Prayer With Expectation
Copyright 2005 Daniel N Brown
We may have heard at some point in our lives that if we truly
believe in something, having faith that it will happen, then it
really will happen. Some people don't completely accept that,
but the Bible is clear; what you believe is what you get. Jesus
said, "Whatsoever things you desire, when you pray, believe that
you receive them and you shall have them" (Mark 11:24).
But, He didn't say we would see the manifestation of our prayers
immediately. We need to give God time to work things out,
continue in our faith, and not doubt, "For a man who wavers is
like a wave of the sea, driven with the wind and tossed. Let not
that man think that he shall receive anything of the Lord"
(James 1:6-7).
Expectation is the key to receiving from Him. What good does it
do to pray without expecting God to answer? You might as well be
talking to a tree. The Bible says, "Without faith, it is
impossible to please God, for he who comes to Him must believe
that He is God, and that He is a rewarder of those who
diligently seek Him" (Hebrews 11:6).
Have you noticed that most people do not expect for things to
work out? In fact, most people have been taught to believe in
negative outcomes. The reasoning is; "If things don't work out,
I won't be disappointed." There's no logic in that! Even though
one may not be expecting, one still at least hopes. Crushed
hopes cause disappointmnent too.
Having faith and expecting in the positive is vital to our
success. If we could only believe that everything will work out
and trust that what we want will happen, we'd have great
results. Life would change dramatically. But, for some reason,
most people just can't believe that things will work out for
them. They look at past results and judge their future based on
that past.
It's true that future results can best be predicted by past
behavior. So, if your past behavior has been to not expect in
positive outcomes, then change that behavior. It doesn't take
any more effort to believe in a positive outcome than it does in
a negative one.
Faith is required to receive from God, and our expectation is
proof of our faith. So, if we ask God for something, but then we
don't do anything on our part to bring it to pass, we must
question our faith.
God will do His part for sure, but we are required to do our
part as well. What is our part? Expect! Believe it, confess it,
and anything else that could possibly be done on our part, for
"Faith without works is dead" (James 2:20).