What Should We Our Expectations Be?

I have friends who when they were single and dating thought that once they got married that everything would get better.  That they were going to have more money because they have two incomes, that things were just suddenly be better because they are now married.  Now for those of us who are married know that life doesn’t get easier once your married, but it brings on different problems.  Such as  you really do not have more money, but you have more bills.  Yet many people put all kinds of strange expectations on God, they believe that God is going to suddenly make life better.  In fact many people seem to think that if God doesn’t do what they want, then He must not exist.  Some believe that God is going make there bank account grow and do all kinds of neat things in their lives.  I do not know for sure where many of these expectations come from, but we need to stop expecting these things.

Let us take a second and look at the people who walked with Christ and talked with Christ personal.  These men did not go and pray for wealth, they did not pray for good health.  In fact, it is amazing what they did pray for, after being sent to prison and going through a trial for healing a cripple this is what their prayer was. “That is what has happened here in this city! For Herod Antipas, Pontius Pilate the governor, the Gentiles, and the people of Israel were all united against Jesus, your holy servant, whom you anointed. In fact, everything they did occurred according to your eternal will and plan. And now, O Lord, hear their threats, and give your servants great boldness in their preaching.  Send your healing power; may miraculous signs and wonders be done through the name of your holy servant Jesus.”  After this prayer, the building where they were meeting shook, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit. And they preached God’s message with boldness.”(Acts 4:27-31)  Did you notice that what they are praying not for comfort or why did you let us go to prison?  They asked for courage to go forward in the ministry God had placed before them.

I want you to think about this for a second, what would happen if our focus shifted from what can I get from God.  What if we shifted our thinking and prayers to what can God do through me for the ministry He has placed before me.  What if we stopped expecting God to take care of us in the way the world thinks God should take care us?  What if we  started asking God to show us what He desires us to do for His kingdom, and then ask Him to give us the courage to go do what it is that God wants us to do.  I can tell you this is what we need to be doing, we need to ask God to give us the courage to move forward in our relationship with Him, to not hide behind our fears and to allow us to be example to the world of His love.  We need to be letting people know that we are no longer going to live for us but we are to live for God.