Expect Yes

by Shana Schutte
DESCRIPTION

Don't give up! You have God's favor. His plans are to prosper you and to keep you from harm all the days of your life.
A few years ago, I started a new ministry feeling confident. My organizational model was thoroughly developed; I had a solid team to work with, and the vision I believed God had placed on my heart was moving toward fruition.

But then some unforeseen circumstances caused the bottom to fall out of my plans.

Everything I had worked so hard for died—and with it, so did my expectations. For a time, I stopped believing God had good things stored up for me to accomplish. I stopped expecting yes.

Maybe you can relate. Maybe you have had some dreams of your own die. You wanted a family; it didn’t happen. You wanted to go to college; you weren’t able. You wanted to start a new career; it hasn’t come about.

And like me, your expectations have died with your dreams.

One day, as I shared my heart with God, the following thoughts flooded my spirit and quietly filled me with the hope to continue to expect, to believe that He has good stored up for me, and that just because He has said no doesn’t mean He will always deny me. It’s all a matter of perspective, to trust that He has our absolute best in mind—even when He says no.

The times when things haven’t worked out the way you planned has led you to believe that I am opposing you. Your winter came and you believed it would always stay. This is not true. I am for you. If I am for you, who can be against you? The times when your plans have failed, the times when you have experienced road blocks has not meant that I have been against you. Those times have been my times of redirection. I will always give you everything you need.

I have called you to bear fruit that will last. I am not opposing you. I am upholding you. I am directing you. Your failures have caused you to stop asking of me. Your disappointment has made you resign yourself to defeat. You have thought, Why ask? I never get what I desire.

You may not always get what you want, but you will always receive good from me. That’s who I am. Even out of life’s difficulties, expect yes. Dear One, surrender to what I want. I have given you everything you need to succeed in me.

It’s time for you to stop looking back at what hasn’t worked, what has failed, and what you didn’t get. It’s time for you to look ahead at what I am doing. Don’t you see that I am at work even now?

You feel like there are weights tied around your ankles; you want to run but you can’t. These hindrances are perceived. In me, there are not hindrances. Throw off the idea that I am opposing you. Seek me. Seek my will. Ask for my intervention and my power. Ask for my help to accomplish what I have called you to. In me, in my will, the answer is always yes.

When you feel like you don’t have my favor, remember that these are just your feelings. You always have my favor. My plans are to prosper you and not to harm you all the days of your life. Expect yes.