For one month between May and June, I had the enormous benefit of visiting El Shaddai School in Sao Jao de Boa Vista in Sao Paolo state, Brazil. As a non-denominational Christian school, El Shaddai’s value for community, personal relationship with God, and developmentally responsive curriculum make it an ideal atmosphere to teach children and teens about God’s voice.
God’s Call to Brazil and Latin America
Prior to going to Brazil, I spent months discerning a call to visit.
During the pandemic, I met with a group of North American and international educators monthly to train and learn from one another about how to promote Holy Spirit led teaching in Christian schools. Through this network, I was connected with my friend Tiago, who was my host for the month I was in Brazil. His family helps run El Shaddai schools multiple locations, and has for over 40 years.
Once I went to Brazil, I stayed with my friend Lubi and her family. Lubi works as a teacher at El Shaddai school and was a gracious host and translator as we went through classrooms teaching.
Church and School Community
Teaching Early Childhood Students (age 5-6)
Teaching Middle School (age 11-12)
Goals
From August to December, I hope to return to Brazil for 5-6 months for continued missionary work. During this time, I hope to:
Develop a curriculum for early childhood (5 years) middle elementary (9 years), middle school students (12 years) to hear and interpret the internal audible voice of God and visual imagery
Host weekly trainings for local teachers on the basics of personal prophecy, prophetic ministry, dream interpretation, and discerning of spirits
In August, launch virtual prophetic community for 10 teens using Whatsapp/Zoom , especially geared for teens who would be otherwise geographically isolated from prophetic ministries. Develop a model to share with churches in but especially outside of the West, to share in their own languages.
Connect and partner with ministries that do deliverance ministry within the region, learning from locals’ perspectives on deliverance
Learn Portuguese for continued trips within Brazil
Learn acoustic guitar to grow in prophetic worship
Here is a sample budget for my return trip to Brazil (August – December).
As I have traveled over the past several months, the Lord has been sharing some ways that his understanding of Joy and Freedom differs from contemporary Western culture. Some of the most profound North American thinking on joy came out of the Hippie movement, and still echoes through festivals like Burning Man and other references.While the Hippie movement was initially a reaction against the independence, need to control, and idolatry of strength present in North American culture, this movement rejected Christ in it’s efforts to dismantle broken systems and failed to reclaim joy as an essential element of Christianity. Godly joy is challenged by current North American tendencies to delegitimize and secularize it, and divorced from the full expression of God’s character inside and outside of the Church. I am writing this post because Godly freedom and joy is part of the good news of Jesus and an essential byproduct of deliverance ministry.
It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.
Galatians 5:1
God’s freedom is Countercultural. God’s freedom is more strenuous, more self-giving, and deeper than current Western culture has tools to describe.
Here are some ways that Joy and Freedom in Christ differ from Western culture.
1. True Freedom Comes from Deep Healing
Unless God sets you free in really deep places, you’re not free at all. We have to be set free in our deepest places of wounding (continuously as we know God more intimately) to sustain this kind of freedom. Healing means allowing God permission to deal with the deep places of loss that hinder our joy.
The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.
John 10:10
Some women who had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities: Mary, called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out.
Luke 8:2
Catch for us the foxes, the little foxes that ruin the vineyards, our vineyards that are in bloom.
Song of Solomon 2:15
Everyone will sit under their own vine and under their own fig tree, and no one will make them afraid, for the LORD Almighty has spoken.
Micah 4:4
False Freedom Remains Surface Level
When individuals aspire towards freedom without receiving deeper healing, they are going to have to either fake some wholeness OR keep some things hidden. This will limit an individual’s capacity to be vulnerable. For some people, God’s revelation is good news, because it reveals that God knows and loves them as they are. God’s revelation can also be terrifying because it exposes hidden sins or motives that we would rather not deal with. It is easier to gloss over our sins and promote a false appearance to others, but ultimately, we cannot fool God, as the Holy Spirit searches and tests our motives. We must instead ask God to search us, and rely on his help to deal with whatever hidden issues, wounds, or sins he exposes. Not everything the Lord reveals will our fault (ex: wounds related to trauma), but what God reveals, he wants to heal. Even when it is uncomfortable, we have to give him complete access to our inner life and allow him to heal us.
First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean.
Matthew 23;26
When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus’ knees and said, “Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!”
Luke 5:8
Jesus knew what they were thinking and asked, “Why are you thinking these things in your hearts?
Luke 5:22
Examine me, O Lord, and try me;
Test my mind and my heart.
Psalm 26:22
Each man’s work will become evident; for the day will show it because it is to be revealed with fire, and the fire itself will test the quality of each man’s work.
1 Corinthians 3:13
“Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Messiah?”
John 4:29
On hearing this, Jesus said to them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”
Mark 2:17
2. True Freedom Requires Risk
There is nothing that can replace the process of receiving courage and then bravely going after your own inner healing. Regardless of how the wounds got there, we cannot outsource our responsibility to address them. However, God delights in responding to us when we are in need! When we allow Jesus to guide us into wholeness, we experience his character more deeply. It is this process of seeing Jesus face to face and receiving his truths instead of lies that ultimately brings peace.
The healing that brings freedom is risky and costly. It is a risk to let God expose wounds and heal them. Healing will also likely have implications for your relationships, your joy, your geography, and so many other factors. And yet, to remain in partial health is unsatisfying, and doesn’t resolve the deep longing we all have for wholeness. Regardless of whether you appear successful, if you let fear for your physical security be greater than the need for deep healing, you will remain unsatisfied. Avoiding healing is deceptively easy. If we can stay trapped in the fear of the cost of healing or the fear of exposure, we never have to take risks. If you are brave enough to let the Holy Spirit transform you, you will be better received and have greater joy in work, relationships, geography, and more. Beyond just your personal interests, God will weaponize your life so that you will be more effective for his Kingdom, and people will be able to sense that you are truly different.
O God, you are my God, earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you, my body longs for you, in a dry and weary land where there is no water
Psalm 63:1
Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust[a] destroy and where thieves break in and steal, 20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Matthew 6:19-21
But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life.
Romans 6:22
Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done
and what I had toiled to achieve,
everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind;
nothing was gained under the sun.
Ecclesiastes 2:11
I assure you that unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it can only be a single seed. But if it dies, it bears much fruit.
