A few years ago, 2015 to be exact, my Pastor had been preaching about “audacious expectations.”  He said he’d been feeling in his spirit that 2015 was the year for audacious expectations, and we should seriously be coming to God with bold requests and expecting Him to move on our behalf.  (I’m paraphrasing here, of course.)

According to Dictionary.com, audacious means “extremely bold or daring; recklessly brave; fearless; extremely original; without restriction to prior ideas; highly inventive.”  That being said, it was my impression, then, that we were to come boldly to the throne of God, and be fearless, daring, and recklessly brave with our requests, asking without restriction, and expecting that our highly inventive (beyond our natural reach) requests, as long as they were within God’s will and we believed that we had already received them, would be granted.

In my mind, this doesn’t mean, “Lord, help me make all my bill payments this month” or “Lord, please help me get through this cold and flu season without incident.”  These are things that we no doubt pray for regularly anyway.  When I think of audacious, I think of things that are outside the norm.  I think of things that are so far outside our spectrum of thinking that they can only be God’s handiwork.  Miraculous, wonderful things that just don’t happen every day.

God is famous for making a way where there is no way.  He is well known for providing exactly what you need, exactly when you need it- especially when you have no idea how or where you are going to get it.  He is in the Miracle Business!

For one person, an audacious expectation may be a new car because theirs is on its last leg and they have no way of replacing it.  For another, their audacious expectation may be for their rebellious child to find salvation.  For another, it may be a divine healing to rid their body of a life-threatening illness for which there is no man-made cure.

For one person in my home church, her audacious expectation was to be debt free by the end of 2015.  (She was debt free by the end of March.)  And not only did God meet her audacious expectation, but He went above and beyond.  He also blessed her business to overflowing and provided her with a brand new vehicle to meet her business needs, too!  Now THAT is a God who provides!

The best thing about this story is that God is no respecter of persons.  That means, there is nothing we can do to earn His love or His provision.  No one is any more or any less deserving; no one is any more or any less worthy; He doesn’t just wake up and decide who He is going to bless that day.  There is no jumbo-sized computer that He uses to point-and-click on the people whose prayers He wants to answer next Tuesday.

Well I feel like 2019 could be a year for audacious expectations, too.  I’m feeling it in my spirit, if for no other reason than, I could sure use a miracle right about now!  I’m sure we all could!

So I ask you… what is YOUR audacious expectation?  Come on, don’t be shy.  Dream BIG!  We’re not talking small potatoes, here.  For me, I am praying that God will bless MY business to overflowing, just like He did for my friend.  As an entrepreneur, I am no stranger to the ups and downs that come with business ownership.  In fact, I have seen my business fluctuate more than my scale!

That being said, however, I also know the old adage “slow and steady wins the race.”  I can honestly say that when I began my first business two years ago, I did not completely give it to God.  Not 100% anyway, but I didn’t give up, and now I feel differently.  As a Christian, I know that nothing is possible apart from God, anyway, so why would I try to do it without putting Him front and center?  And now that I have finally pursued the dream of reaching others through blogging, I need God more than ever.  I have a story to tell and lives to change.  I pray everyday, “Oh, that you would bless me indeed and enlarge my territory!”  (Inserting plug now:  If you haven’t yet read the Prayer of Jabez, I highly recommend it, and you can find it here.)

So now, I’ve put God at the helm, and I am ready to come boldly before the throne to ask for a miracle!  (Well they have Miracle Grow for plants, why not for businesses and blogs, too?)

Now I’m not after some get-rich-quick scheme; let me just set the record straight on that point.  I’m truthfully not even after getting rich.  Being debt free and living comfortably, yes!  In fact, through the Personal Development I’ve learned to do since becoming an entrepreneur, I’ve learned to envision accomplishing something that, until now, was only a dream.  As we speak, I am picturing the day that I have enough money in my bank account to write out a check for my whole family to go to Disney World!  (Hey, it can happen!  I know someone who received 10 free tickets once, just because that’s how awesome our God is.)

Remember, God is our Heavenly Father.  As a parent myself, I would love to lavish gifts on my children all the time if I could.  Consider Matthew 7:11 for a moment:  “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!”  Now can you take a moment and reflect on this?  Even if you’re not a parent, I know there are times in your life when you enjoy giving good gifts to your loved ones.  It’s natural for us to enjoy it.  We love to show our love to others, and gift-giving is just one way to do that.  So if we, being made in God’s image, enjoy gift-giving so much, imagine how much more our Heavenly Father enjoys it!

When you were a child, did you ever ask for that one special thing for Christmas that you just had to have?  That shiny new bike or that new baby doll?  That new and improved electronic device with all the bells and whistles?  The hottest new video game?  Well this is BIGGER than that!  And your Heavenly Father is just waiting for you to crawl up into His lap (instead of Santa’s) and ask away.  Don’t be shy.  He wants to roll up His big sleeves and show you just what He can do!

*Now I ask you again… what is YOUR audacious expectation?  Comment below!*