Making Provision For Growth
As we embark on the New Year ahead, I have a question…
Are you making provision for growth in your life, work and business?
Isaiah 54:1-2 say the following…
“Sing, barren woman,
you who never bore a child;
burst into song, shout for joy,
you who were never inlabor;
because more are the children of the desolate woman
than of her who has a husband,”
says the Lord.
2 “Enlarge the place of your tent,
stretch your tent curtains wide,
do not hold back;
lengthen your cords,
strengthen your stakes.”
For context’s sake, it’s important to recognise that this passage was being addressed to God’s chosen covenant people who would receive what He had promised (eternal inheritance with Him!) Here, the indication was to enlarge because more would be added to their number.
So, what about us today?
When reading this passage, I am always blown away by the language used in verse two (so much so, that I go into this in depth with my private clients!) I’ve emboldened the words which stand out to me because I really feel that they are a call for us to do the same.
As entrepreneurial Christian women, what are we doing in our businesses, especially as we are about to begin a new year, to make provision for more to be added?
Are we receiving coaching? Buying resources? Investing in our website/branding or photography so that we begin to give people more of a flavour of who we are? Sometimes we can get put off from doing these things because we can fall into a trap of feeling as though we’re ‘unprepared’ or not ready for what’s next. This can mean we don’t do anything at all about moving forward and instead, remain stagnant.
But here’s some great news…
You don’t have to wait for everything to fall into place first in order to make provision for growth.
Let’s look back for a minute at verse one… The command to the barren woman is to sing aloud even though she had no children simply because of the greater blessing which was to come (she just couldn’t see it yet!)
Are you expectant? Or do you allow fear to keep you from growth?
As we continue to read through the passage, we notice that it’s not only important to lengthen, but also to strengthen!
How are you investing in yourself spiritually in order to grow? What new practices of worship, prayer and getting into the Word can you take on for the New Year?
This principle of making provision for growth is not simply an Old Testament principle. Let’s take a quick look at Luke 5:3-7
“He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little from shore. Then he sat down and taught the people from the boat.
4 When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch.” Simon answered, “Master, we’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets.” When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break. 7 So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them, and they came and filled both boats so full that they began to sink.
As we zone in on verse four, we notice that Jesus required action on the part of the disciples. They were asked to put out their nets! The fish weren’t just about to magically fall into their lap.
Do you passively wait for a circumstance to be perfect before branching out? Or are you willing to branch out first and take some ACTION?
Obedience plays a huge part in all of this. As we see from verse five, the men literally hadn’t caught a thing however, at Jesus’ say so, they were ready to cast their nets once more.
How is God currently prompting you? Is your typical response to Him, ‘I can’t afford it!’ or ‘I don’t know how’? Or, are you able to say to the Lord ‘because you say, I will…’?
As we finish the passage in Luke, we see what the result of this obedience was. Broken nets and an overflow and abundance of fish!
We don’t have to have everything together before we begin, we just have to listen to God’s leading and be ready to say YES!
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