0830eAGC “7th July 2008 Created by A Cornell
Blessings 4 ~
Faith
Hebrews 11: 1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
Hope = Confident expectation of good. Not= vague wish.
EXPECTATION: father of hope, father of faith, father of receiving
Can have positive or negative expectation.
- Comes from
- Experience
- Positive or negative
- Promises
- If you trust the promiser
- Threats
- What about the parent who says to the naughty child, “this is not a threat – it’s a promise”.
- Hearing words that you believe
- Trust ing the speaker
- Trusting the source
- Faith comes by hearing the WORD
· The RHEMA word
· Romans 10:17 So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
· Word here is word, thing, spoken communication.
All the promises of God are Yes and Amen in Christ Jesus.
I am in Christ Jesus - are you?
- Your expectation rules/limits your receiving
- Negative exectation i.e. Hurts, disappointments, rejection etc.
§ The “what ifs” of life
§ “If it can go wrong it will”.
§ “Bad luck comes in threes”
§ “It always rains on The parade, The show, Sundays, etc.
§ “ I didn’t think that my luck would last”
On the other hand --- Positive expectation
Deuteronomy 28:2 And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, because you obey the voice of the LORD your God:
Even so if you expect little you might get little whereas God wants to give you more but you limit your receiving.
Joash, the king of Israel came down to Elisha
2Kings 13:8 Then he said, “Take the arrows”; so he took them. And he said to the king of Israel, “Strike the ground”; so he struck three times, and stopped. 19 And the man of God was angry with him, and said, “You should have struck five or six times; then you would have struck Syria till you had destroyed it! But now you will strike Syria only three times.”
Your experience can limit your expectation or lead you into negative expectation: negating your hope, negating or limiting your blessing.
When Jesus was about to feed the 5,000: Jesus said to them, “They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat.”
And they said to Him, “It’s not possible we don’t have enough for all this crowd. We have here only five loaves and two fish.”
But God was bigger than their expectation based on experience, worldly thinking and calculation.
The woman in Matt 9 had a full expectation that she would get all she needed from Jesus. She said to herself, “If only I may touch His garment, I shall be made well.”
What can we learn and put into practice?
1.Build a positive experience base.
2.Remind your self of the blessings that he has given you.
3. Give him thanks.
4.See examples in The OT e.g., The passages about the Exodus and conquests are repeated so often.
5.See the promises of God in the OT and the New.
6.Declare that the promises are for you. They are “Yes and Amen in Christ Jesus”
7.Look at the conditions for the promises and make sure that you are standing in the right place to receive.
8.E.g., “To those who believe ...”, “To whosever will say ….”, “To the righteous ….”
Examples
Phil 4:6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; 7 and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
Condition; no anxiety – trust, Give thanks, ask AND receive peace.……
“And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” Follows for those who gave to Paul - “having received the things sent from you”
3 Jn: 2 Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers.
Ps 23:1 The LORD is my shepherd;
I shall not want. – Because I am trusting in the Lord to be my Lord and to shepherd me.
Mal 3: 10 Bring all the tithes into the storehouse,
That there may be food in My house,
And try Me now in this,” Says the LORD of hosts,
“ If I will not open for you the windows of heaven
And pour out for you such blessing
That there will not be room enough to receive it.
11 “And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes,
So that he will not destroy the fruit of your ground,
nor shall the vine fail to bear fruit for you in the field,”
Says the LORD of hosts;
12 And all nations will call you blessed,
For you will be a delightful land,”
Says the LORD of hosts.
What are the conditions? Get in the flow of blessings, confessing that the blessings are for you personally because you fulfil the conditions. God said, " Put me in remeberance"
Raise your expectation to be in line with God's word, God's promises. Remind yourself of what you have received with thanks to God who is more than enough.
Thank you Father!
