“The Awesome Power of Expectation”
By
Bishop M.L. Maughmer, Jr.
OPENING:- Let us all take a trip back to our childhood for a moment. Remember how you were the night before Christmas or your Birthday you are excited, filled with anticipation, super exhilarated to the point that you couldn’t hardly contain yourself, you had trouble falling asleep and it felt like your heart is running 100 miles a second. You couldn’t wait until you were able to open your presents and see what you got. That’s expectation.
EXPECTATION:- The act or state of looking forward to an event as about to happen. That which is expected or looked for, the prospect of the future; grounds upon which something excellent is expected to happen; prospect of anything good to come.
I came across this statement of expectancy and thought it was great:- To expect is to look forward to something regarding it as very likely to happen. It means anticipating the occurrence or the coming of something. It has to do with your attitude. And all of us eagles know that our attitude determines our altitude. Your atmosphere is closely linked to your attitude. Your atmosphere is the mood, the influence, the environment you surround yourself in. An atmosphere without expectation will kill your dreams. It destroys the hope that is within you. An atmosphere of expectation is conducive to supernatural and divine intervention in your affairs and your life.
THE AWESOME POWER OF EXPECTATION!!!!!
Have you heard this saying:- Expectation is the breeding ground for miracles!!!!!!! If you want something to happen in your life you must expect for that thing to actually happen. Sadly many people today go to church, failing to become as little children, they just to go to church to go to church. They have no sense of expectation there is no desire to see God manifest Himself so they walk out of the church exactly as they came in because there was no expectation for anything. They only came because of tradition and formality but were not expecting anything to take place. A biblical definition of this would be 2 Timothy 3:5 “Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof:…”
People will say well I have faith and I believe in God. The Bible says in James 2:19 “Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble”; however, that is not enough.
UNDERSTAND:- Faith and Expectation are not the same thing? Although they are closely related, faith and expectation are distinctly different. You can have faith without expectation but you can’t have expectation without faith.
WATCH THIS:- Many believe the Bible is true. They have faith in promises of the Bible and believe scriptures like Isaiah 53:5 when it says “But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.” They believe it’s a provision of the Word that God heals, but they don’t expect healing to manifest in their own lives. It’s almost as though they’ve been sick for so long that they simply cannot imagine they could ever be healed.
I am reminded of a story of a young man that went to see a palm reader. She began to read his palm and told the young man that you will be poor and miserable until the age of 41. The young man was a little sadden by the reading of his palm, but he had a glimpse of hope because he asked the palm reader – at the age of 41 will I suddenly become rich, the palm reader said No but by that time you will have become so used to being poor that it doesn’t make you miserable anymore. Sadly that’s how many people are in church today, they become settled and comfortable with a certain condition that it doesn’t bother them anymore –WHY- because they have lost the expectation of something better. They are comfortable with coming to church and not seeing anyone healed, anyone saved, anyone delivered. The Bible says in Mark 16:17 “And these signs shall follow them that believe; in my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues”. If you don’t expect to see these things happening then they will not manifest. Expectation is the breeding ground for miracles.
REMEMBER:- I said you can have Faith without expectation but you can’t have Expectation without Faith. Understand that faith has to come first before expectation can exist. If you don’t believe that it’s the will of God for you to be healed, to be delivered, to prosper, to live life abundantly than it’s highly doubtful you’ll expect to be healed, to be delivered, to prosper, or to live life abundantly. Expectation is built on faith, but faith doesn’t imply expectation is there.
SO FAITH COMES FIRST. When you read the Word, you first decide to believe that it is God’s truth. The next thing that has to be done is you have to look at your expectation. Do you really expect what you read in the Bible to happen in your own life? Do you really expect doors to be opened for you that no man can close and doors closed in your life that no man can open? Do you really expect to be an heir of God and joint heir with Jesus Christ? Do you truly expect to have life and have it more abundantly? You can and you should because your experience of life depends on it.
WATCH THS:- FAITH:- Hebrews 11:1 says “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen”. No other aspect of the Christian life is more important than faith. We cannot purchase it, we cannot sell it, and we cannot give it to our friends. The dictionary defines faith as “belief in, devotion to, or trust in somebody or something, especially without logical proof. It also defines faith as “belief in and devotion to God.” The Bible has much more to say about faith and how important it is. In fact, it is so important that, without faith it is impossible to please God Hebrews 11:6 says “But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.. According to the Bible, faith is belief in the one, true God without actually seeing Him”.
THE BIBLE SAYS:- Acts 3:2-5 “And a certain man lame from his mother’s womb was carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple which is called Beautiful, to ask alms of them that entered into the temple which is called Beautiful, to ask alms of them that entered into the temple; Who seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple asked alms. And Peter, fastening his eyes upon him with John, said, Look on us . And he gave heed unto them, - (NOW THIS IS ALL FAITH). Expecting to receive something of them.- (HIS FAITH HAS NOW PRODUCED EXPECTATION)” He not only believes he is to receive something but he expects to receive. Faith brought him to the gate daily but Expectation caused him to receive a miracle.
WATCH THIS:- The Jewish custom has what is called “Tzedakah” and it is the giving to the poor. Giving to the poor is an obligation in Judaism, a duty that cannot be forsaken even by those who are themselves in need. Some sages have said that Tzedakah is the highest of all commandments, equal to all of them combined, and that a person who does not perform Tzedakah is equivalent to an idol worshipper. So the lame man at the Gate Beautiful believed that people would help him this was his FAITH in the custom of Tzedakah – when he looked upon Peter and John his faith was that they would give him something (Alms) his expectation produced a miracle.
