Anticipation

Anticipation 

by David Brenneman 

"Give ear to my words, O Lord, Consider my groaning. Heed the sound of my cry for help, my King and my God, For to You I pray. In the morning, O Lord, You will hear my voice; In the morning I will order my prayer to You and eagerly watch. For You are not a God who takes pleasure in wickedness; No evil dwells with You. The boastful shall not stand before Your eyes; You hate all who do iniquity. You destroy those who speak falsehood; The Lord abhors the man of bloodshed and deceit. But as for me, by Your abundant lovingkindness I will enter Your house, At Your holy temple I will bow in reverence for You. O Lord, lead me in Your righteousness because of my foes; Make Your way straight before me. There is nothing reliable in what they say; Their inward part is destruction itself. Their throat is an open grave; They flatter with their tongue. Hold them guilty, O God; By their own devices let them fall! In the multitude of their transgressions thrust them out, For they are rebellious against You. But let all who take refuge in You be glad, Let them ever sing for joy; And may You shelter them, That those who love Your name may exult in You. For it is You who blesses the righteous man, O Lord, You surround him with favor as with a shield." Psalms 5:1-12.

The definition of anticipate: to regard as probable; expect or predict. Also, to act as a forerunner or precursor of.

Do you pray with an expectation of God hearing you? Or do you pray to make yourself feel better for having done so? Is a half-hearted attempt whereas you hope He might have listened to your pleas?  

King David prayed the Psalm you just read. King David was a man like any other on the outside...he was different on the inside. We read that he was a man after God's own heart.  

Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness.  

The plans for Abraham were beyond anything possibly conceived in his mind. The Lord Jesus had visited him and his wife a year before and told them that the promise of a son coming from him was coming. He was a hundred years old and his wife 99. To his human mind everything the Lord was saying seemed impossible. Yet the Lord replied "Is anything too difficult for the Lord? At the appointed time I will return to you, at this time next year, and Sarah will have a son.” Genesis 18:14.

Still others are listed in the book of Hebrews chapter 11.  

We can have that kind of faith if we but believe as well. Belief has to have more than a bit of anticipation...and aligned with the will of God. "Seeing this, the disciples were amazed and asked, “How did the fig tree wither all at once?” And Jesus answered and said to them, “Truly I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and cast into the sea,’ it will happen. And all things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive.” Matthew 21:20-22.

We can be our own worst saboteurs. We harm ourselves the worst when we allow self abasements creep into our thinking that have no place in who we are in Christ Jesus. We can allow our own list of sins we know that we have done cause us to self-disqualify us from being "high enough" on God's radar to be granted an audience with Jesus.

We can allow what we hold most dear to us to be more important than God's will for us in Christ Jesus as well. These thoughts or feelings for what we think we can't live without become chains that bind our hearts rather than setting us free for whatever God wants for us. 

"Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen." Ephesians 3:20-21.

"Yet we do speak wisdom among those who are mature; a wisdom, however, not of this age nor of the rulers of this age, who are passing away; but we speak God’s wisdom in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God predestined before the ages to our glory; the wisdom which none of the rulers of this age has understood; for if they had understood it they would not have crucified the Lord of glory; but just as it is written, “Things which eye has not seen and ear has not heard, And which have not entered the heart of man, All that God has prepared for those who love Him.”1 Corinthians 2:6-9.

Yesterday I had 2 very big examples of praying expectantly. Most might say that I was being petty or was praying for something stupid even. But remember, the guy working with the prophet Elisha, who lost something?

"So he went with them; and when they came to the Jordan, they cut down trees. But as one was felling a beam, the axe head fell into the water; and he cried out and said, “Alas, my master! For it was borrowed.” Then the man of God said, “Where did it fall?” And when he showed him the place, he cut off a stick and threw it in there, and made the iron float. He said, “Take it up for yourself.” So he put out his hand and took it." 2 Kings 6:4-7.

Jesus further says to all to come with a childlike faith. Children are the epitome of expressing anticipation and expectation. They know they have needs and know who to ask. 

Yesterday I was faced with 3 circuit boards that I spent much of last Thursday trying to figure out why they weren't working right. Being off Fridays and all I had it in the back of my mind that I still had to troubleshoot them yesterday. I prayed before each type of failure and in mere minutes saw the problem with the first. Fixed that and prayed again about the other 2. God told me to turn the boards sideways to look at them from a different perspective. Compare a good board with a bad that way. The problem stood out almost glaringly. He answered those two prayers.  

Praying must be accompanied by anticipation of a yes, a no, a not right now or a wait because something better is coming. Praying without anticipation is worse than worthless. Praying with big words thinking that by them you'll be heard better by Jesus doesn't work either. Jesus accused the Pharisees of having that problem. 

Then...anticipate...Jesus will respond. Listen in case He is speaking to you outright. 25 years ago I prayed concerning possibly meeting my Wife. Jesus said upon my first time seeing her in person from my car "There she is, take care of her and don't mess it up".

I pray with anticipation of Jesus returning. I know it's going to happen in His time. In the mean time I am to pray and live life with the anticipation and expectation that He's personally involved in my life for good. 

Same should be for you my Dear Reader. 

All NASB 1995 and NASB Scripture Excerpts used by permission. (C) Lockman Foundation.