Expectancy

Faith and hope are not the same. 

Faith is the COMPLETE “trust or confidence in someone or something” whereas hope is “a FEELING of expectation and desire for a certain thing to happen” and I think a lot of times we get the meaning of these two words confused. 

Feelings are great. Feelings of expectancy are great, BUT that’s all they are. Feelings. Feelings are ONLY feelings. They are nothing unless acted, or not, acted upon. We are taught not to live by feelings, but rather to live by actions. 
We can hope for something, but if we’re making no effort to expect that what we are hoping for is feasible, then there is no point. There is no faith. 

Faith is EXPECTING that the things we hope for, that we feel for, will play out in due time.

Faith is trusting that no matter what life may throw at us, there is a meaning and a purpose and a plan for us that we can’t yet see. Faith is expecting that on the other side of what we are currently facing is something GOOD. 

I know that far-too-often we believe in the magnitude of God when it’s easy to do so. In church, at church camp, in bible study settings, on death beds, and and and. BUT God is God. God is not predictable. He is not always going to show up in the same way that he has before. We HAVE to stop minimizing His power. His power isn’t confined to what He has already done. 

I have always struggled with doubt - doubting that God can or will do the things that I am asking him for. In relation to Mark 6:5, we see the lack of mighty work in the people who have no faith, not because God CAN’T do it, but because THEY have no FAITH. If you’re not ready, if you don’t believe, how can you expect to see Him move? This amazed me. This IS me. I sit here hoping for all these things to happen and change, yet I ask with an untrusting heart. Can you imagine if someone asked something from you, yet they believed you had no competency to do it?

I love this. Let me break it down: imagine asking a friend to do something for you or to help you with something, yet asking them in a way that communicates your lack of trust in them completing the task. Or flip the situation. Imagine someone asking YOU to do something for them, but them having no confidence in your ability to complete the task.

Don’t set yourself up for failure. Don’t expect something from someone when you don’t trust in their abilities. It’s as simple as that. Giving 100% of your trust to God is not easy. It’s not supposed to be easy. You’re not alone in that. But, with practice and prayer, it becomes possible. This is something that I try to practice daily; asking God to show up in EVERY situation and looking at my current seasons as preparation for my next- expecting that GOOD will flow from this season to the next.

My senior year of high school was a time of major life decisions (yes, deciding where to go and what to study in college seemed like the most important thing in the whole world at that time). I remember wrestling so much with not knowing what God wanted for me and where I was supposed to be directing my life. I confided in my small group leader at the time, who is someone I have been so blessed to have in my life, about these worries and she told me something that I have kept close to my heart ever since. She told me how sometimes in life we aren’t given clear answers from God and we’re left to make some of these decisions ourself. With that being said, she went on to say that no matter where your journey and decisions take you, God will use you in those positions if you are diligently seeking Him out and living Him out. This amazed me. This was the first time I felt at peace with not knowing exactly what I was supposed to be doing at that time and I found peace in trusting that wherever I did end up was going to be right. 

How incredibly reassuring is it knowing that God will use you right where you are at? You don’t have to figure it all out because God already has. Your job is stepping out in uncertainty, yet expecting that He will fulfill the plans he has for you. That good will come from the work you are putting in. 

What if you aren’t happy where you are at? 

Faith is knowing that your seasons of waiting are preparing you for seasons of fruitfulness. God doesn’t idle away your time. Be it weeks, months, or years, your waiting is growth. Your waiting is learning. Your waiting is opening up doors that wouldn’t have opened before. And you are not alone in the waiting.