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| Great Expectations? |
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One of the great comforts in my relationship with God is, knowing His expectations of me. I can know exactly what He expects of me, regardless of the situation, and there is great peace in that. You can know, too. How is that possible? Because God has no expectation of His children. He has knowledge. God knew me before I was born and knows what all my days will hold. Your eyes have seen my unformed substance, and in Your book were all written the days that were ordained for me, when as yet there was not one of them. - Psalm 139:16 By definition, to have an expectation indicates a lack of knowledge about the future. If God is the God that knows what His children are going to do before they even do it, then He's not up there wondering what you're going to choose to do and worrying about about whether or not you'll meet His expectations. How can you expect something if you already know something? So if there is already foreknowledge, there can’t be expectation as well. Isn’t that a freeing thought? The pressure is off! Not only am I spared the onerous task of trying to decipher what God’s expectations might have been, I am also spared having to attempt to live up to them. Think about it: expectations are usually used in an effort to control behavior or produce a particular outcome. All of us can think of times when expectations have been placed on us, or when we've placed them on others, in order to get a desired result when the outcome is unknown. But that's man and not God. God isn't placing expectations on me so that I'll perform a certain way. That leaves me with the ability to focus on relationship with Him instead of performance for Him. Do you see how God’s lack of expectations of us also leads to the impossibility of His disappointment in us? “Disappointment” is defined as, “a failure to fulfill an expectation.” If there are no expectations, there can be no failure to fulfill what isn't there, so there can be no disappointment. Now, just because God has no expectations of me doesn’t mean He hasn’t made plans for me, and what great plans they are! “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” - Jeremiah 29:11 The details of those plans are tied to His knowledge of me. They are woven into the fabric of what He knows about the choices I'll make, the paths I'll take, and He works them all for good. Such is His love for His children, and what a comfort that love brings!
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| Ah, a blog on my favorite topic....FREEDOM!!! Yes freeing indeed Jen! I also like how he regards us as his children. Somehow that title ties into that lack of expectation too. (Maybe you've pondered this too?) Great thoughts today, Jen! |
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| Great blog, And filled with much wisdom. |
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Angela |
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May 28, 2008 at 12:18pm |
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| Honestly.... How blessed are we???? I love my God and I love being called His, I love that in turn He loves me! I love your blog today:0) |
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Jen |
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May 28, 2008 at 1:31pm |
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| You know, Mike, I love how God lives out that parent/child relationship so perfectly. What a divine example He sets for us earthly parents! He shows me how to unconditionally love my own kids, accepting them without placing expectations on them, now that they are all in various stages of adulthood. Gone are the days of me "training up" my children, when certain expectations were placed on them as part of the learning process. In this season, I get to observe the fruit - mostly good but sometimes not-so-good - they produce, but I don't feel I have the right to place expectations on what that fruit looks like. |
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Jen |
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May 28, 2008 at 1:32pm |
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| Thanks for the kind words, Keith and Angela! :-) |
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| Wow Jen!! Some of my favorite verses.. now highlighted in a new and engaging context. I never looked at it that way.. and yes, it is incredibly freeing :). |
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| Jen,
This is so good, so very very good. I think I'll make a sermon of the "no expectations from God." Me think the taste of peanut butter cookies does well for the soul.
You go girl!
Pastor Aminata |
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| Jen, you cited one of my favorite verses - Jer. 29:11. He has plans for all of us indeed! |
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| Ahh! Awesome! I was writing in one of my books one day, and this is exactly what I wrote. "God has no expectations of me" and I know for ME that is very important to know. I have very high expectations of myself, and it's just a weapon I use against myself. Even when I let God down, which I'm sure is a LOT, I know He isn't going to give up on me or hold it against me.. He just wants me to keep on keepin on, always moving forward. Thanks for the reminder!! |
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Jen |
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May 28, 2008 at 3:30pm |
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Hey, Carol! Hooray for freedom! Freedom from trying to "measure up", because God isn't holding us up to any measuring stick. Some of the "if...then" verses of the Bible almost sound like expectations, but what they really are are promises! Great promises! In those verses God is encouraging us to do the right thing because He knows the great blessings that will come out of it. Pastor Aminata! How grand to hear from you! :-) Preach away, girl! It's a great, and, yes, freeing subject! One of my favorites as well, PT! |
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Jen |
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May 28, 2008 at 6:17pm |
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That's right, Jessica, we just need to keep moving forward. "I press on toward the goal..." |
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| woooooooohoooooooooo I love that word "FREEDOM" |
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Jen |
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May 28, 2008 at 7:20pm |
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| Me, too, Cindy Lou! |
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Glenn |
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May 29, 2008 at 5:43am |
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Hey Jen, I love the way you worked those to verses together!. The theme is truly wonderful, God has no expectations of us, because he already satisfied any expectations in Jesus! We can truly love Him in total FREEDOM and that is a wonderful thing.
