Into the Fire

Passionate thoughts about the world of writing and the Power of God

Perhaps it’s just me. Other than my immediate circle of relatives and friends, sometimes I wonder.

What do you expect from God? I am constantly amazed at how little Christians expect from Him. Is it that I expect too much? I don’t think so.

Since God is supernatural, and since a part of Him lives within us, and since Jesus is the Savior of the world, I don’t think it’s too much to expect that He talks to us as individuals. The Word teaches that Jesus Christ is the same today, yesterday, and forever. He still does the miraculous, He still intercedes for us, He still appears to some people just as He did after His resurrection. I expect that of Him.

I expect God to answer my prayers. He gives us one of three possible answers: yes, no, wait. And sometimes He elaborates. The Holy Spirit fills us with His words. We can “hear” Him when he speaks to us. Rarely for me is it audible, but there have been some instructions from Him to me that have been just shy of it.

I expect to “hear” from God besides the insights and revelations from His word. Jesus is my friend that sticks closer than a brother. He does not remain mute. Sometimes He’s very quiet, and I don’t hear His words outside of the Bible, but other times He speaks to me in detail. He is the best friend anyone could possibly have.

I expect God to do miraculous things. He does not always choose to demonstrate His incredible power, glory, and abilities at my every whim or at anyone else’s either. But all over this world He still operates in miracles.

I realize that different denominations renounce certain things in scripture as having ended with the death of the last apostle. However, there is not a single word to indicate this is so. And believing it can lead to a very limiting perception of who God is in this dispensation when the Spirit of God is now indwelling His people. The “greater things” we are to do because of the Holy Spirit’s residence here await our obedience daily.

Some Christian fiction portrays a shallow version of the relationship with God, often leaving out Jesus, as casual, haphazard, somewhat fruitless, and lacking zeal. Characters are no different than their worldly counterparts except that they fling up a prayer now and then. Some Christian fiction gives us nothing within the story to identify a Christian has written the novel—it’s simply been published by a recognized Christian publishing house.

So, what do you expect of God? Anything?

Thank you, God, that you are greater than all of human imagination and estimation. Thank you for transcending our abilities and for demonstrating your power and glory. Thank you that you are so far beyond our capacities to describe, define, or declare in your completeness. Thank you, Jesus, for your sacrifice for me. Thank you, Holy Spirit, for living in such a wretch as me. Thank you.

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10 responses to “What do you expect?”

  1. Jessica Thomas Avatar

    I had a realization the other day that I am not in control. I knew that intellectually, but am still able to point to numerous places in my life where I’m fighting for control. I realized, this is a very tiring way to live, and it’s a total waste of time. Because, at the end of the day, I am always going to be in control of very little.
    Living that way limits God’s ability to work in my life. It creates a downward spiral. I don’t let Him show me what he is made of, so my trust in Him does not grow. As a result, I begin to expect less and less of Him and more and more of myself.

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  2. Nicole Avatar

    Excellent analysis, Jess. Perhaps that’s the very reason so many expect so little of our God who is incredibly personal. He knows us inside and out. Why wouldn’t He be involved as much as we’ll allow?
    We’re all guilty of doing our own thing, but really why shouldn’t we be doing God’s own thing on a daily basis? He knows precisely why even if we don’t. Sometimes that’s a scary thought, you know?

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  3. Winter Avatar

    Hi, Nicole, I got your message. What is it you wanted to tell me?

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  4. Nicole Avatar

    I sent you an email, Winter. Thanks.

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  5. dayle Avatar

    Wow, I usually have an answer for everything, but I’d have to give this one some time.

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  6. Nicole Avatar

    Do, Dayle. I think everyone should take inventory once in awhile as to their real relationship with the Lord and our expectations of a God who loves us more than we are capable of imagining. He has things for us to do, but apart from Him we can do NOTHING.
    Get back to me on this.

