Tag Archives: showing up

Tanzania 2023 – Waters of the Lord

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It has come to be that Capturing Courage will be in Tanzania within a month’s time. We have been looking ahead to this for some years time and now glad to be on the cusp of another time in Africa.

“Through the heartfelt mercies of our God, God’s Sunrise will break in upon us, 

Shining on those in the darkness, those sitting in the shadow of death, 

Then showing us the way, one foot at a time, down the path of peace.”

Luke 1:79 The Message

Peace is powerful. Chaos cannot remain where there is peace. We do not know exactly what God wants to do in Tanzania. So, we have been putting down our own thinking, setting aside any agenda we may have, and endeavouring to bring our anticipation and glad-hearted agreement unto the Lord for this time.

Therefore we pray peace. And we come in peace. We allow the Lord to make us people of peace. Peace makes way for refreshment. And specifically, God has been speaking to us about the waters of the Lord upon the hills of Tanzania. Yes Lord, may it be so.

Praying Across Canada

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Tomorrow is the day. I’ll be starting across the country. It’s a prayer journey. A praying across the land. I was on a Capturing Courage visioning weekend in January when Holy Spirit said to me, “I’d like you to pray across Canada.” I’d not ever thought of that before. But my heart and mind were immediately caught with the idea and I set to hold this before the Lord, to see if it was truly a God idea or not.

You may have already heard me share that there were a number of things that absolutely had to come into place in order for this road and camping and praying ministry journey to take place. And within the three next months all of these things shifted. The way was clear to proceed.

Praying across Canada begins with a common lament. To facilitate healing and wholeness for anyone, personal or corporate or community or nation, begins with an entering in with a willingness to sit within what has gone wrong. This lament has already begun within me. The Lord has been making space within my being for a certain sadness that is not mine, that speaks to past and present injustices.

The next manner and way of praying across a country is the deep listening to the groans memorized by the land. In places, on streets, in neighbourhoods, on plains, the land remembers what has gone wrong. In scripture we read, “For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God.” Romans 8:19-21 ESV

The Passion Translation says it this way, “The entire universe is standing on tiptoe,  yearning to see the unveiling of God’s glorious sons and daughters! For against its will the universe itself has had to endure the empty futility  resulting from the consequences of human sin. But now, with eager expectation, all creation longs for freedom from its slavery to decay and to experience with us the wonderful freedom coming to God’s children.” Romans 8:19-21 TPT

Henry Gruver is a man called to pray as the Spirit leads him from place to place, from country to country. Once there he will sense the trouble that happened in a spot. This revelation is facilitated by the power of Holy Spirit. He then remits the sins off of the land. And declares, pouring in, the goodness of God. While I’ve been an inner healing prayer minister for more than twenty years, this remittance and then a pouring in of God’s goodness, was a great additional layer to what I was already doing with folks and places.

From Henry Gruver: “When you remit, you: relax, absolve, release, pardon, discontin- ue, acquit, surrender, leave off, moderate, mitigate, alleviate, desist,–as in “cease and desist.” That should give you an inkling of the kind of power there is in remitting someone’s sins. Here is another synonym that is really powerful: soften. Have you ever met a hard callused person? You can begin to soften those calluses by remitting that one’s sins. Here are some more synonyms: relent, excuse, overlook, exempt, forward, dispatch, transmit, convey, transfer, consign, and deliver. Think about those words in relation to sin. Clearly, there is power there!

On the other hand, if you don’t remit someone’s sins, what are you doing? Consider these antonyms for the word remit: hold, withhold, keep, retain, reserve, tie up, persist, continue, exact, control, command, sway, dominate, avenge, take revenge, get the upper hand, impose a duty on, bind, enjoin, render obligatory, make responsible, repress, suppress, restrain, restrict, prohibit. Antonyms and synonyms will help you to understand whether or not you are choosing the right mountain.

Are you getting the picture of those two mountains in front of you—the Synonym Mountain of Blessing, and the Antonym Mountain of Cursing. Which mountain have you been climbing? Which act have you been performing? Have you been releasing others? Have you been sending them forward? Have you been dispatching and transmitting and conveying and transferring and consigning and delivering them? Then you have been remitting sins! If you have been making others responsible, placing them under obligation, repressing, restricting, restraining and prohibiting them, you have not been remitting their sins. You have been retaining them!

At the risk of repeating myself, I will say it again. You can be either a blessing or a curse. Choose the blessing and live.

