Monday, May 7, 2018

Great Expectations

For am I now seeking the favor of men, or of God? Or am I striving to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a bond-servant of Christ.  Galatians 1:10

God has a plan for your life and your first job before doing anything else is to discover it.  You can stand on a mountain and shout, I am the master of my fate!  I am the captain of my soul! and God will laugh at you.  You are not in full control of your life, you never were…and you never will be! However, there is no such thing as irresponsibility. You are responsible for everything you think, say or do or fail to do. We have a standard to follow given to us by God.  He has plans and expectations for all of us.  
The greater danger for most of us lies not in setting our aim too high and falling short; but in setting our aim too low, and achieving our mark.  Michelangelo
Some of us will go through life never living up to our own abilities, or God’s expectations, all because we have too little faith in ourselves and God.  We may fear failure or we may fear judgement from others.  We live as slaves to the opinions of everyone around us as well as social media and society as a whole.  We tend to set our expectations of each other by comparing what others are doing.  God has something to say about that: For we are not bold to class or compare ourselves with some of those who commend themselves; but when they measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves with themselves, they are without understanding.  2 Corinthians 10:12 NASB  Who is setting the expectations for you in your life?  Whoever it is, that is who you are serving. 
God does not lead us to fail but success and blessing.  Hope for the Christian is confidence in what God is going to bring to pass.  In other words…Our Expectation.  Having low expectations for yourself is a recipe for feeling good about yourself at any particular moment, but not getting anywhere.  It’s easy to quit when there is a failure in our lives.  People who condemn us for our failure and label us as failures are lowering their expectations but they cannot lower ours unless we accept their opinion.  Do we want to live for them or for God?
Faith is based on your concept of God and ability to trust Him to bring blessing to your life as you follow Him.  Be aware that God is the God of the unexpected.  There are no surprises to Him.  Trust Him to bring about His will in your life.  Be brave and step out in faith to embrace His expectations for you, and believe, truly believe, in the expectations you have in Him.  


Scripture to Claim:
God, the one and only, I’ll wait as long as he says.  Everything I hope for comes from him, so why not?  He’s solid rock under my feet, breathing room for my soul, An impregnable castle: I am set for life.  Psalms 62:5-6 The Message

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