Praying God’s promises — it’s changed me.
That’s why I included a prayer, at the end of each chapter, weaving together Scriptures from that chapter and others I sensed God wanted us to engrave on our hearts.
“Praying God’s Word has been one of the most life-changing ways I’ve learned to live in the security of His promises…and isn’t that what we all want?
“One way God tells us that confidence will come is when we ask Him for what is already part of His will. ‘This is the confidence which we have before Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us’ (1 John 5:14 NASB). So there you go: we can be confident we are praying God’s will when we pray God’s Word!” p.25
But that’s not all.
Romans 10:17 tells us that “faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ” so let’s pray these promises out loud again and again.
Out loud. Yes, even if it seems weird. Find somewhere you can be alone to speak these truths where you can hear them, and let them echo in your heart
Trust me, it makes a difference.
“When we pray God’s words out loud, and hear them, the Holy Spirit engraves them on our hearts and writes them in our thoughts. We internalize God’s truth and our faith grows as we are transformed from the inside out!” p.25
Let’s pray this week’s prayer {together}:
Lord, I pray that You would give me a confident heart in Christ. Take me beyond believing in You to truly believing You. Help me rely on the power of Your promises and live like they are true. You say blessed is the one who trusts in You and whose hope and confidence are found in You. Those who hope in You will not be disappointed, because You work all things together for good for those who love You and are called according to Your purpose.
When self-doubt tells me I can’t overcome my insecurities, I will believe Your promise that all things are possible to whoever believes. I will not throw away my confidence, because You say it will be richly rewarded. I will persevere so that when I have done the will of God, I will receive what You have promised. My confidence is in Christ and I am no longer one who shrinks back and is destroyed, but one who believes and is saved! In Jesus’ name, Amen. {See Jeremiah 17:7; Isaiah 49:23; Romans 8:28; Mark 9:23; Hebrews 10:35–36, 39}
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{Special Gift & GiveAway}
Chad Lawson, my friend, award-winning composer and pianist , has graciously shared his beautiful, Spirit-filled Song of Prayer below. Watch and listen below for FREE. {If you’re reading this via email please click here to visit my website to watch}.Friend, you don’t want to miss this – trust me.
Even though it will probably be hard at first, please pause to soak in this God-gift that was filmed while Chad listened to the Holy Spirit. Chad simply played what God laid on his heart. You’ll see the joy of Christ in Chad’s smile but more than anything, you’ll experience the peace of God’s presence through his music.
You can find and download A Song of Prayer on Itunes ($1.99) or Amazon ($.89)
{Today’s Give-Away}
3 Special Order Song of Prayer CDs
To enter to win one: Click “share your thoughts” below this post and describe how you felt or what you sensed God whisper as you listened to Chad’s Song of Prayer. Also share one or two of your answers to questions you feel comfortable sharing about from the end of Chapter 1.
Remember, if you’re reading this via email please click here to visit my website and participate. All entries must be put in the “share your thoughts” section.
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This is a beautiful piece…i can really feel gods love overflowing onto us in this very moment….i feel the emotion inside trying to come out…It seems like a song of surrender, or maybe thats just what it says to me today. A very talented pianist indeed . Thank u so much for sharing this blessing with us renee. Peace& Love
Tonight I am exhausted. I have a 5 month old baby girl who didn’t sleep well last night and didn’t feel good today. Listening to the music I could feel the long hard day just fall away and a sense of peace fill our little apartment.
Right now in my life there is a lot of change and uncertainty, a lot of prayers that seem to go unanswered. I am feeling very hopeless, discouraged and tired. Romans 8:28 spoke to me most out of this chapter. After a bunch of difficult circumstances it is hard to believe that there are better ones coming. It is hard to be confident that the next change around the corner will be good and not something else bad. It feels like thing will always be this way. I think my attitude is the thing that hinders me the most.
Thanks for leading this study for us!
I have always love piano music. As I listened it was just a great peace fillling me. If I could I would have gone to sit by a small stream or beach. Very beautiful. Very soothing.
My earliest memories of insecurity started in elementary school. I was always the last one they picked for the games in gym. The kids picked on me -I guess because I was shy and backwards. I was kind of nerdy too. That’s ok though. I realize now they were the ones who were insecure and also needed the Lord.
Absolutely beautiful…and it makes me sad that I haven’t kept up with my own piano playing since I’ve had my kids. My piano sits there, and often I want to play but don’t have time. What he did, I used to do! One of my answers to this week’s questions referred to this: 2.Insecurity has kept me from doing many things, like playing piano for others, going to gatherings with many people I don’t know well, asserting my opinion when it should have counted, etc. 5.The thing that hinders me most from living with God-confidence on a consistent basis is not being surrounded with other believing women. Right now, “those who hope in Me will not be disappointed,” speaks to me more than anything. I do have a few close friends who are believers, but the ones I see the most are the ones who aren’t willing to share this part of their lives often. This online study is my attempt to surround myself with believing women.