peace & grace |
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Deb |
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May 29, 2008 at 7:50am |
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| Wow, you know I have never thought of this in this way before, but you are so right. How freeing that is! Great blog! |
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Jen |
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May 29, 2008 at 9:44am |
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Hey, Glenn! I see a two-pronged freedom here: freedom from expectation because of God's foreknowledge of our actions and freedom from sin because of God's gift of His Son. We are free from trying to live up to some nebulous set of rules that God expects us to follow, because He already knows what we're going to do. We are free from the chains of sin because of our salvation through Jesus. Ultimately these freedoms pave the way for us to experience a third freedom: the freedom to live in victory! Thanks, Deb! |
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| I needed this today, Jen. Thanks!! |
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Jen |
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May 29, 2008 at 11:29am |
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| You're welcome, Prudence. :-) |
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| Ah Jen! It's beautiful! One of my fav verses too...Jer. 29:11 |
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| Hey Jen.. can you make sure to use the Bible button for these verses? That way, folks searching through Jeremiah 29 will get a chance to see your post. :) |
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Hey,
How do you do that bible Button wingy dingy? That's cool ! I know how to bring in a verse, but the hyper text link to the bible reference thingy....way cool...... |
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Jen |
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May 29, 2008 at 8:36pm |
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Don't know how, Carol. :-o I'm going to leave you a comment on your page and hopefully you'll leave another comment here telling how to do it so that both Dennis and I will know. Thanks, Cheryl! I think that's a fave among a lot of us. |
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| You have a great truth here that has been well researched and presented. Thank you! |
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| Wow!!! The Lord is given me so much food for thought today. Thank you! |
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Hi Dennis and Jen (and everyone else) :).. When you post, or edit your blog from your Write page, click on the "Bible" button on the toolbar (right underneath the "Content:" section. When you enter in the verses from here, they will be auto-linked to the bible here on MyChurch. We just revamped the Bible pages actually, which now show the related blogs.. like this! Let me know if that all makes sense.. perhaps a Team blog about this would be helpful huh? |
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Jen |
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May 30, 2008 at 12:20pm |
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| Thanks for reading, Jay and Cheryl! |
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Hello Jen, Thanks for the Blog. i am once again reminded of the fact that I am so precious to the Father and He loves me and has specific plans for my life. God bless you Bye Pastor Samuel Polumuri polumuris@yahoo.com |
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Jen |
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May 31, 2008 at 9:05am |
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Thanks for the instruction, Carol. I played with the button a little bit yesterday, but didn't have enough time to verify that I actually knew what I was doing. (It seemed like I did, but that's unusual when it comes to computer stuff, so I was second-guessing myself.) :-) Scripture that transparently shows God loves for us is such a blessing, isn't it Pastor Polumuri? |
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John |
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May 31, 2008 at 12:43pm |
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Dear Jen,
I am always surprised by the people who think that Christianity is "restrictive" whereas, as you so well point out, it is the very essence of freedom! Christ is the truth, and the truth will "set you free."
Pray for our brothers who are in true slavery to fear, to violence, to drugs, and the true and very real restrictions of sin.
John |
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Jen |
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June 02, 2008 at 2:32pm |
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| Isn't it interesting, John, how even though we, as believers, know the restrictions sin will put on us, there are times we still choose it? Maybe not so much "interesting" as sad. :-( |
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| Good blog!!! I enjoyed it thoroughly. I never quite thought about things that way. Thanks! |
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Jen |
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June 04, 2008 at 8:17pm |
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| Thanks, Debora! :-) |
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| Thank you for this post--you wove together a wonderful blessing for every reader! |
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Jen |
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June 17, 2008 at 3:29pm |
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| Thanks for reading, Chris, and the kind words! |
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