Intention and Expectation

“Yahweh, I set my INTENTION, not my EXPECTATION, on Your word for my life.”

Daniel Jedidiah Cook

Several weeks ago this declaration erupted out of my spirit. Being one of those times when the word explodes, you suddenly realize that the word has far more depth than realized. Intention was ready to speak!

I, like many of you, have engaged Faith to bring us to a place of a deeper relationship with Yahweh. Faith is the substance of things we not only hoped for, but also expected, and Faith provided the evidence (Hebrews 11:1). Faith took me through many trials and situations! Yet, I kept asking…
Is there a place BEYOND Faith? A place where the exceedingly abundantly above all we could ask or think already IS? Do I have a responsibility there?

In a place of desperation, I cried aloud—

“Yahweh, I don’t care if anything I have ever been told s true or not. I don’t care if every dream that I have ever believed never comes to pass. I know YOU, and I know You love me. Even if others look at me and call me cursed, I will never change my mind about You! You have already given me far more than I ever expected.
I make the choice to never walk away from You.”

This desperation was from a place of trying to make sense of questions that I had asked from my youth. Questions whose only answers seemed to be, “Some things you just have to take by faith.” Truth is, this always seemed to me as an answer from someone who didn’t really know the answer themselves. And it bothered me. Out of this cry I heard Yahweh say, “Consider Abraham—

“Who against hope believed in hope, that he might become the father of many nations, according to that which was spoken, So shall thy seed be. And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sara’s womb: He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God; And being fully persuaded that, what He had promised, he was able also to perform. And therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness.””

Romans 4:18-22

The definition of intention, per Dictionary.com, is an act or instance of determining mentally upon some action or result; the end or object intended; purpose; intentions, purpose or attitude toward the effect of one’s actions or conduct. I don’t know about you, but based on this definition, it seems as Abraham had set his intention, not his expectation on the promise that he would be the father of many nations. Regardless of age, ability, or any other excuse, Abraham had made a CHOICE and “set his purpose and attitude toward the effect of his actions!”

Conversely, the definition of expectation per Dictionary.com is, the act or the state of expecting: to wait in expectation; the act or state of looking forward or anticipating; an expectant mental attitude: a high pitch of expectation; something expected; a thing looked forward to. How many times have I said in the past, “One day…” or “Some day…”. I am reminded of a meme I have seen as of late, “There are seven days in a week and One Day isn’t one of them!” No truer statement has ever been said.

The question still remains, Is there a place beyond Faith? A place where the exceedingly abundantly above all we could ask or think already IS?

I have been having a perpetual encounter for several years now. Yahweh invited me into a Secret place with Him. It is a place I never leave. One day while we were walking and talking, Yahweh stopped and reached His hand through my back and grabbed hold of my heart. He began to pull something from my heart that appeared to be a backpack. The root of this backpack remained attached to my heart. As He placed the backpack on my shoulder He said, 

“Everything you are, everything I am in you and everything you are in Me, everything you have or will ever need has always been inside you. No longer will you struggle to discover what there is, because I have made it plain for you to see.”

I was filled with wonder and amazement as I realized that He had already given me “All things that pertain to life and godliness.” (2 Peter 1:3) Yet, a Holy fear also flooded into my heart as I realized that withdrawing from the backpack must come with His permission and my choice. Could this be the place that is beyond Faith?

But what of the “exceedingly abundantly above all we could ask or think.”?
Each of us contains a treasure that Yahweh has already prepared in us. That treasure cries out for connection to the treasure that is in all of us. It is a mystery within a mystery— that through this connection our treasures become “exceedingly abundantly above all we could ask or think.” We Are One in Him and We Are One in each other (John 17:21-22).

Is there a place beyond Faith? We are still learning!
What are your thoughts?