Stretch Ready

Isaiah 54:² “Enlarge the place of your tent, stretch your tent curtains wide, do not hold back; lengthen your cords, strengthen your stakes. (NIV, emphasis added).

When we look at and consider all that is going on in the world currently, it is easy to want to hold back and conserve. You are a generous person who likes to help people, but you are looking at the economic outlook and you want to cut back. However, God is saying do not hold back because your case will be different. Instead, lengthen your cords and strengthen your stakes because you will soon be bursting at the seams in the Name of Jesus. Say Amen. In today’s anchor scripture, we see the word stretch. Inherent in that word stretch is stretching, pulling beyond the comfort zone. It is going to be stretching, but if you are rightly positioned, as I believe by the grace of God you are, the stretching will lead to your expansion.

But if you look at it through the lens of the world, it will lead to stress. If you take an elastic material like the rubber band, and stretch it, after a while it gets to what is called the elastic limit. And if the stretching continues, the material will be deformed. So, if you leave the rubber band at the point of the elastic limit, it will come back to its normal form. But if you stretch it beyond that point, in other words, when the stress exceeds the stretching limits of the material, the material breaks. God will increase your capacity in the Name of Jesus. You will put your hand in God’s hand, and because He cannot fail, you will not fail. Jesus cannot break, at least not again. He has resurrected. So, because He cannot break, that stretching will not break you.

Things will be stretching, but you will be on the front foot, and you will embrace the stretching. And it will be used for our own good. So, how do you do that? In two main ways, first, you remain in God’s presence. Put your hands in His hands. In Him, you live, move, and have your being. The second is you remain in His Word. As the stretching happens, if your mind is integrated with philosophies, and political ideologies, it will be stretched beyond the breaking point. It will break. The only thing that will not break is the Word of God. Psalm 119:¹⁴³ “As pressure and stress bear down on me, I find joy in your commands.” The pressure will come, and the stretching will happen, but for you, it will be enlargement. Say Amen.

So, when you experience stretching, do not say but they said it is enlargement. How come I am stressed out? If you are thinking like that, it means you are not responding properly. The truth is that everybody is going to experience the stretching, but yours will lead to growth.

Prayer: Father, increase my capacity for all that You have for me even in the remaining days of this year. Help me to be stretch-ready and have the right responses, in Jesus Name. Amen!