Believe & Speak

I remember exactly where I was the first time someone quoted Psalm 119:165 to me. I had asked a girlfriend to pray with me about coping with a constant source of offence that poked and prodded me incessantly. I didn’t want to become offended and succumb to the bitterness, cynicism or anger that often marks offended people. My friend quoted the King James Version of Psalm 119:165 to me and it reson...

Do you remember the declaration from last week’s episode of the Believe & Speak podcast? It was a good one! If you missed it, go back and review Episode 41. Last week’s declaration started with “I can.” As you know, the word “can” refers to an ability. This week continues with a similar assurance of your abilities—abilities you have because of the righteous character produced in your life by Jesus...

God recently taught me something remarkable about reconciliation. I’ve always thought of reconciliation as something that happens between two people or between groups of people—like with racial reconciliation. As more and more exposed injustices stir up hostilities and erupt into rioting and looting, our grave need for reconciliation becomes more and more apparent. So, how do we go about reconcili...

Today we finish our series on Psalm 5. I mentioned back when we started this four-part series that the Book of Psalms provides great content for the Believe & Speak podcast because the Psalms are filed with wonderful declarations and promises. This episode includes a favorite memory verse of mine. I absolutely love the promise in today’s verses. I hope you’ll repeat the declaration often, and as y...

Today’s episode takes us three weeks in to our four-part series on Psalm 5. This psalm—like so many of the prayers found in the book of Psalms—is full of truths and promises that are well worth declaring. Today’s verses, however, address less than pleasant circumstances. David sometimes wrote psalms containing pleas that God would deal with evildoers. Listen to this episode to see what I mean. Dav...

I started a four-week series last week on Psalm 5. The Psalms are filed with powerful promises that you and I can Believe and Speak. The psalms provide wonderful content for this podcast, which is all about declaring the truths found in the Bible. If you missed last week, you might want to pause this episode and go back to Episode 37, when I read the first three verses of Psalm 5. Today I’ll conti...

This week I begin a four-part series on Psalm 5. Today’s episode covers the first three verses, which assure us that God listens to us when we pray. I like to picture God leaning in, cupping his ear, and giving a welcoming nod as he takes the time to hear my cries and consider my requests. The obvious intimacy between the author of Psalm 5 and God gives me the confidence to boldly ask God to liste...

For my listeners who are new, I want to take a moment to tell you about the seven-week series I did back when I started this podcast. That series—which ran from Episode 3 to Episode 9—took us all the way through Psalm 139. It’s at the top of my mind today because my daughter is about to deliver a precious baby girl, and one of the episodes in that seven-week series has this declaration: I am wonde...

Been in a pit of disappointment lately? Me too. Unmet expectations and unrealized dreams are in the pit with me. The mud and mire in the pit keep me from climbing out. My feet slip and I sink. The only way out of the pit is rescue. Today’s episode focuses on our hope of rescue. My decision to produce a weekly podcast filled with declarations of truth was inspired by my newly released book, Longing...

I designed the Believe & Speak podcast to help you replace negative thoughts with positive declarations of truth. Today’s truth gives us hope when we’ve messed up. You and I have an advocate, and he pleads our case before the Father when we confess our sins. When Jesus Christ, the one who is truly righteous, tells our Father in heaven that you belong to him, that you have been covered by his blood...

Speaking truthful declarations aloud will help to drown out lies that beat us down and wear us out. The lie that drove me to the Scripture verses I chose for today’s podcast works overtime to make me feel guilty. Lots of lies condemn us, but today I want to focus on why we shouldn’t let the guilt we feel over being worn out drive us to picking up and taking on burdens we were never meant to carry....

Last weekend my pastor preached while standing between two tall pillars. The one on the left side of the platform was labeled “Goodness” and the other “Control”. He said we experience God’s peace when we dwell between those two pillars. When we rest in the knowledge that God is good and God is in control, then we can trust Him to take care of us. When we cannot control our circumstances, trusting...

