BE EXPECTANT!

Today, we want to look at the eight step to receiving your miracle - “BE EXPECTANT!” 

If you are going to receive the miracle you need from God, you’ve got to have an expectation. You can’t receive what you don’t expect.

What does it mean to “be expectant?” This means to have or show an excited feeling that something is about to happen, especially something pleasant and interesting.

What is expectation? Expectation is anticipation of something happening. It is a confident belief or a strong hope that a particular event will happen. Expectation is that which you are looking up to God to do for you.

In Proverbs 23:18 God said, “For surely there is an end, and thine expectation shall not be cut off.”

You have given. Are you expecting to receive according to Luke 6:38? You have prayed concerning a situation. Are you expecting the desired result? I expect to receive if I give. I expect God to answer when I pray. I expect God to heal me today. I expect God to promote me today. I expect God to increases me today. I expect God to heal my marriage today. I expect God to make a way for me where men say there is no way today. I expect God to take me from where I am to where I ought to be today. I expect God to change my story today. I expect God to give me a new car today. I expect God to give me a new house today.

Concerning expectation, you should realize that:

i)                     Expectation is the breeding ground for miracles.

ii)                    Your expectation must be in line with the perfect will of God for your life.

In Jeremiah 29:11 God said, “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.”

iii)                  Your expectation is from God.

Psalms 62:5 says, “My soul, wait thou only upon God; for MY EXPECTATION is from Him.”

iv)                  Your situation has an end and your expectation will be fulfilled.

Proverbs 23:18 says, “For surely there is an end; and thine expectation shall not be cut off.”

v)                   Faith is the reality of your expectation. The Bible says, “Now, faith is the substance [reality] of things hoped for [you expect] ...”

So whatever the thing is, faith is the substance [confident assurance] of that thing. “Things hopped for” means “things you expect.” Therefore, “to hope for” something means “to expect” something.

vi)                  Expectation is a blue print. When you say you have expectation, you must have a picture of what you are expecting. If you have no such picture, your expectation is without foundation. It is baseless.

Ephesians 3:20 says, “Now unto Him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or THINK [imagine, expect], according to the power that worketh in us.”

Your imagination is your image maker. You must develop your imagination [expectation], and let faith fill it. Realize that behind every Word of God is a picture. When you capture this picture it will restructure your future.

What you dream about you’ll eventually become. If you dream big, you’ll become big. If you dream small, you’ll become small. There is nothing that you image that God cannot provide. Your imagination, no matter how big it may appear to be, can never exhaust the resources of God.

Genesis 11 talks about what the people have imagined to do. They imagined building the tower of Babel so as to make a name for themselves. And God said that anything they imagined to do cannot be restrained from them. They have already built the tower of Babel in their imagination. They have seen themselves in their imagination doing that.

In a similar way, if you can see yourself doing whatever picture you have in your imagination, faith will cause that thing to manifest in the physical. If you can see yourself healed, delivered, prosperous, living in that mansion, having admission into UNN, your faith will bring that which is in the unseen realm to the seen [physical] realm.

If you can conceive it, you can achieve it. If you can see it in your imagination, you can possess it in the physical.

What is your blue print? What are you expecting? What do you see yourself in your imagination doing? That is your vision. And that is what faith will cause to manifest in the physical.

Jeremiah 1:11-12 says, “Moreover the Word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Jeremiah, what seest thou? And I said, I see a rod [branch] of an almond tree. 12 Then said the Lord unto me, Thou hast well seen: for I will hasten My Word to perform it.”

“You have seen well, for I am alert and active, watching over My Word to perform it” (AMP).

“…and I am watching to see that My Words come true” (GNB).

“You have seen well: for I keep watch over My Word to give effect to it” (BBE).

vii)                 Without expectation faith has nothing to fill. Expectation is like the very thing you desire, but faith is what fills it.

Sketch the picture of what you expect [hope for] and keep it where you can always behold it. You become what you behold [see]! That picture you have pasted is the image you have developed. This is what you are expecting [hoping for]. Faith is what will bring it into manifestation. Faith is what will call it into existence. Faith will call it from the realm of the spirit into the realm of the physical. Glory to God!

What is your expectation? Meditate on that thing in line with God’s Word until an image [picture] is conceived in your imagination. At this point you have developed an image in the spirit realm. Thereafter, faith calls it into existence. Your imagination [expectation] works together with your faith to bring into existence things that be not.

Examples of people that operated this principle abound in the Scriptures:

1.       The man that was lame from his mother’s womb (Acts 3:1-11).

Acts 3:5 says, “And he gave heed unto them, EXPECTING to receive something of them.” This man received his miracle because he was full of expectation. This man was expecting to receive alms. But God knew what he really needed more than he himself. God knew that his legs are the symbol of his economic strength. So, if He could get his legs in order, then the man can now go around getting the money he ever needed. If he could walk, he can earn money much more than what the servants of the LORD would ever have given him.

2.       The woman with the issue of blood was also full of expectation (Mk. 5:25-34). Verse 28 shows how this woman was full of expectation.

3.       The three Hebrew children were full of expectation that God will surely deliver them (Dan. 3:16-18).

4.       Daniel was full of expectation that God would deliver him from the hungry lions in the den of lions (Dan 6).

5.       David was expectant that God was going to deliver him from the hands of Goliath (1 Sam. 17).

6.       Paul and Silas were in a dark place but they were very expectant that God would deliver them from their predicament. Paul and Silas were in their dark hour; they were writing their promotion examination.

The Bible says, “But at midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them” (Acts 16:25-27). And suddenly, the Holy Ghost came down and their suffering immediately came to an end.

Why was it immediate? It was immediate because God saw that they had already learnt the lesson He wanted them to learn from that experience.

7.       Blind Bartimaeus was in a dark place but he was full of expectation (Mk. 10:46-52).

Many people were in the crowd following Jesus. They were even touching Him, some out of curiosity. They just wanted to identify with the crowd, but not with Jesus. They wanted to identify with popular opinion, but not with Jesus. They wanted to identify with signs and wonders, but not with Jesus. But when blind Bartimaeus heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he said to himself, this is my moment of blessing, this is my opportunity, this is my season to receive double for my trouble, this is my moment to step over from blindness to perfect sight. He was full of expectation. So, he began to cry out, and say, Jesus, thou Son of David, have mercy on me. The cry of Bartimaeus was the cry of faith. Faith will always make God to halt and attend to you.

Let me ask you a question: “What does your condition have to do with the majesty of God? What has your pain got to do with His glory?” He is the same today, yesterday and forever (Heb. 13:8). No matter how dark your dark place is, God is still God. He is there to help you and deliver you (Isa. 43:2; Ps. 23:4-5).

That you are experiencing poverty right now does not stop Him from being Jehovah Jireh. That you are sick does not stop Him from being Jehovah Rapha. That you are fighting some battles right now does not stop Him from being Jehovah Nissi. You don’t praise God for just what He has done for you, but for whom He is.

Whatever the case may be a song says, “Shout Hallelujah anyhow!” The same God will deliver you from every situation if you would only expect the miracle.

Watch out for the next edition of Good News from the Pulpit!

• Your friend, I. I. MADUBUNYI (Head Pastor)                                                 24.03.2019

Promise of God: This week, “God will give you a river of peace and prosperity. The wealth of the nations will flow to you” (Isa. 66:12).