Believe & Speak

Danny Gokey has a new song out called My America (I Still Believe). I’ve only heard it a few times, but every time he breaks into America the Beautiful, I get goosebumps. Certainly, God has shed his grace on this nation.

Before putting my thoughts together for this episode, I looked at my podcast’s statistics because I recently crossed a major milestone in the total number of listeners. I wasn’t surprised that America is first on the list of countries listening and Canada comes second. But the country in the third position of my listeners throughout the world is Ukraine. Oh, my goodness! Ukraine is listening to my podcast. God has shed his grace not only on America the beautiful, but also on Ukraine, which is every bit as beautiful and beloved by God.

Singapore is fourth on my list of countries tuning in. Then New Zealand, and then France.

France. The country that has been on fire the past week is a country where God has also shed his grace.

Here’s what God is saying to you through Isaiah’s prophecy, “Come out in freedom. Come into the light.” The Lord in his mercy will lead you; he will lead you beside cool waters.

A lyric in Danny Gokey’s new song says that America is a little bruised up. So is France. So is Ukraine. These bruises are nothing new. The apostle Paul wrote in Romans 8:20-21 that “… creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God” (NIV).

You and I need to believe and speak this truth no matter where we live. Jesus is the one who sets us free. He is the light of the world who has overcome the darkness. Let’s look to Jesus in the midst of the bruises and decay. Let’s heed his call to live in the light of the freedom. Like a good shepherd, He will lead the way.

 

This week's scripture: Isaiah 49:9-10

God spoke life into existence, but he didn’t merely say “Let there be people.” He said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness.” God had a special design in mind for mankind—for us to be like him. I’m reminded of something I wrote in my book Longing to Belong, which I’ll quote for you now.

You are beautiful. You belong. You are loved. 

The fourth line of the Manifesto of Acceptance addresses who you are inside and out.

I am wonderfully made. 

You were knit together by the master craftsman, who watched you and wanted you before you were born. Your existence was anticipated and planned by the Creator of the universe, who laid out every moment of your life before a single day had passed. You are a masterpiece with a unique purpose. Declare the fourth line of the Manifesto aloud.

I am wonderfully made. 

Believe it! God made human beings in his image, to be like him. By framing his design for you from the perfect model, God made certain to craft you with precision for a purpose. You are God’s masterpiece, equipped with everything needed to do the incredible things God planned for you to do and to be the complex person he created you to be.

I am wonderfully made. 

This line of the Manifesto may be the most difficult to believe, but that doesn’t make it any less true (p. 94).

That excerpt comes from the chapter called “I Am Wonderfully Made.” I hope you know that. You are indeed wonderfully made because you are made in the image and likeness of God, and that’s pretty wonderful.

God made you with a body, a soul, and a spirit. Your body won’t last forever, but it will be resurrected and glorified just like Jesus. Your soul, which is made up of your mind, will and emotions, is the essence of who you are and it will last forever. Your spirit came alive when you received Jesus as your Lord and Savior, which means you carry within you the indwelling presence of God. You are wonderfully complex and eternal, just like God.

If you’d like to check out my book Longing to Belong, you’ll find it on Amazon, Walmart.com, Booksamillion.com and Christianbook.com. It’s also available as an audiobook from Audible, and as a digital download to your Kindle or from the Apple store for your iBooks app. Look for the Longing to Belong Reading Plan on your mobile device via the YouVersion Bible app. Consider purchasing the Longing to Belong Bundle that I designed to help you go deeper in your study and watching the teaching videos that align with each chapter on my Find Joy video podcast.

 

This week's scripture: Genesis 1:26-28

Last week, I mentioned a book I wrote several years ago about how God kept his promise to be close to the broken hearted and save those who are crushed in spirit. In the book, The Lord is Close, I share the story of God’s faithfulness during a season of deep, overwhelming grief. In the previous episode, I talked about one of two things I learned at the time about tears. If you haven’t already heard it, I hope you’ll check it out. The second lesson about tears is spelled out in today’s declaration: God made sure my tears can heal me.

