Day 1: Embrace the Call to Expand
In this new year, God is calling us to prepare for expansion by enlarging our tents and stretching our tent curtains wide. This involves being proactive in our spiritual growth and readiness to receive God's blessings. We must not hold back due to fear or uncertainty but trust in God's promise of growth and expansion. The vision from Isaiah 54:3 encourages us to spread out to the right and to the left, with the assurance that our descendants will dispossess nations and settle in desolate cities. This is not just a call for the church but for each of us individually. We are to prepare ourselves to receive the blessings God has in store, ensuring that they do not become burdens due to a lack of readiness.
Isaiah 54:2-3 (ESV): "Enlarge the place of your tent, and let the curtains of your habitations be stretched out; do not hold back; lengthen your cords and strengthen your stakes. For you will spread abroad to the right and to the left, and your offspring will possess the nations and will people the desolate cities."
Reflection: What specific steps can you take this week to prepare for the expansion God is calling you to, both spiritually and in your daily life?
Day 2: Build a Strong Foundation
A strong foundation is essential for sustaining growth. This foundation is both lateral, emphasizing community and accountability, and downward, focusing on personal intimacy with God. Like the sequoias, we must be interconnected and deeply rooted in our faith and relationships. The analogy of lengthening cords and strengthening stakes speaks to the need for a strong foundation. This preparation involves being proactive rather than reactive, ensuring that we are ready for the expansion God is bringing. Just as the giant sequoias stand tall due to their interconnected root systems, we too must be deeply rooted in community and in our relationship with God.
Colossians 2:6-7 (ESV): "Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving."
Reflection: How can you strengthen your spiritual foundation this week by deepening your relationships with God and your community?
Day 3: Triumph Over Opposition
While opposition will come, it will not succeed in destroying us. God's promise is that no weapon formed against us will prosper. The challenges we face are opportunities for God to forge us into instruments for His kingdom, shaping us through the trials we endure. This process of being forged involves enduring and overcoming the blows of life, allowing God to shape us into the people He has called us to be. We are reminded that opposition will come, but it will not succeed in destroying us.
2 Corinthians 4:8-9 (ESV): "We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed."
Reflection: What is one challenge you are currently facing, and how can you see it as an opportunity for God to shape you into who He has called you to be?
Day 4: Deepen Your Faith
We are called to go deeper in our faith, surrendering fully to God's will and trusting Him to lead us into the blessings He has prepared. This involves letting go of fear and embracing the fullness of what God has for us, stepping out in faith and allowing God to guide us. As we move forward, we are encouraged to go deeper in our faith, to surrender fully to God's will, and to trust Him to lead us into the blessings He has prepared. This is a season of stepping out in faith, letting go of fear, and embracing the fullness of what God has for us.
Ephesians 3:16-19 (ESV): "That according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God."
Reflection: What fears are holding you back from fully surrendering to God's will, and how can you take a step of faith to overcome them this week?
Day 5: Serve and Support in Community
As a church, we are called to build a strong foundation through community and service. This involves stepping up to serve, supporting one another, and being united in our mission. By working together, we can sustain the growth and expansion God desires for us. We are called to be a community that supports one another, grows together, and stands firm in the promises of God. This preparation involves being proactive rather than reactive, ensuring that we are ready for the expansion God is bringing.
1 Peter 4:10-11 (ESV): "As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God's varied grace: whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies—in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen."
Reflection: How can you actively contribute to your community this week, using your gifts to serve and support others in their spiritual journey?
In this new year, God is calling us to prepare for expansion by enlarging our tents and stretching our tent curtains wide. This involves being proactive in our spiritual growth and readiness to receive God's blessings. We must not hold back due to fear or uncertainty but trust in God's promise of growth and expansion. The vision from Isaiah 54:3 encourages us to spread out to the right and to the left, with the assurance that our descendants will dispossess nations and settle in desolate cities. This is not just a call for the church but for each of us individually. We are to prepare ourselves to receive the blessings God has in store, ensuring that they do not become burdens due to a lack of readiness.
Isaiah 54:2-3 (ESV): "Enlarge the place of your tent, and let the curtains of your habitations be stretched out; do not hold back; lengthen your cords and strengthen your stakes. For you will spread abroad to the right and to the left, and your offspring will possess the nations and will people the desolate cities."
Reflection: What specific steps can you take this week to prepare for the expansion God is calling you to, both spiritually and in your daily life?
Day 2: Build a Strong Foundation
A strong foundation is essential for sustaining growth. This foundation is both lateral, emphasizing community and accountability, and downward, focusing on personal intimacy with God. Like the sequoias, we must be interconnected and deeply rooted in our faith and relationships. The analogy of lengthening cords and strengthening stakes speaks to the need for a strong foundation. This preparation involves being proactive rather than reactive, ensuring that we are ready for the expansion God is bringing. Just as the giant sequoias stand tall due to their interconnected root systems, we too must be deeply rooted in community and in our relationship with God.
Colossians 2:6-7 (ESV): "Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving."
Reflection: How can you strengthen your spiritual foundation this week by deepening your relationships with God and your community?
Day 3: Triumph Over Opposition
While opposition will come, it will not succeed in destroying us. God's promise is that no weapon formed against us will prosper. The challenges we face are opportunities for God to forge us into instruments for His kingdom, shaping us through the trials we endure. This process of being forged involves enduring and overcoming the blows of life, allowing God to shape us into the people He has called us to be. We are reminded that opposition will come, but it will not succeed in destroying us.
2 Corinthians 4:8-9 (ESV): "We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed."
Reflection: What is one challenge you are currently facing, and how can you see it as an opportunity for God to shape you into who He has called you to be?
Day 4: Deepen Your Faith
We are called to go deeper in our faith, surrendering fully to God's will and trusting Him to lead us into the blessings He has prepared. This involves letting go of fear and embracing the fullness of what God has for us, stepping out in faith and allowing God to guide us. As we move forward, we are encouraged to go deeper in our faith, to surrender fully to God's will, and to trust Him to lead us into the blessings He has prepared. This is a season of stepping out in faith, letting go of fear, and embracing the fullness of what God has for us.
Ephesians 3:16-19 (ESV): "That according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God."
Reflection: What fears are holding you back from fully surrendering to God's will, and how can you take a step of faith to overcome them this week?
Day 5: Serve and Support in Community
As a church, we are called to build a strong foundation through community and service. This involves stepping up to serve, supporting one another, and being united in our mission. By working together, we can sustain the growth and expansion God desires for us. We are called to be a community that supports one another, grows together, and stands firm in the promises of God. This preparation involves being proactive rather than reactive, ensuring that we are ready for the expansion God is bringing.
1 Peter 4:10-11 (ESV): "As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God's varied grace: whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies—in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen."
Reflection: How can you actively contribute to your community this week, using your gifts to serve and support others in their spiritual journey?