02 A Time for Enlargement

‘It is written: “I believed; therefore I have spoken.”  With that same spirit of faith we also believe and therefore speak…’
(2 Cor. 4:13)

Copyright © Michael A. Brown 2017

      God is speaking a word that now is the time that your confinement will begin to come to an end.  There will be limitation no longer; there will be enlargement.  You have been confined and hemmed in long enough and now is the time of your release.  What you have had, has been too small for too long, and now is the time you will begin to see God blessing and adding to you!  Now is the time of your enlargement!  Now is the time of the extending of your borders and the increase of your territory!  Now is the time when you will see God beginning to work for you to answer the cry that you have had in your heart for a long time!  His time for deliverance has come, his time for healing has come, and his time for release has come!  So receive his word, embrace it by faith and walk in it!

      To see breakthrough and enlargement come, we need to walk in a spirit of faith.  Faith is not having a vivid imagination.  It is not living in denial of what our eyes and senses can see or feel.  Faith is not trying to create or bring about in our own strength what we think or believe is God’s will for us.  No!  Faith is awakened within us through the word of God as it is made alive within us by the Holy Spirit, and we then perceive in our spirit what the will and purpose of God is.  With faith, we know that we know deep within.  So the spirit of faith declares, ‘No, I will not die; I will live!”  (Ps. 118:17).  It declares, ‘I will be healed; I will not remain sick!’  It says, ‘I will not continue any more with this need and lack in my life; God has heard my cry and he will supply my need.  I will have what I need!’  It says, ‘I will stand on the promise of God.  God will work and I will see my circumstances change!’  Walking in such a spirit of faith sees breakthrough and enlargement come.

      Hannah suffered the social shame of childlessness for many years, during which time she constantly endured in her soul the provocative and irritating attitude of Peninnah.  She stood by, watching with a broken and bitter heart as Peninnah gave birth to two children, while she continued on in her lonely and empty barrenness.  However, she did not internalize it and bury it deep within her heart, and neither did she become resentful towards Peninnah and fight her.  No, she took it all to God.  She wept and poured out her heart to the Lord and took hold of him until she knew in her spirit that God had heard her.  She believed God to change her condition.  And he did!  Soon afterwards she became pregnant, and the following year she gave birth to Samuel (who became the last of the judges and the first of the prophets), and thereafter she also had five more children.  By faith, therefore, and through trusting God, she broke through her confinement and saw the blessing of God in her life (1 Sam. 1:1-20, 2:21).

      So believe God for a change in your condition or circumstances.  You may have been hemmed in, but you can experience breakthrough and enlargement, and God can set you free.  The barren woman was exhorted prophetically by a spirit of faith to sing and shout for joy, because God would work for her and deliver her, changing her circumstances so much that she would eventually have more children than the woman who had already given birth.  Walking in faith experiences God himself working, whereas the natural person is limited to what they can produce, build or sustain by ordinary human skills or power.  Through faith, God can build something greater, wider, deeper and stronger.  So lengthen the cords of your tent, strengthen your stakes (and get some more of them!), because increase and growth is coming.  Prepare and make room for the new life that is coming your way (Isa. 54:1-3)!

      Jabez too knew that he was confined, but he also knew deep in his spirit that God’s purpose was to extend his borders and give him more territory.  It was God’s purpose to bless him.  He knew that the time had come when he was to have more than he had had until then.  He knew that it was no longer God’s purpose that he should have only something small; it was time for greater things and a wider place.   So he came to God and cried to him to act and to give him what he knew God was purposing to give him.  And God answered his prayer!  Jabez did not agree to settle passively for limitation, confinement and small things.  He did not settle for a constantly limited and continually frustrated life.  He came to God, praying and crying to him, believing his promise and his intention to bless and to give him hope and a future.  He took hold of God, and he received his answer.  He believed God for something bigger, and he got it (1 Chron. 4:9-10)!  Similarly, the woman with the issue of blood knew in her spirit that if she came to Jesus, she would be set free from the confinement of her condition which had broken her heart and her body for twelve long years.  And as she took hold of the hem of Christ’s garment by faith, the power of God was released to bring healing to her (Mark 5:25-34).

      So, like Peter, it is time for you to take that step of faith.  Get out of the boat, keeping your eyes fixed on Jesus, and you will find yourself walking on the water, rather than sinking.  Don’t be like the other eleven disciples who chose to remain in the confining place where they thought they might be safer (Matt. 14:25-33).  Trust Jesus, exercise your faith, step out, walk with him, and you will be set free and enlarged!


If you want to watch the full message on Jabez, here it is: