The Mindset of Increase. Part 5 – Enlarge Your Capacity (Isaiah 54.2-3)
Preacher: Apustulis Rufus F. Adžiboije
Livestream: youtu.be/jrkuUGYh_jw
Introduction: God Continues to Speak About Multiplication
Welcome and Thanksgiving to God
The children are going to Sunday school. Glory to the Lord!
The Lord is good, and all who believe this will always say: The Lord is good. The Lord is good always.
I cannot believe that September is already coming to an end and we are gradually finishing this year. And the Lord truly is good throughout this year, and we are grateful for everything He is doing.
After Sunday, the Lord had a different idea about what I wanted to share with you. So everything went the way God wants. I am glad when this happens, because I always say: Lord, this is Your church, these are Your people, and You know what we need most.
Why the Word of God Must Abundantly Fill Our Hearts
The Word of God must abundantly fill our hearts. We must continue to seek the Word of God, study the Bible, draw from it principles for life – principles that renew our minds and help us cope with different challenges in this life, so that we may know God’s ways and fulfill His will more effectively.
Very often God systematically speaks to us the same truth or emphasizes certain truths that He wants us to enter into.
The Word of God – an Instrument of God’s Grace
God always uses the Word of God as an instrument. It is like a scalpel in the hand of a surgeon. A surgeon has many other instruments, but the Word of God is the instrument of His grace.
The blessing of His word brings light into our lives. The Word of God not only teaches us but also challenges us: it rebukes us, corrects us, instructs us, so that we may be more effective people whom God can use.
God Is a God of Multiplication
Over the last few weeks God has been speaking to us about multiplication, and when I thought I was already finished, I felt that I was not finished. So today I will still speak about multiplication, about the mindset of multiplication.
God is a God of multiplication.
Everything God Created, He Created with the Principle of Multiplication
Everything God created, He created as one or as a pair. God did not begin with eight billion people on earth: He first created one, Adam, then from him He created Eve. He created trees, grass, every living organism in the sea, everything that creeps on the earth.
He placed in them the principle of multiplication.
Genesis 1:28 28 Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” (NKJV)
Two Seeds Growing in Parallel
One seed was planted in the Garden of Eden, and when the enemy came, he planted another seed.
When Jesus spoke about this in a parable, He said that a good man would sow good seeds in his field. But when the man was asleep, that is, was not in a sober state, when Adam was not watchful and Eve was not watchful, the wicked one came and planted another seed, which also grows. Therefore one seed and the other seed grow in parallel. The second seed could have been removed, but Jesus says: leave it as it is.
Matthew 13:24-30 24 Another parable He put forth to them, saying: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field; 25 but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his way. 26 But when the grain had sprouted and produced a crop, then the tares also appeared. 27 So the servants of the owner came and said to him, ‘Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have tares?’ 28 He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ The servants said to him, ‘Do you want us then to go and gather them up?’ 29 But he said, ‘No, lest while you gather up the tares you also uproot the wheat with them. 30 Let both grow together until the harvest, and at the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, “First gather together the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn.” ‘ ” (NKJV)
Before we came to God, we were carriers of another seed, and by God’s mercy we are saved. This process continues: God uproots from our hearts everything that competes with His life in us, because He already sees the multiplication of His life in us and turns us into seed that can multiply. Therefore God desires multiplication – He wants to multiply His life.
Multiplication Brings Glory to God
Multiplication brings glory to God. He said that Sarah’s glory is a multitude of nations. Not simply a nation, but a nation under His rule, a nation under His lordship, a nation in His happiness.
Genesis 17:16 16 And I will bless her and also give you a son by her; then I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of peoples shall be from her.” (NKJV)
When this multiplies in the kingdom, He is glorified. Therefore God wants to multiply us. He has already multiplied everything that He gave us: not only the multiplication of the number of people, but the multiplication of the resources that He gave us. Multiplication is comprehensive multiplication.
Perhaps I will not return to this topic this year. We will simply apply it or think about how to apply it. I have already said a lot on this topic.
Multiplication Is Working Together with God
Why It Seems That God Delays
Today I want to continue speaking about enlarging the place of your tent.
We established that multiplication is not a miracle that depends only on God. Multiplication is working together with God.
One of the reasons why it seems that God delays is His decision that on earth He will do everything through man.
Two Directions of Our Participation
Man is created in His image, and man is under His guidance. Here are two directions: we are transformed, becoming more like Him, and we are friends with Him in order to hear what He wants to do through us, and in obedience we do it.
