Power of Expectation
God has really been tugging at my heart to talk about expectations and the effect that they can have on our spiritual, mental, and even physical wellness. We will be going through a couple different stories in scripture, but I want to start in Matthew ch. 11:2-3
Let’s take a look… John the Baptist is in prison and he hears about all of these miracles that Jesus is doing but then he says “SO” which means…what you are getting ready to hear is based on what you just heard – he, John, heard what Jesus was doing….what was he doing, you might ask… healing the sick, blind eyes were being opened, deaf ears were being unstopped. John the Baptist hears this “SO” he questions Jesus’ identity. remember what it says in verse 3 – he says, are you the messiah we’ve been expecting, or should we keep looking for someone else.”
WHAT or WHO WAS JOHN EXPECTING?
We can pretty well assume that his expectations were out of line from what Jesus was doing because John asks that question right?…so who was right?
Let me ask what happens when you go one way, but God goes another?
What happens when your expectations for what you want God to do are not in God’s plan for you? What happens when your expectations are off and you expected God to do something for you that he never said he would do. Let me tell you this: Pastor Jeremy Foster said,
GOD MAY NOT ALWAYS LIVE UP TO YOUR EXPECTATIONS, BUT HE WILL ALWAYS LIVE UP TO HIS WORD. – Jeremy Foster
If he said he will never leave you he will never leave you.
If he said he will never forsake you, he will never forsake you.
PERSPECTIVE INFLUENCES EXPECTATION
Your perspective of a situation directly influences your expectations of that situation.
Lets go back to vs 2
Matthew 3:13-14
There’s that word SO again! This is a pretty clear example of what John thought of Jesus. He clearly explains that he knows the extent of who Jesus is and that’s why he’s questioning Why in the world am I baptizing you!? You should be baptizing me!
Obviously, if we are here we aren’t in a physical prison, but I believe that the battles we face can feel a whole lot like we are imprisoned to them. But How many times while we are in church or at a conference or lifegroup or something holy….we feel like we can see what we need to. But the second that we get into a “prison” it all changes.
Assess. Find out where your perspective is right now because heres what I know:
AN UNHEALTHY PERSPECTIVE WILL ALWAYS CAUSE YOU TO DOUBT WHERE YOU’RE GOING
Set your expectations right.
Assess and reflect on where your perspective sits.
What would your perspective look like and how would it effect your expectations if you always remembered what God has done for you?
In Mark ch 4 - Jesus and his disciples are crossing the Sea of Galilea. Now the Sea of Galilea is surrounded by mountains, and what normally happens is cold air comes down the side of the mountains and it meets the hot air from the sea and MASSIVE storms comes up out of nowhere. This is exactly what is happening in Mark ch 4 and the disciples are FREAKING OUT. THIS IS IT THIS IS HOW WE’RE GOING TO DIE.
But Jesus wakes up and the bible says that he rebukes the wind and the waves, right we’ve all heard this story, but he goes on to look at his disciples and he says, “how do you still have no faith”
NOW Here’s the thing though – Jesus isn’t asking them that just because he calmed the winds and the waves, he’s saying How do you still have no faith based off of EVERYTHING YOU’VE SEEN ME DO TO THIS POINT.
What would it have looked like for the disciples if when that storm hit and they’re all WERE GONNA DIE, if one of them said “NO WERE NOT, JESUS IS IN THE BOAT, DO YOU REMEMBER HIM HEALING THAT GIRL, FEEDING ALL THOSE PEOPLE, CALLING OUT THAT DEMON? No we’re good, we’re going to be ok” let me tell you this church:
STORMS CAN BE SCARY, BUT JESUS IS WITH US
Your prison can be REALLY scary, but JESUS is with you! Sometimes what you have to do is look back on all the things he’s ALREADY DONE!
IF GOD HAS BEEN FAITHFUL TO YOU IN THE PAST, HE IS GOING TO BE FAITHFUL IN THE PRESENT AND IN THE FUTURE.
So you need to assess where you are at, remember what God has done, and last but not least, trust what God will do…So number 3:
Trust that God will do it. This is super hard…this might be one of the hardest ones. Going back to my last point:
IF GOD HAS BEEN FAITHFUL TO YOU IN THE PAST, HE IS GOING TO BE FAITHFUL IN THE PRESENT AND IN THE FUTURE.
Gods promises are yes and amen and like numbers say’s: God Is not a man so he does not lie and he does not change his mind. He is there for you and promises that he always will be. You just have to trust that.
He doesn’t care what failure you walked in here with…Let me tell you this right now…
GOD CAN OVERCOME YOUR FAILURE IF YOU CONTINUE TO HAVE FAITH
God can overcome your failure if you continue to have faith!