Todd Bailey Ministries

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Getting an Attitude of Faith and Expectation

Todd Bailey

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"Hey you!"

"Who me?!"

"Yes you! Has anyone ever told you that you have an attitude?"

Hmmm...as a matter of fact -- yes! You know, come to think about it, I have been accused of simply believing that I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me; that God meets all my needs according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus! I also believe that should any sickness or disease come upon me, that I will live and not die and declare the works of the Lord, and that all things are possible to them that believe God. "What kind of attitude is that?" An attitude of faith and expectation in God Almighty.

I believe the Believers of the 20th century are establishing the attitude that God can and will do great and mighty works in this generation. This generation of Christians are also expecting to see demonstrations of His power and manifestations of His Spirit that the world hasn’t seen since the birth of the "early church" in the Book of Acts almost 2000 years ago.

The Body of Christ currently upon the earth are here for such a time as this! To usher in the greatest outpouring of God’s spirit and to reap the largest Harvest of Souls from the initial seed planted by God -- Jesus Christ. To take the Gospel to the uttermost parts of the earth. To turn every place they go "upside down". The common denominator in all of this will be the Believers’ exhibiting an attitude of faith and expectation.

To get this attitude, one first needs to know what it is and how to develop it. Hebrews 11:1 says, "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." The word "hope" here can also be "expectation" - so faith is the substance of things you’re expecting. We should know that without hope (expectation), you cannot have faith, because without hope, your faith will not have anything to give substance to. And we know faith is what moves mountains, and the hand of God on our behalf.

Let’s define some terms for faith, expectation and attitude:

Faith:

(1) Absolute certainty in the trustworthiness of another.

(2) Mental acceptance of the truth or actuality of something. (Syn. Belief)

Expectation:

  1. To look forward to

  2. To look for as likely to occur or appear (anticipate)

  3. Implies a considerable degree of confidence that an event will happen

  4. It suggests a reaching out in readiness to receive

Attitude:

  1. A manner of acting, feeling or thinking that shows one’s disposition (character) or opinion.
  2. A frame of mind affecting one’s thoughts or behavior.
  3. A general cast of mind with regard to something.

Developing this attitude of expectation into your life is a progressive process. We can see this demonstrated by Jesus in Mark 4:26-29 (Amplified).

Mark 4:26-29

26 And He said, The kingdom of God is like a man who scatters seed upon the ground,

27 Then continues sleeping and rising night and day while the seed sprouts and grows and increases, he knows not how.

28 The earth produces [acting] by itself, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear.

29 But when the grain is ripe and permits, immediately he sends forth [the reapers] and puts in the sickle, because the harvest stands ready.

Notice verse 28..."The earth produces [acting] by itself, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear." This point may be better explained in I Corinthians 3:1-7 (Amplified):

I Cor. 3:1-7

1 However Brethren, I could not talk to you as to spiritual [men], but as to non-spiritual (men of the flesh, in whom the carnal nature predominates), as to mere infants [in the new life] in Christ - unable to talk yet!

2 I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not yet strong enough [to be ready for it]; but even yet you are not strong enough [to be ready for it],

3 For you are still (unspiritual, having the nature) of the flesh - under the control of ordinary impulses. For as long as [there are] envying and jealousy and wrangling and factions among you, are you not unspiritual and of the flesh, behaving yourselves after a human standard and like mere (unchanged) men?

4 For when one says, I belong to Paul, and another, I belong to Apollos, are you not [proving yourselves] ordinary (unchanged) men?

5 What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Ministering servants [not heads of parties], through whom you believed, even as the Lord appointed to each his task:

6 I planted, Apollos watered, but God [all the while] was making it grow, and [He] gave the increase.

7 So neither he who plants is anything nor he who waters, but [only] God Who makes it grow and become greater.

Notice verse 6..."I planted, Apollos watered, but God [all the while] was making it grow, and [He] gave the increase."

These two passages of scriptures both are referring to the Word of God as "milk", "solid food" or "seed." The word of God is also referred to as "The Word of Faith" (Romans 10:8). How does faith come? "...by hearing and hearing by the Word of God." (Romans 10:17) How does expectation figure into this? (Remember faith is still the substance of

things we are expecting).

The more you hear the word of God and speak your expectations, the more you and your attitude will develop and continue to grow. The more you feed your faith and expectation with the word of God, the more it will begin to develop; like a muscle. The more we feed and exercise our muscles, the more they develop and grow. The less you do, the less they will grow. Feeding (hearing, reading, mediating, speaking, etc.) upon the Word of God is key to developing an attitude!

