Expect The Unexpected

Pastor Alex Adegboye

Expectation is the anticipation of something happening: a confident belief or strong hope that a particular event will happen. To expect therefore is to believe with confidence, or think it likely, that an event will happen in the future. Expectation has power and this power is very important in our walk of faith. After we have prayed and presented our request to God, our expectation is very important because this is an area the devil cheats on many of us. I want to help you understand what it means to expect, how should you expect and what should you do now after you have prayed? This is a battle ground in the walk of faith. The things of God are in process; whatever God promise us He will process it and He will process us in time, Isa 48:3 “I have declared the former things from the beginning; and they went forth out of my mouth, and I shewed them; I did them suddenly, and they came to pass”.

The world in which we live is full of negatives. We are plagued daily with bad news and this makes it difficult to expect the positives; this is a downward pull and makes us as a people mentally negative in our expectations. A number of times we fast and pray but if we don’t keep our expectations nothing is going to happen. I call the spirit of expectation the spirit of “positive anticipation”. It is only in Jesus and His word we can have this spirit: a sense and an expectation of something positive.

Generally around us today, there is what I call a sense of foreboding: a sense of doom and that something bad is going to happen. We all live with the sense of foreboding and this controls our expectation toward negativity. The power of expectation is the power that sustains faith and makes it to become a reality. It takes faith from the level of confession and revelation to the level of suddenly. Our expectation is what brings a manifestation by the force of faith. God manifest suddenly but we’ve got to expect it. You must actively believe when you pray. Prayer helps you to keep this sense of anticipation. There are certain strongholds we must get rid of, these strongholds hold back our expectations from us.

There are some events in the scriptures that shows God manifesting suddenly –

1. The coming of Jesus, Mal 3:1 “Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, he shall come, saith the LORD of hosts”.
2. The coming of the Holy Spirit, Act 2:2 “And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting”.
3. The deliverance of God’s people from Egypt and Babylon, Is 10:35-37.
4. The second coming of Jesus Christ, 1 Thes 5:2-3, Mark 13:36.
5. The punishment of the wicked. A lot of people live wicked lives with the plan that they will change, Pro 29:1, Pro 24:22.

THE CONCEPT OF EXPECTATION

1. There is wicked expectation. Nobody is as interested in your success as you are. Saul had a wicked expectation for David, I Sam 18:9.
2. Expectations can be destroyed, Pro11:7, Pro 23:18. Both good and bad expectations can be cut short, Zech 9:5.
3. You can increase in your expectations. Whenever your expectations increases your faith increase, Phil 1:20.
4. God should be the source of your expectations. The only person you’ve got is God so don’t displease Him, Phil 1:20.
5. Expectation is of the mind and is fed by knowledge. The words you hear and the things you listen to affect you than any other thing.
6. Expectation affects and determines your relations. Our relationships are governed by our expectations.
7. Our expectations can determine whether blessings come into our lives or not. Expectations determine whether you get a miracle or not.

WHAT TO DO IN THE SEASON OF EXPECTATION

1. Be at the right place at the right time, Acts 3:1-10, Gen 24:15, Ruth 2, Mark 10:46-52.
2. Settle all your grudges, be in one accord. Don’t fight with other people, 1 Pet 1:2.
3. Be prayerful. Prayer will do you more good than your work; it orders steps and it’s good for your soul.
   

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

Our expectation is what brings a manifestation by the force of faith. So, expect the best always.