“Answer me when I call, O God of my righteousness! You have relieved me in my distress; Be gracious to me and hear my prayer.” Psalm 4:1, NASB

Lord, we’re desperate for you. We’re bunched up in confusion, moving by impulse and fear, flitting here and there like a frenzied flock caught in the wilderness of the far country.
We are here! We are here! And we know you hear. You’ve heard us before; you’ve swept in and saved us from our hopeless paralysis.

Do it again, O, Holy One; how long must we wait?

And we hear you say, “Yes, how long? How long must I wait while you wear my grace and peace like a cheap cloak from a secondhand store?”

Oh God, I hear your heart. You set me apart; yet, I joined the crowd – like birds of a feather.
From now on, Abba, when the swirl and twirl shoves at me, instead of taking to panicked wings; I’ll let you quiet my soul.

“I am ready now; I am willing now to be swept under the safety of your wings, as a hen gathers her chicks.” (Matthew 23:37, NKJV)

Question: Does this prayer sound like one you’ve prayed recently? What about sometime in the past?

“Blessed are those who don’t doubt me” (Matthew 11:6, Living Bible).

Do you ever feel like God has not lived up to your expectations in some particular circumstance of your life? Perhaps you have believed… yet nothing has happened. When you feel confused and wonder if God has let you down, you have a choice to make.

You can choose to be offended at God’s seeming silence and disinterest and allow doubt to slip into your heart or you can choose to believe God loves you with a lavish love and has your best interest ?at heart – even when things seem to make no sense to you.

Jesus addressed this very thing. In His words to John the Baptist He says what our hearts still need to hear today, “Blessed are those who don’t doubt me” (Matthew 11:6 The Living Bible).

Times come to all of us when God’s activity in our lives seems to  make no sense. We wonder at the circumstances we find ourselves in and we may sometimes even feel abandoned by God. We could easily slip into doubting our great God.

Yet God tells us…

•    He will never leave us nor forsake us. (Hebrews 13:5)
•    He has lavished His great love on us. (1 John 3:1)
•    He cares about the burdens we carry and invites us to cast them on Him to carry for us. (1 Peter 5:7)
•    He invites us to learn His ways and find rest for our weary and burdened souls. (Matthew 11:2)

If your heart is heavy today because you feel confused about what God is doing in your life, know that you have a choice to make. You can let doubt in Him slip in and permeate your soul or you can let these truths penetrate your heart and trust His love for you. Each will bring its own result. Choose carefully.

Jesus promises you will be blessed when you choose to keep trusting Him even when it seems to make no sense. Ask Him to help you keep your fragile faith intact and leave your hand in His. He will be true to His word and you will be blessed as you trust our faithful God.

Father God, today I call out and ask You to increase my faith. Help Your truths to penetrate my heart and my mind. Help me as I choose to trust Your love for me today. Thank you that You are my faithful God. In Jesus’ name I pray, amen.

TAKE THE NEXT STEP: How do you say “I love you” to God?

Questions: Do you ever feel like God has not lived up to your expectations? Do you ever feel like God has let you down?

Feeling lonely and unloved? We can pray for you.

Are you facing life after divorce, abortion, sexual, physical or emotional abuse? We can pray for you.

Join us for our Daily Devotional Chat today in our Women’s Chatroom at 10:30 am EDT.

“The angel said to the women, ‘Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; He has risen, just as He said. Come and see the place where He lay’” (Matthew 28:5-6, NIV).

As we prepare for Easter, it isn’t too difficult as modern day believers to put ourselves in the place of those first followers of Christ.  Those were dark days. Before Jesus’ resurrection, His disciples viewed His arrest, crucifixion and death as events that crushed their hopes. They had believed Jesus was the Messiah, that He would conquer evil and issue in a new kingdom – the kingdom of God. They were confused. Where was the deliverance that Jesus had promised?

We also live in dark days. A girl from my son’s high school was murdered this week. The evil of the world invades our lives.  After His resurrection, when Jesus ascended into heaven, He promised that He would return to earth and take us to be with Him in heaven. So, like the early disciples, we find ourselves in the days between – waiting for His promise to be fulfilled.

The angels’ words, “He has risen, just as He said” is good news indeed. Though there was doubt during the days of waiting, He did fulfill His promise.  Praise God that we have the Holy Spirit indwelling in us, reminding us of His promise to return, strengthening us as we wait, providing us with hope, and filling us daily with the courage to face difficult times.

Although the time seems long and evil surrounds us, Jesus will return, just as He said.

Dear Jesus, thank you for your resurrection, by which we are saved. Thank you also for Your promise to return. Help us to cling to that hope. Amen.

Questions: Do you think about Jesus’ return? How does remembering that the promise of the resurrection was fulfilled help you believe Jesus will return?

About the Author Suzanne Benner

Are you struggling with feelings of sadness, loneliness or despair?  Needing someone to talk to?

Join us for our Daily Devotional Chat today in our Women’s Chatroom at 10:30 am EDT.

