Passion Week – Monday – Who Are You Expecting As Your Messiah?
Today is the day after Palm Sunday, that’s when the church traditionally celebrates Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem. The Jewish people were hoping Jesus was finally going to step up and reveal himself clearly as their king. They were expecting a Messiah who would overthrow the Roman government and set up an independent Jewish country, but we see over and over that Jesus had a different agenda.
John 18:36 says, “Jesus answered, ‘My Kingdom is not an earthly kingdom. If it were, my followers would fight to keep me from being handed over to the Jewish leaders. But my Kingdom is not of this world.'”
Recently, I was praying and asking God to meet a specific need in a certain way. I had an expectation of God showing up how I imagined. Then I read,
Psalm 46:1, “God is our refuge and strength, always ready to help in times of trouble.”
I felt the Holy Spirit was prompting me that sometimes God is our “help in time of trouble” by providing a way out – a refuge or hiding place, safety from the storm, but sometimes God gives us strength to endure, grace to be faithful while we remain in the storm.
What is a storm you are facing personally right now?
Do you have expectations of how God should show up?
How we expect God to show up affects our ability to recognize his faithfulness.
John 14:16-17 says, “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, who will never leave you. He is the Holy Spirit, who leads into all truth. The world cannot receive him, because it isn’t looking for him and doesn’t recognize him. But you know him, because he lives with you now and later will be in you.”
Let’s be open to how Jesus wants to show up in our lives today!
We live in the time Jesus was talking about! If you are a believer, His Spirit lives IN you.
Prayer: Father God, show me Jesus. Help me see where I may have been looking for Him in a certain way and have not recognized He was already there offering life in a way I didn’t see. I believe You are there for me, and I receive your Spirit’s guiding me to all truth.
Activate: Identify and write out one truth the Spirit wants you to know and believe today about how He wants to show up in your situation.
Want More? Read John 16. Make a list of things we should be expecting and another of how God promised to be there for us.