Where Have You Placed Your Expectations???

Have you ever had high expectations on someone, who ended up disappointing you big time??You knew for sure you would close in a good business deal however along the way, that business deal failed to go through, you knew for sure so and so would bail you out from a financial fix but in one way or another, they failed to do so, you had high expectations of getting a particular job, you knew for sure you were qualified for but failed to get it and you knew for sure your spouse would not do some stuff but along the way you discover they are not perfect!!!

I believe there are many incidences we have gone through in life, where we’ve been disappointed due to the fact, we had placed so much expectations on someone, our academic qualifications, our financial status, our government or our back grounds in getting things done our way. One thing we need to realize as God’s children is, not every door we think should open for us is a genuine door, not every opportunity that comes along our path is for us and not every good idea is a God’s idea. Some doors will close right on our face and some relationships will fizzle out because they are not our stepping stones to our next level.

I recall a particular season in my life, where I was really trusting God for a job. So, it happened my cousin whom we are very close with, called and notified me .there was a vacancy in a company which she worked for. She gave me all the important details i required to apply for that job. I was supper excited applying for that particular job post because I knew for sure, if my cousin was working in that company!!!I would surely get the job. By then I was just after a job but not really after the will of God, on where I ought to work. Two days after applying for that job, I was called for an interview which went on very well. Leaving the interview room, I had high expectations I would be called later for an appointment letter.

Unfortunately I never got the job and I was one disappointed young woman, who had high expectations, on what I could get through a connection I had with a man instead of turning my expectations on God. While unwinding at home that evening, after I got a phone call from my cousin that the company had settled for somebody else, God actually began ministering to me in special way, that I still remember vividly to date. It was a low moment for me yet God revealed to me who He is, in a clearer way.

God actually opened my eyes on how He had kept me through and He alone would sustain me through. All along I had kept my focus on who, would connect me to so and so and enable me, get a good paying job, instead of focusing on God who would align my steps with the right people for my next level. It’s interesting how we limit God by placing our focus on men, who are totally limited. Here is the catch, exactly one week after God challenged me to place my focus on Him,He opened a door where I got a good job.

Using my real life experience, where God challenged me to place my expectations on Him rather than men, it’s one way of connecting with my readers, who are going through a season of disappointments. I came to realize, if a door shuts right on your face or a relationship fizzles out, it’s not a time to complain and ask God questions but a time for you to see things clearly the way God wants you to see them. Greater doors and meaningful relationships are always waiting on you to open your eyes, to see them properly.

I might not understand what kind of disappointment you might be going through today but am here on a mission to urge you, Shift your focus from men, your academic qualifications, your social status, your government or your background and turn it over to God. In Jeremiah 17 we have Prophet Jeremiah, speaking to the children of God on the dangers of putting their trust in men and the benefits of putting their trust in God, during a season they had rebelled against God.

1.Dangers of placing our expectations in men:-

Jeremiah 17:5-6

Thus says the Lord, “Cursed is the man who trusts in and relies on mankind, Making (weak, faulty human) flesh his strength, And whose mind and heart turn away from the Lord. For he will be like a shrub in the (parched) desert; and shall not see prosperity when it comes, But shall live in the rocky places of the wilderness, In an uninhabited salt land.

When we place our expectations in men:-

• God is not pleased with us.

• We limit God from moving in our lives.

• We end up being confined and limited to a particular level of life.

• We fail to see the best side of life, through what we can have in God because our focus is based on men.

• We end up longing to get things from men, which in the long run, makes us miserable and unfruitful.

• We become unproductive in our gifts and talents by limiting God.

• We end up not flourishing in life.

• We fail to live and walk in abundance of joy, peace, victory and prosperity which God desires us to walk in,

2.Benefits of placing our expectations in God:-

Jeremiah 17:7-8

“Blessed(with spiritual security) is the man who believes and trusts in and relies on the Lord And whose hope and confident expectation is the Lord. “For he will be (nourished) like a tree planted by the waters, That spreads out its roots by the river; And will not fear the heat when it comes; But its leaves will be green and moist. And it will not be anxious and concerned in a year of drought Nor stop bearing fruit.

When we place our expectations in God:-

• God is pleased with us.

• We don’t limit God to move in our lives.

• We are not subject to the condition of the economy; we are subject to the provision of heaven.

• We are not limited, we move from level to level as God directs us.

• We see the best side of  and enjoy it by living a life of abundance.

• We flourish wherever God divinely positions us.

• We are productive in season and out of season.

• We are productive in our gifts and talents

• We are full of peace, rest, joy and happiness

Please hear me out, God never created us to depend on men; He created us to depend on Him.

Don’t get it twisted:-

• God does not align you with your destiny helpers, for you to idolize them,He aligns you with them, in order to move you to your next level. however we are commanded to honor and respect them.

• He does not give you a job for you to depend on that pay check as your small god, He gives you that job to refine your skills for the next level.

• He does not give you a spouse for you to idolize him/her ,he entrusts you with a spouse for His own kingdom agenda.

• He does not give you big business idea that is generating a lot of money, for you to walk in pride, He entrusts you with such finances to finance the gospel.

• He does not entrust you with beautiful children for you to just raise them up, He entrust you with children for the next generation, who will further His Kingdom.( God fearing legacy)

• He does not entrust you with a ministry for you to gain popularity, He entrusts you with a ministry to win souls for His kingdom and lives to get transformed.

Stop forcing your own will by placing your expectations on mere men and things which are limited. Learn to embrace “NOT MY WILL GOD BUT YOUR WILL BE DONE” attitude.

How I pray this post, which I have penned down from a heart full of love, will minister to you in a special way. It’s my heart desire; we will all shift our focus from men despite of what we might be going through and shift it towards God. God loves us completely yet uniquely,He desires to channel to us all His blessings , if and only we place our expectations in Him.I have penned down Fear Of Failure and You Can’t Put God In A Box which I believe are good reads to connect with this particular post.

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God Desires The Best For You.