Do you ever feel like God has not lived up to your expectations in some particular circumstance of your life? Perhaps you have believed… yet nothing has happened. When you feel confused and wonder if God has let you down, you have a choice to make.

You can choose to be offended at God’s seeming silence and disinterest and allow doubt to slip into your heart, or . . . you can choose to believe God loves you with a lavish love and has your best interest at heart — even when things make no sense to you.

Jesus addressed this very thing. In His words to John the Baptist He says what our hearts still need to hear today:

“Blessed are those who don’t doubt me” (Matthew 11:6, The Living Bible).

Times come to all of us when God’s activity in our lives seems to make no sense. We wonder at the circumstances we find ourselves in and we may even feel abandoned by God. We could easily slip into doubting our great God.

Yet God tells us…
•    He will never leave us nor forsake us (Hebrews 13:5).
•    He has lavished His great love on us (1 John 3:1).
•    He cares about the burdens we carry and invites us to cast them on Him to carry for us (1 Peter 5:7).
•    He invites us to learn His ways and find rest for our weary and burdened souls (Matthew 11:2).

If your heart is heavy today because you feel confused about what God is doing in your life, know that you have a choice to make.

You can let doubt in Him slip in and permeate your soul… or you can let these truths penetrate your heart. Each will bring its own result. Choose carefully.

Jesus promises you will be blessed when you choose to keep trusting Him even when it seems to make no sense.

Lord, please help me to keep my fragile faith intact and leave my hand in Yours. I know You will be true to Your word. May I trust You today as my Faithful God. In Jesus name I pray, Amen.

Questions: Do you ever feel like God has let you down?  What choice do you then make? What does Jesus promise when you choose to keep trusting Him?

About the Author Gail Rodgers

Are you tired of living a defeated Christian life? Why not check out this video.

What adjective would you use to describe yourself? Think about it for a moment.

Would it be “joyful” or “worried”, “fearful”, “encourager”, “perfectionist”? God tells us that our joy will increase as our trust in Him increases. This is something beyond the happiness and delight or pleasure found in a particular circumstance.

True joy is a deep and abiding assurance rooted in hope. If worry, fear, nagging, or feeling overwhelmed is what characterizes you on a daily basis, you know your trust in God has probably faded and your hope begins to feel slim.

Listen to God’s promise to you…

“May the God of Hope fill you with all joy and peace, as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit” ( Romans 15:13, NIV).

When hope has disappeared off your horizon, check honestly to see where your trust in God is at. Ask Him to increase your faith. Ask Him to grow your faith to believe that…

• He will act on your behalf.

• He will give you strength and wisdom where you are weak and confused.

• He will supernaturally fill you with the power of His Holy Spirit.

• He will increase your hope in Him in every circumstance of your life.

The hope you have in God increases as your trust deepens. This hope becomes an anchor for your soul. It will bring with it a deep source of victory and joy as God works in you and through you to bring His hope to you in your day-to-day world. Depend on His Holy Spirit to fill you with increased faith today.

Father God, I ask today that You will increase my faith in You. I want to trust You with every aspect of my life. I need the power of Your Holy Spirit to work in me to trust You fully for the hope of my future. Help me to move from worry and fret to hope and joy. Fill me today so that I can actually overflow with hope by the power of Your Spirit. Thank you for Your amazing grace in my life. In Jesus’ name I pray, amen.

Questions: How would you describe your self as far as your “joy” is concerned? How can one have this deep-rooted joy that Jesus talks about?

About the Author Gail Rodgers

A man and his dog are in the same car. The dog howls bright-moon-in-the-middle-of-the-night caterwauling howls. The man pleads, promising a daily delivery of dog biscuit bouquets if only the hound will hush. After all, it’s only a car wash.

Never occurred to him—ahem, to me—that the car wash would scare my dog. But it did. Placing myself in her paws, I can see why. A huge, noisy machine presses toward us, pounding our window with water, banging against the door with brushes. Duck! We’re under attack.

“Don’t panic. The car wash was my idea.” “I’ve done this before.” “It’s for our own good.” Ever tried to explain a car wash to a canine? Dog dictionaries are minus the words brush and detail job. My words fell on fallen flaps. Nothing helped. She just did what dogs do; she wailed.

Actually, she did what we do. Don’t we howl? Not at car washes perhaps but at hospital stays and job transfers. Let the economy go south or the kids move north, and we have a wail of a time. And when our Master explains what’s happening, we react as if he’s speaking Yalunka. We don’t understand a word he says.

Is your world wet and wild? God’s greatest blessings often come costumed as disasters. Some of you doubt it. How can God use cancer or death or divorce? Simple.

He’s smarter than we are. He is to you what I was to four-year-old Amy. I met her at a bookstore. She asked me if I would sign her children’s book. When I asked her name, she watched as I began to write, “To Amy …”

She stopped me right there. With wide eyes and open mouth, she asked, “How did you know how to spell my name?”

She was awed. You aren’t. You know the difference between the knowledge of a child and an adult. Can you imagine the difference between the wisdom of a human and the wisdom of God? What is impossible to us is like spelling “Amy” to him. “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts” (Isa. 55:9).

