What Are You Expecting?
Do you have a vision for your life? O ooh, that question probably freaked you out! If you are like most people, you don’t have a clear set-out vision for your life. You cannot clearly articulate what you would like to see happening 1)in your life, or 2) in the future. But most of us have expectations. I say this because most of us carry disappointment of some kind, which is by definition a feeling we have when our expectations are not met. We expect something from people, we expect something to happen, or even expect (believe) that something should be a certain way. All have us have expectations. My question today is…
What do you expect from God?
“God sticks his head out of heaven.
He looks around.
He’s looking for someone not stupid—
one man, even, God-expectant,
just one God-ready woman.” (Psalm 53:2 Message Bible)
God is looking from heaven to see if there is anyone who is God-expectant, ready for what God wants to do in our lives. Faith is by it’s nature expectant and when our faith sees what we hope for come into being, our faith grows. Faith grows by expecting things from God, things we cannot necessarily see now. The biggest mistake most of us make, is that we have stopped expecting, we lack faith. (Hebrews 11:6 “without faith it is impossible to please God.”)
Are You God-Expectant?
Here are five areas where we can start to build God-expectations:
- Expect greater intimacy with God, getting to know God more intimately than we know Him now. It is clear from scripture that if we seek the Lord out, He will be found.
“But if from there you seek the Lord your God, you will find him if you seek him with all your heart and with all your soul.” (Deut 4:29)
Expect to exercise greater faith, believing God for greater things – more than we have believed him for in past. Greater faith has to be developed, it does not come naturally. This will require praying bigger prayers than we prayed in the past and being ready to take steps (believing), which we have not taken in the past.
“Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.” (Heb 11:1)
- Expect greater discipline in our lives. Personal self-discipline is a fruit of the Holy Spirit working in our lives (Gal 5:22-23) and we should have expectations of seeing more discipline evident in our lives. More disciplined time in the study of scripture, more disciplined times of prayer, more control of our tongue and our actions, more discipline of our flesh etc.
“For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1 Peter 1:5-8)
- We should have expectations of greater obedience in our lives. As our love and joy in our relationship with the Lord grows, we should also have expectations of seeing greater obedience in our lives. Obedience that is quick, without question and as required.
“Whoever says, ‘I know him,’ but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in that person. But if anyone obeys his word, love for God is truly made complete in them. This is how we know we are in him: whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus did.” (1 John 2:4-6)
Expectations of Greater Generosity with our Lives. The more we grasp that everything we have is given to us by the Lord and that He is in total control of our lives, the more we can be generous with precious resources like time, energy and money. All working towards the ultimate level of generosity we see in Jesus, who generously gave His life for us. We want to have expectations of being able to give ourselves more generously to the Lord, as a living offering: our very own lives. 1 John 3:16
“This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters.” (1 John 3:16)
Just what are you expecting in your life?
If you had to start expecting more in your life, what would you be most afraid would happen? If you think about the dreams you have, is there something you can start expecting? What does your lack of expectation say about what You think of God?
“At that time I will search Jerusalem with lamps
and punish those who are complacent,
who are like wine left on its dregs,
who think, “The Lord will do nothing,
either good or bad.” “– Zephaniah 1:12
What has your mindset been like? Have you expected neither good or bad? God wants us, as His people, to be expectant, to look forward to what He is going to do in our lives and in the lives of others. I firmly believe that your vision for your life will be part of what you are expecting from God. Examine your heart and see if you still have an expectant heart?
Whatever happens, things will not be the same as yesterday!
Lord help me to be honest before you and admit that I have not been expecting much and in fact have been comfortable where I am and not expecting anything more. Help me to honestly start looking at my life and start building an expectation of what could be possible in my life, even if it looks impossible right now. Help me to look at each of the above areas and imagine the possibilities of your hand in my life and start building greater expectation.
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