Looking at the Greek Strong’s Dictionary for the word translated as “remit” in the New Testament, we find that it means “to cry, or, forgive, to lay aside, or, forsake.” It comes from a root word meaning “off”—as in, “Get it off from me!” “Shake it loose!” According to Strong’s Concordance, this root word “usually denotes separation and departure… When we speak of redeeming the land, what are we talking about? We are talking about reclaiming it for God… Remitting is lifting the burden of condemnation off of people so that they can breath again.” Henry Gruver

http://joyfulsoundministry.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/handbook.pdf

So, this is the primary work of praying across Canada. I’ll be remitting sins in the name of Jesus, and thereby ‘lifting the burden of condemnation off of people so that they can breathe again’; both people and land.

  1. Take out principalities and powers
  2. Remit the past sins
  3. Cleanse the land
  4. Release the goodness (fills the void) of the Lord, to the land.
  5. Ask for a harvest

I am glad to begin tomorrow. There is a deep contentment and peace that has settled into my being this past week. Every ministry journey at Capturing Courage has had a deep peace with the Lord’s favour paving the way each day. May the Lord lead-on as we head across the land.

“God, we lift Canada to you in the name and the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. This vast land needs you God. We need you. We ask your mercy and we commit to justice. May righteousness envelope this country. Bring us back to worship, that our awe may be turned to you God and you only. Amen.”

…………………………………

As you know gas prices are exorbitant. Perhaps you would like to partner with us towards kilometres across the land. From where Cyndy lives to St.John’s, Newfoundland, it is about 5500 km’s.

To make a one-time or a monthly financial gift head to our ‘Give’ page. Donations are processed through GCF (Great Commission Foundation). This is our charitable receipting partnering organization. They will send a charitable receipt for those donating from Canada. These monies come to our CCIM bank account the middle of each month.

To make a one-time gift that you want to come to Cyndy directly on the day you send it, use your bank to facilitate an e-transfer to the email, cyndy(at)capturing courage(dot)org . If the Spirit is compelling you to send funds on a particular day, this is the way to do this. Note: that sending via an e-transfer will not give you a charitable receipt. Something to keep in mind.

Either way, your financial partnerships with this journey are greatly appreciated. Thank you so much.

Blessings and peace upon your days.

The Mountain of the Lord

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“Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord”

but God, I am weak.

“Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord”

but God, I am a sinner.

“Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord”

but God, I am not good enough

“Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord”

but God, I am an addict

“Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord”

but God, I am a failure

“Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord”

but God, I must go to church

“Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord”

but God, I’ve not been approved

“Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord”

but God, my life is in shambles

“Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord”

but God, I am not healed

“Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord”

but God, I don’t know how to pray

“Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord”

but God, I cannot fast

“Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord”

but God, I am not good

“Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord”

but God, I am busy with your work

“Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord”

but God, my leaders do not approve

“Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord”

but God, I am afraid

“Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord”

but God, I don’t know how

“Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord”

but God …

“Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord”

Centres of Gravity

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I am reading a book about strategies of war. The chapter just read is about discerning the centre of gravity of a person or army. I would add, discerning one’s own centre of gravity.

The author gives an example of a boxer. While it may seem that the jabs of the boxers gloves may be the thing that establishes the winner, that it is actually the balance of the boxer upon which a match depends; the balance of the boxer is the centre of gravity. Upset the boxers balance and the boxer loses the fight.

It’s got me thinking. Reviewing. What is Capturing Courage’s centre of gravity?

1.Coming on the inside, as one long-term friend recently said, is a core tenant at CCIM. This is modelled after Luke 9 and 10, where Jesus first sends out the twelve disciples, and then sends out the seventy-two. Paraphrased:

  • Go
  • Take nothing with you (be vulnerable, without financial clout or possessions, but within relationships to come)
  • Enter the town (as led by the Spirit)
  • Look neither to the right or the left (face like flint, focussed, no distractions)
  • Find the house of peace. (as discerned by the Spirit)
  • Enter in. Settle. Eat what is fed you. Sleep as prepared for you. (honour those keeping you, receive well)
  • Then, after all this Jesus tells them that NOW you can pray and heal and declare the Kingdom of God at hand.

The power of relationships, of rapport and trust, of mutual submission and honour, is the primary mechanism (we may call it) upon which all of Capturing Courage ministry rests. Without this there would be no CCIM ministry. Vulnerable, mutual, honourable, relationships is a centre of gravity at Capturing Courage.