I feel the same about my piano playing, but I am fortunate to be able to listen to my 13 year old son play daily. He not only makes stuff up but plays music beautifully. The other day I sat down and played for about 20 minutes and it felt great. My son even asked me if I enjoyed playing. It is a great getaway from the stresses of life.
Thank you for sharing this beautiful song and introducing us to Chad’s music. To be honest, there is a situation that is weighing heavily on my heart. Instead of feeling like there’s an exciting God-filled challenge to learn from and overcome, I am feeling very burdened and weighed down. Please pray for me to see myself and the situation through God’s eyes, not Satan’s.
Lord I want to believe – help me in my unbelief! I need your presence in my life. I feel my prayers have been unanswered for so long…. why can’t I hear you, why can’t I sense you? My confidence is gone. This book makes me want it and have it in you, but why can’t I accept what you want to give??
Tammy…keep pressing forward! He hears the cries of your heart. His response time may not always be what we think it should be, but if you keep seeking Him, Jeremiah 29:12 tells us that he WILL be found. He’s worth every step and tear…keep going forward sister! Will be praying for you.
Contentment — I hear it….. Knowing God is there and He’ll provide your needs…..maybe not alll of your wants, definitely your needs. This bible study keeps reinforcing that we’re never going through things alone… I tell myself over and over again…. I’m not alone……and I can do it….
The music that Chad played was awesome! I felt the peace of God surround me.
Thank you for putting this video on for all to listen to.
I so loved this song! Listening to it was like God telling me to tell him my problems. Then at the fast part was like God shouting while jumping up and down…”Hello…..I am here for your! Telll me everything. I love you so much! You mean so much. Let me take all of the grief and struggles that you bear and make things better.” Then back to the slow part…..”I love you….rest in my arms, cry if you need to cry! I love you!”
Truly a beautiful song
Question 3—When doubt whispers “I can’t, things won’t change….it’s hard..” I just so want to throw in the towel and say….”Yup….its hard” and give up. Question 4: When reading the bible verses I think that maybe, just maybe things could be different.
Question 5–What hinders me from living with God Confidence is not truly believing—it’s always been this way so why should it change now.?
I have been struggling with depression for the last 9 years, done the meds thing, the counseling thing, and now struggling with alcohol addiction. I am sooooo hoping to break free from all this stuff with the help of God and this bible study. So far….it’s not working but I am giving it time.
Julie…I want to encourage you to hang with this study. Sometimes we don’t see the changes in us until much later, but others do.
Your question to #5 makes so much sense. I think of the woman in the Bible who had issues of bleeding for 12 years in Luke 8:42-48. In the book of Mark it tells us that she had spent all she had on seeking help and nobody could help her. She was defeated for 12 years, but up until the day she was healed she had never sought Jesus for help and when she did, the Bible tells us she did not go “unnoticed”.
Keep walking toward Him in faith that He notices you and has healing available to you also. 🙂
Will be praying for you!
Still listening…I feel such peace and God’s presence.
What hinders me the most are daily defeats and my own negative self-talk. I appreciated the exercise of writing down these negative feelings and doubts and tossing them in the trash.
The promise I am clinging to is “See I am doing a new thing!”
This music refreshes my soul. There are moments I can hear the words. I’ve been very much church hurt. I’ve spent a few years floating from one church to another, while returning and then leaving again to where the hurt was inflicted. I had finally given up and have not been to any church for a few months. During listening and praying in this music, I heart several times, “go back to church”, then I heard “go back to church, for me”.
The music is so soothing. I plan to use it a prayer room for background. It is hard for me to share myself with others. I have be insecure about myself as long as I can remember and never felt that what i thought or felt was important to others. Have spend most of my life keeping things to myself. I am learning to love myself so I can truly love others.
I am listening to this beautiful, peaceful music and really meditating on what it’s going to be like in heaven when we are surrounded by music and instruments we could never even imagine. God has created a song…..and I feel a glimpse of His love for us…just a sliver….it overwhelms me.
One of my prayers is that He teaches me what I need to know at the right time in my life. That He brings messengers and a message that speaks to what I’m going through right now! This bible study is that message for this season in my life. He is a detailed, caring, loving God who wants me to be what He created me to be. He cares about my success in Him!!
Today, I will go to a funeral of a man who witnessed Gods love and mercy firsthand. God gave him time to come back to Him. While he was not healed on this side of heaven, he is healed now…and listening to a song that we can’t hear……….yet.
I am so grateful to know Him more and more……..
What beautiful music!
