Expectations of God

Unable to shake my thoughts on expectation this last week, I’ve taken them to a deeper level for you to ponder.  What are your expectations of God?

I looked up the meaning of expectation and here is what I found:

Expectation – the act or the state of expecting – to wait in expectation.

 The act or state of looking forward or anticipating. An expectant mental attitude.

A high pitch of expectation.  A prospect of future good or profit.

Notice that expectation is a passive word.  It dwells in our mind.  We are waiting for something and trying to figure out how it will unfold.  It’s synonymous with the word anticipation.  The anticipation of something usually involves more drama, more anxiety, and more excitement than the event itself.

If you’re someone like me, you spend way too much time thinking about what’s to come.  The expectations of life and of God can be overwhelming.  I tend to over-analyze everything.  I think too much, and I expect too much.

What should we expect of God?  The Bible is full of verses telling us exactly what to expect of Him.  Here are a few to give you examples.

Phil. 4:19 – “My God will meet all your needs according to His glorious riches in Christ Jesus”.

Phil. 4:7 – “And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

2 Thes. 3:3 – “But the Lord is faithful, and He will strengthen and protect you from the evil one.”

We can spend our whole life stuck in expectations and never birth the plans that God intends for our lives. We have to step out of our expectations and take the necessary action to fulfill our destiny.  We need faith to do that.

Many Christians seem to struggle in taking action. If you never step out in faith, you face the danger of doubting God’s plans for you.  He won’t just lay it all out in front of you, He’ll want to see some action with your faith.  You have to do your part.

James 2:22 (Talking about Abraham) “You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did.” And verse 26, “As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.”

I believe this is part of the problem with the high divorce rate in the church.  Too many Christians think they only have to pray about marital problems and “turn them over to God,” expecting God to do the rest.  That’s not enough.  We have to take action and make the necessary changes to achieve a healthy marriage.  It takes work and obedience to God.

We expect God to perform certain ways in our lives, according to His word.  If we never act in obedience to our faith that goes hand in hand with expectation, though, we will never bear the fruit of the Spirit which is a vital part of every Christian’s life.

More to come about expectation.