2. Living in the manna. People often think that we are a wealthy organization, that there must be a lot of money in order to have been advanced in the way that is evident over the years. But this is not the case at all. Money is not one of our centres of gravity, rather relying on the Lord for all financial provision, is.

In the understanding of a centre of gravity, this means that we cannot be undone by little to no finances. We have found our heart and soul apart from money. We have found the Lord moves us forward regardless of the funds we think we might need.

To be sure we are well-blessed by a number of generous financial partners. But we do not have a lot of these. We literally have nine monthly financial donors. And then a small handful of others that give throughout the year as they are able or as the Holy Spirit alerts them.

Contrary to most organizations, money is not a centre of gravity at Capturing Courage. This makes us exceptionally strong as we are long on faith and deep in trust, nimble and strong in stewardship of what we do have at any given time. Trust in the Lord for all our needs, living in the manna as we call it, is our centre of gravity. This comes of relationship with God, from deep inside of us, and cannot be touched by outward circumstance.

3. Love. Whenever we have been overwhelmed by the work, put upon by the great needs of so many people, so low on my own capacity, we ask God for more love. The love of God, becoming our own love, is a centre of gravity at Capturing Courage.

Out of the love of God we are glad to be with people. Because God LOVES people. Out of this we are strengthened to carry on with the work apportioned to us. Because God LOVES people. We find our purpose and are reminded of what God wants to do with us, as we settle into his love. Because God LOVES us.

And then too, within the great love of others unto us, we enter in, gladly settle into favour, honour all that folks offer to us, are deep in gratitude, and eager to serve and to do all we might do to encourage and build up the body of Christ around the world.

Love is the centre of gravity that holds all of what we do, together.

4. Holy Spirit. Last but not least we walk according to the Holy Spirit. This means that we refuse to make our own way. We never make plans and then ask God to bless them. We avoid excess focus or energy that would remove from us our nimbleness of obedience, of hearing the Lord, and of moving forward in perfect sync with God.

Our blessed Holy Spirit is our centre of gravity. She is the light of our lives and the one who shines through us. It is her light that directs us, quietly leads us, strengthens us, and by her kiss we are gladdened and in joy.

We listen long. We use strategy of slow, slow, quick, quick. Relationship, faces turned to God, ears held to the ground, God’s purposes over our own, are possible because of Holy Spirit our helper. Thank You Holy Spirit.

These are the primary centres of gravity at Capturing Courage. These are the strategies of God for us and through us. It appears that very little can touch these. For they are first and foremost, manners of heart that flow from the Lord himself.

The Kingdom of God has different centres of gravity than what we would envision or expect or want even, from a people or god purposed to win over the whole world. It is why the Kingdom of God, the manner of our Lord, cannot be discerned by worldly eyes, only by spiritual hearts. We are surprised and dismissive of things like, love, vulnerability, honour. We wonder, ‘How do these things win a war?’

But they do. And they will. And they are.

Love disarms evil. Peace is powerful and active. Honour makes for soft hearts.

Vulnerability is the strongest kind of strength.

Like water under a rug, is God with us and through us.

Let us rest ourselves on the strategies of God.

We are revisiting all this as we look ahead to a House of Prayer. What are our centres of gravity?

Do we lead with these the same way with a specific house within a specific community?

How might these past leadings, manner, and way of God apply as we come to a ministry settled into time and space?

As for me, I am super excited to find out.

Yes Lord. Yes.

Award a Pastor their Degree

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We are delighted to announce that there are twenty-one pastors who have graduated College of Capturing Courage to the degree level; a Bachelor of Professional Studies in applied Christian Ministry. 

This has been a two and one-half year process for them, faithfully attended to, taught, facilitated, and reported, by Bishop E. in Tanzania. 

While all reporting and Certificates, with a Diploma, are processed from Head-Office Capturing Courage, this Bachelor Degree is externally awarded from Global University of Lifelong Learning. 

While those who financially partner with us on a regular basis cover our in-house work of awarding certificates and diplomas, the degree from GULL requires an extra sponsorship, enabling these to happen. 

The individual cost of each degree, the processing, printing, and shipping from GULL direct to our students, is 20£. 

This is about $34 CAD. Making room for the amount processed by GCF, our charitable receipting and partnering organization, through which all donations come, we suggest: 

$38 CAD Donor Contribution

We are looking for twenty-one individuals to sponsor one of these pastors 

to receive their well-earned bachelor degree as awarded by GULL. 

