What goes through your mind when you first wake up? Do you approach each day with excitement and expectation? Or do you wake up dreading the day ahead? I think for the most part, many of us start our days with dread. We wake up thinking about all the things in our life that aren’t right or how we would like them to be. And I’ve found that this is a surefire way to have a bad day. Jesus said “…it shall be done for you as you have believed.” (Matthew 8:13) So if you’re expecting to not enjoy your day, you probably won’t.
Honestly, most of us don’t even want to start our day with excitement and expectation of anything good because we actually FEAR thinking positive. We believe we’ll be let down. So we think, “If I don’t expect any good, I won’t be disappointed when I don’t get any.” But with that you’re basically saying…”I don’t believe anything good will happen, so instead I’ll believe for bad so I’m not surprised.” Notice what you’re “believing” for…that you’ll be let down. Hmm, no wonder you keep getting let down…you’re faith is in action.
Faith simply put is belief in something; and it works on whatever you’re believing, whether that’s for the positive or for the negative. Generally we don’t call it faith when it’s negative, we call it fear. We say I’m afraid this is going to happen or that is going to happen. So you’re basically putting your “faith”, in the thing you don’t even want. How about instead of saying “I’m afraid that I’m going to get sick”, you say “I believe God is protecting me from every sickness”. Or if you’re worried that you might lose your job, when that fear comes instead of focusing on that you say “God knows I need a job and He is making sure that I have one at all times!” Stop believing for the worst to happen, and start believing for the BEST to happen.
Think about how you feel on a day when you’re expecting something good to happen. We wake up totally different on those days, with a whole different attitude. We are happy and excited, and even when we go to sleep the night before we are anxiously anticipating the next day. We don’t have any trouble getting out of bed that day!
But why can’t we start EVERY day like that? Psalm 118:24 says, “This is the day which the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.” Everyday is a day that the Lord has given us, so for that reason alone we should be happy. Many people didn’t get to see today. So, I think we should approach each day with excitement, looking and expecting for God to bless us and come through for us in whatever way we need Him to. For instance, if you’ve asked God for something, and you’ve been waiting to see it come to pass, don’t go around sad and depressed because you haven’t seen it yet. Instead, start looking for God to be working on your behalf.
Starting today, when you feel afraid about something, determine the reverse of that, pray to God for the positive thing, and then watch Him go to work for you! He really wants to! In fact, He’s looking for someone like this…
And therefore the Lord [earnestly] waits [expecting, looking, and longing] to be gracious to you; and therefore He lifts Himself up, that He may have mercy on you and show loving-kindness to you. For the Lord is a God of justice. Blessed (happy, fortunate, to be envied) are all those who [earnestly] wait for Him, who expect and look and long for Him [for His victory, His favor, His love, His peace, His joy, and His matchless, unbroken companionship]! Isaiah 30:18 AMP
Did you catch that? He’s actually looking for someone to be gracious to. He wants to lift Himself up so He can show you mercy and loving-kindness. And it even says that if you wait and expect for God to be all those things to you, you will be blessed. Now that’s something to get excited about!! The God who is in charge of everything and has all power, is waiting to do something for YOU!
So, go to Him, tell Him what you need, and expect Him to listen and help you. It might not be how you expected it to happen, but God is surely full of surprises! All you have to do is BELIEVE…
This is the confidence which we have before Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests which we have asked from Him. 1 John 5:14-15
God bless you!!!
Very accurate and on point!! Keep’em coming!!
Thank you! I will!
always seems to touch me in sum way keep em comin boo boo!!
Glad to hear that cuz! I’m working on it.
Excellent article friend! I am so proud of you. I will have to share this with others. I look forward to reading more. Be blessed!
Hi Tiff! Thank you so much! I will keep u updated when I post! I appreciate you sharing it!! 🙂
ALRIIIIIGHT STISTA!!!! Love it!
Thank u stista!!!