Main Passage of Scripture: Isaiah 54:1-3
Let us open our Bibles: Isaiah, chapter fifty-four, the first three verses. We have already read this before.
Isaiah 54:1-3 1 “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. 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. (NKJV)
The Word “Enlarge” (Rachab) and Its Meanings
What “Enlarge the Place of Your Tent” Means
The word that is translated from Hebrew as “enlarge” is the word “rachab.” It has many meanings. Here are some of them: to become greater, to become wide, to go beyond the limits, to make more room, to increase capacity; break through, break out, enlarge yourself, go further, take new territories, push back the boundaries.
This speaks of increasing our capacity because of what God wants to do. God says: increase your capacity, because I am going to pour out My blessing. Therefore, as soon as He says that our places will be enlarged, He immediately says: for you shall expand to the right and to the left. That is, get ready for multiplication.
Why Capacity Must Be Enlarged Before Multiplication Comes
Because when multiplication comes, if you cannot contain it, you will lose it. It will be a waste of time, a waste of resources, a waste of blessing.
God Does Not Like Waste
And God does not like waste. When Jesus was with the five thousand who had been fed, He says: gather all the leftovers so that nothing will be lost. Imagine: people ate, and some was left, and He says – gather everything. And twelve baskets were gathered.
John 6:12-13 12 So when they were filled, He said to His disciples, “Gather up the fragments that remain, so that nothing is lost.” 13 Therefore they gathered them up, and filled twelve baskets with the fragments of the five barley loaves which were left over by those who had eaten. (NKJV)
Matthew 14:20 20 So they all ate and were filled, and they took up twelve baskets full of the fragments that remained. (NKJV)
Therefore God says: get ready, I want to bless you.
Jeremiah 30:19 – God’s Promise to Multiply
We read Jeremiah 30:19. God promised: I will multiply them, and they will not diminish; I will glorify them, and they will not be humiliated.
Jeremiah 30:19 19 Then out of them shall proceed thanksgiving And the voice of those who make merry; I will multiply them, and they shall not diminish; I will also glorify them, and they shall not be small. (NKJV)
Identify the Areas Where You Want Multiplication
I believe that God is calling us to identify an area in our lives where we want to see His multiplication, and to ask Him: Lord, do this. I believe in this, I expect multiplication, I ask for multiplication in these areas of my life.
Therefore He says: enlarge and do not hold back, that is, make every effort. Do your part and watch what God will do.
Question: Why Do We Not Receive the Fullness of Blessing?
Who of you believes that God has the opportunity and the ability to bless us exceedingly and abundantly? He has the ability to do it, and He has the opportunity.
But then the question arises: there is His promise, He is able, He has the opportunity – so why do we not receive the fullness of blessing that God has promised us?
In Jesus are all the blessings that God has promised. You know that in the Old Testament there was a moment when people said, “Enough, we do not want any more, there are too many blessings.” Have you read this?
Who of you is already living like this: “That’s enough, Lord, that’s it. I do not need anything more. I have already received everything that You promised”?
It seems to me that for now we still need to make an effort. I do not know the whole answer as to why this is so, but I can say one important thing that God is saying to us now.
Our Capacity – the Ability to Receive and Retain
Our capacity is the ability to receive and retain what comes from God in our lives. Therefore, when God decides to enlarge us, we need to determine what this means for us.
Heavenly Resources Are Inexhaustible, but the Flow Depends on Thirst
Heavenly resources are inexhaustible. Just think: what do you need right now? He supplies it from heaven. Heavenly resources do not run out.
Why then do they not fall down onto the earth in a flood?
Because very many things determine how much of them will go to the earth. And one of the things needed is to enlarge your capacity.
God Pours Out on the Thirsty
The Word of God says that Jesus says, and in the book of the prophet Isaiah it says: “I pour out on the thirsty.”
Isaiah 44:3 3 For I will pour water on him who is thirsty, And floods on the dry ground; I will pour My Spirit on your descendants, And My blessing on your offspring; (NKJV)
So who determines the intensity of the outpouring from heaven? Thirst on the earth.
And why is there no thirst?
I will not answer this question. It is simply a question: why is there no thirst? Do I have thirst? Do we have thirst? God pours out when there is thirst, when we prepare God’s place for what heaven wants to give.
To receive more from God, you need to increase your capacity, increase your thirst, do things that help you thirst more.
What must we become in order to receive everything that God has promised?