Sponsor a Pastor’s Degree Today – A Great Christmas Gift

Upwards of 80% of Pastors in rural areas have had no to little training. Often, they cannot access the good Bible Schools that are in primary cities in their countries. Due to limited means, the need to remain with families, the realities of subsistence farming and lack of funds, pastors have not had the education they deserve and need. 

College of Capturing Courage is a gift indeed to these folks. We offer the course free of charge. It is taught by pastors to pastors, spreading with a multiplied impact person to person, effecting personal and church renewal, extending even to the level of communities and regions. 

MODULE THREE TESTIMONY. Greetings in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior from Tanzania.
This module was very interesting and challenging at the same time, but the Holy Spirit help me to understand it .
I got challenged when studying chapter 89, The Robe, the Ring and the Sandals. At first it was very hard for me to understand the meanings  of these things and their importance. Until I had to kneel down and ask the Holy Spirit to help me understand these things.

After that the Holy Spirit helped me, I came to learn that, Robe was an act of love and of compassion. God restores us. I also learnt that, the Ring which was given to the son by the father meant that, the son was restored back to the family and all the authority that this meant. The son restored to having a “say” in things. This means that we have been covered over with the robe of God, restored back as sons and daughters with all that, this means in this world and beyond. We now speak for the Father, for we know him intimately. This was very challenging to me and the class.

This module three had great impacts in my life and the ministry. After finishing studying the chapters 66-89, I have witnessed a lot of things changing in my life and the ministry. People are testfying what they see in my life and the ministry, as a result, more people are coming to Jesus Christ. Because they can see that, all God’s services are given freely to them, unlike what they see from other ministries, prophets and pastors. This has brought a great change, glory to God. Thanks for your great teachings and God bless you. Bishop in Tanzania. 

To Sponsor a Pastor in receiving his or her Degree in Applied Christian ministry, use the form below and please insert SPONSORSHIP in the comment box. 

Thank you for helping to make this momentous achievement for these individuals both awarded and recognized.

Note that the picture at the top of this post is from a Ugandan pastor and his network, from which there are currently six College of Capturing Courage classes. Keep these ones in your prayers as they also advance through the course.

How Does God Partner with You?

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How does God partner with you?

I’ve been teaching a class called Advanced in The Kingdom. We have just completed week four of six after which, with each class, I find a particular point stands out to me. This is often a summary thought that I may not have even made in class!

This week: How does God partner with YOU? Specifically, you.

It is vitally important that we come to understand the unique breath of God through ones self. There are one or two elements, actions, manners of you that God breathes through. This breath of God is what turns ordinary actions into supernatural impact. An impact that we may not realize so much as those around us; we still feel very ordinary but we find that others are thanking us for this or that, in this manner or that way. This is God through us.

Where our impact may produce an increase, the Lord’s impact brings a multiplication. We may find that we cannot keep up with the fruit of our lives. This marks the Kingdom of God among us.

So, inquire of the Lord about his breath through you. Look at the fruit of your life, where does it seem to be out of proportion to the rest of your life. Consider the patterns of your years. Step back from yourself and see what might be more evident from a distance. Think about the things that others specifically thank you for.

And once you begin to realize how God partners with you, do more of that thing. Leave off the sub-optimal efforts of lesser projects or focus. Optimize your life around the breath of God. There is deep satisfaction in this. And much life.

Be blessed this day by the breath of God through You.

What is in Your Hand?

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What do we have in our hands? 

There is a well understood biblical and spiritual principle, “What do you have in your hand?” 

We think of Moses, “Then the LORD asked him, ‘What is that in your hand?’, ‘A shepherds staff,’ Moses replied.” Exodus 4:2

Consider Elijah and the widow at Zarephath, “Then the word of the Lord came to him: “Go at once to Zarephath in the regions of Sidon and stay there. I have directed a widow there to supply you with food.” So he went to Zarephath. When he came to the town gate, a widow was there gathering sticks. He called to her and asked, “Would you bring me a little water in a jar so that I may have a drink?” As she was going to get it, he called, “And bring me, please, a piece of bread.” 

“As surely as the Lord your God lives,” she replied, “I don’t have any bread—only a handful of flour in a jar and a little olive oil in a jug. I am gathering a few sticks to take home and make a meal for myself and my son, that we may eat it—and die.” Elijah said to her, “Don’t be afraid. Go home and so as you have said. But first make a small loaf of bread for me from what you have and brig it to me, and then make something for yourself and your son. For this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘The jar of flour will not be used up and the jug of oil will not run dry until the day the Lord sense rain on the land.’”

