Bitter Root Expectancy – Hebrews 12:15

When we have negative things happen over and over, failure, or people have told us over and over that we will never amount to much we begin to believe and expect this very thing. We don’t necessarily think this in our head but believe it down deep inside. You can tell we do when something goes wrong. We respond something like this, “things always go wrong for me, everything always messes up, I always mess everything up, happened like it usually does, etc.

I have to admit, this is something I have struggled with most of my life. So as I share this with you understand that I am ministering to myself as much and more so then to you. I am reminded of the lame man in Acts 3. He had no way of providing for himself. All had seemed negative and gloomy his entire life. When he saw Peter and John about to enter the Temple he looked at them expecting to receive something. He got much more than he was expecting (Ephesians 3:20). God wants to give us much more than we are expecting but we have to turn our expectancy from expecting the bad and negative to expecting the good and positive. Jesus was sent to us as high priest of good things to come (Hebrews 9:11).

We have had a life time building this negative expectancy and so it won’t go away over night. We can, however, begin the process of rooting it out of our life and replacing it with a positive expectancy.

Let me share a few things that can begin this process:

Resist (James 4:7-8)

You must stand against this temptation and fight it with everything you have. Be determined you won’t let this remain rooted in your life. The Devil’s job is to keep us down. When this type of negative expectancy enters our heart we must recognize it as being from him and resist with all we have. God promises that when we do he (the devil) must flee.

Renew your mind (Romans12:2)

Change what you allow in your mind. Dwell on positive things like success, your potential, etc. Listen to tapes on success or read books on the subject. Feed on positive things until it begins to crowd out all the negative things that life has fed you to this point. One of the best things we can do is feed on the Word of God. Read, study, memorize and meditate on it. Get as much of the word in you as you possibly can. Read also Colossians 3:16; Psalms 1:2-3; Psalms 119:9 and 11; Joshua 1:8.

Watch what you say (Proverbs 18:20-21)

When something goes wrong we tend to get upset and vocalize the negative. “Things always go wrong, I always mess up, I can’t do anything right, etc.” Instead of this we must resist and say something positive to counteract the negative. Like, “no I am going to succeed; I will overcome and be victorious over this.

Change who you hang with (1 Corinthians 15:33)

Face it we become like those we’re around. If you’re around those who are going no where, in a rut, and not striving to better themselves you will tend to fall into that same trap to one degree or another. On the other hand, if you hang with those who are pursuing success and constantly trying to better themselves you will likewise move in that direction.

Forgiveness (John 20:23)

When we hold things against someone we will often retain similar things to our life down the road. For instance, if your father was a drunk and abusive we frequently end up doing the very things we hated. This often happens because we never forgave them. Unforgiveness has the tendency to retain to us the very thing we hate. The only way to free ourselves is complete forgiveness. This isn’t always easy but it can be done. We must choose to forgive them from the heart. It takes time and will be a battle. Every time it comes up we must chose to forgive them over and over until it is rooted out of us completely.

Prayer: Father God, change my heart. Give me a heart of faith and expectancy, not of negative and bad things but for the good and positive. Please forgive me for my unbelief. Help me to resist the negative expectancy of my heart and replace it with faith. Please renew my mind and heart at this time. In Jesus name, amen!