God’s design for tears was proven by a scientific study that came out the year after my son died. My hope for today’s episode is to do away with the lie that we shouldn’t cry.

Jesus is our best role model, and if he wept than it’s definitely okay to cry. He knows the healing power of tears.

In Philippians 4:9, Paul wrote, “Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you” (NIV).

Paul is also a role model who cried many tears. Let’s put to bed the lie that big boys don’t cry. Any teaching that admonishes us not to cry keeps us from the healing God designed for us through our tears. Which brings me back to the scientific study. Research scientists collected human tears for analysis, and compared tears resulting from an emotional response to those shed from allergies, onions and the like. The chemical make-up of the tears was different. The emotionally shed tears contained within them the chemical in our bodies that causes depression. God designed crying for a special purpose. It actually expels the depression building up inside. If anxiety, fear or depression are assailing you, you might need a good cry.

Don’t forget to download the graphic that goes with today’s episode. You’ll find it—along with the graphics for all my episodes—on my podcast page at this link: Shawna's Blog - Bible Teacher | Author | Shawna Marie Bryant

 

This week's scripture: John 11:32-36, Hebrews 5:7, Acts 20:19 and 2 Corinthians 2:4

In the late 1990s, I wrote a book about how God kept his promise to be close to the broken hearted and save those who are crushed in spirit. I had buried my baby boy and cried countless tears. No pain has touched my life as deeply as the pain I felt when my son died.

Even when we’re going through the deepest pain of our lives, we can be comforted in God’s presence and walk in his life-giving light.

I serve on the Prayer Team at my church. At the end of each week’s sermon, the worship team makes its way back onto the platform. Our worship services are formatted to include a music set after the sermon as well as at the beginning. It’s one of the things I love about our church. It gives the congregation an opportunity to respond to God’s Word, and it also creates an atmosphere for prayer. As soon as the keyboardist begins to underscore the preacher’s closing remarks, I make my way to a spot on the side of the sanctuary where I wait for anyone to approach me with a request for prayer. This past Sunday, something unusual happened. I was singing along with the congregation from my spot off to the side, when I felt like God said to me, “She needs a hug.”

I looked toward the back of the room and saw a young woman weeping and dabbing her tears with a tissue. I approached her and said, “I couldn’t help but notice your tears. May I pray for you?” She nodded and I asked her name. Then I began to pray whatever came into my mind. As I was praying, I mentioned that I had come to literally be the arms of Jesus because I believe God wanted to give her a hug. The woman’s tears came even harder as I gave her a squeeze on behalf of Jesus, and I was reminded of the promise in Psalm 56:8.

God doesn’t merely collect our tears; he knows why we cried them and he makes a record of the reason. God keeps track of the things that hurt us, which is why we can trust the Holy Spirit to be our comforter and our advocate. We can trust Father God to work all things together for our good. We don’t have to keep a record of the wrongs done to us or the things that caused us pain. God keeps track of all our sorrows. He has collected all our tears in His bottle. He has recorded each one in his book. What a profoundly comforting thought! God not only sees you when you’re crying, but he is right there with you, collecting every tear that falls. And one day, he will wipe them all away. Revelation 7:17 says, “For the Lamb on the throne will be their Shepherd. He will lead them to springs of life-giving water. And God will wipe every tear from their eyes” (NLT).

Don’t forget to download the graphic that goes with today’s episode. You’ll find it—along with the graphics for all my episodes—on my podcast page at this link: Shawna's Blog - Bible Teacher | Author | Shawna Marie Bryant

 

This week's scripture: Psalm 56:8-13

Lately, my mind has been conforming to thought patterns out of sync with my preferred pattern of thinking. I desperately want to break out of the rut of negative thought patterns that my mind has settled into. Renewing my mind definitely takes effort, but it can be done. Everything is possible with God!