After this becomes a daily part of your lifestyle, you will take upon a disposition (character); one of a person that will not cast away their confidence no matter what obstacles or hindrances that may come, for they know it has a "glorious compensation of reward." (Heb. 10:35).

I like how one minister described expectation, "an inward belief expressed by an outward action." One of the best examples I have read that illustrates this description is in Mark 5; the woman with an issue of blood. Starting in 5:25, it reads

Mark 5:26-34

25 And a certain woman, which had an issue of blood twelve years,

26 And had suffered many things of many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was nothing bettered, but rather grew worse,

27 When she had heard of Jesus, came in the press behind, and touched his garment.

28 For she said, If I may touch but his clothes, I shall be whole.

29 And straightway the fountain of her blood was dried up; and she felt in her body that she was healed of that plague.

30 And Jesus, immediately knowing in himself that virtue had gone out of him, turned him about in the press, and said, Who touched my clothes?

31 And his disciples said unto him, Thou seest the multitude thronging thee, and sayest thou, Who touched me?

32 And he looked round about to see her that had done this thing.

33 But the woman fearing and trembling, knowing what was done in her, came and fell down before him, and told him all the truth.

34 And he said unto her, Daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace, and be whole of thy plague.

Now here is a woman, who for twelve years, spent all she had and was no better, but rather grew worse (v. 26). This woman must have had access to a lot of finances to be able to spend it on many doctors over a twelve year period, then to end up not only sicker, but broke!

This woman had nothing to look forward to, but to death itself. Besides, I know of at least five areas she was virtually hopeless in. First was financially. Even if a cure was found, she had no money left to pay for the treatment. Second was medically. There was no cure for her, although there were over 10 ways to treat an issue of blood, none were effective in her case. Third was socially. According to the law she was not allowed to be out in public. Fourth was spiritually. Also according to the law, she was considered unclean and not allowed to engage in any religious functions or practices. Fifth, and the last was maternally. She could not bear children with this medical problem.

This woman probably had an attitude and it wasn’t of faith and expectancy, but of failure and hopelessness. She was probably living to die. But one day, she was going through her regular routine, and she heard reports of what this man named Jesus was doing (healing the sick, the lame walking, the blind seeing and most likely the dead being raise).

Then something happened. What happened, you say?

She got an ATTITUDE!

When she heard of Jesus, faith came in and shoved out all the hopelessness in her heart and she had an expected end that she would be healed. "For she kept saying, if I only touch His garments, I shall be restored to health (vs. 28, Amp.).

When you get an attitude of faith and expectation, you need to do something. It is acting upon what you believe and expect. Remember James 2:17:

James 2:17 (Amp)

17 So also faith if it does not have works (deeds and actions of obedience to back it up) by itself is destitute of power - inoperative, dead.

What did she do in response to this "new attitude"? She got up and came up in the midst of the crowd behind Jesus and touched his clothes (vs. 27). Notice what happens to Jesus, when she touched Him. He recognized in Himself that the power proceeding from Him had gone forth (vs. 30). Put this into perspective -- there were a lot of people touching Jesus that day. Even the disciples said in vs. 31, "...You see the crowd pressing hard around You (from all sides), and you ask, who touched Me?" Some may have touched Him out of curiosity, others maybe accidentally, but this woman touched Jesus with a touch of faith and intense expectation.

Her "Expected End" was to touch His garment and to be made whole. This is actually what happened. Jesus even acknowledged it by saying "Daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole. (v. 34)" She would not quit or be denied. She didn’t sit around and "wait upon the Lord," wishing Jesus would help her. She got up and went to the source. This woman got healed because she had an attitude.

Allow me a moment to explain what "waiting on the Lord" is and is not. What "waiting upon the Lord" is not, is when we sit around and basically do nothing! Most of us have, at one time or another, just "hoped and prayed" God would do something for us. Well, I thank God I learned to read. This enabled me to search the scriptures for myself and see what God through Jesus Christ had redeemed me from, and now in an attitude of faith and expectation, I am fully anticipating the promises of God to come to pass in my life, regardless of what I must go through or overcome. Now that’s part of what "waiting upon the Lord" is. David in the book of Psalms expresses this so well.