John 12:24
Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 25 For whoever would save his life[a] will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. 26 For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?
Matthew 16:24-26
But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
2 Corinthians 12:9
False Freedom Costs Nothing but doesn’t Satisfy
The world offers freedom without risk or surrender. This was the same temptation the Devil used against Jesus when he tempted him in the wilderness, promising him a cross-less shortcut to his destiny of King of Kings on the Earth.
While cheap, the the world’s freedom is ultimately tasteless. It is unsatisfying and fleetingly brief compared to the continuous state of freedom that the Holy Spirit makes available to believers in Christ. Far from the part time recreational highs brought on by hobbies, substances, and material goods, Freedom in Christ is a place of abiding. Without this intentional pursuit of God and discipled posture of abiding, individuals have access to an excess of earthly delights, but none satisfies like knowing and following God.
Whoever does not take up their cross and follow me is not worthy of me.
Matthew 10:38
I assure you that unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it can only be a single seed. But if it dies, it bears much fruit.
2 Timothy 1:7
I undertook great projects: I built houses for myself and planted vineyards. 5 I made gardens and parks and planted all kinds of fruit trees in them. 6 I made reservoirs to water groves of flourishing trees. 7 I bought male and female slaves and had other slaves who were born in my house. I also owned more herds and flocks than anyone in Jerusalem before me. 8 I amassed silver and gold for myself, and the treasure of kings and provinces. I acquired male and female singers, and a harem[a] as well—the delights of a man’s heart. 9 I became greater by far than anyone in Jerusalem before me. In all this my wisdom stayed with me…Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done and what I had toiled to achieve everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind; nothing was gained under the sun.
Woe to you when everyone speaks well of you, for that is how their ancestors treated the false prophets.
Luke 6:26
The woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and jewels and pearls, holding in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the impurities of her sexual immorality. 5 And on her forehead was written a name of mystery: “Babylon the great, mother of prostitutes and of earth’s abominations.”
Revelation 17;4-5
For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world.
1 John 2:16
This will continue until we all come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God’s Son that we will be mature in the Lord, measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ.
Ephesians 4:13
3. True Freedom comes from Sacrificial Love
Most of us understand that as humans, we wont naturally feel free 100% of the time. Freedom has to come from a source that is more powerful than our individual capacities. Through Jesus, we have access to the riches of God’s love, which he apportions to each of us to grow into the full stature of Christ. Through his practice of surrender, Jesus’ is the definition of complete maturity in love. Beyond expertise in the practice of spiritual gifts, beyond opinions and being proven right in the eyes of human beings, sacrificial love brings the Kingdom of God. The reason Jesus was able to say “Satan has no part in me” (John 14:30) was because the quality of his love was so excellent, he owed no one anything. Here was someone whose inner life was utterly blameless. The freedom Christ moved in, the same freedom that brought others freedom from physical illness and demonic oppression when he laid hands and/or prayed for them, was directly tied to his quality of love. It cost him everything, yet for our sake, he delighted to give himself away. If you are seeking God with your entire heart, you will inevitably get more freed up as you surrender more of yourself to God and are transformed into the mature stature of Jesus. This inner transformation is cumulative, and develops into the abiding presence of joy and lightness. It isn’t optional, it isn’t part time, and it isn’t small.This freedom is part of the full expression of God’s character, so it’s not optional, it’s not for special people, and it’s not circumstantial.
There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.
John 15:13
Still, let not my will but yours be done.
Luke 22:42
I cannot speak with you much longer, because the ruler of this world is coming. But he has no power over me.
John 14:30
Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love.
1 Corinthians 13:13
Until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.
Ephesians 4;13
How much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!
Matthew 7:11
Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.
Phillipians 2:4
It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.
Galatians 5:1
Therefore, my friends, I want you to know that through Jesus the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you. Through him everyone who believes is set free from every sin, a justification you were not able to obtain under the law of Moses.
Acts 13:38-39
False Freedom is Conditional, Brittle, and Impersonal
Compared to Christ’s sacrificial love, human love is generally self-serving. Human love is passive, and best, reciprocates what we have already received from others Instead of forebearing out of love and serving others in spite of their limitations, we sever all responsibility to serve those who are irritating. We are partial and love those who are easy to love, and we are trapped by our own hardness of heart. In our insecurity, love is replaced by obligation.
And yet, God intentionally goes after people who are the most unlovable. He sustains intentional pursuit long after it is comfortable, and he will not stop until the process is finished. God is not concerned with the amount of time or the amount it costs him. He is entirely focused on restoration with fearsome love.
There seems to be an association in the North American mind between chaos and freedom. True spontaneity is refreshing and full of joy, but chaos destabilizes relationships and individual identity. When God responds to an individual in a way that brings freedom, it is never random, it is never generalized, but it is always intentional and personal. He knows what words need spoken, what actions need taken, what imagery to use, what timing to send it. He is completely perfect, and the master of the human heart. He never takes a “one size fits fits all” approach, except through giving us a perfect Jesus. That approach only works because of Jesus’ incredible range. Unlike God’s responses to our wounds, chaotic freedom is as random and unspecific as winning the lottery. It subtly leads individuals who are motivated by being nice and wanting to produce a kind gesture, but without understanding others’ actual needs. Unsurprisingly, these gestures are generally not anything that will make a deep impact on another person’s life. Instead of a general and impersonal approach to love, God’s freedom is incredibly deliberate and personal. God’s knows our hearts, and he knows what we need. He is committed to meeting us in the ways and through the means that we need him to.
“If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them.
Luke 6:32
I have other sheep, too, that are not in this sheepfold. I must bring them also. They will listen to my voice, and there will be one flock with one shepherd.
John 10:
Live as free people, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as God’s slaves.
1 Peter 2:16
We who are strong ought to bear with the failings of the weak and not to please ourselves.
Romans 15:1
He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.
Phillipians 1:6
“Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it?”
Luke 15:4
Make room for us in your hearts. We have wronged no one, we have corrupted no one, we have exploited no one.
2 Corinthians 7:2
Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy,[a] drive out demons. Freely you have received; freely give.
Matthew 10:8
Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. 23 Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror 24 and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. 25 But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do.
James 1:22-25
“I have the right to do anything,” you say—but not everything is beneficial. “I have the right to do anything”—but I will not be mastered by anything.
