunnion. My website, my Instagram, my Facebook, it's all Jeannie Cunnion. There's tons of links on my Instagram where you can free resources about the Holy Spirit. There's a Holy Spirit manifesto that I wrote. There's links to buy the book. And even on my website, if you want to study the Holy Spirit with some friends or a community or in your book group, there's actually a free book club kit on my website. [00:32:15] I'd encourage you to read it with some friends and create conversation and study the person of the Holy Spirit together. And you can find that free resource on my website.

Laura Dugger: Wonderful. We will link to all of that in today's show notes. We are called The Savvy Sauce because "savvy" is synonymous with practical knowledge or discernment. And so as my final question for you today, Jeannie, what is your savvy sauce?

Jeannie Cunnion: I don't know if I'm allowed to say this, but this is what's coming to my mind. My savvy sauce is that life is better with the Holy Spirit. And I know that's the subtitle for the book, but goodness, life is so much better when we let the Holy Spirit lead us, when we let Him take us by the hand and lead us into that life-giving, soul-satisfying relationship with Jesus that we were made for.

Laura Dugger: Well, Jeannie, you have such a kind and pleasant way about yourself, and I'm assuming that is the Holy Spirit's work in you. But I enjoyed spending time with you today. Thank you so much for being my guest. [00:33:18]

Jeannie Cunnion: Oh, Laura, thank you so much for having me.

Laura Dugger: Ever since launching this podcast in 2018, our team has tried to release at least one episode every Monday morning. In addition, we also launched a secret bonus episode for paying Patons on the first of every month. But in 2022, we're changing things up a bit. We will continue to release the bonus episode for paying Paton. But on those weeks, when it's the first of the month, that will be the only episode going live, which means next week, on Monday, there will not be a brand-new episode available for the general public.

If you've benefited from any messages on The Savvy Sauce, we would encourage you to support our work through joining Patreon. You can go to thesavvysauce.com, click on the Patreon tab, click "Join Patreon here", and then follow the prompts so that you can have access to all these bonus episodes and downloadable scripture cards. We hope you join us there. Otherwise, we'll see you back here in two weeks. [00:34:21]

One more thing before you go. Have you heard the term "gospel" before? It simply means good news. And I want to share the best news with you. But it starts with the bad news. Every single one of us were born sinners and God is perfect and holy, so He cannot be in the presence of sin. Therefore, we're separated from Him.

This means there's absolutely no chance we can make it to heaven on our own. So for you and for me, it means we deserve death and we can never pay back the sacrifice we owe to be saved. We need a savior. But God loved us so much, He made a way for His only Son to willingly die in our place as the perfect substitute.

This gives us hope of life forever in right relationship with Him. That is good news. Jesus lived the perfect life we could never live and died in our place for our sin. This was God's plan to make a way to reconcile with us so that God can look at us and see Jesus. [00:35:27]

We can be covered and justified through the work Jesus finished if we choose to receive what He has done for us. Romans 10:9 says that if you confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.

So would you pray with me now? Heavenly, Father, thank You for sending Jesus to take our place. I pray someone today right now is touched and chooses to turn their life over to You. Will You clearly guide them and help them take their next step in faith to declare You as Lord of their life? We trust You to work and change their lives now for eternity. In Jesus name, we pray, amen.

If you prayed that prayer, you are declaring Him for me, so me for Him, you get the opportunity to live your life for Him.

At this podcast, we are called Savvy for a reason. We want to give you practical tools to implement the knowledge you have learned. So you're ready to get started? [00:36:27]

First, tell someone. Say it out loud. Get a Bible. The first day I made this decision my parents took me to Barnes and Noble to get the Quest NIV Bible and I love it. Start by reading the book of John.

Get connected locally, which basically means just tell someone who is part of the church in your community that you made a decision to follow Christ. I'm assuming they will be thrilled to talk with you about further steps such as going to church and getting connected to other believers to encourage you.

We want to celebrate with you too. So feel free to leave a comment for us if you made a decision for Christ. We also have show notes included where you can read Scripture that describes this process.

Finally, be encouraged. Luke 15:10 says, "In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents." [00:37:22] The heavens are praising with you for your decision today.

If you've already received this good news, I pray that you have someone else to share it with today. You are loved and I look forward to meeting you here next time.

Welcome to The Savvy Sauce

Practical chats for intentional living

A faith-based podcast and resources to help you grow closer to Jesus and others. Expect encouragement, surprises, and hope here. Each episode offers lively interviews with fascinating guests such as therapists, authors, non-profit founders, and business leaders.

They share their best practices and savvy tips we can replicate to make our daily life and relationships more enjoyable!