Great Expectations

God usually meets us at our level of expectancy. It seems that whether it is Israel in the Old Testament or the blind man in the New Testament, what is done for the believer by God is in direct correspondence to what that believer expects. In Numbers Chapter 14, we see that Israel received the negative report of 10 of the twelve spies sent to scout the land of Canaan. They came back and basically said that it is all that God said it would be, but there are Giants over there and we are like grasshoppers in their sight. Two of the spies, Caleb and Joshua, said that we can take it. Why did they feel like they could take it? Because God said they could. They believed the promises of God. Their faith was based on what he said, not what they saw. Faith is not circumstantial, it is unconditional. What God says, he is definitely able to perform.

Several times in the New Testament, as Jesus performs a healing, He says “according your faith, it shall be.” In other words, I will perform up to that which you believe and expect of me.

As for Israel, God was angered and considered their lack of faith as a complaint against him. His response was, “Just as you have spoken in my hearing, so shall I do to you.” That is exactly what he did. Joshua and Caleb said they could and they were the only two of their generation to see the Promised Land. The other 10 spies and all that believed their report died in the wilderness over the next 40 years. What are you expecting and what are you speaking in the hearing of God concerning His promises toward you?

Expectation is something quite awesome in the life of the believer. We have the right and even the obligation to expect from God all that He has promised. We limit God with our limited faith. We allow the circumstances to dictate the flow of our thought processes instead of believing God for all that he is and all that he has promised. He has promised that his Word would not return to him void, but would accomplish all that it was sent to accomplish.

  “So will My word be which goes forth from My mouth; It will not return to Me empty, Without accomplishing what I desire, And without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it.” (Isa. 55:11NASB)

The Bible also tells us that we are not able to fathom the things that God can and will do for us, in us and through us.

“ but just as it is written, "THINGS WHICH EYE HAS NOT SEEN AND EAR HAS NOT HEARD, AND which HAVE NOT ENTERED THE HEART OF MAN, ALL THAT GOD HAS PREPARED FOR THOSE WHO LOVE HIM." (1 Cor. 2:9NASB)

Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, (Eph. 3:20)

       A common phrase used by Christ upon healing someone was “According to your faith”, as with the Blind man in Matthew 9:29. According to your faith is basically saying that based on what you believe or taking it even further, what you know, this I will do on your behalf. Faith is the conduit through which God engages and functions in the life of the believer. Without faith it is impossible to please God.

“And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.” (Heb. 11:6, NKJV)

You cannot please God without faith because the absence of faith is a personal indictment against God. Basically your lack of faith is saying to God, “I don’t believe you can!” It is saying that you cannot possibly be the great I AM. Remember what he said to the Israelites concerning their fear of entering into the Promised Land:

The LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying, "How long shall I bear with this evil congregation who are grumbling against Me? I have heard the complaints of the sons of Israel, which they are making against Me.  "Say to them, 'As I live,' says the LORD, 'just as you have spoken in My hearing, so I will surely do to you; your corpses will fall in this wilderness, even all your numbered men, according to your complete number from twenty years old and upward, who have grumbled against Me. 'Surely you shall not come into the land in which I swore to settle you, except Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun.  (Num. 14:26-30 NASB)

What are you speaking into the hearing of God about your situation? Are you grumbling against Him with your unbelief, or are you standing on His promises and trusting His power? I urge you to raise your expectations. Set your focus like the woman with the issue of blood. Twelve long years she suffered with no end in sight, but her faith in Christ was so strong that she decided she did not need a personal face to face encounter with Him; she simply needed to touch His clothes. Her faith was so strong that it pulled power from Jesus to the point that her touching His clothes felt to him as if she had touch Him directly. This faith of hers was so powerful that it drew on the power of Christ. When he asked who touched me, the disciples thought he had lost his mind because there was a crowd and he was being thronged by the crowed. Yet, in all of this he feels this woman touch Him. Now that is faith. That is a great expectation. Then there was the Roman General that came to Jesus and said that I am not worthy for you to enter into my house, but if you would just simply speak it, I know that it will be done. Now that’s faith.

Dr. Rick Wallace 

Pastor and author, Steven Furtick, says, “If the vision (expectation) that you have for your life is not so huge that it intimidates you, it is probably insulting God.” (Sun Stand Still)

Let me explain something to you. Stop giving so much weight to the facts. See people who do that are known as empiricist and pragmatist. They base everything on what they can see and observe. However, the Bible tells us that we should live by faith and it also says that we walk by faith not by sight. What does this mean? It means that we may acknowledge the facts (do not be in denial; a real problem does not go away because you pretend it’s not there), but don’t give more weight to the facts than you do to your trust in God. My cousin and I say this slightly different, but basically it comes out to the same meaning: Either your faith will resolve the facts or the facts will dissolve your faith. You and only you will make that determination.

What are your expectations for God’s movement in your life? ~ Dr. Rick Wallace