1 Corinthians 6:12
4. True Freedom Takes Responsibility for Self and Others, Remaining-Engaged
Freedom is something that motivates us to take care of other people. Out of a place of wholeness, we are driven to think of other people’s interests. God lifts us up to be deliverers who mirror Jesus in his saving work, on behalf of the vulnerable. Instead of erasing our own identities, we entrust ourselves into his hands. True freedom comes from true identity; it’s grounded in the fullness of what Jesus did and the full expression of Christ’s character, which includes liberating joy. It cant be faked. True freedom will inevitably serve the vulnerable, because that is what Jesus did.
Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is Abel your brother?” He said, “I do not know; am I my brother’s keeper?”
Genesis 4:9
Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” When he had said this, he breathed his last.
Luke 23:46
But Ruth said, “Do not urge me to leave you or to return from following you. For where you go I will go, and where you lodge I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God my God
Ruth 1:16
On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb.
Luke 24:1
False Freedom is Impulsive, Escapist, and Chaotic
Freedom in contemporary culture rejects responsibility and rebels against others’ needs. Contemporary movies are full of impulsive, trauma-driven people who throw their responsibilities to the wind in the name of adventure. Instead of seeing relationships and community as our place of greatest blessing/wholeness, these anti-heroes shed social responsibility like a crash diet. Vacations are framed as “get aways”, promising to help you avoid the irritating others who only bring our own brokenness to the surface.
How much joy can you really produce in isolation? How much joy can you really produce living in a fantasy, where self-abandon and rebellion cause us to forget our identities? The Lord longs to restore identity and belonging to those who run from society because of their wounds. If you have been running, don’t abandon yourself. Only entrust yourself (mess and all) into the hands of God and allow him to start working on your life. Freedom starts on the inside and works its way out as God shows us how to love even the most difficult of people. You don’t have to leave your circumstances to become whole.
“Pardon me, my lord,” Gideon replied, “but how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family.”
Judges 6:15
When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth.
Matthew 19;22
5. True Freedom Results in Joy
When you are set free, there is a joy and lightness that overflows out of places that previously felt raw, dark, and heavy. This joy is a result of experiencing God and delighting in his character. To sustain this kind of joy, we have to maintain a posture of awe and worship. We have to learn to keep our hearts from hopeless and delight in the Lord regardless of the circumstances. As Jesus’ wholeness is formed more completely in us, he is our ongoing joy.
Your works are wonderful, I know that full well.
Psalm 139:4
Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.”
Matthew 19:14
“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking beautiful pearls, 46 who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had and bought it.”
Matthew 13:45-46
“Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Messiah?”
John 4:29
Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.”
Mark 10:15
God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness beyond your companions!
Psalm 45:7
This son of mine was dead and has come to life again; he was lost and has been found.’ And they began to celebrate.
Luke 15:54
The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.’
Luke 7:34
Speak to one another with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your hearts to the Lord, 20always giving thanks to God the Father for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Ephesians 5:19-20
Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.
Psalm 37:4
But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night.
Psalm 1:2
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
John 3:16
False Freedom is too Intelligent and Holy for Joy
When people are trapped in the heaviness or cynicism that comes with unhealed wounds, they might find it easier to judge other people’s joy than grieve their own absence of joy. From condemning joy, we can convince ourselves that joy is unnecessary and for less nuanced minds. By equating cynicism with intelligence and the ability to criticize with greater discernment, individuals try to ennoble the restlessness of their own anxious minds. Furthermore, there is proud kind of self-neglect, that focuses on serving others and condemns enjoying it. The self-righteously dour may prefer to stay in the underworld, because Heaven will be a party.
Are you too enlightened by cynicism to need help? Have you become proud of your capacity to dismantle others’ joy? If joy is something for some and not others, it means that you wont have to love yourself enough to receive it. If joy isn’t real or available to people like you, it means you don’t have to despair over not having it. Who even knows how these simple-minded folk find joy to begin with?
The sick need a healer, and the ignorant need a teacher. Are you in need of his kind of freedom? God is already near. Ask him to remove the root of bitterness, deal with your disappointment and despair. Ask him to displace the heaviness and rawness, and heal your heart. Let him minister to your deep wounds. Delight in the lightness that follows. Don’t withhold your joy and worship to God for saving you.
And the Lord said: “Because this people draw near with their mouth and honor me with their lips, while their hearts are far from me, and their fear of me is a commandment taught by men,
Isaiah 29:13
He heals the brokenhearted
and binds up their wounds.
Psalm 147:3
The LORD is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.
Psalm 34:18
He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand.
Psalm 40:2
Those who sow with tears
will reap with songs of joy.
6 Those who go out weeping,
carrying seed to sow,
will return with songs of joy,
carrying sheaves with them.
Psalm 126:5-6
Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life.
Recently, I had two similar encounters that demonstrate God’s desire to pour out increased discernment on his Church to discern between premature, man-made satisfaction and true godly solutions in this current season of global transformation. As the global church experiences a large scale season of refinement, we face high cost decisions. Both individuals and organizationsmust allow God to continue refining them instead of taking the easy way. God is calling his people to remain in a place of testing, prefer his ways, and not take disastrous shortcuts.
In Failing to Act, and/or Choosing what is Comfortable
Dream:
I saw two separate water slide tunnels from on the shore. From where I was standing, on the left was a highly dangerous tunnel with larger waves, sharper ascents and descents, and less protective water volume. On the right was a lit tunnel that had a moderate slope, comfortable water volume, and reasonably sized waves.
As individuals entered the stream, they had to steer to decide which tunnel they would pass through. I watched in the third person as a character steered themself and their siblings through the safer tunnel. Then, another group of characters entered the stream. While they tried to steer towards they safer tunnel, they ultimately lost control because they were confused about which tunnel was which.
Once individuals entered the stream, they realized that the safe and scary tunnels were on opposite sides as the people expected. If individuals carried the same expectations for safety and risk as they had while on the shore, they would end up steering towards danger. There was a specific pivoting motion that needed to happen directly before the intersection of the two tunnels in order to pass into the safer tunnel. By not performing this pivoting motion, the individuals who did not know how to reach safety would ultimately have to learn about safety firsthand as they passed through the more dangerous tunnel.