The Principle of “Capacity and Flow”
God wants us to do five things in this passage of Scripture. I will explain a little what this means.
Spread out, lengthen, strengthen, and do not hold back.
God Waits for Us to Change Something
God always waits for us to change something so that we can go to the next level that He has prepared for us. And when we want this, when we think about it, when we are focused on it, He sends help.
The Example of Israel: from Egypt to the Promised Land
When the people of Israel came out of Egypt, they were a generation of slaves. They had lived in slavery for more than 400 years. But God had a plan for them to go to the promised land. And they were in the wilderness for forty years.
From Scripture we see that these were ways. Think about it: a journey that would have taken eleven days had to be traveled for forty years. This is very serious. It means that God has as much time as is needed. He lives outside of time.
And over those forty years many of them died. They never entered. If it had been eleven days, they all would have entered.
Why God Led Them by a Different Way
But why did God lead them by a different way, not by the way that would have shortened the time?
Exodus 13:17-18 17 Then it came to pass, when Pharaoh had let the people go, that God did not lead them by way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near; for God said, “Lest perhaps the people change their minds when they see war, and return to Egypt.” 18 So God led the people around by way of the wilderness of the Red Sea. And the children of Israel went up in orderly ranks out of the land of Egypt. (NKJV)
They did not know how to fight. And God did not want to send them to their slaughter. This is very important. And this is connected to our ability, to our skill in doing something, which must develop so that we are able to handle the challenges that will come because of multiplication.
Even when they entered the promised land, God did not give them that land into their possession all at once, but gave it to them little by little.
Deuteronomy 7:22 22 And the LORD your God will drive out those nations before you little by little; you will be unable to destroy them at once, lest the beasts of the field become too numerous for you. (NKJV)
The Principle of “Capacity and Flow”
Write down this principle: the principle of “capacity and flow.”
For every capacity that is provided, there is always a corresponding flow. The flow depends on the capacity. If you provide a capacity of a certain size, the flow will correspond to it.
What Flow from God Is Going in My Life Now?
Ask yourself: what flow from God is going in my life now? This is a flow according to the capacity that you are providing God.
Luke 6:38 – by What Measure You Measure
This is from Luke 6:38. It is said very specifically: “Give, and it will be given to you: a good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over will be poured into your bosom; for with the measure you measure, it will be measured back to you.”
This is the principle: by what measure you measure, that is how you will be measured.
Luke 6:38 38 Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you.” (NKJV)
Who determines the measures that we receive?
According to this description, who determines the measure? That is, we determine it. God says: I take the next step after you take your step.
We Take a Step, God Responds
It is always so. Even in the matter of drawing near to God: God says, draw near to Me, and I will draw near to you. Show it, do something to come to Me. I am coming to meet you.
James 4:8 8 Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. (NKJV)
Isaiah 1:19 – If You Are Willing and Obedient
Write down these passages of Scripture that confirm this principle of “capacity and flow.” What do we want? The flow of God’s blessing and the outpouring of the Spirit of God. In various areas of our lives, we want to see God’s flow. And God says: provide Me with a corresponding capacity. What you have now is what you are able to contain. I cannot give you more until you provide more capacity.
Isaiah 1:19: “If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land.” This means that the good already exists. The good exists in abundance.
Isaiah 1:19 19 If you are willing and obedient, You shall eat the good of the land; (NKJV)
But why is it not there? Show that you want it: your actions, your attitudes, your thinking, your deeds – show that you want it. If you are willing, you will eat the good.
Psalm 81:10 – Open Your Mouth
The next passage of Scripture. It says: “Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it.” God gives us in the proportion of the capacity we provide Him.
Psalm 81:10 10 I am the LORD your God, Who brought you out of the land of Egypt; Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it. (NKJV)
Some people do not have a word from God because they do not open their mouths.
“Open your mouth!” And you see, all these steps are steps of faith. I do not know what to say. “Open your mouth, and I will give you a word, I will fill it.”
Open Your Mouth in Faith
God has a word. You meet a person, you need to speak to him, you do not know what to say. Open up, be confident, begin to speak – and God says: I will fill it.
Therefore, we see that the principle of capacity is very important.
What Is Capacity: the Ability to Receive
What is capacity? It is your ability to receive. The ability to receive.
Many people take it in because they have a thirst: they know, “I need God. God has everything I need.”
David’s Example: Help from the Lord
As David says: my help comes from the Lord.
