By Pastor E.A. Adeboye

Memorise: Confidence in an unfaithful man in time of trouble is like a broken tooth, and a foot out of joint. Proverbs 25:19

Read: Proverbs 25:14-19

Beauty is a blessing but it easily attracts pride which invariably turns it into a curse. Before Lucifer who was created perfect in beauty could fall, his beauty deceived him (Ezekiel 28:11-17). Are you beautiful or handsome? Never use your physical qualities as basis for your expectations because they will surely fail you. Humble yourself before God. He gave you what you have so subordinate your physical looks under His control and follow the direction He leads you, so that your beauty can work in your favour. If you are beautiful or handsome, you have no right to reject, speak against, laugh at or discriminate against those who are not as physically endowed as you because they did not create themselves nor did you. Every beautiful trait God has given to you will not undo you in Jesus name.
Apart from basing expectations on physical qualities, another reason for failure of expectations is when they are based on lies. Jeremiah 7:8 says:

Behold, ye trust in lying words, that cannot profit.

If the person who is making a promise to you has no track record of honouring his word, you are just wasting your time. The liar has no sincere intention of making good his or her promise and may even lack the wherewithal to do so. Unfortunately, some people love lies. If you like lies, you will keep hearing lies. Some leaders do not want to hear the true state of affairs concerning those under them hence they end up hearing lies. If you love lies, you will have bad advisers. Some people cannot stand the truth so they go to places of worship where they will be told they can marry three wives, where the resident pastor is also a polygamist. Romans 1:25-26 says if you hate the truth, you will be sold into lies. Some sisters love the lies of men. They love to hear a man who says he has what he has not, or he can do what he cannot. They love the men who flatter them and tell them sweet stories and make empty promises. Sometimes, these ladies know the man is lying but they continue with them because they love the fantasies. The expectations of such ladies shall be dashed. Have you put your mind on the promise someone who lies has made? Immediately take off your mind from it and put it on the Lord who never lies. On the other hand, if you observe people are very untruthful with you, check yourself and see if you have not been lying often yourself.

KEY POINT:
The integrity of the person whose words your expectations are built on will determine if your expectations are met or not.

Bible in one year: Joshua 22-24