The Power of Expectations

Friday's Devotion (3-31-06)

"He shall not be afraid of evil tidings: his heart is fixed, trusting in the LORD." Psalm 112:7 (KJV)

Let me be the first here to say: What an awesome verse! I'm going to tell you why this verse is so awesome. If one of your parents or if your spouse is a police officer, you don't have to worry about the Police coming to your door to tell you that your loved one was killed, IF you trust in the Lord! We don't have to apply for jobs and worry about not getting hired. We don't have to worry PERIOD! All we have to do is trust in Jesus, and He'll make good things happen for us.

I guess the reason that this scripture speaks to me so much, is because worry is something that has been creeping into my home. Also, because I've been in a mindset of failure. In other words, I've been expecting to fail. I'm asking the Lord to forgive me and it helps me to confess this to all of you. I have failed my entire life and I haven't expected to do anything else. Probably 95% of my failure comes from expecting my failure. I've noticed that when I expect to do well, I do great... Especially when I expect the Lord to help me. When I expect to fail, I fail badly. There is power in your words, and your thoughts. My mother learned this the hard way one time. When I was younger she told me, "Maybe if this person calls you should tell them I was in a car wreck." That VERY same day on her way home from work, guess what? You got it! She was in a wreck. Her ribs were fractured and her head was bumped pretty bad. Thankfully, she didn't want me to say that she died or something. As hard as it is, we should never expect bad things to happen. We should never expect to always be in a bad situation. I get the thought that comes sometimes that says, "Who am I kidding? We're always going to be struggling financially." Guess what? Satan wants me to believe that so that it'll always be true! That thought usually comes when I'm thinking about how one day we will be out of debt, one day the Lord is going to bless us by getting us out of the poor house. I got a friend that's expecting nothing but bad things. I mean if this guy said one positive thing about himself at this point, I'd eat my hat. His situation just keeps getting worse too because of this, not because he's a loser... But because he thinks he is one! He's not either! I tell him to have faith in God and in himself, and he just doesn't want to take that advice. If he did take that advice, I have no doubt that he'd be on the fast track to a great life. He's wasting his life with the expectation of failure, and it's driving him into deep depression that only comes from the pits of Hell! Please pray for him and everyone like him. If you expect bad things, you won't be disappointed! It also works the other way around too: If you expect good things, you won't be disappointed! When you worry you're expecting something bad to happen, and when you have faith in Christ... You're expecting something good to happen. In other words, if you expect bad things then you have more faith in Satan than you do in Christ! Think about that. Now that I said it, I'll be thinking about that creepy thought next time I worry.

Prayer: Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for this message and for all things. Please forgive us of all our sins, and we forgive all those who've wronged us. Help us to put our trust in you and not to expect failure. Help us to expect good things both from you and from ourselves. Help those that always expect failure to see that they're only setting themselves up for failure by expecting it. In Jesus name. A-men!

God bless!

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