What are your expectations today? Are you just assuming that today will go as it did yesterday, with nothing out of the ordinary going on? Or, do you expect more out of today than yesterday?
You know how exciting it is when you're planning to go on vacation. You start making plans, and the excitement intensifies as you imagine yourself relaxing or enjoying life. But what if something happens and you have to cancel your vacation plans? Do you wallow in self pity and look for someone to blame?
Expectations based on human assumptions can cause trouble. I don't know about you, but I would rather put my hope in God, the One who created all things and knows all things, than to put my trust in man.
God wants nothing but the best for His children, so why not expect the best from Him. Look to God and trust Him with your life. Wake up expecting good things to happen. When God says He will do something, we can trust that He will. This is our promise, our hope from Him.
Raise your level of expectation today! God is good and His Will for my life and yours is to prosper!
Philippians 4:6 - "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God."
If you've been a Christian for very long, you will agree with me that we go into battle every day. There's a spiritual battle that exists in all of us if we are a follower of Christ. You may think that the enemies you face are people or objects, but in reality our opponent is sin.
Because of this, we must be prepared daily to go into battle. This means putting on the full armor of God. The tools we need in preparation are found in the Bible and in prayer.
The devil prowls around and tries to use our circumstances to overwhelm us with fear. Unfortunately, we tend to fight our battles with other people, instead of addressing the sin.
Satan hates it when Christians gather around and pray for those who have fallen away or for those who are struggling.
Keep the faith. God's already won the battle!
Ephesians 6:12 – "For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places."
Do you do this? I know I've been guilty of it, more than I care to admit. We get into a situation, or something comes up unexpected and we're already trying to figure out how to fix it. We think that if we're proactive, we can resolve the situation before it gets out of hand. This is putting our faith in our circumstances; trusting in ourselves to get the job done.
If we have faith in God, our trust is what we do because of the faith we have been given by Him. Trusting in God is believing in the promises of God in ALL circumstances, even when all the evidence is to the contrary.
Trusting in ourselves will inevitably result in disaster.
God's promises are true forever. You can trust that whatever circumstance you're in, God already knows the outcome and will be by our side through it all.
Put your faith in God. He's trustworthy and true!
Proverbs 28:26 – "Whoever trusts in his own mind is a fool, but he who walks in wisdom will be delivered."
God is not a vending machine, so quit treating Him like one.
You put money in a vending machine, you make your selection, and out comes your item. Some people go through life not acknowledging God until they need something. Then, it's an urgent prayer request that they assume will be answered right away. This is not how God works. This is not how He is designed, or how He designed us.
This all begins with prayer. How's your prayer life today? Have you ever heard about the ACTS model of prayer? ACTS stands for Adoration, Confession, Thanks, and Supplication.
The next time you pray, start out by praising God for all He's done in your life. Next, confess anything that you've done that you're sorry for. Next, thank Him for all His blessings that He freely gives to you each day. And lastly, ask God for something for yourself or for others.
Quit treating God like a vending machine. He's the creator of the earth. He knows all and sees all, and He wants you to rely on Him, confess to Him, thank Him and give Him the desires of your heart.
Luke 6:46 – "Why do you call me 'Lord, Lord,' and not do what I tell you?"
I admit, it's difficult to be in God's waiting room. I wait. I pray. I hope that the situation will turn around. But the waiting room is necessary. The important lesson learned during all of this is, "do you trust God.?"
This waiting room is God's training ground. This boot-camp experience is where we will strengthen our spiritual muscles to endure the hardships that are before us. If God doesn't prepare us and our faith doesn't strengthen, then how are we going to get through? How are we going to defeat the enemy, with God's help.
Turn to God, not away from him during this time. Bring your fears and anxieties to Him and allow Him to control the situation.
None of us like to wait, but to be in God's waiting room means that hope is near; answers are coming, restoration is in close proximity!
Psalm 130:5 – "I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in His word I hope;"
For most people it's not until you've exhausted all your resources and fleshly attempts at resolving an issue that you turn it over to God. Quit fighting it. Quit trying to figure this life out on your own. We weren't made for that. Look to God when you come to the end of yourself. This allows God to step in and gives Him a platform to work on our behalf.
It's here that God is revealed. In hard times God may allow things to happen. Most times it's here where you finally acknowledge Him and show others that alone, you are helpless.
God wants us to recognize our weaknesses. When we are at our weakest, He is strong.
Don't wait until you've exhausted all your resources. Rely on God to get you through a current struggle or difficult situation. Allow Him to shelter you through the storm.
1 Peter 5:6 – "Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time He may exalt you,"
Have you been through storms in your life, or been waiting on a dream come true or an illness to cure, and it seems like God's not there? I have been and at the time, it seems like God is saying no to my prayer request. When, in reality, our timeline is not the same as God's. You've heard the cliché, "things happen for a reason," when in reality, they happen on God's timing. God is never late and He's never early. His timing is always right on time.
This concept may be hard to understand, especially if you don't have a relationship with God. But trust is the key to all of this. If you don't trust God in His timing, then you're going to be impatient and worry because things aren't happening on your timeline.
Isaiah 40:31 - "But they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint."
I couldn't agree with the verse above had it not come true in my life. Wait on God. It's totally worth it. It may not be pleasant, but you can trust that what He says He will do, will come to fruition.
God's delay will cause your faith to strengthen and your trust in Him to blossom!
Have you had anything happen to you recently that had you scared? I'm not referring to 'monsters in the closet scared.' I'm referring to bad news of an illness, broken heart of a relationship or a tragic fatal accident. Your instinct is to crouch down in fear. You worry about what's going to happen next; thinking about how you might be able to alter the situation.
But, all throughout the bible God tells us to not fear. God speaks of not giving us a spirit of fear, but of power and love and self-control. God wants us to run to Him when we feel fearful. It's at our weakest moments when God steps in and performs His mighty miracles. He wants us to trust Him with the situation.
It's taken me a long time to learn this lesson. As these seasons of life pass, I realize that letting go, giving the control over to God is so freeing. I had to get to the point when things started falling apart, or spiraling down, I replaced my fears with God's words. I replaced my anxieties with scripture verses that soothed my soul and got my mind on God instead of myself.
Let God be your shelter in the storms of life. These storms will always come, but we have the King of Kings that has already won the battle. God's our shelter!
Proverbs 18:10 - "The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous man runs into it and is safe."