Psalms 62:5 "My soul, wait only upon God and silently submit to Him; for my hope and expectation are from him."

Now, let’s look at two more example of people who "had an attitude."

Mark 2:1-5, 11, 12 (NASB)

1 And when He had come back to Capernaum several days afterward, it was heard that He was at home.

2 And many were gathered together, so that there was no longer room, even near the door; and He was speaking the word to them.

3 And they came, bringing to Him a paralytic, carried by four men.

4 And being unable to get to Him because of the crowd, they removed the roof above Him; and when they had dug an opening, they let down the pallet on which the paralytic was lying.

5 And Jesus seeing their faith said to the paralytic, "My son, your sins are forgiven."

11 "I say to you, rise, take up your pallet and go home."

12 And he rose and immediately took up the pallet and went out in the sight of all; so that they were all amazed and were glorifying God, saying, "We have never seen anything like this."

Here in Mark 2, we can see a man carried by four of his friends who would not allow any obstacle or anyone to stop them. Anyone in that house could have received from Jesus, but its hard to receive when you’re only a spectator. But when you get an attitude and decide to do something with it you become a participator of God’s miraculous provision.

The last example, Abraham, had an attitude that should influence us all. He was 99 years old and had no children, but God told him his name would be Abram no longer, but instead, Abraham (father of many nations - Gen. 17:5). Abraham not only took on a new name, but also a new attitude!

His first child was a son named Isaac; Abraham became a father at 100 years of age (Gen. 21:5). Some time later, God asked Abraham to do something beyond comprehension -- to sacrifice Isaac as a burnt offering (Gen. 22:2). Truthfully, I don’t know if I could do that, unless God’s grace and power helped me. But Abraham obeyed. How could he do such a thing?! Because he had an attitude.

This attitude of tremendous faith and expectation that Abraham possessed was put to the test.

Genesis 22:3-12 (Amplified)

3 So Abraham rose early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and his son Isaac; and he split the wood for the burnt offering, then began the trip to the place of which God had told him.

4 On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance.

5 And Abraham said to his servants, Settle down and stay here with the donkey; and I and the young man will go yonder and worship, and come again to you.

6 Then Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering, and laid it on [the shoulders of] Isaac his son; and he took the fire [that is, the firepot] in his own hand, and a knife, and the two of them went on together.

7 And Isaac said to Abraham, My father! And he said, Here I am, my son. [Isaac] said, See, here are the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt sacrifice?

8 Abraham said, My son, God will provide Himself a lamb for a burnt offering. So the two went on together.

9 When they came to the place of which God had told him, Abraham built an altar there; then he laid the wood in order and bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar on the wood.

10 And Abraham stretched forth his hand and took hold of the knife to slay his son.

11 But the Angel of the Lord called to him from Heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham! He answered, Here I am.

12 And He said, Do not lay your hand on the lad, or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear and revere God, since you have not held back from Me or begrudged giving Me your son, your only son.

We can see that Abraham was willing to give his only son in order to obey God, but throughout this test, Abraham kept his attitude of faith and expectation alive. Notice in vs. 5 when he said, "...I and the young man will go yonder and worship and come again to you." Again in vs. 7 when Isaac asked where the lamb for the sacrifice was, Abraham responded by saying "...God will provide..." And we know that God did provide a sacrifice.

Another passage of scripture that describes Abraham’s attitude is in Hebrews 11:17-19.

17 By faith Abraham, when he was put to the test - that is, while the testing of his faith was still in progress - had already brought Isaac for an offering; he who had gladly received and welcomed [God’s] promises was ready to sacrifice his only son,

18 Of whom it was said, Through Isaac shall your descendants be reckoned.

19 For he reasoned that God was able to raise [him] up even from among the dead. Indeed in the sense that Isaac was figuratively dead (potentially sacrificed), he did [actually] receive him back from the dead.

In this day and age, Christians will not likely be asked to do what Abraham was asked to do! But we will be expected to have the same attitude Abraham possessed and demonstrated -- one of faith and expectation in serving God.

Fellow Christians, regardless of what you are going through or believing God for "...let us not lose heart and grow weary and faint in acting nobly and doing right, for in due time and at the appointed season we shall reap, if we do not loosen and relax our courage and faint." (Gal. 6:9, Amp.) In other words, simply be like Abraham. If you are in the midst of your greatest challenge, get an attitude of faith and expectation, for like Abraham, "The Lord will provide!"