Eager Anticipation

Week 3 - Day 16

We had a yellow lab when we lived in Nevada. Snoopy loved to eat (it showed!), and he enjoyed sleeping seemingly 22 hours a day. Even so, there was one thing we had to be careful about, or else this apathetic pooch would become hyper and start leaping with excitement. What was it? It was this: moving his leash so that it made some kind of noise.

Snoopy lived for walks, and a noisy leash was the indicator to him that something good was coming. Even if this dog was sleeping deeply (with twitching and deep snoring), the leash sound would cause him to come forth as if he was shot out of a cannon. Many times we took walks that were unplanned because we could not resist the enthusiasm we saw. Selah! (pause and reflect)

The L*rd spoke to me through Snoopy's actions. "Steve, keep your eager anticipation in life. Always be listening for any sign of My 'moving.' When you hear a jangle in the Spirit, respond. Don't become old in your attitude and lose the wonder of unusual coincidences and the hearing of testimonies. Stay alive in Me."

It's vital to cultivate expectancy, or else our joy and hope will decline. (Little children at Christmas are an example of the goal for our inward life-attitudes.) And here is an amazing thing - this outlook can be cultivated as we receive new revelation of His goodness and as we learn the habit of responding to any "little" thing He may be doing.

"Now may the G*d of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit" (Romans 15:13). Hope is the positive, optimistic expectation that good is coming.

So , like Snoopy, let's always be ready to jump up and abound in the Spirit. Let's keep our ears perked for the jangle of a testimony, a soul saved a changed life, a Bible verse shared, a healing, a miracle, a revival report, a prayer prayed, a promise given, a report of seeing angels, or any other demonstration by G*d.

Declaration: I delight in what G*d is doing rather than dwell on what the devil says He is not doing. I daily hear the sound of His moving and I respond with great delight and joy.