// Lynette Hagin

HAVE YOU EVER been tempted to try to rush through life—to hurry up so you could get to the "good parts"? I have. But to follow God's plan and fulfill our divine destiny, we have to go through different seasons.

Psalm 1:3 (NIV) tells us that the godly person is "like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season." The key words in that verse are in season. We get so thrilled when we think about the prospect of yielding fruit. But it's easy to get discouraged as we wait for our season of fruitfulness.

Really, waiting is something most of us don't like to do. We've been trained in today's society to expect everything to happen instantly. But God is never in a hurry.

Rhema School of World Missions

DO YOU DREAM of reaching hopeless people in the world's dark places with God's life-changing Word? Do you desire to start a church in a foreign country or lead to Christ thousands of youth whose language you don't know? Do you want to take the Gospel to countries where people have never heard the Name of Jesus?

If you find those desires stirring in your heart, Rhema's third-year School of World Missions will help equip and prepare you to fulfill them. For 17 years this rich, hands-on program has trained missionaries to fulfill Jesus' Great Commission: go and make disciples of all nations (Matt. 28:19–20). Hundreds of men and women have been trained to do His work successfully, wherever God calls them.

// Kenneth W. Hagin

ONE OF THE MOST important revelations we can get from the Word of God is to understand who we are in Christ. Identifying with Christ will change the way we live and cause us to rise above adversity. Not understanding our identity in Him will keep us living far below our rights and privileges in Christ.

What does it mean to identify with Christ? It's normal for us to identify with something or someone. It makes us feel connected and gives us a feeling of belonging.

In our everyday lives, we identify with a person, organization, occupation, nationality, or church. We also have an identity in the spirit realm. The scriptures say we have been crucified with Christ (Gal. 2:20). Not only did we die with Him on the cross at Calvary, we also have been raised with Him. We can see this in the following verses.

Are your prayers being answered? Are your dreams becoming a reality? Or is your hope fading because you're not seeing anything change? To receive from God, we have to look at our circumstances the right way. What we focus on will bring us either victory or defeat.

When it looks like nothing is changing, we must remember that our situation is temporary. Everything is subject to change. Whatever God promised us in His Word, we can believe. And when we expect Him to do what He said, He will bring it to pass.

In Expect, Kenneth W. Hagin inspires us to look beyond our circumstances. He encourages us to never give up, whatever our situation. And he explains how we can live in expectant faith. When we expect God to move based on His Word, we are doing our part to receive from Him.