In planning a small group ministry, you may wonder how much you can expect from your coaches, leaders and members. But one person you can expect great things from is yourself—that is, if you expect God to use you.
Here's what Pastor Rick Warren of Saddleback Church has to say about our expectations:
If He's going to use you, you need to expect Him to. There are many examples I could have used, but the one I use is from John 11:41-42, where Jesus is going to raise Lazarus from the dead. Remember this? Jesus was just a few miles away in anther town. One of His best friends, Lazarus, was sick. Mary and Martha, Lazarus' sisters, sent a message to Jesus, "Jesus! Please come quickly. Your friend Lazarus is sick."
And it takes Jesus about three days to get there—and He's only a few miles away. What was He doing? He should have rushed over immediately, right? But nothing ever pressured Christ. He was never in a hurry. They said, "Your best friend's dying," and it took him three days to get a few miles!
By the time he arrives, Lazarus has died. The friends of Lazarus cry, "Oh, Lord, if You'd have been here, He'd still be alive. You blew it."
He said, "No, this illness is for the glory of God. I had a purpose in delaying. I am fulfilling the plan of God." He walks up to the tomb where Lazarus has already been buried and in verse 41, says, "Father, I thank You that You have already heard Me [emphasis added]. I know You always hear Me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that You sent Me."
When Jesus Christ went to raise Lazarus from the dead, He didn't say, "Father, please raise him." He didn't beg God. He didn't request of God. He says, "I thank You that You've already heard Me. And by the way, I'm just saying this for the people around Me so they'll believe I am who I say I am."
So what was He doing when He said, "I thank You that You've already heard Me"?
He was expecting to be used.
Paul's another great example of this. He expected God to use him and expected God to take care of him. "Indeed, in our hearts, we felt the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves, but on God, who raises the dead," Paul says in 2 Corinthians 1:9-10. "He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us." Paul expected God to work in his life. And God did.
Do you know how much God's working in your life? He's working as much as you expect Him to. No more, no less. When you study Scripture, you find every time God moves out of heaven and performs a miracle, it was because somebody believed.
What are you expecting God to do in your life and in your small group ministry?
