Expectation is an interesting concept. One year my mom told me her New Year’s resolution was going to be “expecting less of others”. At first I thought that was pretty cynical, like she thought people were bound to disappoint so it’d be easier to just expect that from them. That wasn’t the point at all though. She wanted to grow in contentment, to not be emotionally dependent, on others meeting her needs or expectations.

With God, expectation can and should look very different. He is perfect, he is good, he loves and his plan for each of us is always to give us hope and a future. His promises are true, and we need to believe that. When we pray for healing, provision, wisdom, understanding, or direction, what do we expect? God won’t always give us what we think we need, but we can expect that he will give us what he already knows we need. In the same way, he wants to use us to give others what they need. Having the expectation for God to do exceedingly and abundantly more than we could ever ask or imagine will build our trust in him and it will move him.

Watch this short message from Dr. Randy Clark about the Power of Expectation

Now take some of these truths and declare them. If you take half a dozen verses and commit to declaring them, let’s say 5 times a day, it will start to change your expectation about God, what he can and will do through you and for you.

1. My prayers are powerful and effective (2 Cor 5:21; James 5:16b)
2. God richly supplies all my financial needs (Phil 4:19)
3. I am dead to sin and alive to obeying God (Romans 6:11)
4. I walk in ever-increasing health (Isaiah 53:3-5)
5. I live under a supernatural protection (Ps 91)
6. I prosper in all my relationships (Luke 2:52)
7. I consistently bring God encounters to other people (Mark 16:17,18)
8. Through Jesus I am 100% loved and worthy to receive all of God’s blessings (Gal 3:1-5)
9. Each of my family members is wonderfully blessed and radically loves Jesus (Acts 16:30.31)
10.I uproariously laugh when I hear a lie from the devil (Psalms 2:2-4)

11. I set the course of my life today with my words (James 3:2-5).
12. I declare today that I cannot be defeated, discouraged, depressed or disappointed. (Phil 4:13)
13. I am the head. I have insight. I have wisdom. I have ideas. I have authority. (Deut 28:13; Deut 8:18; James 1:5-8; Luke 10:19)
14. As I speak God’s promises, they come to pass. They stop all attacks, assaults, oppression, and fear from my life. (2 Peter 1:2-4; Mark 11:23-24).
15. God is on my side today and therefore I cannot be defeated. (Romans 8:37; Psalms 91)
16. I have the wisdom of God today. I will think the right thoughts, say the right words, and make the right decisions in every situation I face. (1 Corinthians 2:16)
17. I choose life today. I choose health. I will not be depressed today. I will not be in lack today. I will not be confused today. (Deut 30:19; Neh 8:10; Ps 103:1-3; 2 Tim 1:6,7)
18. I expect the best day of my life spiritually, emotionally, relationally, and financially in Jesus’ name. (Romans 15:13)

You are not a muffin… YOU are a cupcake!

Have a great day cupcakes!

~Sally

I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. ~Ephesians 4:1-3

We are going to impact many lives on this trip! How we come together matters. Long term impact depends more deeply on the team’s heart preparation and unity in the Holy Spirit, than it does on technical preparation.  Here are some ways to consider preparing your heart and spirit, so that we, as a team are strong, unified and leave a lasting impact.

Be on point

If you were to shoot an arrow with a dull tip at a target it may strike the mark, but will it stick? No. Let your arrow be sharp. A good witness doesn’t have to be perfect, but let’s consider some areas that could hinder or enhance long-term impact.

Pray that God would help to prepare you to be:

• focused (on Him)
• unified (with Him and the team)
• positive
• submissive
• full of praise and faith
• clean of any pride, rebellion against the team or leaders, division, strife towards members, complaining, negativity and impurity

Be flexible

You never know when the opportunity to minister will present itself. Maybe it will be an airport, airplane, automobile or hotel lobby. There are going to be places where you are expecting to minister to people and see the Holy Spirit move, but God is not limited to our expectations or agendas. Many times opportunities arise when we least expect it and feel unprepared or weak. Be flexible and expect the unexpected!

The steps of a man are established by the Lord, when he delights in his way. ~Psalm 37:23

The heart of a man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps. ~Proverbs 16:9

Be confident in your calling

Whatever excuse you may hear as to why God won’t use you, put out of your head. His grace is sufficient for you, and his power made perfect through your weaknesses. Maybe you’ve heard this one: God doesn’t call the qualified, he qualifies the called! Tell yourself you’re worthy, smart, talented, gifted, valuable and you belong on this team! Every member is bringing something different and together with our different strengths we will make a difference.

Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you; before you were born I set you apart. ~Jeremiah 1:5 

Here is a prayer for you to repeat regarding your confidence;

Father I thank you that I can be confident in Christ and rather than dependent on my own ability. The stirring inside me to travel to Brazil is a desire that you put in my heart. I have chosen to say yes to the call! In Jesus name, I break the power of any lie that I may be hearing about myself including what I am called to in this season. Holy Spirit come fill me, replace lies with truth and ungodly fear with faith.

As we close in on the date for departure, I will be posting here more frequently. The final trip instructions were e-mailed to you today. You will find a complete team roster included there. I am also including the roster here, so that you can familiarize yourselves with the faces of your team and pray for them, with faces to match the names.

Have a great day everyone!

~Sally

 

Dec Photo Roster

Welcome to the December Brazil team’s blog page! We will be posting devotionals, prayer requests and other tid-bits to help build community within the team and prepare you for the trip to Brazil. We can all pray everyday in the time leading up to departure, for each other, the team leaders, and of course the churches and people we’ll be ministering to in the wonderful nation of Brazil. God is going to do amazing things, beginning right here! So let’s get ready, and get excited before we GO!

While you prepare, get into prayer!

You have your checklist: passport, sunscreen, toothbrush etc…But there’s a lot more to preparation for your trip to keep in mind than what goes into your suitcase. If you haven’t already, start making time to pray into the trip. One method of prayer that I like to use is “Up, Out, In”. Praying up just means that the focus of our prayer is on God and Heaven. Thank him for who he is. Praise him. Make declarations about Heaven’s plans aligning and being fulfilled here on Earth as we prepare and go to Brazil. After you have prayed up, pray out. The focus of out prayers have to do with others and what is outside of ourselves. Intercede for the team, the leaders, the hosts and anyone we will be ministering to. Once you have spent time praying up and out, pray inward for yourself. For some more really great ideas on prayer, I highly recommend one of my favorite books, The Happy Intercessor by Beni Johnson.

Here are some areas to target in your time of intercession

• Expanding the Kingdom of Heaven
• Outpouring of the Holy Spirit
• Increased anointing, revelation and authority in the Spirit
• Physical, emotional and spiritual healing
• Salvation and deliverance
• Health, safety and provision
• Personal and corporate assignments, growth and intimacy with God

In the coming days and weeks I will be posting more ideas and requests about prayer and preparation for the Brazil trip. Your input, thoughts and requests are important. The blog is to help you get ready, get excited and get to know the team better. Another place we will be connecting is through a group facebook page, so let me know if you want to be added as a member. Send your prayer requests, prophetic insights, ideas and comments to imt.intern@globalawakening.com. I will be sharing these with the team here, so that we can build some community and great friendships before we go. If you would like to receive emails about new posts on the team blog page, just click the blue “Follow” box on the right of the page. I am excited to hear from you all and pray with you for your trip to Brazil!

Sally Couillard,

Global Awakening IMT Intern

Thanks for joining us!

Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton