Devotionals for the Heart: Why we should believe in God and not doubt

The Price of Unbelief
A devotional by Colette Christopher

“But when you ask him, be sure that your faith is in God alone. Do not waver, for a person with divided loyalty is as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is blown and tossed by the wind.”—James 1:6 NLT

I love spicy foods, and for me, seafood must have some level of heat.

Recently, I had the desire to eat my favorite seafood. But I didn’t have any natural peppers to add. I rummaged through the refrigerator, but there was none. My eyes drifted to my kitchen counter, where I saw some seeds that I had previously saved. I smiled in gratitude but then thought: These have been out too long, and by now no form of heat remains. However, I began to prepare my dish as an act of faith. I added the seeds and then prayed to God, asking Him to cause the flavor to return to the seeds so I could enjoy this food that I was longing for.

Paul reminds us in James 1:6 to have faith when we pray to God we should not go back and forth, believing for one minute that He can do what we ask then in another minute, doubt His ability to do so. We must be confident in our petitions that we present to the Lord, secure in the knowledge that if we ask anything according to God's will, He will grant it to us.

I prayed for the flavor to return as I seasoned my food. I even thanked God for it. But instead of believing that God heard, knew my taste buds, and would make it happen, I started doubting. I tasted it, but there was no heat at all. None. So, what did I do? I added few more seeds. Isn’t that just like us to ask God for something and instead of patiently waiting on Him to perfect the thing we are waiting on, we take matters into our hands?

We see that in the lives of Abraham and Sarah in the Bible story. God made them a promise about the son they would have despite the fact that Abraham was elderly and Sarah’s childbearing years were biologically over. They thought time was running out, so they took matters into their own hands: Sarah told Abraham to sleep with her servant Hagar so they could fulfill God’s promise that way (Genesis 16:2). Hagar became pregnant and gave birth to a son named Ishmael. However, he was not the fulfillment of the promise from God. As we pray and petition God for healings, breakthroughs, restoration—whatever we need—we have to not only apply faith, but patience is also another key ingredient.

Back to the story from my kitchen: When I tasted the food that I had seasoned and prayed over, my eyes immediately watered. I could not enjoy what I longed for, I wanted mild spicy, but this was unbelievably hot. Immediately, what came flooding into my mind was that this is what happens when I ask God for something and then allow doubt and unstable thoughts to flood my mind and then take matters into my own hands. The results are disastrous!

I encourage you today to hold fast to faith and trust God, even when it seems that what you are asking for is impossible. Believe anyway, confess any thought that is warring in your mind, and ask Him to fill you with faith to believe. The Bible says in Ephesians 3:20-21 NKJV, “Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.”

Will you believe God with me today?

Let’s Pray: Father God, help us to trust You, even when the pressures around and within cause us to waver in our belief. Help us to hold onto faith. Father, You are our living hope. You are trustworthy and a promise keeper! Please remind us of this truth when we doubt You and your promises for us. Strengthen our faith in You as we wait for You, Lord. In Jesus’s Name I pray. Amen.

Song of Reflection #1: “I Will Wait for You” by Juanita Bynum. Listen to it here.

Song of Reflection #2: “Wait on the Lord” by Donnie McClurkin. Listen to it here.

Song of Reflection #3: “The Benediction” by Anthony Brown & Group Therapy. Listen to it here.

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Author Bio:

Colette Christopher is an empowered woman who inspires women to be who they were created to be. Her core message is empowerment. She is an author, certified life coach, podcast host, and trainer with the Maxwell Leadership team. 

Colette believes that an empowered woman empowers others and is powerful in knowing who she is and what she can accomplish. Colette is on a mission to impact the lives of the women assigned to her, whether she is their coach or trainer or shares a word that will transform their lives.

Colette utilizes her Christian principles as the base of all her engagements. She is passionate about fulfilling her life purpose of empowering women to know who they are, rebuild their confidence, and use their voices as tools to uplift themselves and others.

​​She is the founder of the M.E.E. Movement L.L.C., a faith-based empowerment ministry business that helps women of faith rebuild their confidence and use their voice to walk in their purpose through life coaching, mentoring, and empowerment speaking. Colette believes in using the gifts God has given her to help women be who God has called them to be and ultimately fulfill the purpose for which they were created. She lives by Romans 8:28 (NIV), that promises, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose."

A native of Jamaica, Colette resides in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. She is the mother of two beautiful young women, a son-in-love, and two grandsons. Colette enjoys reading, writing, watching good movies, and chatting with her daughters and friends.

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Connect with Colette:
Blog: https://www.colettemarie.online/blog
Website: https://www.colettemarie.online/
Podcast: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2367935
Email: Colettemarieonline@gmail.com

Devotionals for the Heart: God's Plans

Is this the plan, Lord?
A devotional by Carrie Del Pizzo

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future.” –Jeremiah 29:11 (NIV)

I find great comfort in the fact that the great big God of the whole wide universe has a plan for me. My husband and I love that verse so much that we put it on our wedding invitations. Twenty years later, we’re still watching His plans unfold.

