Time to play it safe. There’s just too much risk here. I’ll say the words, but my heart just isn’t in it. Surely God will understand. I’m too afraid because of what is at stake. I just don’t want to be disappointed again.

How many times do we have this conversation with ourselves? Usually it happens quite frequently. More than we care to think about. This conversation is none other than how we try to talk ourselves out of what we are praying about. Those things that we quietly only share with God. Those things that we are secretly desiring, but feel no open doors to share with anyone. Those things that are too deep and personal to share with anyone else. Those things that only God knows.

So often in life, we limit God. We seem to believe the lie that we’re not good enough and that we don’t deserve any of His blessings or favor coming our way. We aren’t enough. We’re less than. Second class. Washed up and ready to be thrown away like last week’s garbage.

Somehow in the midst of all of this negativity, we have lost the expectation of all that God wants to do for us. It gets lost amongst the mundane life that we live, the responsibilities we carry, and just trying to keep up with all that encompasses our life. We’ve settled for average and mediocre. We’ve even questioned why we should expect Him to show up. It’s always going to turn out the same way. It’s going to just be one, big let down.

We’ve lost our ability to imagine and dream of all that God wants to do in our life. We’ve focused on how life is right now, pushing aside all that He wants and desires to do for us. We’ve somehow handicapped His vision for us because it just seems too good to be true. We’ve wondered why He would even want to use little, ole me.

We don’t just approach our prayer life in this way, but we approach every part of our life this way. We show up to the worship service each week expecting it to be the same as it was last week. We serve half-heartedly, if we even serve at all. We just go through the motions not looking for ways that God wants to wow us or how lives could be changed. There is no expectation for God. In fact, we’ve gotten so good that we don’t even need Him to show up.

It’s time for all of this to change! It has to, unless you want to continue living a less-than life. You have got to live each day with a sense of expectation for all that God wants to do in and through you. Does this mean that life is going to be easy? No! There will be challenges and trials along the way, but we must not lose our sense of expectation amongst all that we are facing. Don’t put a lid on anything that God is wanting to do in your life. Wake up each morning with a renewed mind knowing that God has great things in store for you. Speak it. Say it. Declare and decree it out of your mouth – even if you don’t feel it. Get His Word brewing in your spirit so you know exactly how to come against all of those defeating thoughts. You must be your biggest cheerleader. Don’t wait on others to do this for you. You decide here and now that God’s absolute best is headed your way.

Then as you walk in obedience each day and trust God with every detail, you’ll begin to see Him put together each piece of the puzzle. You’ll see how you decided to go against the status quo Christian life and how you decided to expect even greater from God than you can ask or think. You’ll see that the abundant life that you’ve been desiring decided to show up all because you made up your mind. You made up your mind that you were going to expect God to show up no matter how it looked on the outside. You decided to expect God for the impossible.

So go ahead! Jump in the deep end of God’s great expectations for you. It might feel scary at first and even go against your nature, but it will be one of the best decisions in your life. Living life not holding Him back from anything. Living life knowing that with God nothing is impossible. Just go for it!