She went away and did as Elijah had told her. So there was food every day for Elijah and for the woman and her family. For the jar of flour was not used up and the jug of oil did not run dry, in keeping with the word of the Lord spoken by Elijah.” 1 Kings 17:7-16

Then too, the boy with five loaves and two fish that fed over 5000 people. We think of the widow with her one coin at the temple and the word that she would be remembered for the rest of time. And what about Elijah and the widow with the small bit of oil, the collection of many jars, and the filling of all those jars. Not to mention the water turned to wine by Jesus himself. 

What do you have in your hand? It can do more than you imagine. And just may be all you need!

At Capturing Courage we’ve been considering this once more. What do we have in our hands? We have recently embarked on an exploration, sensing out a future location for a House of Prayer. There are a few different thoughts about this. Many things we could do or be, in specific ministry this way or that. 

But not all these thoughts have any solid basis upon which we have advanced before. We must remain in what we have in our hands. The tangible solid wherewithal and capacity upon which God has already been growing, leading, and developing us. 

So, we are asking, “What is in our hands?” 

The Lord has made it clear that we are to move forward in this journey towards a house of prayer in a public way. You can therefore find more posts about this over at https://capturingcouragecanada.org and even a few jottings over at https://cyndylavoie.com 

Poverty Strongholds Finale – Pain Upon Pain

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11. Poverty Strongholds – Pain Upon Pain

  1. Demons
  2. Poor Stewardship
  3. Lack of Knowledge (common sense)
  4. Mind Sets (faulty thinking)
  5. Lack of Holiness
  6. Agreements with the Enemy
  7. Bad Theology
  8. Blaming & Excuses
  9. Refusing to be a Blessing
  10. Pain Upon Pain 

Today in conclusion to this series I am writing about #10 Poverty Stronghold, Pain Upon Pain. 

My original doodling of this material, while in Uganda, began with the first 8 strongholds, and then once home and as I was writing my first post about this topic I realized that pain upon pain is a critical contributor to poverty strongholds. In identifying this I thought I would rework the Poverty Stronghold Diagram / Pie Chart to add in pain upon pain, and yet, as I’ve been fleshing out the rest of the material I realized that in fact, pain upon pain is a stronghold that overlays all of the other strongholds; we see that strongholds of Pain Upon Pain are laid over it all, informing and confounding each individual stronghold in turn.

I begin by repeating here what I wrote in my first post regarding pain upon pain that is buried deep in a people and passed on to generations after generations:

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Poverty Strongholds Post #3 – Poor Stewardship

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Poverty Strongholds – Post #3 – Poor Stewardship

  1. Demons
  2. Poor Stewardship
  3. Lack of Knowledge (common sense)
  4. Mind Sets (faulty thinking)
  5. Lack of Holiness
  6. Agreements with the Enemy
  7. Bad Theology
  8. Blaming & Excuses
  9. Refusing to be a Blessing
  10. Pain Upon Pain

Walking through these poverty strongholds we will begin with our second stronghold, Poor Stewardship. I’ll write a post on each of these separately, for I am realizing the depth of the material to explore.

Let’s Begin: Poor Stewardship 

Poor Stewardship refers to the basic principle of being faithful with a little. From my own experience and observations this ‘faithful with a little’ is either a character strength or a character flaw. We either take care of the things entrusted to us or we do not.

Continue reading →

Three of Us to Uganda

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We are two and one-half weeks away from journeying to Uganda. Myself, Crystal, and Nelson will be arriving in Uganda on September 18th, and will be in the country until we begin our flights home on December 16th. 

When I go to a country and to those I will be with, I am hosted, fed and given a place to sleep, by those I’m ministering alongside, while the money that I bring into a country is for the internal travel of our on-the-ground-team (which includes the pastor/s we are travelling with once there).  

Now, with three of us going, Nelson having just decided 9 days ago, I’ve been communicating that we are now three coming and asking if this is okay on their end in terms of the hosting of us. 

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The Real Work Belongs to the Lord

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The international launch of CCIM was in the fall of 2011. It was at that time that I took my first ministry trip to Africa. I had been invited, persistently invited, by a gentleman in Uganda and after prayer and discernment realized that it was time to begin what the Lord had been telling me about for some time.

In the year 2000 the Holy Spirit had begun showing me these rolling hills as far as I could see, covered by trees more than I could count. And with this vision came his words, “Each tree represents a life that your words will touch.” Initially I thought I was imagining all of this. Yet as time went by and as the Lord continued to impress this vision upon my spirit and mind I began to take this as God telling me something.

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