There is a way that appears to be right, but in the end it leads to death.
Proverbs 14:12
The majority of individuals who are closely following the Lord right now are going through some kind of furnace. God is changing the rules for what counts as safety as he develops greater trustworthiness in his people. God will reward individuals who have obeyed specific instructions he has given them to leave a place of safety and enter with him into the unknown. If individuals prefer comfort instead of obeying specific instructions he has given them for action, God will not abandon them. However, they will extend the amount of time they remain in the furnace and have to experientially learn what trust looks like through a more intense formation experience. To cling to what feels comfortable and fail to respond to God’s specific instructions will ultimately come at a cost.
In Financial Investments
Across the globe, Jesus is in a season of judging the excesses and hidden poverty mindset of capitalism. Jesus is judging the imbalances of this financial structure in order to re-humanize businesses and financial policy-making, and restore the weak.
Vision:
I saw a group of pigs in a stable. Initially, the pigs were extremely clean. However, someone introduced mud into the stable. Over time, the pigs forgot the sensation of cleanliness as a subtle layer of dirt became ingrained into their skin. Like the part of the movie Spirited Away where the humans forgot their identities and began to live as animals, these pigs became desensitized to the difference between clean and dirty. There was a great amount of sorrow over the people’s decision to give up their reason.
Jesus’ response was to present the people with a set of small unripe grapes, as a choice. In choosing to eat the grapes, some individuals would invariably pucker at their bitter, pithy aftertaste. The grainy sour barrenness of the grapes made the people long for a fresher taste. The people began to long for ripe fruit as satisfaction and water for cleansing.
Some individuals will eat the bitter fruit, while others crush it beneath their feet. The people will need to be discerning in order to detect the bitterness in the fruit before they consume it. They will not be able to distinguish between sweet and bitter without having his words in their mouths.
How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!
Psalm 119:103
In this this time of inflation and economic pressure, each individual will be held responsible for their own financial decisions.
God is releasing increased discernment to the Body of Christ to know which personal financial and business decisions lead to life and which lead to death. Instead of sour grapes, God will give those who put their trust in him fresh water to drink, water that others have not polluted.
“Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost.
Isaiah 55:1
For those who make God’s word their satisfaction, God will give each one financial strategy through highlight specific verses in the bible. Individuals who shape their personal and professional investments around the strategies that God gives them in hiding will not taste bitterness, but will experience favor in their investments as long as they continue to model Christ’s character towards the weak. They will carry Christlike wisdom and generosity, from the value that they place on Christ’s words and his people.
Conclusion
In decisions to obey God at a cost and allow financial strategies to be transformed by the Holy Spirit, individuals and organizations must rely on God’s wisdom instead of man’s. The Church must position herself to receive and act in an increase of discernment, to judge between what is overly simple and leads to death and what costs but leads to life. We must ask God to remove any deception and broken lenses that hinder us from perceiving and acting in his perfect will.
Activation:
For Obedience: Ask the Holy Spirit to strengthen you with courage and faith to enter or remain in a place of costly worship. Give God permission to keep you in a place of formation until God’s purpose has been fully accomplished.
For Finances: Ask God to reveal any ways you have partnered with deception or fear in your financial choices in this season. Ask God for forgiveness, and position yourself to receive fresh insight from his word.
Unlike sheep, the Father has not made all people the same.
Just like each person’s singing voice, God gives each believer their own sound and their own way of releasing it. Before the Lord, we each become an instrument.
We have Jesus’s character written down through the bible. But for those of us who long for the fullness of God and long for even more of his story, we are in luck! Through our love for him, each believer’s life becomes a story of the beauty of Jesus.
Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.
Then I looked, and there before me was the Lamb, standing on Mount Zion, and with him 144,000 [full measure of people] who had his name and his Father’s name written on their foreheads. And I heard a sound from heaven like the roar of rushing waters and like a loud peal of thunder. The sound I heard was like that of harpists playing their harps.And they sang a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and the elders. No one could learn the song except the 144,000 [full measure] who had been redeemed from the earth.
Revelation 14:1-4
In that place, the collective sound of our worship will sound like “the roar of rushing waters and like loud peals of thunder”.
I personally believe that this sound will comprehensively demonstrate God’s fullness, deafeningly declaring God’s glory at all octaves and all frequencies.
As We Rehearse for that Day, We Must Know Who We Are: Understanding Spiritual Gifts
In his Kingdom, every instrument makes a unique sound. Without there being a distinction each instruments’ sound, the world will not be able to intelligibly hear Christ.
Sadly, individuals trap themselves on several snares when it comes to knowing their gifts and function in the Kingdom of God.
Pitfalls to Walking in Your Design
One common barrier to walking closely with God in your design is to assume that you fully understand God’s design for yourself or others, or that you know how God will respond to your eagerness.
The Kingdom of God starts in a hidden place, and eventually becomes externally visible.
He told them still another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into about sixty pounds of flour until it worked all through the dough.”
Matthew 13:33
In the same way as yeast growing in secret to form bread, God often begins stirs our hunger for more of him in secret.
There are many people who have yet to come to know God and serve him in amazing ways that do not currently know him. There are many people who will be strong voices in the Church who are currently in hiding. We do not always know just by looking at someone how God will move in their lives.
For we know in part, and we prophesy in part.
1 Corinthians 13:9
How do you know, wife, whether you will save your husband? Or, how do you know, husband, whether you will save your wife?
1 Corinthians 7:16
Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment.”
John 7:24
While this principle is somewhat intuitive, it takes time to train yourself to expect more for yourself and others than you can initially see. Training your expectations becomes a continuous process as God renews your mind.
If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!
Matthew 7:11
God is comfortable with us exploring. As you explore, it is easiest to start in a place that seems most accessible. Ask God to show you which of your hidden interests are from him.
As you go through the searching process, he will give you endurance to grow in your gifts until you come to maturity.
“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.”
Matthew 7:7
As you develop more maturity, you will naturally begin to gravitate towards the areas of calling God has for you.
And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive; But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ.
Ephesians 4:11, 14-15
As long as your intentions aren’t to please other people or promote yourself, God put favor (tangible blessing) on your ministry in areas where you are called.
Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters.
Colossians 3:23
…Not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.
Phillipians 2:4
But each of you has your own gift from God; one has this gift, another has that.
