Expectations

The speaker starts by inviting the audience to praise and exalt the Lord together. They thank the audience for joining in prayer and proceed to lead a morning devotion. The theme of the devotion is expectations, and they read a passage from the Gospel of Mark about a woman who had suffered for twelve years and believed that touching Jesus' robe would heal her. The speaker emphasizes the importance of having expectations when approaching God and participating in supernatural activities. They give examples of people in the Bible who had expectations and received blessings. The speaker encourages the audience to go to church and pray with expectations, believing that God will speak to them and meet their needs. They end with a memory verse and a prayer, urging the audience to maintain endless expectations and stay connected for spiritual nourishment. They also mention a lunch hour prayer time and a half-day fast. The speaker concludes by encouraging the audience to have holy expectations O magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt His name together. Psalm 34, verse 3 Good morning to you, beloved, and God bless you so much for joining in our just-ended prayer time. We believe that has been a blessing unto you. We bring you God's blessed word this morning. My name is Ohinobu Kusikinsford, and I will be leading this morning's episode of our Morning Glory devotion series. Let's kindly start with a prayer. God's gracious Father, we are grateful for another day to come before you to hear your word. We pray this morning that you will speak unto our hearts, you will speak unto our understanding, you will speak unto our edification, our comfort. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Let's kindly take our confession together from Joshua chapter 1, verse 8. This book of the law shall not depart out of my mouth, but I shall meditate in it day and night, that I may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then I will make my way prosperous, and then I will have good success, amen. The theme for this morning's devotion is, Expectations, Expectations, and we'll be reading through from the Gospel of Mark, chapter number 5, verse 24 to 31, Mark 5, 24 to 31. I'm reading from the New Living Translation. Jesus went with him, and all the people followed, crowding around him. A woman in the crowd had suffered for twelve years with constant bleeding. She had suffered a great deal from many doctors, and over the years she had spent everything she had to pay them, but she had gotten no better. In fact, she had gotten worse. She had heard about Jesus, so she came out behind him through the crowd and touched his robe, for she thought to herself, for I can just touch his robe, I will be healed. Immediately the bleeding stopped, and she could feel in her body that she had been healed of a terrible condition. Jesus realized at once that healing power had gone out from him, so he turned around in the crowd and asked, Who touched my robe? His disciples said to him, Look at this crowd pressing around you. How can you ask, Who touched me? His disciples said to him, Look at this crowd pressing around you. How can you ask, Who touched me? Expectations Do you have an expectation? What is it that has drawn you to the presence of God? What are you looking for, beloved, and what are you desiring to receive? Expectations are so key in God's dealings with man because they facilitate our participation in supernatural activities. Without an expectation, beloved, your willingness and ability to participate in the supernatural would be passive. Expectations give direction and focus to your faith. Like we see from the passage, many people thronged Jesus, and by that, had some form of physical contact with him. However, the woman's touch was unique, for it did not only draw healing power from the Lord, but it also caught his attention. The difference for her was that her touch was not purposeless, but filled with endless expectation. How many times, beloved, have we been in the midst of supernatural activities, but could not participate just like the multitude because we had no expectation? Zacchaeus had an expectation to see Jesus, and so he climbed the sycamore tree, and there on the tree Jesus located him. Blind Bartimaeus caught Jesus' attention with his desperate cry for mercy, yet Jesus asked the obviously blind man, What do you want me to do for you? It was by the expectation of the multitude, in Acts chapter 5 verse 15, that drew them to lay their sick in the streets, that at least the shadow of Peter passing by might overshadow them, and through to whom they were all healed. The next time you have the opportunity to go to church, beloved, I encourage you to go with an expectation. There are spiritual possibilities that happen in the presence of God, and you can tap into them with your expectation. The next time you pray, the next time you give a fast, do so with an expectation. Expect God to speak to you when you go before him, the next time in your quiet time. That is the more reason why you should go with a pen and a book or an electronic notepad. Beloved, your expectation will keep you alert and keep you out of spiritual passivity. Never give up on your expectations, beloved, even if they seem to delay according to man's timing. Keep on asking, keep on seeking, and keep on looking, because by them, you will be able to draw God's power and his attention in your direction, in Jesus' name, Amen. We'll take our memory verse for today from Proverbs chapter 23 verse 18. For surely there is an end, and thine expectation shall not be cut off. For surely there is an end, and thine expectation shall not be cut off. Amen. God bless you so much, beloved. Let's kindly end on a note of prayer. Most gracious Father, we thank you so much, and we give you praise for this time. We pray, Lord, that you will help us, grant us desire to build endless expectations, so that we can receive from you and experience your power in our lives. In Jesus' name, we have prayed. Amen. Beloved, God bless you so much for staying connected with us this morning. We believe that this has been a fruitful time in the presence of God. Continue to stay connected here as we have so much here on this platform for your spiritual nourishment. Meet us at 12 o'clock for our lunch hour prayer time, and don't forget also that we are embarking on a half-day fast today, and we'll be praying together before we break our fast together in the afternoon. I just want to encourage you that even as we enter into this season of revival, build a holy expectation, set a desire, set a target, and come with me. The Lord is going to come through for you. Until we meet at 12, stay blessed and be fruitful. Shalom.