Recently, God has been helping me reignite my Kingdom imagination. My perspective has become clouded over the years, and I see mostly what I want to see, and not what God sees. He has been helping me clear that perspective so that I can see more how he sees.

Regaining a Kingdom imagination… I know that sounds a bit vague. It’s a little undefined and cloudy. But I think that’s a perfect description of how my vision has been for the last few years.

Not my physical vision. That’s cloudy enough that I need glasses, and bifocals at that, to see clearly what I’m doing most of the time. No, I’m talking about my spiritual vision. I’m talking about that perspective that can only come from God, to see the world around me, not only with a worldview that is biblical, but to actually see things as God sees them… At least as much as I can.

A few weeks ago, I was challenged with this idea while I was at Wilderness, a Christ In Youth retreat. In that moment, when this concept was introduced to me, I was challenged specifically to reimagine what God could do in the lives of my family. And I have been catching a glimpse of that new vision ever since.

God has shown me that he has a bigger plan for my family than I do, and also a bigger plan for my own life than I do. That has kind of caught me off guard.

I mean, I intellectually know that to be true, but somehow, I have allowed myself to forget that fact. I have forgotten that God is the one that wants to direct my paths, and not me. That has been a tough and bitter pill for me to swallow, because my pride wants to be in control. And because my pride doesn’t even want to admit that God needed to nudge that reminder into my head. My pride tends to get in the way a lot these days.

So as I have been reading Scripture, and reading a few books, and journaling about this concept of Kingdom Imagination, I have discovered four areas of my life where I must change my habits if I want to more fully see God at work in my life, in my family, in my ministry, and in this world.

The first thing I have earned is that I have to live with a certain expectancy in mind.

I have become a creature of routine, especially as I have aged into my 40s. I like my habits. I like my structure. I have a routine for how my week plays out, and if it doesn’t go according to my plan, I stress out a little. Or a lot.

Let me give an example. Tuesday is my main sermon preparation day. I have a morning Bible study with several other men, and then we go eat breakfast together. But once I get to the office, I shut the door, turn off the ringer to my phone, and spend the next several hours reading, studying, and writing a sermon. This is critical for me because if I don’t get a good amount of work done on Tuesday, I stress out about how I’m going to get everything done in time as the week progresses.

Last week, I had multiple interruptions on Tuesday. First of all, I didn’t get into my office as I normally do. I was an hour late getting settled in. Then my daughter had a pressing need that required my attention. And then my wife called me. And from there, my mind was distracted.

None of these things were in my plan for the day. And I admit, I was a little frustrated and a lot stressed out because of it all. But as I looked back over the week, everything worked out. And as I reexamined those interruptions, I could see the hand of God in each and every one of them.

That’s just one example of how this idea of living with expectancy has infiltrated my thinking over the last month or two. There are several more I could tell you about.

Here is what I am learning: Instead of stressing over the interruption, I have to come to the point where I naturally assume that God has a reason for the interruption, and I have to wait with a sense of expectancy as he reveals his plan to me. So I can see the bigger picture, the Kingdom imagination picture.

I think that’s a key part of developing a Kingdom imagination. I think that God isn’t as honored with my rigid expectations. I think, rather, that he wants me to be open to what he has for me instead.

But there has to be a balance. I still have to be a good steward of my time and energy. I still have to block out the time for sermon preparation, for example. But when those interruptions come, instead of being frustrated, I need to have a sense of expectancy that God might be doing something bigger in that moment than my own plans.

You might call it a sense of expectancy, or a divine appointment, or simply a God moment. Whatever it’s called, I don’t want to miss out on it. Because I’m pretty sure it’ll be far bigger than my own petty plans and purposes, my small dreams and desires.

Opening my heart up more fully to God’s leading creates opportunities that I would probably miss otherwise.

That’s not a risk I’m willing to take.

So I am striving to live with more of an expectancy as I learn to expand this Kingdom imagination.

You should too.

Question: Do you live with a sense of expectancy that God is doing amazing things throughout your day? Or do you live under your own ideas and plans more? Which one has a bigger Kingdom imagination? You can leave a comment by clicking here.