A spirit of expectancy:
I have been thinking a lot about this concept and the impact it can have on our lives as we choose to daily seek the Lord.
Lately, I have been looking around in my own life as well as the lives of others (particularly those walking with the Lord) and seeing how we grudgingly walk into things. I believe that our outcomes can change as we change our mindset walking into them. Really though, it’s not the outcome that changes, but the way we view it.
This week at training camp there was an example of this. The situation looked something like this: One of the men on my squad felt the Lord leading him to ask us to pray healing over another man on our squad who had to use hearing aids. The man was nervous to ask us to join him in this, and sought counsel from one of our squad leaders. He said something along the lines of, “I feel led to ask the squads to pray healing over our brother, but I’m scared, what do I do?” The leader replied, “You should be obedient if that’s what you’re being called to do.” The man asked, “But what If God doesn’t show up? What if he’s not healed?” The leader replied, “You mean what if God doesn’t show up the way you expect Him to? You praise Him anyway. Despite the outcome, you say ‘yes and amen, and thank you, Lord’ to whatever the situation is. God always shows up.”
And guess what…He did. Jacob didn’t wear his hearing aids the rest of the week. There was healing in the ears of our brother, and the Lord received the glory.
I have seen lately in myself and in those around me that rather than expecting the Lord to show up, we expect the worst out of situations in our lives. We complain as we walk into situations because our flesh doesn’t want to do it. And guess what else I’ve seen? I’ve seen the Lord show up in every situation. Maybe not always in the way we expect it, but He is always there. Many times I’ve seen Him show up in HUGE ways and show off.
What I’m realizing more and more is how much we limit God. We see things as a burden rather than a blessing. We want to get things over with rather than anticipating and expecting God to show up. I don’t want to complain anymore. I want to choose joy no matter what situation I am walking into. I will show up and say “yes, and amen, and thank you, Lord!” to whatever is in front of me. When I fail to do this, I want to look back and pick out where the Lord showed up that I failed to notice in the moment, and I want to be joyful knowing that my God is GOOD.
Imagine what would happen if we lived with a spirit of expectancy knowing God will show up. Maybe not in the way we think He should, but in ways that He works it for good according to His purposes (Romans 8:28).
Whatever’s in front of me, I choose to sing Hallelujah
