Tune My Heart, Episode 10
- Stacy Bishop
- Sep 26, 2024
- 2 min read
Happy Sunday, friend. As you prepare for worship this morning, let’s take a moment of quiet to invite God’s presence into your awareness today.
I have a simple question for us to consider this morning: Do I really believe God WILL do the things I believe He can do? How often do we pray, “God, I know you can do this thing” but I don’t actually believe that He will.
Hebrews 11:1 tells us,
“Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.”
Do we actually pray, in faith, with confidence in what we hope for? Or is it just wishful thinking?
I pray often that God would show up in a tangible way in our worship services. That His presence would be felt, even by those who don’t yet know Him. But do I really believe that He will? I know that He can. I don’t doubt what He CAN do. But I believe I pray with some doubt in my heart about what He WILL do. I pray out of obligation because I know I’m supposed to pray for these things, but I don’t pray with expectation that God will actually do that for which I am praying.
When we pray with expectation, we pray with an eye open, watching for God’s move. We pray and then we wait with confidence and expectation that God is going to work. This doesn’t mean He will every time or in the timing that we want—it is still His will be done-- but it’s okay to have high expectations in God.
To paraphrase my friend Kristene—When we have low expectations of people, they’re not honored. They’re not going to feel like they should show up for, or rise to the level of, whatever you’re expecting. But when we have high expectations of someone, they feel that they’re wanted and valued. Let’s make sure our expectations of God are not limited by our lack of faith.
As Hebrews 4:14-16 reminds us:
14 Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. 15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. 16 Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.
Let us approach the throne of God through prayer BOLDLY.
Let’s pray.
God,
We ask for Your divine presence as we worship today. God, any good that we bring into this service to You is only because of Your power living within us. We trust that You will show up today and captivate our hearts and those in our congregations with a vision of You. God, when we see You, we can’t help but worship. Make your presence known today and help us to pray and wait expectantly to see You move.
In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.
A downloadable/printable version of today's episode is available here:
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