Growing Your Heart For MissionsSample

Live in expectancy 

This is the story of a widow in crisis. She has gone to an elder and asked for help, and she is given a set of instructions that make no sense and require a vast amount of faith and courage. Can you imagine knocking on the doors of all your neighbors and asking for bowls and jars without a good explanation of why you need them?

She did exactly as she was told—and God was faithful. So faithful that as long as there were jars waiting to be filled, the oil kept on flowing. When the jars ran out, the oil stopped.

If that isn’t a powerful illustration of the expectant faith we ought to be living our lives in, I don’t know what is! What this story tells us is that God meets us at the level of our expectancy.

And like the story of the widow, our expectancy depends on what God says to be true—not on our current circumstances.

When we live in the space of expectancy that our all-powerful God is on the move, it creates an atmosphere for the supernatural to happen.

When God gave my dad the vision of taking God’s Word to every child in the world, it was like the call to gather jars. And we have been ever since. We have to work hard, be bold, and keep bringing them; but God has never failed to keep pouring out His goodness. If you have never experienced living in the expectant, and seeing God move to meet you at the level of your faith, I pray that you will step out today and see what He does.

God, we know that you are working all things together for your good. We desire that the Gospel of the kingdom be preached in all the world before the end comes. Your Word commands us to understand our times and to know what to do. And I pray as a missional community that we will live in expectancy, casting off our small plans and our little faith. You are serious about the Great Commission and we will operate in audacious faith. May we be people who say, “with the Lord nothing is impossible” and that we are more than conquerors in the all-powerful name of Christ Jesus. We praise you. Amen.