EXPECTANCY – Be willing to accept what God will do!

Expectancy
Pastor Calvin Cook — June 18, 2025
Scripture focus – “And in the last days it shall be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh………… (ESV from Acts 2:17 as Peter quoting the Prophet Joel – chapter 2)

Some time ago, I engaged in a conversation with some people close to me about praying, believing, worshiping, serving, evangelizing with an expectancy. As the conversation developed the conviction of the Holy Spirit entered in and we began to lament and seek forgiveness for not having an expectancy in our worship, prayer lives, and faith in what God can and will do. Even though our thoughts were centered around “the church” not living into the full expectation that God had for the church, it quickly turned personal.

Since that time, I have revisited several times these thoughts in my personal prayer time and call to what God was desiring to do in and through me. I have been radically changed to accept that I need to pray with an expectancy of prayers being answered while accepting that many times, actually most of the time the answered prayers are not exactly the answers I am seeking. I have a new expectancy because of the events of the last couple of years of what the church can and should be. And in places near and far seeing the church in the midst of revival. Even if I want it quicker and more profound, the church is coming back to the centering of what the church can be, even though many are not doing well with the change.

Maybe it is because of the deep dive once again into Acts 2 and the history of the birth of the Church, or just actually seeing the expectancy that God has for the people that have been raised up for this great revival that is taking place in many places through out the world, it is creating a realization once again of the power that comes when the indwelling of Holy Spirit is exhibited through the outpouring of the faithful.

The followers of Jesus in Acts 2 were waiting in obedience as Jesus had commanded them. (Acts 1:4) They didn’t know exactly how or when the Holy Spirit would come, but they continued to gather together in unity, in prayer, in holy fellowship, knowing believing, trusting, expecting!

And then suddenly out of no where “there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting.” (ESV – Acts 2”) Can we all say WOW! Yet allow this to be our listen that in the midst of everything we do, especially that which we do in the name of Jesus – that what God is going do, what God says through His promises will happen once again – May we have an expectancy that replaces all doubt, drives the temptations of the devil away and makes us all worthy to see and experience all that God is desiring to do. May it be so, may it be so! In the name of God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit!

Closing thought – This devotional is being written from an Air BnB in Howard Ohio, where I along with 7 others from the Kane Church are staying for the annual conference of the Allegheny West Conference of the Global Methodist Church. There is a holy expectancy stirring in my heart and as we for the next few days, will listen, worship, pray, and conference in a holy way while listening to what God is calling us to with an expectancy to build the church that shakes the gates of hell. Holy Spirit do it again!