You know, it all sounds so wonderful. And even though I know that it is true…still daily I have to live with let downs and disappointments. And I know that I didn’t start out this way. But through out life…with each disappointment or disaster…one after another and another and another…this gets harder and harder to believe. Sometimes I’m almost afraid to ask God for anything and also afraid to believe that He will answer. Because it seems to me that there has been numerous accations where what I had asked God for I got the opposite or what I didn’t want. That’s how that fear came to be. I will be honest…I have faced so much crap that I have wanted to just throw in the towel more times than not. But I am a believer. A believer whose faith has definately been shaken. I do dread open my eyes everyday. Even on those rear days that there was no bad dream that started my day off ugly. Or no
upsetting phone call or arguement the night before. Sometimes it feels like God has turned around on me. When I feel like, ” I’m falling God. I’m gonna die. This is more than I can bear.” I don’t feel Him near. I feel alone. Abandoned. I BELIEVE God is more than able. Just not sure if I’M on His OKAY TO RECIEVE list.
Hey Pam, trust me, I completely understand where you’re coming from. It seems that ever since I wrote this post, things have been coming against me from all sides. And I’ve been troubled with issues that stem from the fear of being disappointed and let down. I hope that I didn’t say it was easy to believe through it all. It’s not, but I think that if we really do it, its worth it. The problem is that we haven’t learned to let go of things. Not REALLY let go. We can say we do, but then we make all these decisions in our lives out of those fears. So we really let those things control us, instead of us controlling them. We both have to make decisions NOT to let those things: those hurts, disappointments, and fears control us. The only other option is to admit defeat. Because even though its hard, because our emotions will get in the way, I’m starting to believe it’s absolutely necessary in order to deprive those very emotions of the power to rule our lives. I’m not saying we don’t have a reason to feel how we feel. WE DO! We have every reason in the world to be mad, sad, hurt, and afraid to be excited or positive about anything. We also have a right to not be weighed down by all that crap. I am not free of all my bags I’m carrying around. But I want to be. The only other option is to daily be defeated by the things that come up to steal my joy that day. I bet if we just decided to keep being positive even when the negative things come against us, they will stop coming so often. Either that, or we’ll have developed such a tolerance to them that they won’t even be able to bother us anymore. Keep believing girl, and don’t ever give up. That’s all I can keep telling myself too. …in regards to whether you’re on the OKAY TO RECIEVE list, you just have to remember 2 things: 1) there are definitely times when there are things that will keep us from recieving from Him. But He tells us what they are. and 2)sometimes we just feel that way because of things we have done and so we don’t feel worthy to receive. But I believe that God gives a lot just out of His own love for us. And its not related to anything we have or haven’t done. You have kids Pam, you know how it is. I mean, even if your kids did something to make you super mad, if they really needed you, I bet you would be there for them. And I believe God is the same way. But I have really started to believe that God is like OBSESSED with our believing in Him. So, therefore if we can’t, or don’t or won’t believe He will do something, then He won’t. Sometimes we pray for things, but we still aren’t really believing they will happen. I find myself doing it, that’s why I say that. I’ll pray for something and then I will still find myself trying to figure out how to fix it and what I’m going to do about it. Well, am I going to let Him do what I asked, or figure it out myself? I think that as long as I keep it to try and work on, He won’t work on it. I think He likes to show off if we will just let Him. But we’re too afraid to do that, too afraid of what it’s going to do to us.
You are absolutely right. And I know that. I can’t give up even if I wanted to. I know that because I’ve tried many times and He just keeps at me. But at the same time I just feel so worn out that I don’t want to fight this fight anymore. I will keep looking ahead though,sis. Pray for me. The enemy is at my door. I want to kill him but I have no strength right now. I am maxed out. My heart is so heavy that I feel dead inside already. And I just don’t know which way to turn.
I will pray for you and honestly I need to ask you to do the same for me. Because I am there sis, I feel you. Lately I’ve been really shaken to the core. I know maxed out. And I know the feeling of not having the energy to even fight against the attacks. At this point all I do know is that WE SHALL OVERCOME …like I told you at beginning of the year! Lol…I know it seems a far cry away, but I have to keep believing that sis cuz otherwise nothing else makes sense and its all hopeless anyway.
That’s funny that you used the word hopeless. I said that tonight that this is just hopeless but only because I can’t see a way out. But God said “nothing is hopeless if you put your hope in Me.” I replied “i know” and i do. I don’t know why this is just so hard. To just surender ALL. Really. And I will pray for you. Hey one of us got to come out of the fire so we can help the other one. We can’t both be in the fire at the same time. But then again…that would be a smart strategy for the enemy. Lol.
:'( :’)