Expectation.
What a full word, pregnant with promise; ready to burst with hope!
Expectation can certainly be a positive thing, especially when applied to our faith in the Creator of the universe!
We are to expect great things to come our of our faith in Jesus Christ.
Jesus is the Miracle-Worker, the I AM, the Almighty God.
Having expectations grounded in the truth of His Word and the truth of His character is a great thing.
However, I have expectations that are different than the expectation that comes from faith in my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
As a wife I have expectations of my husband. Some of these expectations are not so great.
I have had expectations for Keith where I was expecting God to do a good work in him on my behalf.
That’s right, a selfish expectation that I brought before God — hoping for and expecting a change.
Not so full of promise for a Daughter of the King, is it?
While I think it natural that there are things that wives would like to change about their husbands, Scripture tells me that I am not the Change-Agent in my husband’s life.
No. I am his helper. That means I get to pray with him for God to continue to do a good work in his life. I get to pray for him, not about him.
Often, it helps me to remember that it is Christ who meets my every need, not my husband.
I can’t expect my husband to perfectly meet my every need. Honestly, there is no way that he could even know my every need. It is only the One who created me who could possibly know this!
So how do we as wives, keep our expectations in line with the will of God?
First we must:
1) confess our sin before a holy God for expecting our husband to fulfill our needs which are only fulfilled by God.
2) we must forgive our husband, just as God in Christ forgave us when we feel we have been wronged.
3) we must surrender our expectations that we have for our husbands to change to the Lord, for it is HE who works the heart changes He desires and not our selfish expectations.
4) we must be liberal with love (extravagant love) for our husband.
Examine your expectations. Surrender them to the Lord. Ask what He wants for you in your marriage.
Walk in light of what He desires for you. Forgive liberally.
I am prayerfully going to walk in surrender of ungodly expectations this week and would love to hear if you are challenged to do the same.
♥ Kim
(This is a re-post of one of our favorites from Kim. We hope you enjoy this timely review!)
I really bede’s to read this! I’ve been walking around the couple days with an attitude on the selfish expectations i have for my husband! The Lord and I had a talk and He said I need to focus more on Him. I also came across a FB posting yesterday saying a man would need to seek.God to get to his woman! All of this confirmation on what I NEED to do! Challenging? Most definitely! Worth it? Absolutely! Because its all about me and God!
Worth it? For sure! Love that you are responding to the Lord’s direction for you!