Are you expecting the same gifts that God is freely giving? And are you expecting them to be as big and glorious as He’s created them to be? These are good questions to be asking if we want our confident expectation of the Lord to be converted into joyful anticipation.
Expectation and anticipation allow us to see above the turmoil of our circumstances and recognize the gifts that God has placed around our lives.
Your provision is predetermined by God’s presence in your life, in that He has gone before you and He knows the situations that you will encounter next. So my question always is,
“If God has gone before me, what is He seeing out there that I’m not seeing back here?”
What would change for us if our expectation was: “I don’t know what is out there right now, but God knows because He went ahead of me and has already placed all the gifts of provision I’ll need.”
In Deuteronomy 31, the Lord says,
“The Lord is the one who goes ahead of you and He will be with you. He will not fail you, nor forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed.”
Your provision in God is predetermined by the presence of Jesus in you.
Our biggest job is recognizing and receiving as freely as God is giving.
Is anything too hard for the Lord? The actual interpretation of that in Hebrew is, “Is there any situation in which God cannot be magnificent?”
It is my solemn duty to report to you that God is not remotely worried. He lives in expectation because He knows what He can do… and I have it on good authority that He would love to have you join Him.
That’s why in Brilliant we teach that next to every problem is a provision. God knows the territory you’re heading into and all the challenges it holds. And He’s been good enough to put a provision of His peace, His joy, His grace…whatever it is that you will need right next to every single problem that you’ll face.
Which means we’ll need to let go of our trepidation, fear and worry. If you look through those lenses, you’ll not be able to see the gifts God has around your life.
Trepidation leads to speculation and speculation ends in loss of hope.
Why? Because the world teaches us to prepare for the worst. It says, “Don’t get your hopes up. We don’t want you to be disappointed.” As if disappointment is the worst thing that could happen! Not recognizing His provision is the worst thing that can happen. Not having any trust, faith or favor is an actual tragedy.
Nothing the enemy is doing is ever going to be greater than what you do against yourself. Don’t miss seeing the gifts of God’s true nature that He’s placed before you. And once you find them, don’t let anything rob you of your peace, your holiness, your freedom in Christ.
Let your expectation rise and become joyful anticipation of His magnificence. Believe that the best is ahead… because it is. Brilliant Perspectives- Graham Cooke
PS) I recently did an event this past October with Shawn Bolz, called Expectation, where we explored how we can cultivate a lifestyle of expectation through our placement in Christ. If interested in listening to the full conference, you can purchase a copy of the audio on CD or MP3 here or you can watch the full series on Brilliant TV here.
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