Romans 12:2 contains a two-part command:

don’t conform

be transformed

God never commands us to do something that he doesn’t also empower us to obey. Therefore, I absolutely can stand against conforming to the world’s pattern.

Here’s another part of the Romans 12:2 promise. Once I’ve been transformed and renewed, I’m able to test and approve what God’s will is. Wow. But here’s the thing. The transformation process begins with breaking out of the world’s pattern of thinking, acting, living. Philippians 4:8 says, “whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things” (NIV) That’s how we renew our minds. Philippians 4:9, says that if we put biblical teaching into practice, then the God of peace will be with us. God will be with us. Not merely his peace, but also his presence. God’s presence brings a depth of peace that surpasses human understanding. God’s supernatural peace flows in to shore us up against the tide of fear, anxiety and negativity in this world.

You and I can’t always choose what we hear. Unsolicited comments and automatic negative thought patterns will clamor for our attention. We can’t choose what we hear, but we can choose what we listen to. What we think about. What we give voice to. A friend of mine once told me of the importance of ear gates. We use ear gates when we turn off the TV or stop scrolling on our mobile devices. We also use our ear gates to keep out what we hear so it doesn’t invade our thoughts. When we tune into negativity and other patterns of this world, the hinges on our ear gates can get worn down. Let’s refuse to conform to the listening patterns of the world. Let’s set aside our tendency toward fear, anxiety and negativity. Let’s renew our minds by focusing on the God of peace and all that he calls true, right and pure.

Don’t forget to download the graphic that goes with today’s episode. You’ll find it—along with the graphics for all my episodes—on my podcast page at this link: Shawna's Blog - Bible Teacher | Author | Shawna Marie Bryant

 

This week's scripture: Romans 11:33-12:2

Anybody else struggle to fall asleep or stay asleep? Since I was a little girl, I’ve had a hard time slowing down my mind and/or my body when the clock says it’s time for bed. Perhaps that’s why I’m so familiar with the verses I’ll be reading for you today. Psalm 63 serves as a wonderful reminder that if I lose sleep, I can still find God.

Psalm 63:6-8 inspired today’s episode, and I have thought of these verses on countless sleepless nights. When I have trouble falling asleep, I try to quiet my mind with prayer. The longer I lie awake, the more earnestly I search for God. I’ll ask him, “What is it you want me to pray about?” Sometimes a name or a situation will pop into my head, and I’ll begin to pray along those lines. Other times, my mind quiets and I can’t figure out why I still can’t fall asleep. As the clock ticks away at my hopes for a full-night’s rest, I’ll ask God to multiply the hours once I do fall asleep so that in the morning it seems like I got in all the required hours. Then I’ll breathe deeply and count my blessings.

It’s crazy how often I’ll wake up in the morning totally refreshed, even though I may have remained wide awake well past midnight. I wake up thanking God for multiplying the hours and giving me the rest I needed. I thank him for showing himself faithful by supplying my need for sleep. I also thank him for hearing my prayers as I earnestly searched for him while sleep evaded me. If we keep the mindset of David, the one who wrote Psalm 63, then we can be certain that losing sleep doesn’t have to be a total loss.

Don’t forget to download the graphic that goes with today’s episode. You’ll find it—along with the graphics for all my episodes—on my podcast page at this link: Shawna's Blog - Bible Teacher | Author | Shawna Marie Bryant

 

This week's scripture: Psalm 63:6-8

My daughter gave me the idea of which scripture to share with you in this week’s episode, and I can’t believe that after 178 episodes, I still haven’t featured the much-loved verses I’ll be reading today. Thank you, Sarah, for the inspiration! I know the verses by heart that provide the foundation for the truth we will declare together today.

