Great Expectations For an All-Powerful God

Psalm 5: 3 In the morning, O LORD, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait in expectation.

We got the requests part down in our Christianity. We have no problem usually asking God for what we want. We even understand the wait part; although we are traditionally not very good at it. The part we may overlook too often is the expectation. It is within our expectations of God that we increase our faith. It is within the expectations of God that we see Him move with more power in our lives. Without the faith in His power, we should not actually expect anything from Him:

If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and he will give it to you. He will not rebuke you for asking. But when you ask him, be sure that your faith is in God alone. Do not waver, for a person with divided loyalty is as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is blown and tossed by the wind. Such people should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. Their loyalty is divided between God and the world, and they are unstable in everything they do. James 1: 5-8 (NLT)

Such people should not expect to receive anything from the Lord! How do we approach the things we desire in this life? Do we approach it with a fatalistic attitude? How many people do you know who speak death into their lives and situations?

"Nothing ever goes right for me."

"This will end the same way everything else does..."

"I'm not meant to be successful."

The power of life and death reside in the tongue and we speak so much garbage into our hopes and dreams. So much doubt. So much desperation on the cusp of surrender. But look how James describes it here. When you approach Almighty God with a doubtful spirit you actually have a divided loyalty problem! You are unsettled in your faith. Without faith it is impossible to please God. We should expect nothing from Him then.

Our key verse today deals with three fundamental aspects of prayer. The first part of which is the request. Yes, God knows what you need and want but that doesn't mean we do not need to request it nonetheless. God wants to make sure that WE know what we are asking for. Prayer is the development of our relationship with God. Remember, it is actually through the prayer process that we find the peace of God:

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4: 6-7

We are naturally anxious about the things we want or need in our lives. It is an attack on our heart because we feel something we want or need will never come to pass. It is an attack on our mind because we start to believe our surroundings instead of the promises of God. But these verses are imploring us to simply present these concerns to God with thanksgiving and the peace of God which is beyond our mortal understanding will guard our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus! How can we be thankful in a request that has not come to pass? Because we have an expectancy about God and what He can do. Not necessarily that everything we ask for will be granted but that regardless of the answer we know that God is only working for our benefit:

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. Romans 8: 28

The expectancy is not only in the power of God but in the goodness of God. Once we know and believe that everything in our lives God works out for our good, than it is far easier to accept the peace He wants us to have instead of the anxiety the world feeds us.

But look at the key verse again. How are these requests made of God by the Psalmist? He lays them before God. There is a subtlety and humility about it. Too often we can try and turn God into our own personal ATM. "God give me this God I want that." We do not lay the requests before Him as much as we foist them upon Him. And then we wonder why the answer is no. When we approach God with our requests, we must humbly lay them at His feet:

I have made everything; that's how it all came to be. I, the LORD, have spoken. The people I treasure most are the humble-- they depend only on me and tremble when I speak Isaiah 66: 2 (CEV)

They depend on me. Once again reaffirming the need to not have a divided loyalty when approaching God. The second fundamental aspect of prayer from our key verse is the word wait. Take a look at a child who asks for a treat and is told to wait. They are pouting, upset, unsure if they will even get what they asked for. That must be how God sees us when we are told to wait. We live in a microwave society where we want what we want and usually, we want it yesterday. God does not operate in our time however. He knows exactly when we need what we think we need right now. Unfortunately, we are some of the most impatient people on the planet sometimes. The verses immediately preceding the divided loyalty verses however show us what patience can do for us:

My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. James 1: 2-4 (NKJV)

When we pray and are made to wait, God is also testing our faith. The testing is what produces patience within us trusting God will work all things out for our good in His perfect time! Once patience has its perfect work we will truly be lacking nothing. Let's take a look at the life of Joseph. The spoiled favorite son of twelve children, Joseph was given a dream by God one night. He happily told his brothers, all of whom were older than him, that they would be bowing down to him. Needless to say, the brothers did not like this dream. He had a similar dream another time and not learning anything from the previous incident, he shared it again with his brothers. They were less pleased the second time.

