Four Expectations of God

God is a promise-maker and promise-keeper, and he has spoken to my heart about four places where God’s people should trust him. These expectations are based on promises God has made to us.

• Expect to be rewarded as you diligently seek the Lord. “[God] is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him” (Hebrews 11:6, NKJV).

You can ask in faith for a token from God to encourage and rekindle your confidence. God is always on time, and he knows you need a ray of hope and good news in your testing time. Expect him to keep his promise to reward you now when you are in greatest need. God cannot lie. He said he rewards those who diligently seek him. Seek him daily, and believe that this year will be your year of great spiritual blessing.

• Expect to see evidence of a progressive miracle in your life. “With God all things are possible” (Mark 10:27).

I believe in both instantaneous and progressive miracles. Progressive miracles start in unseen, quiet ways and unfold little by little, one small mercy at a time. Expect to see God working in mysterious ways, unseen to the human eye.

• Expect to enter into God’s promised place of rest. “There remains therefore a rest for the people of God. …Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest” (Hebrews 4:9,11).

In the last few years, we have seen an outpouring of incredible calamities, problems and trials. In the midst of this, the Lord desires that you believe him to bring you into his promised rest. God never intended that his children live in fear and despair. We need a reckless faith and trust in God in the face of fear, trouble and death itself.

• Expect the Holy Spirit to be always in his temple. “Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit?” (1 Corinthians 6:19).

The Holy Spirit abides in the heart of the believer. He is omnipresent throughout the world. I face each day acknowledging that he is here in his temple to comfort, guide and reveal to me the glory of Jesus Christ. He desires that you expect him to make his presence manifest to you. He wants to bring you into unshakable faith, just as he did his disciples.

Believe these promises! Lay hold of these expectations, and you will see God do marvelous things.