Expectations

As we go through life each day, we do something so routine that we don’t even think about it. It is almost like breathing, thinking, or walking—we expect. We expect the sun to rise each morning. We expect to wake up the next morning, especially if we are healthy. We expect our prayers to be answered. We expect God to do what He promised. We expect particular results from our decisions. We have expectations from our families. However, all of us may have different levels of expectations, because different people may expect different things from the same source.

Our expectations can range from high to low (or seemingly no expectation), important to meaningless, substantial to trivial, conscious to unconscious, etc. Mr. Dave Fleet, in his article “Expectations Can Make or Break You,” said “expectations are critical.” If we think about our expectations, we may conclude that we expect something, or nothing, from many things … maybe everything. The author’s conclusion is that we expect someone or something to perform at a particular level, for a particular situation.

Using this conclusion, we see that the statement will have the same meaning if we replace “expect” with “believe.” Therefore the use of the word expect in this book implies confidently believing that an event will occur. With this understanding, the conclusion could be used to define faith—faith is a confident expectation that someone or something will perform to a particular level and having enough evidence to believe (or know) that what is expected has a possibility of happening. This could be the definition of little faith. For great faith the definition could be revised to read, great faith is an unquestionably confident expectation that someone or something will perform to a particular level and having enough evidence to support a good basis for believing (or knowing) that what is expected has an excellent possibility of happening.

What do you expect from the Holy Spirit? You have probably heard Christians say, “[G]reater is He who is in you than he who is in the world.” But have you considered that He (Holy Spirit)—who is in you—is only as strong as you let Him be? So when I say the Holy Spirit is only as strong as you let Him be, I am not saying that you can control the power of the Holy Spirit, but you can influence the amount of power the Holy Spirit can manifest through you.

These are some of the sections in the book:

• Best Source of Expectations

• Positive and Negative Expectations

• Expectations Change

• The Unexpected and Levels of Faith

• What Do You Expect From God?

• Fear Affects Expectations

• Expectations from Prayer

• Expectations from Parent and Child Relationships

• Expectations for Teenagers Who Want to “Leave” Home

• Expectations of Decisions

• Wealth Affects Expectations

• Expectations of Christians

The intent of this book is to increase your understanding and awareness of expectations. Even though in some situations you may not be conscious of your expectations, I believe all your expectations are important. Some of them can make a positive change in your life (make you), and some of them can have a negative impact on your life (break you).

This is an excellent book for families. It discusses different levels of expectations and different levels of faith, including discussions of our expectations of God and prayer. It discusses expectations of family members including expectations for teenagers who want to “leave” home. Also included are discussions on how decisions and prosperity affect expectations and what people may expect from Christians or what Christians may expect of themselves.

MS Sheri Stritof, a marriage expert says in an article “Marriage expectations can make or break a marriage. One of the major barriers in communication is the unspoken expectations that a couple has of one another.”

Rev. Theodore Brown, DD, says “The book is profound and consistent with different life experiences. The author’s point of view adheres to Christian values in understanding scripture and applying it to everyday life. He gives his audiences insight with the support of his Christian beliefs. Mr. Jackson’s work is for readers of all ages.”