Search This Blog

Wednesday, June 1, 2022

Expectation and Hope


 

 

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

—Hebrews 11:1 (NKJV)

 

 

What kind of expectations do you have? Are they positive ones filled with hope and faith, or are they negative ones filled with worry and fear? What you expect is what you are looking for. Faith doesn’t spring from negative expectations. It doesn’t thrive from a pessimistic outlook on life. If you have a negative attitude, you have no hope. And without hope, you can’t have faith. Faith is the reality of what you hope for. It is the evidence—the proof—of things not seen.

 

Your expectations come from how you were raised—from what you have experienced in your life—from the information you receive. Expectations form your attitude about life. If they are built on what you have been taught about God and His Word, then you hope for what God promises. You believe it. Your expectations and your attitude are strong weapons to help you receive God’s promises. 

 

You live what you believe. When you believe you will always be sick, you see yourself as a sick person struggling to be well. When you believe a bad circumstance can never change, you experience despair, doubt, and fear. If you believe your issue is greater than what God says about it, you live and receive from a position of defeat. These are negative expectations, and negativity is the atmosphere for sickness and problems to have more power in our lives than God. Pessimism renders unbelief in God’s promises.

 

Positivity breeds optimism and hope in God. With hope, you expect good things to come. You have a vision of them, and that vision is the reality you have placed in your mind. When you believe that by His stripes you were healed and that God desires you to be in good health, you see yourself as a healthy person who fights illness coming against you. You don’t think constantly about your symptoms or what bad results might come. You dwell on God’s promise that He has healed you. You see yourself as healed. When you believe God has more power in your life than any problem that comes against you, you trust Him to take care of it. You dwell on His promise that nothing that comes against you will prosper. You trust that Christ has made you victorious in life. 


The way you think—your attitude—is transformed by the Holy Spirit teaching you God’s truth. Believing God for His faithfulness to meet His promises takes place in your mind long before you believe His truth in your heart and experience His power to overcome.

 

The disciples concluded that five loaves and two fishes couldn’t feed a multitude. Their conclusion came from their natural experience and became their expectation. Yet, Jesus took those five loaves and two fishes, and with a different expectation and vision, everyone received bread and fish to eat. Faith is the reality of what we hope for. It is absolute proof of what we don’t see.

 

 “Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit” (Romans 15:13, NKLV). 

 

Your faith is the confidence in what you hope for. It is the absolute assurance—the proof—the evidence of what you don’t see. His promises are substance. His truth is real. When you believe, the God of all hope fills you with joy and peace. Your hope stirs and you believe in what others have told you is impossible. You expect and believe that nothing is impossible with God!

 

 

©2022 Lynn Lacher

www.lynnlacher.com/2022/06/expectation-and-hope.html

 

 

No comments:

Post a Comment

Trust in the Lord

    Trust in the Lord, and do good; dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness. Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He shall give yo...