But let’s be honest, sometimes I wish God would tell me the plan. I don’t need the whole story with every detail. But an outline would be nice. Maybe a course syllabus or possibly Cliff’s Notes. I haven’t seen any outlines so far, which means some days I wonder.

Last spring, when our exchange student returned to his home country, we began discussing how best to use the spare bedroom. Get another exchange student? Rent to a local college student?

After much prayer and discussion with the family, we felt God’s call. We decided to open our home to an unwed young mother. Our city is home to a fantastic ministry working with young women who become pregnant when motherhood isn’t part of the plan. Well, not their plan anyway.

And so we began preparations for a young lady and her child who need a family to love them unconditionally. If you’ve participated in the foster system at all, you know there are heaps of hoops to jump through for licensing: training, home repairs, CPR certification, etc. We’ve been on a 90-day journey to check all the boxes and we’ve recently hit a brick wall.

With only seven days before our deadline, we learned that we needed to get all five cats to the vet for current vaccinations. (Yes, five cats. Yes, I’m the crazy cat lady.) Even if it were logistically possible to get all the cats to the vet in a week’s time, how could we ever afford the bill?

I’ll be honest—I felt disappointed and confused. Why would God lead us all this way, only to be denied just so close to the finish line? This is your plan, God … right?

In the Jeremiah passage, the next two verses go on to make an important point.

“Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” – Jeremiah 29:12-13 (NIV)

Did you catch that? When we pray, He will listen. When we look for Him, we will find Him … when we look with all our heart. That means we have to be serious about the praying and the looking. Not just, “Ok, God, you can step in or whatever.” No, we have to intentionally go to God.

And so we did. Once again, my husband and I prayed about it and sought wise council.

Our licensor checked with her state director to get the complete details on getting our cats “up to code.” Turns out, only rabies vaccinations are required, which is significantly less expensive than all the many cat vaccinations available. Also, we are allowed to get our license while still in the process of dealing with the cats as long as all rabies vaccinations are done before a child is placed in our home.

What felt like a brick wall was just speedbump and we are once again days away from being fully licensed.

What about the plans God has for you? Do you ever double check with Him the way I do? I encourage you to ask Him—He’s listening. And look for Him—you’ll surely find Him.

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Author Bio:

In this world of texts, memes, and emojis, slowing down to truly communicate can feel like straining a muscle you haven’t exercised in far too long.

Seventeen years of business experience across a variety of industries has taught Carrie Del Pizzo the fine art of professional communications. Partnering with corporate executives and entry-level employees alike, she has written and edited major project proposals, direct marketing pieces, sensitive client communications, employee handbooks, and user manuals.

Carrie’s love of literature and story has led her to develop and exercise her fiction writing skills as well. Aside from her personal creative efforts, she also edits for self- and traditionally-published authors and enjoys writing short dramas for church presentation.

Carrie is a wife, mom of three Americans and host-mom to numerous exchange students. Italian-by-marriage means she loves to cook and eat. She lives in Spokane, WA, with her hilarious family, who keeps her in stitches and provides piles of material for great stories.

Devotionals for the Heart: The Details

God, Are You Listening?
A devotional by Tammy Karasek

God is in the small details as much as He is the big ones of our lives. Scripture proves it. Read Luke 12:22-31 then ponder this: If He tends to the itty-bitty Lily of the valley and feeds the ravens, then why wouldn’t He be concerned about us as well? We worry about issues in our lives and wonder why God doesn’t answer our prayers now. Sometimes we don’t even stop to pray because we think that He wouldn’t want to be bothered with our little things.

I often think God may not be listening or may not be interested in what I need. If I’m honest, feeling unimportant is usually when I’m being impatient for a prayer not yet answered. The answer I want on my time. Through the years I’ve learned that God’s answer may not be what I was looking for and God’s timing wasn’t my timing—thank goodness!

I was reminded this past week that God has perfect timing and cares about those details in my life that are important to me. Three people made comments to me at three different times that were undeniably from God. They were directly related to questions I’d been praying—well, whining about—for several months regarding my writing and the direction in which I should go. In other words, I was searching for my purpose. Can anyone relate? None of these conversations had anything to do with the other except for the common denominator—me. None of these folks knew me, or even knew my story. They wouldn’t have had a clue I’d been praying about these things.

Yet in God’s sweet way, He used each of these three ladies to speak the words that my heart needed to hear. Words that slammed Satan’s lies to the ground faster than a throw down on a wrestling mat. The statements made in all three scenarios were delivered in such a matter of fact way, I was taken aback each time they were said. Realizing I had received answers to these long-term prayers, I just wanted to walk away to go sit and cry.

But first, I needed to ask forgiveness from God for thinking He didn’t care about the details in my life that caused me to worry and question so many things. I needed to see that He, in fact, had been listening to me through it all.

Waiting is never easy. But, oh friend, as those answers come when God chooses to deliver them, you can bet they will be at the perfect time and be just what He wanted for you. They may or may not be as fast as you’d like them and they may or may not be the answer you wanted, but you can guarantee they will be God’s best for you.