Psalm 121:1-2 1 A Song of Ascents. I will lift up my eyes to the hills – From whence comes my help? 2 My help comes from the LORD, Who made heaven and earth. (NKJV)
Therefore, for my part, I will lift up my eyes to the hills. I let God know that I need Him, that He has everything I need. That is the ability to receive and retain.
If You Are Not Growing, You Are Deteriorating
This is my skill. It reflects my skill. If you do not develop your gifts, if you do not seek creative solutions, we must increase your inventiveness, your ability to invent, by working on ourselves.
Some people have stopped growing. If you are not growing, you are deteriorating.
Therefore, the mindset of multiplication requires that you constantly grow, that you constantly invest in yourself. I am not under the illusion that we will pray for multiplication and multiplication will come. We have to do something.
God’s Flow Does Not Run Dry – the Problem Is Not in the Water
God’s flow will never run dry. It is always there. The Bible says that the river of God is full of water.
Ezekiel 47:9 9 And it shall be that every living thing that moves, wherever the rivers go, will live. There will be a very great multitude of fish, because these waters go there; for they will be healed, and everything will live wherever the river goes. (NKJV)
Therefore, if you feel the dryness of life, if your spiritual life is dry, it is not because there is no water.
You need to do something to show God that I thirst. I must go beyond my current capacity.
A Review of How We Spend Time
I know there is no time. Then what should this time be compared with? I believe that many of us need to review how we spend our time. Review how you spend your time, and you will see that there are some things you can set aside in order to free up more time for those things that will feel important.
I think you can use your time more effectively than you are using it now.
The Question of Work: Do We Live for Work?
But some people, and I want to say this carefully, have had their time taken by work. Do we need to work?
Do we need to work? Do we need to work?
Okay, we have to work. Do we live for work? Question.
Do we live for work? No?
What do we live for then?
We Need to Learn New Skills and Sharpen Our Mastery
Therefore, in order to increase capacity, you will have to learn to spend your time wisely, so that you can go beyond your current capabilities or abilities.
Let me ask one question. Who among you, in this year, when nine months are already coming to an end, has learned a new skill or improved at the thing they used to do?
Who among you has not even thought about it?
This is not only about spirituality. That is, my capacity, my gift, my skill – I must sharpen it, preparing myself for the growth and multiplication that God wants to give me.
Any Argument Against Growth Is an Enemy of Multiplication
And any argument that I make, which prevents me from doing this, is an enemy of multiplication in my life.
Anyone who follows my thought will say: Lord, I want multiplication, and I understand the principle: capacity and flow. You have the flow. I give You the capacity. Help me, Lord, to enlarge my capacity, so that You can fill it.
This applies both individually and to us in the church.
Biblical Examples: Capacity Limits the Flow
Luke 5:1-7 – Peter’s Boats
Let us read stories that are familiar to all of us. Luke, chapter 5, the first seven verses.
Jesus was preaching and got into Peter’s boat. After He had finished His sermon, He told them to launch out into the deep and let down their nets for a catch. That is, they were fishermen.
Luke 5:1-7 1 So it was, as the multitude pressed about Him to hear the word of God, that He stood by the Lake of Gennesaret, 2 and saw two boats standing by the lake; but the fishermen had gone from them and were washing their nets. 3 Then He got into one of the boats, which was Simon’s, and asked him to put out a little from the land. And He sat down and taught the multitudes from the boat. 4 When He had stopped speaking, He said to Simon, “Launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.” 5 But Simon answered and said to Him, “Master, we have toiled all night and caught nothing; nevertheless at Your word I will let down the net.” 6 And when they had done this, they caught a great number of fish, and their net was breaking. 7 So they signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink. (NKJV)
The Limitations of Human Effort
And God wants to give them multiplication, but their experience before that was that they caught nothing all night: they put in effort, but they caught nothing.
Dear friends, we have limitations. If everything depended on our efforts, they should have caught fish, because they put in effort all night, but they caught nothing.
But God is the God of multiplication, and an encounter with God brings multiplication into our lives. But we must provide capacity, we must be willing.
Isaiah 1:19 – Willingness and Obedience
And obey. This is what Isaiah told us: Isaiah 1:19 – “If you are willing and obedient, You shall eat the good of the land.”
This means that even if you have willingness, but you do not have obedience, you will not be able to, because there are two things: willingness and obedience.
