I always enjoy getting to know a little something about an author before I sit down to open up his or her book. Today, I’m excited to interview my friend Keri Folmar about her new book, The Good Portion: Delighting in the Doctrine of the Holy Spirit, which is part of a series of systematic theology books written by women, for women. In this edition, Keri invites women to discover the Holy Spirit’s active presence in their daily lives, demonstrating how the Spirit works powerfully through ordinary means—Scripture, prayer, and the local church. As she draws from both Scripture and real-life examples, she shows how the Holy Spirit isn’t a power to be harnessed, but a divine person who breathes life into creation, illuminates God’s Word, and knits believers together in community.
The Good Portion: Delighting in the Doctrine of the Holy Spirit is available now, and you can order a copy here!
1. Can you give us a quick update on your life? What has this season been like for you and your family?
I live in Dubai, but my kids are all over: Ruth (Sharjah, UAE); Chloe and her husband, Christian Lawrence (Washington, DC); and Andrew (Atlanta). So I spend a lot of time these days traveling back and forth. (Adult children need their mamas too!) The time difference is a killer, but it’s worth any hassle to see my children and then be back with my church in Dubai. Thank the Lord for modern transportation!
My husband has been the pastor of the Evangelical Christian Church of Dubai for twenty years. One of the greatest joys of my life is teaching ECCD women—who come from diverse cultural and religious backgrounds—how to study the Bible, and training our leaders to do the same. I love seeing women light up as they dig into the Scriptures!
In my spare time, I edit the books in The Good Portion Series, plug away at writing Bible studies in the Delighting in the Word Series, and cohost the 9Marks Priscilla Talk podcast.
2. What do you hope readers will take away from reading your book?
As I’ve read all The Good Portion manuscripts (Scripture, God, Salvation, Christ, and The Church), I’ve been in awe of God and worshiped him. I hope for the same response from readers of The Good Portion: Delighting in the Doctrine of the Holy Spirit. My prayer is that women will experience deeper communion with the Father and the Son through understanding the person and work of the Holy Spirit. I want readers’ eyes to be opened to how good God is—that he is truly the God of steadfast love and kindness—and that his greatest gift to us is himself in the person of the Holy Spirit, the down payment of our inheritance who dwells in us now and forevermore. I’m also praying that readers come away seeing how extraordinary the work of the Holy Spirit is in the ordinary details of life. He is doing countless things to direct our paths, bring us comfort, and make us more like Christ. He does these things through ordinary means, such as Scripture and the local church, and the results, over time, are extraordinary.
3. Your book emphasizes that the Holy Spirit works through Scripture rather than apart from it. What would you say to a woman who wants to get better at discerning the Spirit’s guidance?
Yes, as Nancy Guthrie said at the last TGCW, “The Spirit has sovereignly bound Himself to the Word He authored.” Keeping in step with the Spirit (Gal. 5:25) means keeping our Bibles open. So I would say: don’t look for “signs” or rely on peaceful feelings for guidance. Instead, immerse yourself in the Scriptures every day. The Spirit doesn’t tell us what job to take or whom to marry. Neither does the Bible. But you don’t need to fear that a decision will take your life on an unplanned detour. God holds our lives in his hands, and his written Word tells us how to walk by the Spirit: living holy lives, loving one another, and making more disciples. This is God’s revealed will. We “live by the Spirit” (Gal. 5:25) by obeying God’s revealed will and leaving our futures up to Him.
Still, we have decisions to make every day of our lives, and those decisions matter: “[W]hether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God” (1 Cor. 10:31). So how does the Holy Spirit lead us to make God-glorifying decisions—whom to marry, what job to take, or how much to give to our church? The Spirit works in our hearts through the ordinary means of regularly reading our Bibles, sitting under faithful preaching, and spending time with Spirit-filled brothers and sisters. He uses these means to conform us to the image of Jesus so that we have the mind of Christ and desire what He desires. Then discernment for decision-making bubbles up out of the deep well of wisdom stored in our hearts. And when we lack wisdom, James tells us we can ask: God will generously give it (James 1:5).
So don’t throw the dice, rely on a feeling, or wait for a voice from above or within. The Spirit guides you as you reach for your Bible every day, attend to the preaching of God’s Word, surround yourself with wise counselors, and use common sense (see Proverbs).
4. You talk about the Holy Spirit as “gathering the church” from every nation, tribe, and people. Having served in Dubai with believers from many different backgrounds, how have you witnessed the Spirit’s unifying work across cultural boundaries?
One thing you don’t see in the coffee shops of Dubai is an Egyptian sitting with a Chinese family or a Ukrainian talking with a Zambian. People come to Dubai from every country in the world, but they remain segregated in their people groups. Not so at ECCD. Our church family is made up of believers from a variety of religious, cultural, and socioeconomic backgrounds who love one another from the heart. CEOs from Europe have coffee with laborers from Pakistan. Mexican accountants have long conversations with South African administrators. My women’s Bible study small group included a lawyer from Los Angeles and a young woman from a village in Nepal. Our most recent wedding was between a Brit and a Nigerian. A Filipino pastor officiated, and the musicians were from France, Taiwan, and Colombia. I don’t have space to list the countries of the bridesmaids and groomsmen. It was a foretaste of Revelation 21!
At ECCD we’ve truly seen what Peter proclaimed in Acts 2: “Everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Syria, Indonesia, Italy, India, France, Spain—we’ve watched people from these countries and more be born of the Spirit and call upon Jesus’ name. ECCD is a little picture of heaven, with saints from every tribe, people, language, and nation. It’s been a joy to live life and worship with these precious people!
5. Can you share a few of your favorite quotes from the book?
As the Spirit of God dwells in our hearts, we will increasingly be more like Jesus. As we feed our roots and prune back the works of the flesh, change is inevitable and unstoppable. Not only is the Spirit infinitely powerful, he is utterly committed to seeing us grow in grace and godliness. And his work is a community project. He takes distorted images and makes them into a collective display of God’s glory.
The Holy Spirit isn’t simply a power or the god of spontaneity. The Holy Spirit is the one who brings the plans of God to fruition. He’s the member of the Godhead who brought order and fullness to the cosmos. He applies the work of Christ to every believer. He’s the author of Scripture—the beautifully ordered library of sixty-six books that fit together into one glorious story. And he builds up the church into the fullness of Christ using the ordinary means of grace.
6. Here are some endorsements:
“…clear, accessible, and deeply biblical…This is not merely a book of theology; it’s an invitation to deeper communion with God. Read it with an open Bible and a prayerful heart, and you’ll come away knowing the Spirit better—and living more faithfully because of it.” – Juan Sanchez, Senior Pastor, High Pointe Baptist Church, Austin, TX
7. What is something surprising that people might not know about you?
I didn’t start washing my face at night until my fifties. Only after my daughter shamed me into it did I begin double cleansing and moisturizing. Now I have a morning and evening skincare routine. I know it’s a healthy thing to do, but now that I’m spending time on it, I’ve become vain—susceptible to the latest fad for “glass” skin. I even have a red-light wand! I’m not going to dye my hair, though—too much trouble and expense. Thankfully, I know that we hold the treasure of the Spirit in jars of clay: “Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day” (2 Cor. 4:16). (See the section “Sex, Wrinkles, and Windsor Castle” in my book for more on that.)
Keri Folmar has lived for 20 years in the United Arab Emirates, where her husband is the pastor of the Evangelical Christian Church of Dubai. She has recently written The Good Portion: Delighting in the Doctrine of the Holy Spirit, as well as The Gospel of God, an inductive Bible study of Romans. She also co-hosts Priscilla Talk, a 9Marks Podcast.
