Live Expectantly

By Charlotte Lowrie

Since I began following the Lord, there are many days that I am astounded by His work in my life and His work in the world. But in a recent conversation with the Lord, I learned that being astounded is something that belongs in the beginning of a walk with the Lord, but over time it should change.

The Lord taught me that, "As long as you are astounded, you do not experience the power that is available to you as you walk in the Kingdom day by day. Astounded is for the beginning of the walk."

Rather, He explained, I should, "Expect in faith all that I can do every day. Be expectant." He emphasized again, "If you want the power of the Kingdom, move beyond being astounded. Be expectant."

And so while I am still in awe of all of His creation, it serves to remind me that He can do everything, and I can expect Him to work in my life far beyond my imagination.

Giving the Gift of Praise

On some days, I am so filled with joy and thanksgiving that I want to sing, write poems, and do anything and everything that I can to praise God. On one of those days, I thought about praising God, and I realized that any ability I have to praise comes directly from the God I'm praising. And this idea began a conversation with the Lord. Here is what I learned.

Everything good within us comes from God. There is no beginning and no end; there is no separation. While I wanted to give Him a gift from me, I had to wonder if it was really a gift if it came from Him in the first place.

The answer to that was that "He desires back what He has given to you, for that glorifies Him."

The expression is ours, but the Source is God. Simply stated, praise flows from Him to us, and then back to Him for His glory. So praise is yet another gift from Him. Our part is to: "Accept it. Expect it. Embrace it." And we should expect it every single day, and, of course, to give it back to Him every single day.

Alway Enough Time

If you're like most people, there never seems to be enough time to do what needs to be done, much less enough time to do what you want to do. If there is a common answer to most questions that come our way, it most often is, "I don't have time."

Not long ago, I was given a writing deadline that astounded even me. In recent years, I've worked on short book deadlines as a matter of course, but when I saw the deadline for a new project, I thought that it was a typo. I quickly learned that it wasn't a typo. I protested and resisted without success. Then I prayed. The Lord assured me that there was time. Because I know that He knows, I put away my resistance, and I got to work. To my astonishment, there was time. Maybe not all the time I wanted to polish the project, but there was, indeed, just enough time.

Just as there is God's "perfect enough," there is also God's "time enough." For God, there is only the infinite, divine Now. His yesterday is His today, and His tomorrow is His today. Time was made for man, and the Lord is not bound by it. So when He gives us work to do, there is also time enough to do it. No rush—but time enough. We are in the unique position of walking simultaneously on earth and in His Kingdom, so we, too, are on divine time.

When we stay focused on Him, there it time enough to do all that He would have us do.