As someone who has spent my life fearful of rejection and afraid I will never be good enough or measure up this music said to me that for God we are all good enough and anything done in faith and offered freely will always be a blessing. We just have to learn to let the presence of God in our hearts speak without fear that we will sound stupid or be somehow inadequate.
Chad’s music made me realize that all of us can find our own ways of speaking what God has put on our hearts, whether that is through music, writing, painting or even something as simple as stopping to tell a spouse, a child or a friend how much we love them.
I also realized how important it can be to stop the noise, inside and outside myself and just be in the presence of the God who loves me and loves us all.
Renee – Thanks for sharing this beautiful music and reminding me of God’s love and the power that peaceful reflection in God’s presence can give us all.
Renee, I hope you don’t mind if this is more than a few sentences. I started listening to this song after a week of some stresses that were still lingering in my mind and heart on Friday evening when my workweek was done. I heard the first 14 minutes and then felt I had to get dinner started and get busy doing the routine things that fill my time in the evenings. I kept watching Chad’s face and actually was concentrating more on what he was experiencing as he played than what I might receive from it. My husband and I (who work at the same place I do) talked before dinner about the stresses of the week and what we want our lives to be and how we deal with things that cause us stress and upset. And this morning I started the day with my normal routine of walking on my treadmill, praying, and doing a bible lesson and the Lord began to speak in that lesson about how peace and self-control and physical wellbeing are in His design for me but He is to be the source of those things. I noticed tension in my neck yesterday evening and it wouldn’t ease up even after a night of restful sleep. My husband had headed for town and would be gone for a while so I came back to my computer and started Chad’s song where I had ended it yesterday and instead of watching Chad I asked God “what do you have for ME?”. I remembered a time in the past when work stresses created so much tension in my body and I had put on a CD of peaceful music with oceans sounds and just let the music wash over me and it helped me physically. So, I laid on the carpet all stretched out and asked God to just let the music move over me and let me hear Him speak. And the Lord allowed me to release those stresses of the week to Him, to relive them only long enough to recount them to Him and just at the moment when I told the Lord I was releasing them all to Him the music intensified and, you know what, in the precise moment I felt the Lord telling me to just let my spirit soar to Him just like the music began to soar. I’m so thankful for the Holy Spirit abiding in me, moving in me, wooing me to Himself. I am thankful for His peace. This music opened the door for me to enjoy God’s presence in a fuller sense and I thank you (and Chad) for sharing it!
Beautiful. That is something i long for, to truly be in the presence of the Lord. I know that He is always with me but to just sit still and feel his arms wrap around me on another level is what I desire.
I closed my eyes and drifted back in time when I was a little felt for the first time the pain of rejection…
and now as an adult knowing I’ve been a good christian, daughter, sister…and my sister has rejected me and my mom, because her husband who is not a christian doesn’t want is in their lives…and she has drifted away from the Lord.
Please pray for my mother for my sister to come just like the Prodigal Son, and to know that mom and I love her and want the best for her and her marriage, and has always loved her unconditionally….but most all to from my sister to come back to the Jesus that loves her and doesn’t want her to be an unequal yoke. Please pray for us, and specially for my sister, her name is “Mary”
YES!!!!
Did anyone notice the “Jesus Loves Me” integrated in the music at the 27 – 28 min mark?
Before that I was just relishing the peace of Christ. When I recognized those familiar notes…that is when the tears fell. Oh, that this hardness in my heart would melt away and I could return to the intimacy I used to have with the Lord. (Of course, He has had me in a maturing process/wilderness for several years now)…praying for the hard ground of my heart to be plowed, for the rain to fall, and for the silent work He has been doing in me to begin to blossom!!
i am not sure it that is what I thought the song was , but yes i did hear a tune that I have heard before. I thought that it was just me. Thank you for your and confirming that I did hear something I knew.
I heard “What has washed away my sin, nothing but the blood of Jesus”…
I am listening as I am responding. It is so beautiful. At first it sounded sad to me. Then as a closed my eyes sensed the ocean, just roaring free. As I listened more I felt like it was the perfect background music for private prayer time. I gave me a sense of the four seasons. The seasons of life that we go through. Winter, Spring, Summer and Fall. Of just nature, things dying off in the winter, coming back new in the spring, living through the summer, then preparing to die for the winter to come back vibrant in the spring all a new again. I feel our spirits are like that sometimes. life going through the cycle. none of this could have been possible if it were not for the love of Our God and Savior. I love you Lord. Thank You for Jesus.
Peace! Be STILL and KNOW that I am God. The Still Small Voice. Heal me and I will be Healed. Nothing can separate me from the Love of GOD!!!!!!
Cathee,
That has been “my verse” for the last 13 years. That is exactly what He reminded me of while I was listening!!
When I heard Chad’s music I was automatically filled with God’s Spirit. It southed my mind and heart.
Thank you for having Chad play for us.