02/16/2024 – Increase your Capacity to Serve God
Isaiah 54: 2 “Enlarge the place of your tent, And let them stretch out the curtains of your dwellings; Do not spare; Lengthen your cords, And strengthen your stakes. 3 For you shall expand to the right and to the left, And your descendants will inherit the nations, And make the desolate cities inhabited.
4 “Do not fear, for you will not be ashamed; Neither be disgraced, for you will not be put to shame; For you will forget the shame of your youth, And will not remember the reproach of your widowhood anymore.
There are so many truths God wants to show you, so many blessings He wants to give you. But you must increase your capacity to receive, to understand, to believe and to act upon the word of God. Jesus told His disciples at the conclusion of His earthly ministry: “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. (John 16: 12).
Enlarging your tent implies increasing your capacity to receive everything God has for you. If you enlarge your place, the Lord will fill it. He will provide according to your capacity. If you hone your abilities, the Lord will give you more.
Our Lord Jesus carried the cross for our salvation. He expanded the kingdom of God by bearing our burdens. Love enables you to carry burdens for others. We are quick to refuse carrying burdens – even our own. It would be much easier to let them drop. But God has given us strength to carry our own and the burdens of others.
Strengthening your stakes gives us an image of going deeper into the word of God to withstand the winds of challenge and change. Any time people put up a big tent, they need to consider the wind.
Many Christians want a big tent… but unless there are stakes deep into the ground, it will not last. You must dig deeper. Digging is not easy. There comes the point when you wipe your sweat, and you say: This is good enough. But the Lord says: you must go deeper.