I once heard it said that we are human beings not human doings, and yet we always feel like we need to be doing something. Right now, especially, I feel the need to do something, say something, make things better somehow. But how? In today’s episode, I read Bible verses that hold a promise that God will not only give us the ability to do the right thing, he will also give us the desire to do the r...

This morning, as I meditated on the Scripture I chose for this week’s episode, a thought came to mind. It may not be very original, but it’s the first time I ever thought of it. The tongue with all its power is located between the brain and the heart. If we want to get something out of our heads and into our hearts, it must pass by the mouth. Will your tongue trap lies and release truth as your th...

Today is a good day to note that the Believe & Speak podcast was inspired by my book, Longing to Belong: Discovering the Joy of Acceptance. I can’t help but point that out because I just released my book yesterday. The verses that I read during today’s episode from Psalm 37 kept me awake late into the night Monday night—the night before my book released—because this book has been a LONG time in co...

Last weekend Americans like me celebrated our independence. My family lit a few small fireworks in the large gravel driveway at my house. We also had sparklers in various primary colors. I have loved sparklers since I was a child. They don’t make loud pops or piercing whistling sounds. They’re not scary because you can hold them in your hand. Even today—as old as I am—I grin and giggle as I hold o...

With today’s episode, I hope to remind you that you don’t have to work at perfection. God perfected you when he purified you with the blood of Jesus. Jesus died not only so that you could live, but so that you could live free of guilt and shame. Free of striving to be good enough or righteous enough. Because of Jesus’s finished work on the cross, your whole spirit, soul and body can be kept blamel...

This week’s episode has been brewing in my heart and mind for more than two weeks. I actually knew what the Scripture and declaration would be well in advance of this date. I was simply waiting for the right time. I’ve been dealing as best as I could with the onslaught of emotions I’ve felt since the murder of George Floyd and the civil unrest that has torn apart so many of our nation’s communitie...

My pastor made a point last weekend about how those of us who are in Christ shun shame and shaming. In other words, I am who God says I am. I am who God created me to be. And so are you. You and I have no reason to feel shame in our identity, for we are God’s people. Anyone who trusts in God will never be disgraced. God called you out of darkness into his wonderful light, and he gave you an identi...

Mary’s prayer: We choose thoughtful in-person discussions around dinner tables to hollering our opinions to masses on the Internet. Yesterday, Mary DeMuth shared a prayer of repentance from racial injustice on her podcast, Pray Every Day. She based her prayer on a few different scriptures, and one of the passages was Nehemiah 1:6-7. In today’s episode of Believe & Speak, I share those two verses a...

My heart is broken with grief over the tragic death of George Floyd. My spirit is heavy with the weight of the pain, unrest, and anger that has boiled over in response to the injustice. I ache at the condition of the human heart—that it could harbor such hatred. In times like these, I turn to the Psalms because they help me to pray when I struggle to find the words. I need the right words right no...

This week’s episode is once again inspired by my reactions to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on life as we once knew it. I crafted the Believe & Speak Podcast to prompt and encourage us to believe and speak truth. That’s why I give a declaration each week that I repeat and encourage you to repeat until the truth sinks in. Because we can count on the Word of God to deliver truth, I pull the d...

Today’s episode is the final installment in our four-week series on worry. The Scripture reading you’ll hear today is the one I go to more than any other passage in the Bible when I’m worried. Probably because one of these verses specifically addresses fixing our thoughts on God. The New International Version uses the word “steadfast” in regards to how intentionally focused we need to be in order...

Worry is not healthy. Jesus cares about our mental health and well-being, and he told us not to worry. (Tune into Episode 18 for more on that.) During this season of uncertainty with the COVID-19 pandemic, I have struggled to keep my mind from wandering into unhealthy, worrisome thoughts. Today’s episode looks at another one of God’s promises that will help us redirect our minds toward the faithfu...

Last week, my daughter suggested I read from Matthew 6 and share Jesus’s command not to worry. I’ve listened to that podcast four times over the past week, and have repeated last week’s declaration over and over. If you’re new to Believe & Speak, you need to know that I always start by reading a few verses from Scripture, and then I give you a declaration based on that scripture. As I repeated las...