“Expectations & Hope”
“It all accords with my earnest expectation and hope that I will have nothing to be ashamed of; but rather, now, as always, the Messiah will be honored by my body, whether it is alive or dead. For to me, life is the Messiah…” (Phil. 1:20-21, CJB Complete Jewish Bible)
Dear family of friends,
On the early morning during my time with the Lord, on my 59th birthday Nov. 23, 2013, I was again thinking of the enormous thanksgiving that was welling up in my heart the past few days. It was the same sense I get when the Lord is wanting to use me to express a prophetic word - that moment when my heart beats faster, my stomach starts to whirl, and I know His Holy Spirit, Ruach HaKodesh (Hebrew) is moving. Usually I just get a word or two, and know He wants me to step out in faith, trusting He will give me more as I obey His prompting.
It is when He says to my spirit, “Speak, for I am giving you something to say right now.” Or in this case, to write now.
This time He again just gave me two words - expectations and hope. And so I started to write this Ahava Love Letter, believing more would come as I wrote.
Expectations can really give us hope, for something exciting to happen, or believing a turn is coming in the road ahead that will bring a better situation in our life. Expectations can last a day, or even a lifetime. They can give us something good to look forward to, as we walk through the daily life we have.
Or they can result in a crash when the event or desire we are seeking to bring fulfillment doesn’t come about as we had hoped. That particular thing we were looking to falls below our anticipated expectation, and disappointment results. By God’s grace we can get over it quickly and move on. Other times it will cripple us and wound our spirit more than we even realize, even for the long term.
You and I both know that there have been many times when we were expecting someone to do something on our behalf, or a big event was to occur, but the end result was far short of what we had thought it would be. We had “high hopes”, but then felt the sting of another “it happened again as I really thought it would” which we had secretly considered.
I can look back at previous expectations and hopes, and believe I have learned a thing or two to share with you. When I stop and think about what my hope and expectation was founded on, there is indeed a lesson taught. I realized that when my hope was on something temporary, or in someone who really didn’t have the capacity to fulfill it, the glitter and glory was just a shadow. We experienced the failure, because the capacity to fulfill the hope wasn’t there to begin with. When that which we hope in is less then what it could be, then disappointment always happens.
By this time you may know where I am going with this.
It is great to dream, to expect, to hope for a better future. We are meant to be that type of people, who look forward to a better tomorrow. That is something the Lord puts in our hearts, to help in our motivations, to keep us pushing forward, to reach the mark set before us by our Father.
I have come to the point now that I regularly declare, “My times are in Your hands.” (Psalm 31:15) Putting my trust in His purposes and plans has given me a strong foundation on which to place my expectations and hopes. He is strong. He is able. He is the One who will never fail us or lack in His ability to fulfill His promises. Because He is God, and because only He can.
Days are ahead, and actually here now, when our need to depend on Him for all things will greatly be tested. If our hopes and expectations are put on that which can and will crumble, our faith will fail us and we will lose our way. IF we keep our eyes fixed on Jesus (Yeshua), the Author and Finisher of our faith, we will be able to stand, have our hopes fulfilled, and see desired expectations completed.
My trust is in Him. I hope yours is today also, and grows stronger in each forth coming day.
Ahava to my family of friends,
Steve Martin
Founder
Love For His People
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