Book: Miracle Mindset: Chapter 16: Living a Life of Expectation
- Dr. Layne McDonald
- 22 hours ago
- 8 min read
Janet sat quietly at the back of the sanctuary, her hands resting in her lap, her face a mask of polite devotion. She had been a believer for thirty years. She knew the songs, she knew the scriptures, and she certainly knew the "right" things to say when someone asked how she was doing. "I’m blessed and highly favored," she would whisper with a forced smile.
But deep inside, something had gone cold.
Years earlier, Janet had prayed with a fire that could move mountains. She had trusted God for a miracle in her marriage, then for a miracle in her health, and finally for a miracle for her wayward son. But the marriage ended in a painful divorce, her health remained a constant struggle, and her son was still nowhere to be found.
She didn't stop loving God. She didn't stop believing in His existence. She just quietly, almost imperceptibly, stopped expecting Him to do anything. She had traded her expectation for a form of spiritual self-protection. It was safer to expect nothing than to risk the crushing weight of disappointment again.
What Janet experienced is what I call the "Silent Killer of Expectation." It is a spiritual state where we believe God can, but we no longer anticipate that He will. We live in a state of passive hope rather than active expectation. But as we explore in this chapter of Miracle Mindset, expectation is not just a nice emotional state, it is the very atmosphere where miracles are born.
The Anatomy of Expectation
To live a life of expectation, we must first understand what it actually is. In the secular world, expectation is often linked to entitlement or wishful thinking. In the Kingdom of God, however, expectation is the natural byproduct of a renewed mind.
The writer of Hebrews provides the definitive framework: "Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see" (Hebrews 11:1, NIV).
Notice the two components: Confidence and Assurance. Expectation is the bridge between the promise and the manifestation. If faith is the substance, expectation is the "looking for." It is the spiritual posture of leaning forward. It is the difference between someone who is waiting for a bus and someone who is just standing at a corner. The person waiting for the bus is looking down the street; they have their bag ready; they are checking their watch. They expect the bus to arrive because they believe the schedule is true.
In the Greek, the word often associated with this kind of looking is apokaradokia, which carries the image of someone crane-necking, stretching out their head to see something coming from a distance. It is an intense, concentrated looking.
Are you "crane-necking" for the move of God in your life? Or have you pulled your head back, tucked safely into the shell of "whatever will be, will be"?
Why We Stop Expecting: The Self-Protection Trap
The greatest enemy of expectation is not doubt; it is disappointment. When we have seen "unanswered" prayers or gone through seasons of "protracted waiting," the human heart naturally tries to insulate itself. We lower our bar of expectation so that if God doesn't move, we won't feel the sting.
We begin to pray "safe" prayers:
"Lord, if it be Your will..." (Used as a disclaimer rather than a submission).
"Lord, just give me peace with how things are..."
"Lord, help me to endure this..."
While endurance and peace are biblical, they were never meant to replace the bold, expectant faith that Jesus looked for in His followers. In the Assemblies of God tradition, we believe that the Holy Spirit is an active, present power. To stop expecting is to effectively tell the Holy Spirit that His services are no longer required in the realm of the "extraordinary."
Disappointment is a wound that requires healing. If you find yourself unable to expect, it may be because you have unhealed trauma from a previous season. You must realize that God's silence in one season was not a rejection of your faith, nor was it a sign of His inability. Living a life of expectation requires the courage to be vulnerable before God again, to say, "Lord, I am opening my heart to the possibility of Your miraculous intervention once more."
The Atmosphere of Miracles
Scripture reveals a startling truth: God moves where He is expected.
We see this most clearly in the negative in Mark 6:5-6: "He could not do any miracles there, except lay his hands on a few sick people and heal them. He was amazed at their lack of faith."
Think about the weight of those words. The Creator of the universe, the One who spoke galaxies into existence, was "limited" in His hometown. Why? Not because He lost His power, but because the atmosphere was devoid of expectation. The people of Nazareth saw Jesus only through the lens of the familiar. "Isn't this the carpenter's son?" they asked. They had labeled Him, boxed Him in, and consequently, they expected nothing from Him.
Contrast this with the woman with the issue of blood (Matthew 9). She didn't just hope Jesus might notice her. She expected that if she could just touch the hem of His garment, she would be made whole. Her expectation drove her through a crowd, fueled her persistence, and ultimately "drew" the power out of Jesus.
Expectation acts as a spiritual magnet. It creates a vacuum that the power of God is drawn to fill. When you walk into your workplace, your home, or your church with an expectant heart, you are signaling to the heavens that you are ready for the supernatural to break into the natural.
Positioning Yourself: The Ditch-Digger’s Faith
One of the most powerful examples of expectation in the Bible is found in 2 Kings 3. Three kings and their armies were stranded in the desert, dying of thirst. They called for the prophet Elisha.
Elisha didn't tell them to just "pray and wait." He gave them a strange command from the Lord: "Make this valley full of ditches" (2 Kings 3:16). He told them that they wouldn't see wind or rain, but the valley would be filled with water.