UNDERSTAND:- God wants us to release our faith and expect Him to supply the supernatural miracle we need and desire. He wants you to expand our capacity to receive by believing Him for BIG things! When you read a scripture from His Word, and receive it in your heart, without doubt, we should absolutely expect it to come to pass. There should be no question in our minds that what God said is exactly what He will do.
Proverbs 24:13-14 “My son, eat thou honey, because it is good; and the honeycomb, which is sweet to thy taste: So shall the knowledge of wisdom be unto thy soul: when thou hast found it, then there shall be a reward, and thy expectation shall not be cut off.”
Proverbs 23:18 “For surely there is an end; and thine expectation shall not be cut off.”
Your expectation is your God given ability to make a demand on your future. Your expectation connects you to the supernatural for God’s supernatural intervention which is what we call miracles. Your expectation is crucial to your success. You must learn to be expectant. You must learn to have right expectations. Your expectations shall not be cutoff in Jesus name.
“Expectation is the breeding ground for miracles.” In order to receive from the Lord, we must expect Him to show up and show out in our lives. Without a fervent sense of expectancy, all we are doing is taking part in religious exercises that have no power behind them. You want to stop having church as usual Expect something different. You want to see the church grow Expect it to grow.
There are a lot of people that will talk about AGC, they will put us down, says there is nothing going on there, they will run my name into ground, but I expect God to manifest Himself in AGC greatly and because I expect Him to do some great things I don’t care what the people say but I know that my expectation is going to produce a miracle.
How can you say that Bishop? Well I have another good example by a woman that had an issue of blood. Matthew 9:21 says “For she said within herself, If I may but touch his garment, I shall be whole”. She had faith for she understood the scriptures and believed them when they said in Malachi 4:2 “But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings…” She understood that the Tzitzi of the Tallit is called the wings. Her faith caused her to expect that something would happen when she touched the hem of His garment, the wings. So she decided I don’t care what the people say or do, I don’t care who talks about me and ridicules my name I am expecting a life changing event to take place when I touch the hem of his garment. Her expectation caused the very virtue, the Dunamis, the miraculous power to leave His body immediately upon her touch. Mark 5:30 says “And Jesus, immediately knowing in himself that virtue had gone out of him, turned him about in the press, and said, Who touched my clothes”. So go ahead talk about me, go ahead put me down, go ahead and scandalize my name, but I am expecting God to release a miracle in my life. I am expecting God to release a miracle in AGC and when He does all those that push you aside, all those that criticized your name, all those that said give up and die, all those that said there is no hope will have to stand in amazement just like they did for the lame man in Acts 3:10 “And they knew that it was he which sat for alms at the Beautiful gate of the temple: and they were filled with wonder and amazement at that which had happened unto him”. They will have to say isn’t that the one that we thought wasn’t going to make it? Isn’t that the one that we criticized? Isn’t that that lame man – what happened?
Let me tell you what happened = FAITH + EXPECTATION = MIRACLES.
WATCH THIS:- LET ME BREAK THIS DOWN:-
We cannot fully describe God, anthropomorphism have been used to try to describe God, but God is indescribable so there are names which talk about His nature. Jehovah–Rapha means the Lord my Healer, it describes the nature of God is to heal. My faith is I believe that God can heal, my expectations brings me into contact with that healing nature of God, the nature of God is to heal me and thus produces the miracle of supplying my need in Jesus name. Your expectation shall not be cut off in Jesus name.
Your expectation is vital to your experience of life.
Jeremiah 29:10, 11 says “For thus saith the LORD, That after seventy years be accomplished at Babylon I will visit you, and perform my good word toward you, in causing you to return to this place. For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end”. That expected end is the end that God desires for you to have and in order for that desired end to manifest in your life you have to expect God to do what He said – not just know that He can but expect for Him to do it.
Someone may say but everyone in the Bible wasn’t healed. True but all those that came to Him with expectation walked away with a miracle.
Blind Bartimaeus received his sight because he had faith and expectation.
The paralytic took up his bed and walked because faith + expectation produced a miracle.
The 10 lepers received their healing because they expected a change.
Jairus’ daughter was raised from the dead because faith + expectation produced a miracle.
The Gentile woman’s daughter was delivered from demon possession because her faith + her expectation moved God to move supernaturally on her behave. (In other words MIRACLE)
The man with dropsy (which is called CHF today) was healed because Faith + Expectation = Miracles.
I was lost and on my way to Hell but one day Jesus reached down picked me up, cleaned me up, placed the Holy host down on the inside now I am heaven bound because Faith + Expectation produced a promised miracle.
CLOSING:- It is time for you to start expecting God to do some great and mighty things in our lives. Your life is at the mercy of your mouth- speak those things which are not as though they are. Don’t use your mouth to describe your situation. Rather use it to declare your expectation – I EXPECT A MIRACLE EVERYDAY.
Only the expectation of the wicked shall perish Proverbs 10:28 “The hope of the righteous shall be gladness: but the expectation of the wicked shall perish”.
Isaiah 8:10 Every expectation of the wicked concerning you shall perish. They shall take counsel together, it shall not stand. Every word they spoke against you shall not stand in the name of Jesus Christ.
The Awesome Power of Expectation produces Supernatural Manifestations which bring about Life Changing Miracles.
Bishop M.L. Maughmer, Jr.
September, 2015
