Great Expectations

There are times that I pray in spits and sputter...lifting up requests and concerns as I become aware of them. I am on an email prayer list and I lift up the request as I open the emails. I have a sister in Christ that I lift up and pray for every time I drive by her house on my way to work. This is good…God tells us to pray without ceasing. But for the soul satisfying meal times…the prayer time I wanted to talk about today… 2 scriptures come to my mind.

Psalm 5:3…In the morning, Oh Lord, You hear my voice; in the morning Lord, I lay my request before you and wait in expectation.

Psalm 143:8…Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love, for I have put my trust in You. Show me the way I should go, for to You I lift up my soul.
The visual of the phrase… “for to You I lift up my soul” speaks loudly to me. As I pray these words, in my mind I am lifting up my hungry soul…looking for it to be filled or fed by God before I even start my day. When I do this…I am filled with His spirit and there is no room or hunger left unfed for things of this world to slip in as a ‘fast food’ alternative. I don’t need that fast food alternative…my cravings are filled with His promises.

I also find a great statement of faith in Psalm 143:8 … “Today I put my trust in you Lord…show me the way I should go”.
I was convicted by this and the other scripture, Psalm 5:3…especially by the phrase… “I lay my request before you and wait in expectation.” Yesterday I shared how I put my concerns, cares, needs, distractions, burdens…all into an imaginary basket and lay them at His feet. We visualized God taking that heavy basket and making it light. But I can't help but stop and ask myself...do I truly pray that prayer and wait with ‘expectation’ as the verse states?

When we were small children, and even today, we go to bed Christmas morning with great expectations! We close our eyes and expect to see presents under the tree when we awake. We have no doubt it will happen…we have expectations that fill us with great excitement of what is to come.

Take that and apply it to your prayer life. Do you pray with that kind of expectation? Do you trust in and believe in God’s power and authority so much that you have the same expectation of Him answering prayer that fills you with great excitement of what is to come?

My conviction was that I couldn’t say that I often prayed and then waited in expectation. I would pray and leave it for God to handle…but I couldn’t say I often found myself looking to see what would happen. I want to be a believer that watches in full expectation of seeing God work in my life. How about you?

I love to open up my time of prayer personalizing these 2 scriptures featured today and then meditating on each word and phrase, asking God to give me a heart of faith that prays with great expectation of what He can and will do in my life.

PRAYER…This morning Lord, I come before you with a humble and sincere heart. Oh Lord…hear my voice. I come ready to lay my needs before You. Oh Lord, give me a faith that has great expectations of You working in my life and in meeting these requests with your perfect answers and solutions. Your will Lord, not mine. This morning Lord, bring me word of your unfailing love…and give me a heart to hear it. Forgive me for saying I trust you with my mouth but showing otherwise with my actions. Make me a person who trusts you more than I trust myself. I come to You this morning with a hungry soul. I lift it up to You and ask you to fill it with Your Word, Your Spirit and Your Desires for my life. Show me the way I should go…and give me eyes to see it, a heart to desire it and a will to obey it. To you, Oh Lord, I lift up my soul and wait in expectation to see and experience your unfailing love. Amen.

Our Saviour's love is truly unfailing in that He made the perfect sacrifice on the cross to give us access to a full and intimate relationship with Him. When people, circumstances and situations fail us, God is there to comfort and guide us. Enter into a real relationship with Him and expect to be filled with the excitement of great things to come!

God Bless and Keep You,
Tami