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Godly Anticipation

Our life's climate dictates its forecast, just like a tropical climate won't have snow in the forecast. So it is important to determine what climate we have because it will reveal what kind of future that will produce.

One of the greatest things we, as Christians, can do to change our spiritual climate is to have Godly anticipation. Godly anticipation is the attitude of looking forward with an expectation of the good to come. 

Anticipation can produce two things; FAITH or FEAR. When we focus on the wrong things, when we anticipate the bad, we produce fear. When we anticipate God to be good and do good things, faith is produced. But it's the unfocused, the unintentionally growing Christian that tends to experience a growth in fear and fading faith. 

Even though it is faith that pleases God, it is faith that sees miracles and faith that will see your forecast line up with the good things God created for you, when we are unaware of our climate, it is unlikely to accidentally drift towards a beneficial position.

Ephesians 1:18-21 says; "I pray that your hearts will be flooded with light [doesn’t sound like fear or negativity] so that you can understand the confident hope he has given to those he called—his holy people who are his rich and glorious inheritance. I also pray that you will understand the incredible greatness of God’s power for us who believe him [this should build our Godly anticipation in life]. This is the same mighty power that raised Christ from the dead and seated him in the place of honor at God’s right hand in the heavenly realms. Now he is far above any ruler or authority or power or leader or anything else—not only in this world but also in the world to come.

It is faith, this Godly anticipation (Hebrews calls it the substance of hope) that will see your climate change and ultimately your forecast change for the best. 

Psalm 34:8–10, “Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good! [again, an action based on faith, on anticipation, not merely intention] Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him. Oh, fear the Lord, you his saints… for those who seek the Lord lack no good thing!” [not those who associate with Christianity, those who only attend something, but those who in all things seek]

R.C Sproul wrote about worship & anticipation for Gods presence:

“If people find worship boring and irrelevant, it can only mean they have no sense of the presence of God in it. When we study the act of worship in Scripture and church history, we discover a variety of human responses to the sense of the presence of God. Some tremble in terror, falling with their faces to the ground; others weep in mourning; some are exuberant in joy; still others are reduced to a pensive silence. Though the responses differ, one reaction we never find is boredom. It is impossible to be bored in the presence of God (if you know that He is there).”

Question 1: Do you create space for God to intervene in your life? Do you have Godly anticipation?

Question 2: What changes could you make today to see a better future? What changes to your climate are needed for a better forecast?