Expectations Beyond the Word

As soon as we take our expectations beyond the primary steps that Jesus illustrated in Matthew 6, we go too far and end-up missing the blessing. A reason for this is that we still have little comprehension of how awesome it is to be right with God. I think a lot of us are still in the throes of despair, so we find it difficult to let go of the myriad of expectations that we cling on to for hope.

These expectations do not come from the hope aspect of love; therefore, they are not from God. Specific expectations such as this include the hope for a particular job role, place to live, person to marry and so on. These expectations are nothing more than fantasy and are the futile attempts of the impoverished carnal nature to induce an expectation of fulfilment. When these fantasies are allowed to rank above the presence of God in terms of importance and ability to satisfy - we become covetous, and therefore, idolatrous.

There are, of course, times when God gives us an assurance of specific things that He has planned for us. The Holy Spirit can even reveal things that are to happen ahead of time (See John 16:13). But this kind of vision usually only comes to us when we are in that state of surrender to God. It is important that we get our own selfish beliefs, attitudes and ideas out of the way so that God can lead us according to the promise of His Word. (See Romans 8:14). Probobly the biggest hinderance to being led by the Holy Spirit is living according to rules. (See Galatians 5:18).

Unfortunately, when an anxious Christian gets hold of faith teaching, he is likely to attempt to turn these futile, carnal hopes into faith by giving them a present-tense timeframe for their attainment. When these expectations are not fulfilled by God, the so-called man of faith will then lapse once more into despair, and perhaps guilt, as he blames himself for not being blessed the way he expected to.

The breakthrough comes when we gain an understanding of what righteousness is and the love that it brings. When we gain this understanding, it sets us free so that we no longer worry about what will, or will not, happen in our lives, whether or not we will get our needs met and the need to live according to a set of rules.

Hope can be a specific thing; for instance, a single person can hope that he will get married one day. This is something that the Bible promises. Just because he puts the fulfilment of that expectation in the future, it can still come to pass and it does not mean that he lacks faith.

But a believer can get into error when he insists that God provide him with a wife immediately. Some Christians will even go a step further than this and claim a particular woman for their wife, just because they like the look of them from a distance.Kenneth E. Hagin taught in his books that we should never go beyond the Word when it comes to trusting God for a particular promise.