My path has been anything but certain lately. I’m doing my best to lean on God rather than my own understanding—especially because I’m having a hard time understanding! I tend to joke about how I’m on a need-to-know basis with God and all too often he thinks I don’t need to know. Acknowledging God in all my ways is much easier when I have lots of reasons to give him praise. It’s harder to acknowledge that God is present and working in the midst of my difficulties, dead ends, and disappointments.

The other day I was riding along with my daughter to run some errands, which is much easier with two adults when you’ve got three little ones in tow. Sarah had pulled up a playlist of Disney soundtracks for her little princesses to listen to in the car. I wasn’t paying attention to the music while I tried to verbally process my difficulties, dead ends, and disappointments with my daughter. Suddenly, my oldest granddaughter—who will be 5 in August—declared with glee, “Listen! This song is about Jesus!” Sarah turned up the music and sure enough, it was!

“That’s weird,” she said, as she clicked forward and backward through the playlist, and sure enough, the theme song from some Vacation Bible School soundtrack was right there in the middle of a Disney playlist. That’s when I started paying attention to the music. Right after a lyric about how life will get crazy, I heard the words “I’m trusting you, God. You are good.”

Sarah said, “Mom! That’s a miracle from God right there. What else could explain this song dropping into the middle of a Disney playlist?” When the song ended, my granddaughter shouted, “Play it again!” So, we listened again to a chorus of children’s joyful voices sing, “I’m trusting you, God. You are good.”

I admit, that happy, unexpected song redirected my focus. in the midst of me trying to figure out the crazy path my life had taken, God creatively reminded me that I can trust in the Lord with all my heart, and that I should not lean not on my own understanding. He reminded me to acknowledge God, and trust him to direct my paths for my good and his glory because he is a good God.

I asked Sarah to send me the link to that happy song so that I could listen to it the next time I started to lean on my own understanding rather than on God. If he can drop a children’s praise song into the middle of a Disney playlist, then he can do anything—even make my wild and crazy paths straight.

If you’re a new listener you probably don’t know about the graphic I design for each episode. It’s perfect for posting to social media. Just visit the podcast page on my website to find and download the graphics. The images change with every episode and contain the declaration for that week.

Share this podcast and/or a link to my website: www.shawnamariebryant.com

This week's scripture: Proverbs 3:5-6

This week’s declaration comes from Psalm 118, which I keep coming back to read as if God doesn’t want me to miss something hiding there. Two of the verses in Psalm 118 inspired today’s declaration, which has the power to bring life just by speaking it.

Psalm 118:24 has provided the lyrics to a number of happy, upbeat songs about how today is the day to rejoice and be glad.

Psalm 118:27 tells us God is the Lord and He has given us light.

I find the context of these verses fascinating, because I can hear the struggle to stay focused on God rather than the dire circumstances. I struggle with the same forces that want to rob me of the joy that comes in the light of God’s presence. I can relate to the need to bind the sacrifice with cords so that it doesn’t get away. There are days when the choice to rejoice isn’t easy.

Maybe—like me—you’ve sung at least one version of the words in Psalm 118:24. It’s especially hard to sing “I will rejoice and be glad in it” when the day isn’t a great day. I just got a text from my neighbor as a follow up to her request that I keep an eye out for her beloved black lab Bodie. She found him behind a tree in her backyard, where he laid down for the last time. She chose gratitude in the midst of loss and sadness. I know this because she texted, “I’m grateful he just fell asleep and didn’t have to suffer.”

The words that follow the oft-repeated (and even sung) Psalm 118:24 prove that circumstances weren’t the reason to rejoice.

“Save now, I pray, O Lord; O Lord, I pray, send now prosperity” (Psalm 118:25 NKJV).

The urgency in the request to save now and send provision now suggest that circumstances were not cause to rejoice. The goodness and mercy of God—the God who gives us light in darkness—is the reason to rejoice today and every day.

I learned a life-changing lesson right before entering into an extremely difficult season of loss and sadness. The lesson is tucked into in a phrase worth writing down.