Imagine the scene. These men were exhausted and dehydrated. Yet, they had to take up shovels and dig holes in the dry, dusty ground. That is the definition of expectation. Expectation is digging a ditch before the rain arrives.
If you say you are expecting God to move in your finances, but you haven't made a budget or started honoring Him with your tithe, you aren't digging a ditch. If you say you are expecting a miracle in your family, but you haven't changed the way you speak to your spouse or children, you aren't digging a ditch.
Preparation is the physical manifestation of spiritual expectation.
The Innocence of Expectation
To truly live a life of expectation, we must recover a "childlike" faith. Have you ever watched a child on Christmas Eve? They don't sleep because they are "hoping" there might be gifts. They don't sleep because they know there are gifts. Their expectation is based entirely on the character and the promise of the parent.
Jesus said, "Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven" (Matthew 18:3). Children are experts at expectation because they haven't yet learned the "sophistication" of cynicism. They haven't built the walls of self-protection that we adults cherish so much.
Living with a miracle mindset means looking at the promises of God through the eyes of a child. If God said He is your Healer, then expect healing. If He said He is your Provider, then expect provision. It sounds simple, yet it is one of the most profound spiritual shifts you can make.
Guarding the Atmosphere: Watching for the Cloud
In 1 Kings 18, after years of drought, Elijah tells King Ahab, "Go, eat and drink, for there is the sound of a heavy rain."
At that moment, there wasn't a cloud in the sky. The ground was cracked. The sky was brass. But Elijah expected rain because God had spoken. He went to the top of Mount Carmel and began to pray. He sent his servant to look toward the sea seven times.
Six times the servant returned and said, "There is nothing there."
But Elijah didn't stop expecting. On the seventh time, the servant said, "A cloud as small as a man’s hand is rising from the sea."
For most of us, "a cloud as small as a man's hand" isn't enough. we want the downpour before we believe. But expectation is the ability to see the "man's hand" cloud and know that the deluge is coming. It is the ability to celebrate the small win as the harbinger of the great miracle.
Are you overlooking the "small clouds" in your life because they don't look like the full answer yet? Expectation sharpens your spiritual vision. It allows you to see the evidence of God's hand moving in the subtle shifts of your circumstances.
Practical Steps to Cultivate Expectation
How do we move from the Janet-style "passive hope" to Elijah-style "active expectation"? Here are four practical shifts:
Saturate with the Word: Romans 10:17 tells us that faith comes by hearing the Word. You cannot expect what you do not know. If you don't know that God promised to give you "wisdom liberally," you won't expect to have a breakthrough idea at work. You must find the specific promises of God for your situation and meditate on them until they become more real to you than your problem.
Audit Your Language: Stop speaking the language of lack and start speaking the language of expectation. Instead of saying, "Nothing ever works out for me," try saying, "I am looking for the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living." Your words are the rudder that steers the ship of your heart.
Practice Gratitude in Advance: This is the highest form of expectation. It is thanking God for the answer before you see the manifestation. This isn't "fake it 'til you make it", it is "faith it 'til you see it."
Surround Yourself with Expectant People: Expectation is contagious, but so is cynicism. If you hang around people who always expect the worst, you will eventually start looking for the worst. Find a community, a church, a small group, or a mentor, who will challenge you to believe for more.
The Vastness of the Promise
As you begin to live a life of expectation, the world begins to look different. You no longer see "dead ends"; you see opportunities for God to make a way. You no longer see "insurmountable obstacles"; you see platforms for God's glory.
The life of expectation is a life of adventure. It is waking up every morning and asking, "Lord, what are You going to do today?" It is walking into every meeting, every doctor's appointment, and every family gathering with a quiet, inner confidence that the King of Kings is in the room with you.
God is not looking for perfect people; He is looking for expectant people. He is looking for those who will take Him at His Word and refuse to settle for a dull, "safe" faith.
The miracle you are looking for may be closer than you think. But the question is: Are you looking for it? Are you positioned for it? Have you dug the ditches?
Don't let another day go by in the gray fog of "someday." Bring your "now" faith into your "today" circumstances. God is moved by your hunger. He is drawn to your desire. He is honored by your expectation.
As we move forward in this journey through Miracle Mindset, remember that the renewal of your mind is not just about thinking better, it’s about seeing better. It’s about seeing the unseen and expecting the "impossible" to become your new reality.
What if the breakthrough you’ve been begging God for is actually waiting for you to simply believe it’s possible?
About the Author
Layne McDonald, Ph.D., is an author, researcher, and educator dedicated to helping people align their lives with biblical truth and purpose. With a background in leadership, theology, and cultural discernment, Dr. McDonald creates resources that bridge the gap between deep scriptural understanding and practical everyday living. His work is rooted in the belief that every believer is called to a life of supernatural influence and eternal impact. Through his books, Bible studies, and teaching, he empowers the Church to navigate modern culture with wisdom and grace.
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