Do You Need to Change Your Expectations?

Acts 3 (New American Standard)

1 Now Peter and John were going up to the temple at the ninth hour, the hour of prayer. 2 And aman who had been lame from his mother's womb was being carried along, whom they used to setdown every day at the gate of the temple which is called Beautiful, in order to beg alms of thosewho were entering the temple. 3 When he saw Peter and John about to go into the temple, he began asking to receive alms. 4 But Peter, along with John, fixed his gaze on him and said, "Look at us!" 5 And he began to give them his attention, expecting to receive something from them. 6But Peter said, "I do not possess silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you: In the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene -walk !" 7 And seizing him by the right hand, he raised him up; and immediately his feet and his ankles were strengthened. 8 With a leap he stood upright and began to walk ; and he entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God. 9 And all thepeople saw him walking and praising God

16 "And on the basis of faith in His name, it is the name of Jesus which has strengthened this man whom you see and know ; and the faith which comes through Him has given him this perfect health in the presence of you all.

   As a pastor, I witness people accepting their circumstances with a "crippling" mindset rather than believing God for something better in life. 

They are like the lame man in Acts 3 who sat by the gate, Beautiful, begging for money.  His only expectation was that a passerby will take pity on him and toss a coin his way.  He never expected anything better. He was crippled in his body and his mind.  

That's the mindset of those who don't expect things can change in their lives.  We all face bad days, but we don't have to let them turn into a bad life. 

Do you know anyone like that?  Is that you?  Jesus' disciples offered the lame man miraculous healing in both his body and his mind.  You too can move forward no matter what you face in life.~ Dr. Tony Evans

   We have all become skeptics. We look at the mountains in our life, and they continually get bigger. What if we could all have faith of a mustard seed? The bible tells us that "if we have faith of a mustard seed, we could tell the mountain to move from here to there, and it would". The word of God was talking about the mountain metaphorically...That house note that you don't know how it will be paid, that car note that you are always short on, the obstacles that we think we can not overcome. These are our mountains, and the only way to move them, is to have faith that God can and will move them out of your way. Is the "mountain" in your life so big that you can't see God anymore? This is scary territory! Take the time to ask for God's forgiveness for  letting the things of this world take you to the point of unbelief. Then ask God to move your mountain, and expect that He will. The crippled man in this passage didn't tell Peter that he couldn't walk. He leaped up immediately, and accepted his healing. After all that time being crippled by his circumstance, he realized he needed a mountain mover in his life. He believed the mountain would move, and it did. Take your "leap" of faith, and enlist the mountain mover to help you today.

Matthew 17:20

Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”