I will declare that we are going to make the most of 2019 and start acting on the dreams that God planted in our hearts. The journey towards the realisation of our breakthrough is long and hard. If we are going to be successful in realising our goals, then we have to manage our expectations.
These are three things I would like to talk about regarding setting expectations as far as seeking God’s will in our lives: it’s a lifetime commitment, it’s the toughest challenge ever, and God is here to help us. A Lifetime Commitment Once we decide to carry this cross for Jesus— to be clear what I meant by the cross is to see the dreams and visions He placed in our hearts into reality— we must prepare ourselves for the long haul. It is best not to look at other people’s accomplishments and focus on our walk. Some people flourished right away, and we saw their impact in the world quickly. Other people took a while to accomplish their goals, but they got there, the feeling of triumph was as sweet, and they impacted the world in the same way or even more significant. The important thing is that these successful people persevered and saw their dreams to completion.
Abraham received God’s promise when he was ninety-nine years old. It took him a few decades to see God’s promise come to pass. Noah spent one hundred twenty years to build the ark. Some dreams could also be a set up for the next generation. For example, David dreamt of building God’s temple. However, it was David’s son Solomon who completed the building, David only got involved with the preparation for making the temple. What I’m trying to say is that some dreams can be fulfilled right away while some could take more than a lifetime to complete. We might think that we’re moving too slow and there’s nothing wrong with slow if we’re making progress. As long as we accept the role that God has assigned to us with humility and enthusiasm, we’re good. The Toughest Challenge Another thing that we need to know regarding our calling is that stepping into the plans of Jesus will require hard work and the character of champions. It will not be easy and it’s not going to be comfortable. The question is, how much are we willing to sacrifice for Jesus? Surely the path is hard, but it will be worth it. I’m sure that when we look back at our lives when we’re knocking on heaven’s door, we will have that sense of fulfilment if we accepted God’s call. Imagine the weight of regret if we didn’t and just became complacent. God is Here to Help The last thing that we need to remember when pursuing God’s purpose in our lives is that God will empower us to accomplish the dreams He has given. We have to expect that God will help us with every challenge that we will face on the road to our goals. People who received miracles from Jesus had positive expectations. One example is the woman who suffered from bleeding for twelve years. The Bible says: Mark 5:25-29 New International Version (NIV) 25 And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years. 26 She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse. 27 When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, 28 because she thought, “If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed.” 29 Immediately her bleeding stopped, and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering. This woman had high expectations regarding her encounter with Jesus. She told herself that if she could touch Jesus’ garments, she would be healed, and touch Jesus she did. Just as she expected, she was relieved immediately. What are we expecting from Jesus in relation to the cross that we bear? It’s time to set proper expectations! This year will be the year that we will see God’s promises come to pass. The task will not be easy, and we will be okay with that. This cross will be the hardest thing we will ever do in our lives, but it will be worth it. We will believe that the promises of God in our lives will come to pass. We will expect that He will empower us in every way to turn our dreams into reality.