It doesn’t happen often anymore, but there are still times I let disappointment poison my heart, because I’ve forgotten the difference between expectation and hope. When I was ill, I slowed down enough for God to teach me hope was more than a wish to be successful, happy, or even healed. Hope is a reality, a mindset of knowing God is good no matter what. Hope isn’t a feeling that fluctuates with your circumstances. Hope is a person who walks with you through all of them.
Expectations can be the antithesis of hope. When your peace hinges on what others do or don’t do (and how they do or don’t do it), your expectations, and your faith, can become rooted in anticipation of disappointment. That negative expectancy erodes peace, joy, and your capacity to give and receive love. Eventually you have to protect yourself with walls built from your growing fears of failure, loss, and rejection, walls you have to maintain with your own limited strength.
In 1 Kings 19, when Elijah ran away from Jezebel after winning the battle with her minions, I don’t believe it was because he was afraid of her. His expectation was that everyone, including her, would turn to God after He showed them His power. Elijah’s disappointment was overwhelming, and he just took off. When he arrived at a cave far away, God showed him the difference between expectation and hope. A gale–force wind, an earthquake, and a fire manifested in front of the cave. All of them carried an expectation of power, but the Bible says God’s presence wasn’t in any of their destructive force. Then Elijah heard a whisper, God speaking to him in a gentle voice of hope. The Lord restored Elijah’s heart and strength, and renewed his purpose. He commissioned Elijah for the next part of his life, giving him instructions on how to influence the political realm, and where to begin equipping the next generation.
The world is always in some kind of turmoil, and at the moment, seems more chaotic than usual. The same selfish arrogance that drove Jezebel is found everywhere you turn. It’s easy to sink in the negative thoughts being projected all around you and let the fear and rage of broken–spirited people put cracks in your own. Losing your grip on hope in God and replacing it with an expectation that people will suddenly see life and think like you can be devastating and debilitating, ’cause that just isn’t going to happen. At the moment, I see religious expectation being exposed. When people don’t respond to God the way you think they should, religious expectation turns into righteous indignation and starts pronouncing judgments and prophesying destruction. It wants to call down fire and prove itself right. You can either let that bitterness and cynicism take over your heart and mind, or you can respond to God, and in particular to what I believe He’s doing right now.
Whether you’ve been living in political, relational, or spiritual disappointment, I believe God is saying it’s time for your revival. I don’t like the baggage that word often comes with, and I generally avoid using it. But it’s a great word when God whispers it to you—when it’s not a religious show but a transforming, transitional time between you and Jesus. That’s what’s different about this revival. It’s not about a big stadium rally, though they have their place. I see thousands—millions—so connected to who Jesus is for them, they live each day in joyful obedience to His whisper. They’re so attuned to His heart they immediately recognize the difference between hope and expectation, and choose to live in and give away hope, healing, wisdom, joy, and grace every time.
The enemy is always angry, but it seems lately more of an unbridled rage. The answer isn’t to meet it with a more powerful righteous anger, and it’s certainly not to cower in fear until things settle. The answer is the opposite spirit—people so in love with Jesus, so secure in who they are in Him, and so determined to live in demonstration of that secure love that anger, fear, lies, rejection, and hate have no effect.
Take some time in the cave with God. Give Him your own fear, pain, and anger, and let them pass away like the storm, earthquake, and fire. They’ve done damage, but He healing you. Listen for His whisper. He’s restoring your heart, renewing your mind, and rejuvenating your purpose. You aren’t too old, too young, or too late. You’re not a failure, not insignificant, and you’re not a disappointment. You are wholly loved, joyfully celebrated, enthusiastically commissioned, and completely resourced for your life in God.
Listen for His whisper—when you wake up, when you look at your phone, when you eat, when you encounter anyone—those who already love you and those who hate you. Listen for Him with a heart of hope, and give that hope away without expectation.
Equip Your Spirit 