I’d like to encourage and challenge you today. If you’re holding back from asking God for an answer or for direction, might I be bold and tell you—ask for it. Then take it one step further, thank Him for the answer He will give you. Yes, have faith that He does answer and thank Him every day until you see that answer.

Step out of the way and let Him prepare you for just the right answer. In just the right time.

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Author Bio:

You’ll find Tammy seeing humor and causing laughter in every aspect of life. Tammy’s past filled with bullying and criticism is the driving force of her passion to always encourage others and share with them the Reason to smile. 

She’s been blissfully wedded to her college sweetheart, Larry, for 36 years, mom to their grown daughter, Kristen and wrapped around the paw of a little puppy named Hattie.

She’s the President of Cross N Pens Christian Writers and a member of ACFW. She will be published in the 2018 Divine Moments book – Cool-nary Moments.
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Connect with Tammy:
Blog - http://www.tammykarasek.com
Twitter - https://twitter.com/tickledpinktam
Email - tickledpinktammy@gmail.com

Words of Faith: Cheryl's story about how to insert faith into your life

[Insert Faith Here]
A Words of Faith story by Cheryl Cathlin

“The years passed…” (Genesis 17:1, Clear Word) It is here, at the beginning of Genesis 17, that we find Abraham waiting...and waiting for the fulfillment of God’s promise that he would have a son; and through this son, descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky (Genesis 15:4-5 NKJV). However, from Abraham’s perspective there seemed to be a few wrinkles in the plan...literally. Abraham was 99 years old, and his wife Sarah was 90, well beyond childbearing age. The prospect of offspring, much less the hope of descendants as numerable as the sand, seemed impossible.

Seven years ago, I similarly found myself frustrated by my own series of failures and deferred dreams. “The years passed” and took my hopes with them. A setback in my pursuit of becoming a lawyer brought my career aspirations to a screeching halt. I tried desperately to redirect, but door after door continued to slam in my face. A couple bad relationships and friendship drama left me feeling broken. Have you ever looked at your life from a panoramic view and thought, “this is not where I expected to be at this [insert appropriate time parameter]?” But there I was. Like Abraham, I was frustrated waiting . . . and waiting for the fulfillment of God’s vision for my life.

But while Abraham waited, God appeared. “ . . . and when Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to him, saying, ‘I am the Almighty God.’” (Gen. 17:1, Clear Word). God introduced Himself as “El-Shaddai” in the Hebrew. Some theologians translate it as, “The All-Sufficient God.” The message was clear and the reminder was timely. The Almighty, All-Sufficient God could do, and would do everything that He had promised. When God first gave Abraham this promise, many years before, Abraham believed (Gen. 15:6). However, as “the years passed” Abraham’s faith began to waver. In fact, we find Abraham deciding to help God along and [insert Ishmael]. How many times do we waver while we are waiting? I did. And I found that the choices I made with wobbly faith only served to prolong the promise, rather than hasten it.

When God showed up in Genesis 17 to reaffirm His promise to Abraham, it was humanly impossible for the promise to be fulfilled. Only God could bring it about. But it is here, in the great gulf between God’s promises and human circumstances that we [insert faith]. It is here that El-Shaddai, the Almighty, All-Sufficient God, shows up to remind us that nothing is too hard for Him (Gen. 18:14, NKJV).

In my story, God showed up. Through the loving encouragement of friends and family, I was reminded that God is “El-Shaddai.” He is the Almighty, All-Sufficient God and nothing is too hard for Him. I put the broken pieces of my life, my deferred hopes and dreams, into His hands and decided to trust Him completely to fulfill His promises. And not only did God begin to restore the broken pieces of my life, but He did much more – more than I could even think or imagine to ask Him for. In May, I walked across the stage of Liberty University School of Law and received my law degree. From a human perspective, this prospect was an utter impossibility. But El-Shaddai! 

Moreover, the journey to this point has been replete with miracle after miracle. Through the process, I have gained a deeper fellowship with my Savior. My faith has increased as I’ve watched God move mountains in my life and in the life of others in answer to prayer. I have formed lifelong friendships and been blessed with wonderful ministry opportunities. My longing desire is to draw closer to my All-Sufficient God daily and to be used mightily by His Holy Spirit.

Perhaps you are in a chapter of your life that begins with “and the years passed.” The fulfillment of God’s promises seems utterly hopeless. From all perspectives, it is humanly impossible. [Insert faith here.] Resolve today to trust the Almighty, All-Sufficient God to bring about what He promised. Nothing is too hard for Him! He did it for Father Abraham. One year later, a ninety-year-old Sarah gave birth to a son. He did it for me! And He’ll do it for you too. [Insert faith] and watch God work.

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Author bio: 

Cheryl Cathlin recently finished law school and is currently studying for the July 2016 Virginia Bar Exam. 

She is from Virginia Beach, Va. but currently resides in Lynchburg, Va. She enjoys hiking, writing and participating in ministry.