Word a day (6): Isaiah 54:2

SPREAD OUT... We as Christians are called and given the command to spread out. To take ground. We are at war with a crafty liar who is bent on keeping our spirit and faith trampled, keeping us from being territory takers for the kingdom. Taking territory in our schools, our jobs, our relationships, our lives. Think of the influence that could made on this earth if the church as a whole where constantly spreading the grace and love of God. This is a huge reason I have bought into the vision of my church. Christian City Church effect the city of Sydney and then just call it a day. It went after the world, planting 200 churches throughout Australia, New Zealand, Asia, Africa, Europe, the United Kingdom, and the United States. God has seen the heart of this movement and the leaders of it, and has honored them with the power to more than add to the Kingdom, but the power to multiply. 

So don't ever hide that light God has given you as His child. Share it. Use it. Take it as far as you can and then look back and see all that has been accomplished for His sake. 

word a day (5): Isaiah 54:2

AN ADDITION... When you are in a family that is growing you add on to the house. When an addition is made there is more room to move around and grow. It also increases the worth of the home. The usefulness of it. It is capable to hold more, which in turn, produces more. God has called to make room. To add onto ourselves. We do this by disciplining ourselves and committing time and energy. We make the effort, the room in our lives, and God will fill it with His presence, revelation, strength, confidence, and blessing.

Word a day (4): Isaiah 54:2

BUILD... There is always a sense of accomplishment and satisfaction when you have completed something. To sit back and look at the finished project, seeing that you have actually done something. Created something. Built something. But you cant sit there in satisfaction until you have gone and worked, which usually is never easy. There are the times of blood, sweat, and tears that go into the building. In the parable of building your house on the firm rock foundation, we often just skim it and get the basic idea, but there is much more to the story. In order to get to the firm foundation, the builders had to get to the firm foundation, the builders had to "dig deep". They had to work to get to the foundation, to remove the rubble and sand that get in the way. God wants us to build. To build His house. To build up friends and leaders. To build ourselves. But before we can build and start seeing results we have to remove everything unwanted in the way, our sins, our past, our own selfish ambitions. They need to be removed so that the foundation is firm. So it wont crumble and fall. 

word a day (3): Isaiah 54:2

HOUSE... A dwelling place. Throughout the bible, the word house is often used to describe the church. Many churches are primarily used as a place to worship a couple days of the week, but I believe there is to much life in the church to just let it sit empty the rest of the the week. I would often, especially when I was in School of Ministry, be there everyday. Even if we were going to head into the city with friends, we would meet in the parking lot and just chill out there. There is a sense of comfort, a sense of belonging when your there. The feeling that you should have when sitting in your own room, but even more. It is often said that we are aliens to this earth as christians. That exemplifies why we feel so at home in the church. We are in the place were God comes and meets us every week. Our Father. He wants us to have a passion for the house. To build it. To maintain it.

Another use of the word "house" would be anyone of us. As believers, Jesus Christ lives WITHIN us. We house the Spirit. I hate to think of all the stuff we have within us and what we do to our body, and what kind of dwelling place we become. How it can possibly even effect God's presence in our lives. If we take into consideration that God is a flat-mate of ours, but even closer, what would He have to share space with. When we subject ourselves to a questionable movie, song, or even food, it is in us. In the same place God lives. We are told to maintain and keep it a pleasant place for God to work in and through. 

Word a day (2): Isaiah 54:2

Day 2

YOUR... The Kingdom of Heaven is not a dictatorship; it is not a totalitarian kingdom. We do have one God who completely rules all and His law is iron clad and never changing, but He also wants us to have ownership. In a totalitarian society, a man is told what his job will be, where he will live, and is sometimes not even allowed to leave his country by the government. He has no ownership of his life. Children of God are not drones! He created us all in unique ways. He created melancholy artists. He created choleric managers. He created us all with a purpose in mind, with God given dreams in our hearts. He calls o us and when we finally hear that call and step into it, He wants us to take ownership of that calling. This ownership isn't a nose in the air, taking all the credit, big headed ownership. it is like if I were to go and buy stock in a certain company. I would devote all my needs that relate to that company, to that one particularly and not it's competitors. When talking to people about the company, I would make my case for that company, in which I have invested. When you invest in something, you want to see it grow. When we buy into a vision or calling for out life, we are taking ownership it. God has given me this desire, this city, this time, so I am going to take it on, full force, with devotion and time.

Taking ownership of something is taking responsibility. The story of God is massive and He asks us to take part in it. Just like in Jesus' journey to the cross, Simon of Cyrene took that cross, that calling, and went with it.

But it is still even more than taking responsibility, it is committing something. Time. Energy. Money. When we get the job of cleaning the lobby of our church before service every sunday, we own that job. We do it to our best abilities. When we get the job of leading a congregation into the presence of God on the worship team, we commit, we devote, we put our hearts into it. 

word a day (1): Isaiah 54:2

After reading a book by Louie Giglio called, "I Am Not but I Know I Am"  I was introduced to a new way to study the bible. Basically you take a verse and break it up into individual words. You take a word a day and meditate on what that word means to you. So here is my stab at it with a great verse that i already know, but want to see what else can come of it.

"Enlarge your house; build an addition.

Spread out your home, and spare no expense!"

Day 1

ENLARGE... when Christ left this earth His final words to His disciples weren't "Just take what I've taught you and just sit on it." It's a lot like the land owner who gave his servants the talents and blessed those who did something with what he gave them. They multiplied and prospered, but the one who buried it in the ground because he was afraid was rebuked. We were never meant to reach a comfort zone, and plateau there. We often get to a comfortable place with God and then just remain there. For years i was in that position. I knew God, He knew me, and i thought that that would be enough. I was lukewarm, and we all know what God thinks of a lukewarm christian. 

Think of a river. It is fresh, clean, and cool, continually moving, going somewhere. It has purpose and reason. Now, think of a pool. You know those pools in your neighborhood where the owner's kids are long gone from home and there is no up keep of it. It is stagnant water. It is murky and foul. It isn't advancing, has no purpose, collecting mosquito maggots. Which would you rather drink from? No one would drink from the pool of a stagnant christian with no vision or purpose for there life. 

We are called to grow in our faith. Its a muscle, and the best way to grow it is to nourish and use it. Reading and meditating on the word is the bread to our spiritual bodies. Doing so gives us substance, nutrition, and strength. When the word is bouncing around in our spirit, we receive the wisdom and knowledge God wants us to grab a hold of in order to grow and live life. Prayer is the drink of the spirit, that connectivity with God. It is refreshing. Who do you know better, your flat-mate and best friend for years, or a distant cousin in Milwaukee?It is a proven fact that the more you are in contact with someone, the better you will get to know them. The closer you are to them. And when you talk to God through prayer, you get that same sense of refreshment. That new boost of energy. With out water to the muscle, it becomes fatigued. If we try to take on this world without a prayer life, with out that empowerment, we will fatigue before our time. Giving and stepping out in boldness is the exercise for your faith muscle. Malachi 3:10 says: Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this," says the Lord Almighty, "and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it."  When we step out, and give as he has asked, we are working out. It is strenuous, it makes us sweat when we put an amount in the tithe envelope, but we are knowing that God will work it out. We also exercise when we step out in boldness because its getting out of where we feel safe. When we ask someone to church. When we engage ourselves in worship. When we take on responsibilities that further the Kingdom. The list goes on, but God has a plan for us all and in order to fulfill this calling, this purpose, we must continually grow. Continually enlarge ourselves.