“And the LORD spoke to me, saying: ‘You have skirted this mountain long enough; turn northward.” – Deut. 2:2-3
“Rise, take your journey, and cross over the River Arnon. Look, I have given into your hand Sihon the Amorite, king of Heshbon, and his land. Begin to possess it, and engage him in battle.” – Deut. 2:24
By Michael Adekoya – Dear Reader, God spoke to the Israelites in our text above that they have dwelt long enough around the mountain and that they should turn northward, move forward and not to continue to be stagnant. He also said to them in Deut. 2:24 what they needed to do to move forward, to engage the occupiers of their lands in battle. Well, you may ask, “what has that got to do with me today especially in this new year 2024?” My friend, God wants you too to enlarge, to increase, to expand, to be greater and to multiply in all the areas of your life. Before God can tell them to move forward, He has provided everything they needed to move forward and to enlarge. The Bible says, in 2Pet.1:3 – “as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue,” and also in Eph. 1:3, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ,” In other words, God has given us all what it takes to achieve whatever He has commanded us to do.
My friend, God also spoke to the people during the days of Isaiah to enlarge “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. For you shall expand to the right and to the left, And your descendants will inherit the nations, And make the desolate cities inhabited.” Isaiah 54:2-3. Who did God speak to enlarge here? Now let’s read the first verse, “Sing, O barren, You who have not borne! Break forth into singing, and cry aloud, You who have not labored with child! For more are the children of the desolate Than the children of the married woman,” says the LORD.” Isaiah 54:1. In verse one of Isaiah 54, we discovered that God was asking the barren, those that have not borne, those that have not laboured before, the desolate and the forsaken to enlarge. Our God have good sense of humour, you may wonder. Yes He is, He calls things that are not as if they were. He sees and calls the end from the beginning.
My friend, God is speaking and urging you too, to enlarge, increase, expand and multiply even as ‘bad’ as you think your current situations may be. Enlarge your territories, enlarge your capacities, enlarge your thinking, enlarge your scope and aspire to be greater than you are now and greater than the way you were in the previous year. He created and populated the whole world by just one person and as such He takes pleasure in our prosperity “Let them shout for joy and be glad, Who favor my righteous cause; And let them say continually, “Let the LORD be magnified, Who has pleasure in the prosperity of His servant.”” Ps. 35:27
God did it in the family of Abraham. Abraham was rich, Gen. 13:2 – “Abram was very rich in livestock, in silver, and in gold.” Isaac his son was very prosperous – Gen. 26:12-14 “Then Isaac sowed in that land, and reaped in the same year a hundredfold; and the LORD blessed him. The man began to prosper, and continued prospering until he became very prosperous; for he had possessions of flocks and possessions of herds and a great number of servants. So the Philistines envied him.” And Jacob, Abraham’s grand son was exceedingly prosperous – Gen. 30:43 “Thus the man became exceedingly prosperous, and had large flocks, female and male servants, and camels and donkeys.”
My friend, do you see that our God is a God of progression, a God of increase who, does not delight and have pleasure in our increase and multiplication in some areas alone, but rather in all the areas of our lives. The Bible says, in 3John 2 “Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers.” No wonder God granted Jabez’s prayer of enlargement – 1Chro. 4:9-10. Jabez refused to settle for second best. He wanted God’s best for him, he cried to God in prayer and the Lord granted his request. Truly and indeed, Lazarus was raised from death, but he initially had the grave clothes on. His eyes was covered, his hands and legs were bound. Jesus commanded him to be loosed – John 11:43-44.
My friend, do you know that a lot of us are like Lazarus, raised from spiritual death, but not free indeed, not expanding, not enlarging, not increasing or multiplying, but my friend, God doesn’t want us to remain stagnant, bound, caged, imprisoned or limited. We have all it takes to expand, we all have great potentials in us, we have divine resources at our disposal but why are we not enlarging as individual Christians, families and as a Body of Christ? My friend, we shall address seven reasons and what the inspired Word of God recommended us to do from Biblical passage of Josh. 17:12-18 by the grace of God next week. But before then, engage God in prayer to enlarge your territories, as He answered Jabez’s prayer, He shall answer you too speedily, promptly and appropriately.
Remain blessed!
Continued next week.
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