Peter’s Response: at Your Word
Peter answered Him: “Master, we have toiled all night and caught nothing. But at Your word…”
Luke 5:5 5 But Simon answered and said to Him, “Master, we have toiled all night and caught nothing; nevertheless at Your word I will let down the net.” (NKJV)
Half Obedience Limits Multiplication
I think we all understand that here there is already an understanding that there is half obedience, incomplete obedience. What does Jesus tell them to do?
Let down the nets. What did they let down? A net.
Is there a limitation here? They limited it by their partial obedience.
That is not all. When they let down the net, they caught so many fish that their net began to tear. And the boat began to sink.
At that moment, of course, they began to lose… The first step they took: they did not let down the nets. The second step they took: they called their neighbors to bring them what? Boats.
When what was needed? Ships.
And both boats began to sink. That is, the flow was greater than they could handle. What were they doing? They were limiting. We limit. Multiplication is limited by our capacity.
Our Ability to Receive, Preserve, and Hold On
Our ability to receive what God gives and preserve it and hold on to it.
2 Kings 4:1-7 – the Widow and the Oil
The next story that we all know. Let us go through it selectively, but write it down: chapter four, the first seven verses.
2 Kings 4:1-7 1 A certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets cried out to Elisha, saying, “Your servant my husband is dead, and you know that your servant feared the LORD. And the creditor is coming to take my two sons to be his slaves.” 2 So Elisha said to her, “What shall I do for you? Tell me, what do you have in the house?” And she said, “Your maidservant has nothing in the house but a jar of oil.” 3 Then he said, “Go, borrow vessels from everywhere, from all your neighbors – empty vessels; do not gather just a few. 4 And when you have come in, you shall shut the door behind you and your sons; then pour it into all those vessels, and set aside the full ones.” 5 So she went from him and shut the door behind her and her sons, who brought the vessels to her; and she poured it out. 6 Now it came to pass, when the vessels were full, that she said to her son, “Bring me another vessel.” And he said to her, “There is not another vessel.” So the oil ceased. 7 Then she came and told the man of God. And he said, “Go, sell the oil and pay your debt; and you and your sons live on the rest.” (NKJV)
The Widow Turned to God Through the Prophet
We all remember this story: the widow has a debt, and it must be paid, because she is already losing not only property, but is already losing her son, whom they want to take away because of the debts. And she did the right thing: she turned to God through the prophet.
Multiplication Begins with What You Already Have
And when she came, the prophet says: what do you have in the house?
The first thought we must see here: multiplication begins with what we already have. “And I already have something.”
Who believes that they have something? You may not see it, because this woman did not see it. She answered like this: “I have nothing except…”
Did you notice how she constructed this sentence? “I have nothing except this little jar or bottle of oil.”
There will be no multiplication if we despise the little that we already have.
Manage the Little That God Has Already Given
If we do not know how to manage the little, what God has given us – the small resource that God has given us – there will be no multiplication.
Who is receiving God’s wisdom through this word? Multiplication begins with what God has already given you.
If you are here and you think, “I have nothing,” – you have done a poor inventory. Go look again. Take inventory. You have much in your life. Maybe it is little for now. And God is already multiplying it.
Multiplication Concerns Every Area of Your Life
God promises: I will multiply them. And this multiplication concerns every area of your life.
Any area where you see multiplication, look at what you already have there, what God has already given you, what experience, potential, resource, connections you have. Name them. You already have what God wants to use.
And this woman said: “There is nothing in the house except a jar of oil.” Glory to God, she identified what she already had, and God began to bring multiplication.
God’s Instructions Determine Multiplication
The first thing God did through the prophet was instructions. I have already spoken about instructions.
If you do not know how to listen to instructions, God’s instructions, the instructions of God’s servants that give you a direction out of your situation, there will be no multiplication.
And the prophet told her: go and gather vessels from the neighbors.
Strange Instructions and the Widow’s Obedience
First step: she obeyed. But look, these are strange instructions.
She goes to all the neighbors and asks: please give me an empty vessel. Please give me an empty vessel. And surely someone will say: there is something… well… something wrong with her head.
Don’t you think so?
Because the prophet said, “Do not gather just a few.” In the words “just a few” is the word “capacity.”
You Determine What Is Little and What Is Much
You determine what is little and what is much. We are the ones who limit God. His blessing is endless. Go, do not gather just a few.
She was obedient. She went, she did exactly what God told her to do through the prophet.
The Oil Stopped Because the Vessels Ran Out
We see what comes next. What is there? When the vessels were full, she said to her son, bring me another vessel. He said to her, there are no more vessels, and the oil stopped.
I have a question. Why did the oil stop?
