What Are Your Expectations?

One of the things that I began to notice whenever I would come into a house of worship is how the people interacted with one another. When you look in the gospel you see that whenever the people came into the temple for worship they would immediately be focused on prayer. It appeared that the expectation was to come before God in humility to show honor and reverence for Him because of who He was to them, and they knew that whatever they needed in their life whether peace, joy, or provision, it was available through Him. So their heart was set on worshipping the giver of all things out of a heart of love for the one who is the giver, lover, and sustainer of life. But today we have become so commercial in our gatherings that whenever we enter into our set place of worship it is more of a social gathering. People are not focused on quieting their spirit after the trip to the house of worship, therefore we don't see a posture of prayer, but rather an all out social gathering. It is more of a meet and greet, and not a place where upon entering our main focus should be to reverence and honor God with prayer to create and atmosphere for worship. Understand that worship is a function of the spirit and we must set the atmosphere for it. But first we feel as if we must greet everyone, make lunch dates for the next week, attempt to conduct church business, which we could have done during the week. Then we dim the lights and the show begins. Now all of a sudden we begin to show a form of worship that is void of any power, but it has all the fanfare of a Broadway musical. The question then becomes, "What Are Your Expectations?" Do we truly believe in the power of God to heal us, deliver us, and meet our every need? Or have we become so carnal in our worship that we do not believe what the bible teaches. Are we believers or just pretenders? The manner in which we now approach God shows that we have become comfortable in our present condition of living with sickness and oppressions, therefore we enjoy living with this country club mentality when we come into our set place of worship. If we came with the expectation that God, who is willing and able, will heal us then our posture would be one of prayer as we enter into His presence. Remember this, God will not show up where He is not reverenced. How we approach Him shows what are expectations are.  

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