1 Corinthians 7:7
We do not always get to choose what gifts God gives us…
All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he distributes them to each one, just as he determines.
1 Corinthians 12:11
Which is good, because envying others gifts (jealousy) will only separate us from our own design.
You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God. 3 When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.
James 4:2-3
Ultimately, spiritual jealousy disrespects God and shows contempt for how he made you (self-cursing).
If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be?
1 Corinthians 12:17
God has designed each of us in specific ways. We are genuinely happiest when we are at the center of his will for our lives, as designed.
And your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, “This is the way, walk in it,” when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left.
Isaiah 30:21
There are no superhuman, extra-enlightened people. There are only people who are further along in their specific process of understanding their calling/design. It does not make sense to be jealous of them, but to mutually love and learn from each other. Formation is a process.
Another common pitfall is waiting until you have perfect circumstances to explore God’s design for you.
Realistically, there will never be perfect circumstances. Growth is a process than is life-giving, but can be costly.
They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything—all she had to live on.
Mark 12:44
During the entirety of Jesus’s ministry, he never had comfortable circumstances. Jesus brought the Kingdom of God while constantly traveling, often away from his family, during a time of military occupation, and with the full acceptance that others would likely not understand. Instead of waiting for comfortable timing and what made sense in man’s wisdom, Jesus acted within God’s timing and brought the Kingdom to earth in the midst of difficult circumstances. While many of our circumstances may not be quite as difficult now, the Kingdom of God comes into our lives in the same way: when there is no other way forward but to trust in God.
When God sees our level of sacrifice, he honors it and gives us increasing authority.
Give your gifts in private, and your Father, who sees everything, will reward you.
Matthew 6:4
Again, our actions must be defined by what God says and the appearance of our circumstances.
“For the one who was a slave when called to faith in the Lord is the Lord’s freed person; similarly, the one who was free when called is Christ’s slave.”
1 Corinthians 7:22
A Brief Call to Repentance
Lord, forgive us for undervaluing the ways we see and hear you. We are grateful that our ears hear your voice, and that our eyes see you. We recognize that there are many things that we have been given, both revelation about Jesus and spiritual gifts, that other people have longed to receive throughout the ages.
But blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear. 17 For truly I tell you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.
Matthew 13:16-17
We are grateful for the many gifts that you have given us, and grateful to be included in your story. Help us recognize and celebrate the inheritances you have given to each of us through our own specific design. Help us to encourage and celebrate others as they serve you and your Church. Give us the grace to walk in the fullness of our designs so that we can win you an even greater inheritance.
God Reveals Our Design
Through knowing your design, your voice will ultimately be able to carry more of the fullness of Christ and be an extremely useful instrument to the Kingdom of God.
For the remainder of this post, I’m going to be talking about some specific ways that individuals can partner with God to understand their design. These are a collection of different activations that I have lately absorbed from teachers at the Global Prophetic Alliance, Wildback Ministry Seeing in the Spirit, and Awaken Generation Singapore. Each of them connects to understanding the specific audience, geography, and gifts assigned to your ministry. I will likely continue to add to this list as I find impactful activations.
I am sharing these activations with the hope that it will prompt a series of conversations between you and God that ultimately draws you into your right place. Beyond the capacity of any individual prophet or prophetic ministry to hear and reveal God’s design for your life, be your own biggest listener. When you are your own biggest listener, you can more easily test other people’s words and teach others, so that the ENTIRE body of Christ comes into maturity.
This is not a thinking exercise. These are a series of devotional conversation starters, between you and the Lord. As you discuss these things with God, remember to check what you are hearing against the healthy precepts of the bible. While you may have a sense of some aspects of your design, as you go on this process, God will likely surprise you.
How our Speaking and/or Singing Voices Point to God
For the record, there are times when we identify ourselves wrongly, and to lose those wrong self-definitions is a gift. When I came to Christ and had to die to the part of me that started fluently cursing in third grade, or the part of me whose sense of humor was more defined by social media that God, those things certainly had to die. But there are specific aspects of our characters, our values, and even our cultures that absolutely are useful to God. As long as we develop range in relating to people and do not let our own personality aspects limit how we are called to love others, retaining our distinctiveness allows us to produce a clear sound that carries Jesus’ voice.
Even in the case of lifeless things that make sounds, such as the pipe or harp, how will anyone know what tune is being played unless there is a distinction in the notes?
1 Corinthians 14:7
As I navigated this time of anxiety, God showed me that even through our normal speaking voices, he has given clues about the type of people we are meant to become for the Kingdom.
Do not let read religion (formula) or people-reading (inferring things solely on appearance) into what I am about to say. Not every person with a deep loud voice is meant for platform. My meaning is much more subtle than that, and has to start with your values.
When I consider my values, I have definitely been formed by Midwestern (USA) culture. My two greatest values are probably clarity and community. I also value humor, warmth, strength, and simplicity.
For years, I had some difficulty accepting my normal speaking voice, because I felt insecure about its pitch. While my voice isn’t extremely low, its pitch is somewhere in the middle range of speaking voices for women. When it comes to singing, my voice is relatively clear. My lower and upper ranges are probably the most developed. Through years of choir and some gospel choir experience, I can develop harmonies by ear, and am relatively passionate about singing in tune across volumes and vowel types. It’s something I’ve worked at over the years, and something that allows me to worship Jesus clearly today. Even so, I used to feel uncomfortable with my voice because it was easier not to stand out.
When I was at Awaken Generation Singapore in May, one of their leaders, Alarice led the group in an activation. She commented on the specific vocal range and resonance of one of the students and asked her how she believed her voice pointed to God’s character. Through this activation, I realized that the warmth, fluidity, range, and clarity that he has given me in singing and speaking are a reflection of Jesus’s voice in me.
How does the specific pitch, resonance, range, and clarity of your voice image God? Your voice can demonstrate elements of the design he has for you..
How our Bodies Point to God
Similarly, our bodies can point to God! The bible says in Psalm 139:14 that we are “fearfully and wonderfully made.” In making you, God designed you to reflect a specific element of his character. One of the best teachings I have heard on this topic is from the Global Prophetic Alliance. The specific biblical example they give is dark skin, and how in the bible, it represents richness and luxury.