What do you think?
It is written here. What do you see? The vessels ran out.
I have a question: if there had been more vessels?
The oil would have kept flowing. Who stopped it?
Enlarge What You Can Enlarge
Where can you make room for as much as God pours out? If you want more, if you want multiplication, ask yourself the question: what can I enlarge?
It says, “Enlarge the place of your tent.” What does this mean for me? I want multiplication. God will not give me more because I do not have the capacity. I need to enlarge something, I need to develop something.
The Opposite Example: Solomon and a Broad Heart
1 Kings 3:5-15 – Ask for What You Want
You can read it. Just write it down, I will make a small conclusion. This is Solomon, 2-3 Kings, chapter three. Write down: from verse five through verse fifteen.
1 Kings 3:5-15 5 At Gibeon the LORD appeared to Solomon in a dream by night; and God said, “Ask! What shall I give you?” 6 And Solomon said: “You have shown great mercy to Your servant David my father, because he walked before You in truth, in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart with You; You have continued this great kindness for him, and You have given him a son to sit on his throne, as it is this day. 7 Now, O LORD my God, You have made Your servant king instead of my father David, but I am a little child; I do not know how to go out or come in. 8 And Your servant is in the midst of Your people whom You have chosen, a great people, too numerous to be numbered or counted. 9 Therefore give to Your servant an understanding heart to judge Your people, that I may discern between good and evil. For who is able to judge this great people of Yours?” 10 The speech pleased the Lord, that Solomon had asked this thing. 11 Then God said to him: “Because you have asked this thing, and have not asked long life for yourself, nor have asked riches for yourself, nor have asked the life of your enemies, but have asked for yourself understanding to discern justice, 12 behold, I have done according to your words; see, I have given you a wise and understanding heart, so that there has not been anyone like you before you, nor shall any like you arise after you. 13 And I have also given you what you have not asked: both riches and honor, so that there shall not be anyone like you among the kings all your days. 14 So if you walk in My ways, to keep My statutes and My commandments, as your father David walked, then I will lengthen your days.” 15 Then Solomon awoke; and indeed it had been a dream. And he came to Jerusalem and stood before the ark of the covenant of the LORD, offered up burnt offerings, offered peace offerings, and made a feast for all his servants. (NKJV)
Question: If God Asked You Today
Solomon – he was a king who surpassed all those before him and after him. How did this happen for him? God came to him and said: ask for anything you want.
If God came to you today and asked: what do you want? I will give it to you – what would you ask for?
Who has thought about this? Did you think it was impossible? Ask for what you want. What do you want? How much have you sharpened your answer?
An Undeveloped Person Does Not Know What They Want
If you say: “Well, I don’t know, well, whatever You can, please,” – because you are not developing, you do not even know what you want. You do not even know the answer to this question.
Who thought that he understands what I am saying?
The mindset of multiplication: you work to understand yourself. What do I want? What do I want God to multiply? How much do I want? What has God promised me? What do I need to do?
Work on the Mindset of Multiplication in Advance
And you work on this mindset of multiplication in advance. Renew your mind.
And Solomon says. Verse nine: give Your servant an understanding heart, so that he may judge Your people and discern what is good and what is evil.
1 Kings 3:9 9 Therefore give to Your servant an understanding heart to judge Your people, that I may discern between good and evil. For who is able to judge this great people of Yours?” (NKJV)
An Understanding Heart That Discerns
Understanding hearts, so that they can discern: where good is, where evil is. That is all he asked for.
When the Bible says that wisdom is the principal thing. Wisdom is the principal thing.
Proverbs 4:7 7 Wisdom is the principal thing; Therefore get wisdom. And in all your getting, get understanding. (NKJV)
It is the principal thing – above silver and gold and everything else.
Solomon’s Answer Pleased God
It is written in verse ten that God liked Solomon’s answer. And it pleased the Lord that Solomon had asked for this.
And God said to him: because you asked for this and did not ask for a long life for yourself, did not ask for riches, did not ask for the lives of your enemies, but asked for understanding, to know how to judge – I will give you all this, and even what you did not ask for.
1 Kings 3:10-13 10 The speech pleased the Lord, that Solomon had asked this thing. 11 Then God said to him: “Because you have asked this thing, and have not asked long life for yourself, nor have asked riches for yourself, nor have asked the life of your enemies, but have asked for yourself understanding to discern justice, 12 behold, I have done according to your words; see, I have given you a wise and understanding heart, so that there has not been anyone like you before you, nor shall any like you arise after you. 13 And I have also given you what you have not asked: both riches and honor, so that there shall not be anyone like you among the kings all your days. (NKJV)
Solomon Did Not Limit God
Solomon did not limit God, so God blessed him without limits.