"Here comes that dreamer!" they said to each other. "Come now, let's kill him and throw him into one of these cisterns and say that a ferocious animal devoured him. Then we'll see what comes of his dreams." Genesis 37: 19-20

Instead of killing him, the brothers sold Joseph into slavery (think about that the next time you think your family is dysfunctional). God however, prospered Joseph in the house of Potiphar, only to see Potiphar's wife try to seduce him. Joseph did the right thing and yet was falsely accused of assault and thrown in prison. He sat in prison for ten long years. We have to believe that Joseph was actively praying for his freedom! How many of us would have emerged from that prison bitter toward God for the waiting? The seeming unfairness of it all? God could have freed Joseph whenever He wanted. But God was more concerned about the perfect timing, not Joseph's timing. Joseph had to grow closer to God during his prison experience.

We too can find ourselves in a prison experience. Maybe waiting for so long we start to think God has forgotten us. Maybe we start to have divided loyalty. We start to seek out the answers of the world instead of remaining committed to wait on God in prayer. The woman with the issue of blood waited 12 years for her prayers to be answered. Moses waited many decades to lead the people of God out of Egypt. David waited several years to become king, all the while serving Saul who was trying to kill him. Perhaps that is what led David to write:

Wait for the LORD; be strong and take heart and wait for the LORD. Psalm 27:14

We can find ourselves too easily impatient with God. Moses was not ready to lead the Israelites. David was not ready to be king. Joseph was not ready to ascend to be Pharaoh's right hand man. Remember, God is the one with the plan, not us. We think we have plans and then try to get God to bless them. God is waiting for us to acknowledge Him and His sovereignty before He will reveal His plan.

The last fundamental aspect of prayer, and the most overlooked, is expectancy. Sometimes we may have problems with the requests; perhaps there is not enough humility. Sometimes we may have a problem with the waiting; perhaps there is not enough patience. But sometimes we can be ok in those areas and still come to the Lord not truly expecting the answer to our prayers. Or, our expectancy can be muted. We can allow the lies of the enemy to water down what we expect from God. There is no power in a prayer that does not expect great things from God beloved. Ephesians teaches us:

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, - Ephesians 3: 20

Look, whatever we can imagine or ever ask God can do so much better than that we cannot even measure it! And according to what? To the power that is at work within us! The power that approaches God with humility and trusts God during the waiting. The power that approaches God expecting Him to be God! The Gospel of Luke tells the story of the faith of the Centurion. A non-believer, the Centurion had a sick servant who was close to death. Jesus was on His way to the Centurion's home when we saw the expectant approach to God displayed:

He was not far from the house when the centurion sent friends to say to him: "Lord, don't trouble yourself, for I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. That is why I did not even consider myself worthy to come to you. But say the word, and my servant will be healed. For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, 'Go,' and he goes; and that one, 'Come,' and he comes. I say to my servant, 'Do this,' and he does it." Luke 7: 6-8

Jesus declared He had not found such great faith in all of Israel! There were no divided loyalty problems with this Centurion. He did not only approach God with his prayer but he did so expectantly. He knew the power God possessed and simply laid the request at His feet asserting the power He had.

That is how we need to approach our prayer life too. Knowing what God can do is not enough beloved we actually have to expect that He will do it. As long as we are asking within His will we know that He is working all things out for our good. Yet too often we can look at an answer of "wait" as if it were a "no" or an answer of "no" as if it were punishment. We must change how we think when we approach our prayer life. The answer of wait really means there is a better timing. A Godly timing. It means there are still things not in place before God can bring it to pass in our lives.

And an answer of no is still God protecting us, not punishing us. We might be praying for a job but God sees where that job will take us. He sees how it will affect our family, our church, our ministry, and our future. We only see the present and we want all of our answers to be yes in the present but God sees all time. He is the Alpha and the Omega the beginning and the end. He sees where that relationship might go. He sees what would happen to all answered prayers. We have been programmed to think God loves us if the answer is yes but the truth is God loves us when the answer is "no" too. In some cases, it means He loves us even more!

He is a mighty God. He is bigger than whatever valley you find yourself in. In all things He is working for your good. Whether the answers is yes, no or wait, the answer is because He loves us. Approach Him with reverent expectancy knowing that we serve a mighty and all-powerful God.

Reverend Anthony Wade September 27, 2010