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  7. dayle Avatar

    That’s just it, Nicole. I know what you mean by the statement “apart from Him we can do nothing.”, but to the uninitiated, this statement seems false. We can do alot apart from Him. Atheists and non-believers can write novels, cure diseases, have loving family lives, etc, etc.
    I know God can do anything. But our expectations seem irrelevant and can lead to dissilusionment. I know many who expected God to cure them, to protect them, etc. and it didn’t happen. My fear is that too high of expectations and especially expectations based on our humaness can lead to word of faith movements, prosperity preaching, and wishlist prayer.
    What I expect is for God to do everything according to His will with the allowance of freewill choice. Therefore, in a sense, God is not really in control of every aspect of our lives as some seem to think. The gift of freewill procludes it.
    How can I know God’s will for me specifically. (I mean other than I know He wants me to accept the gift of Jesus Christ and spread the Gospel.)
    Btw, I was thinking of this issue the other day while contemplating a series of blog posts where I openly discuss my “problems” with Christianity. And, by problems I mean my issues, not God’s.

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  8. Nicole Avatar

    That’s just it, Dayle. We think we do it all ourselves, but God gives us the abilities and the breath to complete each thing we do. As you know, our days are numbered. Life is but a breath, a wisp of grass, a mist . . . We cannot control a single intake of oxygen.
    Free will is the access to choice. Do we wish to live with or without Him? We can decide not to believe in Him, but then our choices are narrowed. Nothing we do or accomplish with the merits and talents He’s given us will matter–they will be burned like so much chaff.
    The fear factor (such as you described) can translate to limiting God or it can depict this candyman God which scripture contradicts. We can hope for healings because we know He’s capable of it, but we must balance our desires with His perfect will in each instance, and we simply must believe His way is best. Tell that to somone who’s just lost a child, or has become a widow at 30 with three small children, or you name it. How can it be?
    Our expectations/hopes/dreams can arrive from the desires of the flesh which can insure disaster if we press on outside of His will which we are allowed to do. We often assume “blessing” is equivalent to material wealth or acquisition when it is not necessarily so.
    I do believe God makes His specific will or “call” known to individuals. But by “specific”, I don’t necessarily mean a blueprint. However, He does do that for some. He can speak to us however He pleases in a multitude of ways, but He does want us to know what He’s planned for us, what He wants us to do in different circumstances. And, He allows us fail, to take those missteps to prove to us that we need Him and teach us humility among other things.
    I would think our humanity, our fallen state, insures that we have “issues” with God. We cannot even grasp the love that is Him, not that he does or has, but that IS Him. How can we understand how he can “work together for good all things for those who love Him, who are called according to His purpose”?
    My point is I am amazed at the limitations put upon Him by His own people, believers. He is mighty and able. Unchanging. The same God that raised His crucified Son from the grave. That same Holy Spirit lives in US of all things! As a sidenote, maybe that’s why The Shack took off like it did–it was able to stretch this compact idea of God, not always appropriately, but at least He was supernatural. Many of His people seem to have forgotten that, Dayle.

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  9. dayle Avatar

    This kind of reminds me of Havah. She kept expecting God to intervene and He didn’t. Of course, He probably was in ways Havah wasn’t considering. That’s kind of how I see life now.
    I know God intervenes and heals and still speaks to us, but since we can’t comprehend the rhyme or the reason, not voicing our expectations seems to be born out of the virtue of humility. Maybe even a reverence for the fact that we can’t know the ways of God.
    The hesitance you’re speaking of may come from this line of thought: Why would God heal my cold, but let a 10 yr old girl get kidnapped, tortured, raped, and killed. It’s not really placing limitations on God, it’s more of an acknowledgement of our inability to understand. One may think it selfish to expect something when so many others have greater needs.
    If you remember my novel, that was kind of the theme. Through our eyes, God’s ways are arbitrary, unfair, and therefore unpredictable. But He still does for His reasons which are always Just.

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  10. Nicole Avatar

    “One may think it selfish to expect something when so many others have greater needs.”
    This I can so relate to, Dayle.
    The only thing I can say to your reply is that I think we believers often make our Lord too obscure, too distant, too incommunicado. We fail to spend time with Him in prayer, we fail to truly seek Him with undivided hearts. I’m as guilty of this as the next person and I have no excuses time-wise as so many others might. He is a friend. That implies intimacy. WE or the enemy of our souls make Him distant or intangible.
    Yes, His ways are higher than ours: especially in our natural state which is sinful. But we have the Spirit of the Lord who searches the mind of God and we have the mind of Christ!
    We need to get closer to Him–that is His desire for us. He wants us to count on Him, to trust Him, and to not lean on our own understanding.

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