Are You Expecting The Best?

Ephesians 3:14-3:21

For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

Most people never take advantage of God’s abundant resources. Eph. 3:20 says, "Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us."

Some never tap into the tremendous resources that God has made available to us.

Matthew 9:29 said: "According to your faith, it will be done to you."

The key to unlock all God wants to do in your life is really simple: It’s Faith.

The Law of Expectations says that, basically, we get what we expect out of life. We tend to see what we expect to see, we tend to feel what we expect to feel, we tend to act the way we expect to act, and eventually, we tend to achieve what we expect to achieve. Your expectations influence your happiness, they influence your health. Your expectations influence your relationships.

There are two approaches to life and you get the choice. You can choose to life by fear, or you can choose to live by faith. You can be an optimist, or you can be a pessimist. You can choose to live by faith or by fear.

Job was sometimes a pessimist, and in Job 3:25, he says, "What I feared has come upon me; what I dreaded has happened to me." You know anybody like that? They focus on what they don’t want, not what they do want.

Paul on the other hand, was an optimist. And in Phil. 1:20, he says, "I live in eager expectation while I’m going through all these trials." He was an optimist. He could be cheerful even when life couldn’t be perfect.

When you expect the best, you’re honoring God. It also increases your ability when you’re expecting the best.

Athletes know that the winning edge is attitude, not ability. It’s how you see it. Do you know that Mohammed Ali only lost two fights in his lifetime? And both of these fights had one thing in common different from all the other fights: in a press conference prior to the fight, he said, "Now, if I lose this fight..." It’s the only time he ever said it, and he lost them both.

David went out to fight Goliath and he took stones with him. Super confidence! Everybody else was saying, "He’s too big! We can’t kill him." David was saying, "He’s so big. I can’t miss!" David expected the best.

Not only that but expecting the best encourages others. Optimism is contagious.

How do you stay optimistic when everybody seems to be going wrong? Let me give you six steps:

1. Start Your Day with Faith

In order to stay optimistic when everything else seems to be going wrong, whether it’s at work or at school or in my finances or with my relationships, start your day with faith. Now you know studies have shown that the first ten minutes of your day sets the tone.

Some of you may feel like Eeyore. You remember Eeyore from Winnie the Pooh? Eeyore the old donkey stood by the side of the stream and looked at himself in the water. "Pathetic," he said, "that’s what it is, pathetic." He turned and walked down the stream twenty yards, splashed across and walked slowly back to the other side and he looked at himself in the water again. "As I thought" he said, “no better from this side. But nobody minds. Nobody cares. Pathetic, that’s what it is.” Then behind him Winnie the Pooh came in. "Good morning Eeyore, said Pooh.”Good morning Pooh bear”, said Eeyore gloomy, “if it is good morning. Which I doubt!”

Any of you identify with Eeyore?

Look at this verse, Psalm 5:3, "In the morning, O Lord, you hear my voice. In the morning I lay my request before you and I wait an expectation." Start your day in faith. Don’t start your day with the morning news.

2. Look for the good in your situation

Not everything is good, but look for the good in the situation. Romans 8:28, "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose." Circle that "all." God specializes in bringing good out of bad.

You know that when Thomas Edison was sixty-seven years old, a great fire burned down his famous laboratories in New Jersey. And not only did he lose several million dollars in his equipment, he also loss his records to most of his life works. The next morning, he walked out among the charred embers and he said this: "There is great value in disaster. All our mistakes are burned up. Thank God we can start anew." He turned a stumbling block into a stepping stone. Look for the good in your situation.

3. Give your problems to God

So what do I do when the situation looks impossible? Read these verses with me, 2 Corinthians 1:8-10, "We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about the hardships we suffered in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired even of life. Indeed, in our hearts we felt the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead. He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us." Give your problem to God. When it looks like it’s out of your control, you give it to God. “Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.” 1 Peter 5:7

4. Eliminate negative words

Have you ever talked yourself into feeling bad? "You know, I feel so tired." You know you can talk yourself into anything. You can make yourself sick. Eliminate negative words.

Negative words. The Bible has a lot to say about this. Ephesians 4:29 read it with me. "Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen."

Now, it says there "but only what is helpful". Circle the word "only". Use only helpful words. That means you should not have negative words in your vocabulary.

James 3:5, "Likewise the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark.” The tongue, the Bible says, is like a rudder on a ship. It’s small, but it sets the course of your life. Stop talking and focusing on what you don’t want and focus more on what you do want.

5. Associate with positive people

It is very important in discouraging times that you attach yourself to hopeful people. That’s one of the reasons why it’s good to join a good, warm, family church. Get around some positive people. Because the wrong crowd can bring you down. 1 Corinthians 15:33, Do not be misled: "Bad company corrupts good character."

If you want to soar with the eagles, you can’t run with the turkeys. Psalm 1 says, "Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers." Why, because like optimism is contagious, so is pessimism.

I think you need to know the difference between the VIP’s and VDP’s. VIP’s are Very Inspiring People. They lift you up. You need lots of them. VDP’s are Very Draining People. You don’t need many of them. Although you should have some just for a ministry.

6. Remember your future

When you are discouraged and you want to be optimistic, remember your future. The Bible calls it our blessed hope. That if you are a believer and you put your faith in Christ, the final chapter of your life is not written yet. This life is not the end. There is heaven. There is coming return of Jesus Christ. And heaven is what we’re waiting for.

There is a story about the old missionary couple who had been working in Africa for years and was returning to New York City to retire. They had no pension; their health was broken; they were defeated, discouraged and afraid. They discovered that they were booked on the same ship as President Teddy Roosevelt, who was returning from one of his big game hunting expeditions.

No one paid attention to them. They watched the fanfare that accompanied the president’s entourage, with the passengers trying to catch a glimpse of the great man.

As the ship moved across the ocean, the old missionary said to his wife, "something is wrong. Why should we have given our lives in faithful service for God in Africa all these many years and have no one care a thing about us? Here this man comes back from a hunting trip and everybody makes so much over him, but nobody gives two hoots about us.

When the ship docked in New York, a band was waiting to greet the President. The Mayor and other dignitaries were there. The papers were full of the President’s arrival, but no one noticed this missionary couple. They slipped off the ship and found a cheap flat on the East side, hoping the next day to see what they could do to make a living in the city.

That night the man’s spirit broke. He said to his wife, "I can’t take this; God is not treating us fairly." His wife replied, "Why don’t you go in the bedroom and tell that to the Lord?"

A short time later he came out from the bedroom, but now his face was completely different. His wife asked, "Dear, what happened?"

"The Lord settled it with me," he said, "I told him how bitter I was that the President should received tremendous homecoming, when no one met us as we returned home. And when I finished, it seems as though the Lord put his arm on my shoulder and simply said, “But son, you’re not home yet!”

You won’t be in heaven for thirty seconds, and you will say, “Why on earth did I get discouraged when I knew what was coming? Why didn’t I serve more, pray more, give more, love more, be more what God wanted me to be?” You’re not home yet. Remember your future.

Now look again at these verses we started with again. “I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen."

According to your faith, it will be done to you.

God bless!