When we read about those before him, before Solomon, the kings fought. They simply fought and managed the resources they had. Solomon surpassed all of them. He was also an agronomist – he excelled in agronomy. He was a poet, he was a singer.
You can read it, I will not speak about it: chapter three, chapter four, starting from verse thirty through verse thirty-four.
1 Kings 4:29-34 29 And God gave Solomon wisdom and exceedingly great understanding, and largeness of heart like the sand on the seashore. 30 Thus Solomon’s wisdom excelled the wisdom of all the men of the East and all the wisdom of Egypt. 31 For he was wiser than all men – than Ethan the Ezrahite, and Heman, Chalcol, and Darda, the sons of Mahol; and his fame was in all the surrounding nations. 32 He spoke three thousand proverbs, and his songs were one thousand and five. 33 Also he spoke of trees, from the cedar tree of Lebanon even to the hyssop that springs out of the wall; he spoke also of animals, of birds, of creeping things, and of fish. 34 And men of all nations, from all the kings of the earth who had heard of his wisdom, came to hear the wisdom of Solomon. (NKJV)
Solomon Grew Because He Had a Large Heart
In other words, Solomon grew because he had a large heart. It says: a large heart.
Say it once again: “a large heart” or “a broad mind.” If you read verse thirty, you see: “And he has great understanding.”
Please tell me, where did he get it? Did God give it to him, or did he study?
God Desires That We Expand Our Capacity
What am I getting at? God desires that we expand our capacities.
This means: learn, develop your talent, your ability. Take inventory of what God has given you. Expand your ability, your thirst, and expect what God will do.
Three Areas Where We Need to Develop
Three areas where we need to develop. This is clear. Who can tell me the three areas where we need to develop?
Mental-intellectual, physical. Well done. You are simply brilliant. I know that this is a very intelligent church. We know so much.
Yes, three areas, three areas where we must develop. They are spiritual, soulish, and physical.
What Does This Really Mean for Us?
What does this really mean for us?
Spiritual Capacity: My Relationship with God
My spiritual sphere. What does this mean? It relates to my relationship with God, my walk with God, my daily life in righteousness, and my spiritual discipline. Prayer and studying the Word, worship, giving, service.
Develop my spiritual capacity, my daily righteousness, the discipline that I maintain, which helps me be closer and closer to God, so that I may be more sensitive.
Sensitivity to God’s Correction
You know, sensitivity – what does this speak about? God wants to correct us when we are going the wrong way.
Are you able to hear when God wants to correct you? Are you sensitive enough to understand that God does not want you to continue doing what you are doing?
That God wants to change your attitude toward certain things or people? Or are you so foolish, have you hardened your heart so much?
How stony and insensitive is your heart that you cannot even hear God?
Who thought that they understood this? Every day we must develop our spiritual capacities.
How much God can reveal to me.
Soulish Capacity: Mind, Will, and Emotions
It is not enough to be spiritual people. We also need to develop soulishly. Therefore, soulish capacity relates to my mind, that is, to my intellectual capacity.
Scientists have proven that the greatest geniuses used only 5% of their brains. And we call them geniuses. Only 5%!
Then what about the rest? How many percent? Those who do not qualify as geniuses. We can expand our brains. We must exercise them.
Develop Your Mind: Read, Learn
Look, the generations we live in do not know how. Do you know that many people do not read at all?
Develop your mind. Read, learn.
Will and Emotions
And will is my capacity to make decisions. And my emotions.
How do you handle your emotions?
Emotional Capacity and Love
You know that the Bible says that in the world in which we live, lawlessness will increase, and the love of many people will grow cold.
Matthew 24:12 12 And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. (NKJV)
Why? Because we have very little emotional capacity. He plays on your emotions in order to paralyze you.
But the love of God protects us from the heart. A person who walks in love, who is perfected in love, increases his emotional capacity.
The Fruits of Developed Emotional Capacity
He sleeps peacefully when others are worried, when others toss and turn. He frees himself and moves on.
He loves his enemies. And he prays for those who curse, who hate. And he does this calmly because he is developing.
No one can ruin his day. Maybe for a couple of hours or a couple of minutes. Maybe. Because after all, we still live in the body. But he will even go further.
