Expectation – What is my expectation

On Thursdays, I publish something from my archives which has inspired or challenged me in the past. Today’s reminder was about Expectation and some questions I asked myself 2 years ago.

I have been thinking about this today and it is a challenge.   What am I hoping/expecting to receive from God when I pray to Him or seek Him for direction in my life?

Do I have a confident expectation in the goodness of God?

I sense God is saying– What is your expectation of me?  

Don’t be limited by past experiences.

Widen your expectation – expect the unexpected.

God can do immeasurably more than we can do or think.  

Do I come to Him with a limited expectation based on past experiences or disappointments and a misunderstanding of His word and character?  

The truth is that God can do awesome things and totally surprise us by His amazing love, grace and mercy.

It is easy to get in a rut and expect the same to happen all the time.

Expectation can be stifled through habit and tradition.

I am being encouraged to allow the Lord to guide and shape my thinking by His Word and hence my expectations – After all – God’s ways are far above our ways.

God reminded me of the story in the Acts of the Apostles of the lame man who was seated outside of the gate Beautiful begging for money.  

He must have sat there day in and day out holding out his hands expecting to receive money from the people going in and out of the temple.

He had the same expectation of Peter & John, but they gave the lame man so much more than he expected. They gave him healing and restoration by the power of Jesus Christ. What a beautiful day that was at the Gate.

It was interesting that the story also says that the people around did not expect a miracle of healing either because the man was said to be “old” – he was above 40 years of age – goodness what an expectation!

Does our age and what other people think of us affect our expectation of God – that we are too old, too young or don’t qualify for God to move in our lives in power.

God forbid.

The beautiful aspect of this story is that the lame man received so much more than he expected to receive. It is such an amazing demonstration of God’s abundant love and mercy.

I pray for us all to have a right expectation in the goodness of God, not limited by past experiences but to be inspired by the Holy Spirit to increase our expectation and expect the unexpected.

Amen 🙏