I keep taking Molly to the car wash. She’s howling less. I don’t think she understands the machinery. She’s just learning to trust her master.

Maybe we’ll learn the same.

Question: How can we trust God at times when we are confused, frustrated, or just don’t understand where our life is taking us?

About the Author: Max Lucado

I often need to let things steep in my mind and heart much like making a good pot of tea. Lately I’ve been pondering a thought from Dr. Myles Munroe book on “Understanding the Purpose and Power of Prayer”. It is this…

“The backbone of prayer is our agreement with God’s Word…”

As this steeped in my heart I began to see my praying differently. Often I determine what would be the best answer in my situations and then ask God, in faith, to accomplish it. Scripture is sometimes a part of that. Yet God began to challenge my heart to ask Him first what His Word says about what I am praying for. How could I agree with His Word in the things that I felt prompted to pray for?

Here are some prayer nuggets I found as I asked God how to pray according to His word.

When praying for someone who seems oblivious to God’s care for her.
Show her the wonder of Your great love, O Lord. Psalm 17:7

When praying for someone who seems directionless in her work.
Establish the work of her hands, O Lord. Psalm 90:17

When praying for someone who sincerely desires to walk in God’s ways.
Since she lives in the Spirit, help her keep in step with the Spirit. Gal. 5:16-20

When praying for someone who is tempted to go back into her old ways.
Thank you Lord that it is for freedom that You have set us free. Help her to stand firm and not be entangled again in this slavery. Galatians 5:1

When praying for someone who is confused about how to live.
Lord, help her not to conform to the patterns of the world but to be transformed by the renewing of her mind so she can prove out Your will in her life. Romans 12:2

When praying for someone who is distracted spiritually by acquiring things.
Lord, help her to set her affections on things above and not on things on the earth. Colossians 3:2

When praying for someone who is despondent and brokenhearted.
Lord, restore her soul and lead her in right paths for the sake of Your name.
Psalm 23

When praying for someone who needs to give her heart to the Lord.
Thank you Lord, that You are patient and desiring everyone to come to repentance. Help her to choose to turn her life into Your hands. 2 Peter 3:9

When praying for someone who desires a mate, a new job or a change.
Thank you Lord that You will perfect that which concerns her today.
Psalm 138:8

When praying for those worn out in ministry.
Lord, may she be energized today as she lives her life on the wavelength of the great commission. Matthew 28:19

Heavenly Father,
Thank you that Your word gives us everything we need for life and for godliness.
Teach us to pray according to Your Word and not according to our wishes. Lead us in new paths of prayer as we look to discover first what Your word says about what we are praying for. Teach us to pray, Lord. In Jesus’ powerful name I ask, amen.

Question: How can you use the Scripture to shape your prayers today?

About Gail Rogers

Daily podcast: A second daily devotional, When We Miss the Target, today on the Men’s Devotional Blog

**If you are hurting from the pain of having lost someone dear to you and you are not experincing peace, we care and want to pray for you. http://thelife.com/interactive/share.html

New kinds of fresh fruit began showing up on the grocery store shelves this week. Fruit that has been out of season for months is back!

The Bible says that “peace” is one of the “fruits of the Spirit.” Sometimes it feels as if that fruit goes out of season too. As the realities of the evening news come into my living room I think of that fruit of the Spirit. As the images and stories parade across the TV screen I sometimes feel my own sense of peace fading.

So I turn my attention to God’s Word to see again what He has to say about this fruit called peace. I discover afresh that His peace is never out of season. His peace is one that is offered to our hearts. But how do we pick this fruit? How do we have this peace in the midst of troubling news? Listen to what Jesus says.

“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid” (John 14:27).

I am reminded that His peace is a gift. It won’t be found in conventional places or in ways the world offers. It is something directed to the heart and it replaces fear and anxiety.

To pick this fruit, to have this peace, I need to take action. I need to ask God to quiet my heart. I need to pray for those in charge in troubled days. I need to pray for those who suffer and for those who are hurt, confused and angry. I need to ask God to take the unease in my own heart and replace it with His gift of peace. I need to share the peace He gives me as I go through my day. This may mean offering to pray together with another who is worried.

Sometimes when the storm rages and the sea of life is not calm, the mighty hand of God comes in, by our invitation, and simply calms us. The peace of heart that comes from the Holy Spirit is a mystery. In the middle of the storm He brings a calm that can be explained no other way than by His divine care. We receive it in order to share it.

Ask God today for His fruit of peace in your heart and mind. Ask Him for an opportunity to share that fruit with those around you who need His peace in their heart today.

~Heavenly Father,
Please give Your divine peace to our hearts and to our minds. Remind us to pray for others and with others as we look to You for peace in our hearts and also in our world. We ask you to be with those whose responsibilities, emotions and thoughts are overwhelmed. Grant Your strength, wisdom and Your peace. In the name of Jesus we pray, Amen.

Questions: Are you experiencing peace today? If not, how can that peace be restored?

About the Author:http://talk.thelife.com/experience/devotionalforwomen/authors/gail-rodgers/