Don’t focus on what you don’t have. Focus on what you do have and be thankful. 

God is good and his mercy endures forever. He is worthy of praise in good times and bad. He has given us the light of his presence. He has given us a reason to rejoice.

If you’re a new listener you probably don’t know about the graphic I design for each episode. It’s perfect for posting to social media. Just visit the podcast page on my website to find and download the graphics. The images change with every episode and contain the declaration for that week.

Share this podcast and/or a link to my website: www.shawnamariebryant.com

This week's scripture: Psalm 118:24-29

I pulled this week’s declaration out of Ephesians 3:14-19, which comes just a couple verses after Paul writes of how God has welcomed us to come boldly and confidently into his presence because of Jesus. It’s no wonder the passage opens with Paul talking about falling to his knees.

The passage closes with Paul saying that you will be made complete. Being complete—being filled with all the fullness of God—starts with being rooted and established in God’s love. Paul says that God’s love is difficult to grasp, hard to comprehend, mindboggling to wrap your head around. That’s because God’s love is not like human love. If we really could grasp how wide, how long, how high, and how deep God’s love is, we would never fear rejection or abandonment. Instead, we would feel a strong sense of security. My friend, the strongest and most secure relationship you could ever have is the relationship you have with God, because nothing—absolutely nothing—can ever separate us from God’s love.

Being loved by the Creator of everything in heaven and on earth is being in the most secure relationship you could ever be in. The strength and security found in God’s love make us complete—filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. When I think of this, I could fall to my knees just like Paul. I am incredibly thankful for the security found in a loving relationship with God.

If you’re a new listener you probably don’t know about the graphic I design for each episode. It’s perfect for posting to social media. Just visit the podcast page on my website to find and download the graphics. The images change with every episode and contain the declaration for that week.

Share this podcast and/or a link to my website: www.shawnamariebryant.com

This week's scripture: Ephesians 3:14-19

When I was a little girl, I dressed up for church. I dressed up for parties. I dressed up for dining out. These days, I rarely get dressed up. Maybe that’s why today’s declaration makes me smile. Its wonderful news is tucked into a Bible verse at the end of the chapter in Isaiah that contains the prophecy Jesus read in his hometown of Nazareth the day He revealed His identity and purpose to them. Perhaps, like me, you’re familiar with the verses Jesus quoted from Isaiah 61:1-2 about how the Spirit of the Lord was on him and had anointed him to proclaim good news to the poor. I’m less familiar with the verses I’ll be reading today. They come from Isaiah 61:10-11, and tell us that we are clothed in garments of salvation and arrayed in robes of God’s righteousness. We can step out with our heads up and our smiles on because we are looking good to God!

I wrote a book called Longing to Belong, and the first chapter talks about how you and I are a display of God’s splendor. That wonderful news is also Isaiah 61. “They [which refers to people just like you and me] will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of his splendor” (Isaiah 61:3 NIV).

I recently started taking a group of women through my book on Tuesday nights, which is probably why I was drawn to Isaiah 61 for today’s episode. You and I have absolutely no reason to feel any guilt or shame once God clothes us with garments of salvation. Saved by God’s indescribable gift of grace, our own good works are nothing but filthy rags. Why try to clean them up when we can cast those filthy rags aside and put on—like it says in Ephesians 4:23—"put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness” (NIV).

You, my friend, are holy and blameless because of what God has done, not because of anything you’ve done or haven’t done. God chose you in Christ before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. Paul’s letter to the Ephesians goes on to say that Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. (Eph. 5:25-27 NIV)

Longing to Belong on Amazon: Longing to Belong: Discovering the Joy of Acceptance: Shawna Marie Bryant: 9781684264803: Amazon.com: Books

Christianbook.com: Longing to Belong: Discovering the Joy of Acceptance: Shawna Marie Bryant: 9781684264803 - Christianbook.com

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This week's scripture: Isaiah 61:10-11