Dark am I, yet lovely, daughters of Jerusalem, dark like the tents of Kedar, like the tent curtains of Solomon.
Song of Solomon 1:5
While Western nations may be hesitant to talk about bodies because of effects that racism has had on the topic, to not celebrate God for the diversity of our bodies OR seek his thoughts our own own specific designs is to withhold just praise.
Furthermore, if we do not recognize the unique ways our bodies are meant to image God, we will be tossed back and forth by body image issues. Media and culture are chaotic; they create and change beauty ideals constantly, and true confidence must come from a different source. We must know how our bodies image God so that we don’t put our value in misplaced demonic structures and can walk in the confidence he intended for us.
Recently, having completed this exercise helped me be more confident at a hair appointment. I normally feel uncomfortable at hair appointments because people’s comments about my hair, eyes, or skin can carry weird idolatry of specific physical features. Even when I gently push back on their comments by talking about their own natural beauty or the beauty of other complexions, it can be draining. I don’t like feeling like a doll, and it grieves me when people make subtle comparison comments in a way that seems to leave them deflated (buying into Western beauty standards that I don’t personally endorse). After I completed this exercise, I started to be less uncomfortable, even when others’ comments still carried insecurity. I was able to just quietly remember what these traits reflected about God, and that his lens is the most meaningful.
As you ask God what your specific physical features reflect about your design, expect him to set you free of unnecessary weight, insecurity, and comparisons. Ultimately, this sense of liberty will allow you to focus on what matters most: him.
Recently, I had the opportunity to travel to various nations. In traveling to Scotland, England, Germany, Singapore, and Brazil, the Lord drew my attention to specific attributes of each nation, embodied through its people.
There are things to love about each nation:
Scot’s reverential respect for nature and beauty
The pastoral heart of the English
German’s intensity and holy directness
Singaporean’s servant-heartedness and diversity
Brazilian’s mestiçagem (specific kind of ethnic diversity), freedom, and generosity
In November 2021, I received a prophetic word from Emma Stark about returning to Latin America for ministry, due to my internal alignment matching the disposition of the people. I will be transparent, at first I struggled to hear her statement without a filter, because my North American mindset focuses so greatly on the individual that I was hesitant to generalize traits to a culture.
However, the more I’ve traveled, the more I realize that the concept of each nation carrying specific anointings is relatively true. While these anointings can change based on the season a nation is in, they do tend to model Jesus in particular ways for a set time period. We need the full family of nations to model the full range of Jesus’ character. This is what it means to be a family of nations.
God can put us in particular cultures based on the way our personalities, values, and internal alignments resonate with the land. I can tell you that in the 2 weeks I’ve been back in Latin America, I am more effective in ministry to individuals and groups, I have a greater sense of protection and how God is moving, and there is a lot of genuine, mutual affection between me and the people. Calling really does relate to ease.
While this particular piece can take a while to unscramble (especially if you haven’t travelled a ton), God will meet us where we are at. If you want to learn more about my process of discernment, some strategies for discerning a call to nations, and stories of how God drew me to specific regions, check out this post.
Sphere of Influence
Over the last 2 years, I’ve had the enormous privilege to get to know many prophets and prophetic people relatively well. I’ve met prophets who are called to business, to arts and media, to education, to just about every sphere of influence.
I’ve also met prophets whose audience and lives are for a particular people group. I’ve met prophets who are called to be advocates for disability rights, for individuals living in poverty in specific regions, for youth and children (me).
In a recent closed group training with Robin, the leader of Wildback Ministry, Robin taught us to focus on the difference between passion and complaint to understand our specific calling as leaders.
Robin defined complaint as an area of frustration that keeps you up at night. Instead of interests that come and ago, complaints are more fundamental to our personalities and more likely to deeply move us to sorrow, passion, or anger. Another way to think about the concept of complaint is, “What is one issue that if you died before you were able to address it, your life would be incomplete?”
Often charismatics will talk about the concept of complaint within the idea of God’s design for our lives being written in advance. The idea is that by living our your design, you will fulfill the words written in the book (or scroll, depending on your imagery) that God wrote for your life.
Hearing Robin teach on this topic gave me permission to focus on my biggest complaint: the robbery of children’s inheritances in Christ by both the Church and the world. I have other complaints that relate to other life callings/mantles, but overall, the frustration about robbery of children is the one that leads and burns most intensely. Knowing my areas of complaint and even the hierarchy of intensity between them has helped me spend my time more wisely and has given me more permission to press in for details when getting a word.
Even More Available: Seeing in the Spirit
Realistically, there is always more revelation and more capacity available with God. Some questions I’ve heard prophets use to analyze people’s calling are heavily focused on the supernatural. As God grows an individual’s capacity to see the supernatural through the Holy Spirit, they may end up investigating questions like:
What angels are assigned to me (and others)?
What do I look like in the Spirit? What clothes am I wearing?
What weapons are assigned to me/my angels?
Through being centered on a biblical understanding of the supernatural, from relationship with the Holy Trinity, and in community with other prophetic people, these questions can help us understand our specific design and function in it.
For example, if God is expanding your capacity to see or perceive holy angels, you may be able to watch how those angels move in a room to understand what the Holy Spirit is doing or specific people to minister to. As God draws you closer to him, some of these concepts become increasingly accessible. It’s not something you can force, but something God conversationally, thoughtfully opens up over time. For individuals who have seen angels and other supernatural elements since they were young, learning to see in the Spirit through relationship with the Holy Spirit is ultimately a much more satisfying, safe, relational experience than just to notice things or pursue the supernatural via another spirit. There is a purity to it that no other spirit (ie, demon) can provide, and individuals can minister much more effectively to others through partnership with the angelic.
A Blessing to Perceive and Walk in Your Design
May the Lord help you perceive the fullness of his design and plans for your life,
May you delight in Jesus and carry the resonance of his voice in all that you do,
May God guide your steps so that you are confronted by your complaint(s) and become a solution,
May he weaponize you to be a deliverer for people who are trapped in cords of bondage,
May the Holy Spirit empower you with spiritual gifts that are an answer to the people’s prayers,
May you rise in maturity, into the full stature of Christ, providing timely fruit and wisdom from the Holy Spirit over the entire remit of your call,
May has been a whirlwind! In early May, I was in Munich, then I travelled to Singapore, and I am now in Sāo Joāo de Boa Vista, Brazil. I am staying with a family, whose 3 daughters are very fun. Here is a picture of one of the little girls at my homestay peeking under my door to see what I am doing. She knows how to go into my room, get my teddy bear, and make it dance to Baby Shark.