Emotional Immaturity Hinders Receiving God’s Things
Did you know that many things they ask people to do are because people are emotionally immature. When we are emotionally immature, we cannot lay hold of many things that God wants to give us.
Physical Capacity: Health, Actions, Finances
So we must work on increasing, enlarging the place of your tent: spiritual, emotional, soulish, and physical.
Physical capacity. I would say that this relates, first of all, to our relationship with health, to our health, to our own actions, yes, and to our financial spheres, to our ability to handle success.
God Wants Us to Develop and Expect Multiplication
God wants us to develop and expect multiplication.
I am not a health specialist. But the issue of health is very important.
Our Body Is the Only Home for the Spirit and Soul
Our body is the only home that our spirit and soul have. The home that we built, where we live, is good. But when this home, which the Bible calls a temple, fails, that’s it.
1 Corinthians 6:19-20 19 Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? 20 For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s. (NKJV)
One of the things that it means to “love yourself” is to make sure that your home, which is the temple of God, can serve for a long time.
Here, of course, a small but great discipline is needed.
The First Forty Years and the Next Forty Years
I discovered… One of my friends once said this. He said that people spend the first forty years of their lives, and all kinds of nonsense fill them with all sorts of things, destroying their health.
And then they use the next forty years to correct the mistakes of the previous forty years. And I think we do not have the right to do that.
2 Corinthians 5:1 1 For we know that if our earthly house, this tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. (NKJV)
Let Us Be Sober and Take Care of Our Health
Therefore, all young people who are not yet forty… Who here is not yet forty? You still have the possibility not to have to correct mistakes. Let us be sober now and take care of our health.
Health is very important. May God give us wisdom for health.
Wisdom for Health and Faith for Healing
One day God sent me this thought. I am not saying that I have handled this perfectly somehow. But I am working on it, trying.
The whole idea is this: what do you need? Wisdom for health and faith for healing. Look, faith for healing is very good, but wisdom is better. Wisdom for health, wisdom for a healthy life. This is what we need to seek, and we need to expand our capacity.
May God help us.
Define the Area Where You Want Multiplication
Who among you is waiting for multiplication?
I would like you to determine in which area of your life you want to see multiplication: spiritual, soulish, and physical. I would like us to see that in these areas where you want to multiply, you must expand your capacity.
Conclusion and Prayer
Gratitude for the Word
Thank you for listening to my long sermon. We could continue, but not for Kārlis. Kārlis has the next service, the next stage of the service, and he is waiting for it. Glory to the Lord.
Who among you received something in this word? Will this bless you? Who thinks that he will reflect on this word again and do something?
Prayer of Thanksgiving
Let us pray and thank the Lord.
Father, we thank You. Thank You for Your word. You give us Your word because You love us.
Your word is like a lamp for our foot. You want us to walk in the right direction. Thank You, Lord. Thank You.
Psalm 119:105 105 Your word is a lamp to my feet And a light to my path. (NKJV)
The Stream That Brings Healing
Your stream is full of water, and this water brings healing everywhere it goes. This is what draws Your stream.
Prayer for Awakening Thirst and Obedience
I pray and thank You, Lord, for all my brothers and sisters and for all who will hear this word, that the Spirit of God would awaken in our hearts a thirst. Thirst, thirst, desire, obedience, which release Your goodness and multiplication in our lives.
Prayer for a Testimony of Multiplication
Lord, I want to hear a testimony of multiplication. I want to see multiplication in the life of Your people, because You are the God of multiplication.
You want to multiply us so that we may multiply, so that we may go from strength to strength, from glory to glory, from faith to faith, Lord.
Psalm 84:7 7 They go from strength to strength; Each one appears before God in Zion. (NKJV)
2 Corinthians 3:18 18 But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord. (NKJV)
Romans 1:17 17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “The just shall live by faith.” (NKJV)
You Have Already Multiplied Your Church
You have already multiplied Your church so that it is populated with people. You have already multiplied Your church so that all Your gifts and the potential of Your people may expand.
We have been hearing these words for so long. Help, Lord, that this may turn into life, become embodied in fruit, and that there may be many testimonies that I obeyed and God confirmed.
Prayer for Multiplication in Spiritual, Soulish, and Physical Areas
Thank You, Lord, for multiplication in spiritual life, multiplication, Lord, in soulish areas and in the physical area, multiplication of health, wisdom for health, healing for the one who is sick.
In the name of Jesus Christ, we thank You. Confirm Your word, my God.
