Are you expecting?? (40 Day Focus - Day 3)

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Are you expecting?

Those words could be a thrill or they could strike fear in your heart.

It all depends upon what you are expecting.

2000 years ago, there was an expectation in the land of Israel that the Messiah would be coming (Luke 3:15). For 400 years (twice as long as the United States has existed!), there had been no spoken or written word from God. The prophecies pointed to this time in history as the time when their fulfillment would occur. The anticipation was palpable. How would the Messiah come? Who would He be? Would He meet their expectations?

Flash forward 2000 years. The church calendar recognizes the season before Christmas as Advent (from the Latin word, adventus, meaning "coming"). Traditionally, Advent commences on the fourth Sunday before Christmas Day. It is a season of expectant waiting and preparation for the celebration of the Nativity of Jesus.

As Advent approaches, what are you expecting?

If you were you expecting a season of stress, perhaps this will be the year that those expectations will not be met!

Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. Colossians 3:2

As a photographer adjusts the lens of her camera, adjust the lens of your expectations. When the circumstances of your life, the things that are so close - the earthly things - are in crisp focus, everything else is out of focus. But by adjusting our lens, we can bring into crisp focus the things of God - the things above. Then the things of earth are not so defined. We can still see them; we know they are there, but they no longer are our focus. When we seek Him, we will find Him. We can find Him in the midst of our circumstances. We can find Him outside of our circumstances. He is never hard to find. If we are looking in the right places.

In the morning, O LORD, you hear my voice;

in the morning I lay my requests before You

and wait in expectation. Psalm 5:3

Lord, we are expecting.... We are expecting to sense Your presence over these 40 days. We expect to see You exalted among Your people. We expect to be at peace as we keep our focus on You. Thank you, Jesus!