Highlights: Worshipping God for…
Worshipping Jesus in German, English, Mandarin, and Portuguese, and connecting with the people
Jesus solidifying a call on my life to prophetic worship at Awaken Generation Singapore, finding alignment and friendship with their emerging leaders (prophets and apostles)
Being placed within a family homestay in Brazil, enjoying spending time with their 3 daughters
Jesus reconfirming and solidifying my call to Latin America through Brazil, being aligned to the land. Vision to serve and empower the people as equals.
Lightness and mutual joy in the dynamic with my friend Lubiana. Her help in translating prophetic words for people, her partnership in following her unctions to pray for people to be healed. Staying in the love of God to give various accurate prophetic words.God healing various healing people through us (my first experience with seeing people healed).
Grace on learning Portuguese
Reconnection and Reconciliation with my students from DC
Gathering teens to host the first Virtual, International Teens Prophetic Nest (Small Group) through the Global Prophetic Alliance. Grace to develop the policies, recruit very eager 12-18 year olds, and build the structure from the ground up.
Reversals
In leaving the West and standing on my own, the Lord has been showing me just how radical this season of post-COVID reversals is in the global Body of Christ. Here are some of the major reversal moments that shocked me and put me in awe of the Lord.
In Singapore and Brazil, the Lord has primarily sent me not to established ministries and leaders, but to peers who are roughly my age and skill level in their respective callings (to prophetic worship, healing ministry, and more). While I have been honored to meet and learn from some established ministers, God’s real work of alignment has been with brothers and sisters in my generation, to come alongside one another for the work God is preparing among youth.
In the last 5 months, I hoped to come to Latin America through a formal channel. Hearing his voice independently was isolating at times, but God wanted to take me on a journey of knowing his voice for myself. While I have continuously sought formal support through my leaders, the majority of my support during this time has come informally from collection of friends who are blessing and loving me in solidarity. At the right time, when the Lord had formed me to hear him personally and aligned me to the right people, he opened a door in Brazil for me to minister out of authentic connection. My goals have been primarily relational. From that desire, God has given me a place in Brazil where I can serve and empower the people as equals.
God sent me to a friend who had been previously bullied and used her to welcome me into Singapore. She rarely uses Facebook, but felt an unction to check social media. She saw that I was coming to Singapore, reached out, and greatly encouraged me. She was the answer to prayers I had been praying for at least one familiar face in Singapore.
In Singapore, God sent me to one of the smallest nations in the world as the first place I was independently received as a prophet. In spite of its small size, I cannot wait to watch how God continues to use this nation to strategically shape Southeast and East Asia.
A friend shared that long before I consider myself to have started learning the prophetic, I unawarely prophesied a word to her about relocation at church. While the word lacked detail and the kind of clarity I now cherish, she received it in faith, made a major relocation decision, and that decision bore fruit. God used this story to humble me and give me confidence that ultimately, he is responsible for making our words fruitful. God can make the eagerness of our listeners greater than our limitations.
I came to Singapore as a learner and with the goal of making friends for future ministry. Ultimately once the people felt safe with me, he used me to give a prophetic word to a ministry, give a prophetic word to a leader about the nation, and informally teach about the prophetic to a variety of ministry students my age as we learned ate together. They chose to receive me as a friend, and ended up receiving the rest of my personality, which inevitably carries the prophetic and teaching.
I developed friendships at my hostel in Singapore and prophesied over strangers. Through connection, we ended up shadowing the entire place with community. It displaced the loneliness lingering there and made people hungry for the community of God.
I met a Malaysian Muslim business man on the flight to Brazil. He brought up the topic of spirituality, I taught about the purity of the Holy Spirit, and he was deeply moved. Through our conversation, he caught the father’s heart for me and kept making sure I had enough blankets and was comfortable on the flight.
God sent me to a friend who was overwhelmed with the weight of responsibilities and in need of God’s tangible help. He used similar imagery of hummingbirds as a prophetic sign to us both months before I came. For me, hummingbird imagery was longing to go back to a place in Latin America where I felt fully alive, and God’s power to bring resurrection. For her, hummingbird imagery related to the nearness of God. This shared prophetic sign has strengthened our collaboration.
I taught English to Latin American and Central American children in DC for 6 years. Coming to Brazil, my Portuguese teachers and 4 and 8 years old.
In 99% of situations, I’ve come to prophesy in simple clothes (t shirt, sandals, soft pants). God has used the informality to attract people with the right intentions, who are hungry for Jesus and not for Christian celebrity. He has satisfied their hunger better through conversational accessibility than formal ministry contexts.
In Brazil, God sent me to a school and not a church as a facilitating organization. As I just spent the last 6 years in the classroom, I know exactly the kind of stress these teachers are facing. God has prepared to meet them where they are at.
I have been going through this process mostly on my own cost. The people who have been the most financially generous to support me generally have had the least to give.
As I travel, God has shown me the radical effect that a well timed prophetic word can have on an individual who is struggling. I’m praying that God would answer the people’s silent prayers through me.
Even More People: Glimpses of Singapore and Brazil
Singapore
The first time I met my friend Delphne, directly before she washed my feet as a part of a foot washing ceremony. She is a gift.
Fundraising and Cost, From Uncertainty to Redirection
There is no such thing as partial cost. Whatever sacrifice we bring before God requires everything. In choosing to die to your own rights, you bring Jesus a sacrifice worthy of who he is and allow him to move through your life in power. In choosing to die, we wait for Jesus to lift us up and learn to hear his song of celebration over us.
I have been assuming most of the cost for this time of travel and ministry out of my own personal savings. God mightily used this time of waiting on provision to free me up from anxiety about my future. In spite of the waiting on provision, the Lord has given me confidence through my dreams that he will provide the finances for continued ministry.
While I have mostly relied on my own savings to finance what I am doing in ministry, in order to move forward, I need the support of others who are willing to share the cost.
Fundraising for Seminary
In June, I will go attend my 3rd summer of classes at Virginia Theological Seminary for a Doctor of Educational Ministry in Educational Leadership degree. In a nutshell, the D.Ed.Min. is a “professional degree oriented towards increased excellence in educational leadership and ministry to shape minds and culture in schools, universities, churches, judicatories, and other educational settings” (VTS, 2020). Since I started my degree during the pandemic, this year I will attend my first 3 week term on campus! This summer will also be my last term of full coursework before I start my thesis.
Ultimately, my greatest passion and calling is to develop healthy environments and teaching for the the Acts 2:17 Generation, a collection of youth who will walk in miracles, signs, and wonders internationally. In various nations, the Lord wants to develop healthy greenhouses for these children by preparing adults, teens, and youth to lead them. To provide a healthy place for a child means to support its’ entire family system, empowering God’s children across generations. I believe that his degree will equip to me to support healthy organizational cultures internationally and provide a bridge for me to minister within more traditional contexts.
In order to pay for my coursework this year, I need to raise about $4000 USD. In order to offset costs, I have taken a summer job as a Residential Assistant (Proctor), helping make sure other students have what they need to be successful in terms of food and housing. In this role, I am most excited to pray over students’ rooms and communal areas to sow encounter, and hope to answer the questions they have already been raising with me about experiencing God.
Lately, God has been asking me what I want most this coming year. In pursuing healing, in trusting God with the future, God keeps asking me, “What is it that you want most?” As I trust him with my future, God has shown me that my coming year needs to be more about the heart than the mind.
Up until this point, in the fall, I wanted to attend the University of Edinburgh’s 1 year Taught Master’s Degree in World Christianity. I will always love history, and I hope that God will allow me to complete this degree (or something similar) in the future. However, what I need more than writing more papers is to be in community.
With this dream and several others, the Lord has made it clear that letting go is not the same as giving up.
Often in my life, when the size of my dreams has grown quickly, God has me skip over several potential steps in order to pursue an even greater goal. This happened in 2020, when I sought a scholarship that would have helped me pay for my current seminary degree. However, this scholarship would have rooted me in the East Coast for most of a decade, and caused me to miss God’s timings.
I was able to return to Latin America about 10 days ago, and I am currently writing this post from Brazil. I can tell you that while I’ve traveled to various places, I have not intuited the emotions of the land as easily as when my feet have been on Latin American soil. I remembered that sense of resonance from when I first got saved about 8 years ago in Chile, and was really hoping that it would come back. Being back on Latin American soil is a relief and a blessing. I feel that I am able to breathe for the first time in 5 months, since I decided to follow Jesus into the unknown.
Personality-wise, I was hoping that my intensity would find a steady home in this continent, which I’ve struggled to find in North America. About 7 months ago, I received a prophet word from Emma Stark about returning to Latin America and a calling God has given me to deliverance ministry. In prophesying my call to Latin America, Emma Stark said, “You actually have the fire, and the passion, and the determination for Latin America. And you have the breakthrough anointing for there as well.” Since I’ve been in Brazil, my emotions are aligned to the emotiveness of the people. I can blend in and not stress about overwhelming people or mincing words. I am well received and genuinely chosen by the people, whose internal alignment resonates with mine. Being here has given me freedom to relate to God’s emotion’s more deeply and in a way that feels so much lighter. As I rest in the Lord in this region of calling, he is polishing aspects of my personality (like strength, passion, and freedom) to be a gift to the rest of the body of Christ. The people are an answer to my prayers for Community, Family, Stability, and Provision.
In my next season, I prayed for an opportunity to teach a wide variety of people about how God speaks, from adults, teens, and children. Here, I have that opportunity. I am hoping to stay in this region for at least another 3-6 months to partner with what God is doing in this school and to connect with more churches in this region. I love being here. For the time being, I don’t want to leave until I have a very good reason. I am expecting God to externally send an opportunity when the time comes to leave, so it is externally obvious.
I will be at seminary from Mid-June until Early July. Then, I will visit a friend in Toronto while I finish my final papers for my summer courses. In August, I hope to return to Brazil to work with adults, teens, and children indefinitely, until God calls me elsewhere.
Here are some other big realizations from this month, mostly related to setting a healthy foundation for ministry.
Being more active in prophetic ministry means learning how to pull on the weighty glory of God to do all that he has called us to do.
When we are secure in our calling, God gives us the capacity to wear our authority alongside others.
Sometimes when people are opposing you out of jealousy and rejection, it is easier to win them over by including them and befriending them.
When that doesn’t work, stronger boundaries may be necessary…
Encountering humility and dependence liberates people who are trapped in comparison.
Remain obstinate in generosity, worship, and generosity until you see breakthrough.
The more free you get, the more costly the worship.
Allow separation and allow God to be your qualification. Tune your ears and eyes to hear him singing over yourself and others. Join him singing in liberation and watch people get free.
When older ministers expect you to “pay your dues” in order to be accepted, they probably aren’t healed.
When you are trying to build community, start with the most approachable people and build outwards from there.
Watch what the angels are doing in a room to know how and to whom to minister.
Talk to non-Christians like the spiritual realm is a given, they will likely have plenty of personal experiences to draw from.
Atheists can be incredibly easy to work with, because at least they know their own minds.
Honoring other people (honor where honor is due) doesn’t just keep us from their resentment, but it keeps us out of pride and preserves our lives. This is the same attitude I saw my mother model when she baked plates of cookies for her student workers and consistently treated the maintenance workers at her greenhouses to lunch.
Tell people “no” when you are tired! Performance is evil.
Do not get distracted when other’s expectation is too low or too high. Redirect them to Jesus, to hearing him for themselves, and do only the part that is yours to do.
When you know a seismic shift is coming, pray for more faith to be able to receive it.
When you feel inadequate, just quietly pray for more grace and trust God to show up. None of us qualify. His grace will carry you through like it did in the beginning, when you first chose him.
Overcoming rawness and heaviness means receiving Jesus’ invitation to die and surrendering your rights so that you can love more. Rest, pray off the heaviness and rawness, and enter into what he is doing.
Every day, we have a choice whether we will allow God to show us that we are worthy, qualified, celebrated by him. And then, we have a choice to surrender to his agenda.
I’ve really Changed
From October until now, you can visually see that transition has been good, even if transition has cost.
Age of the Unexpected 