Isaiah 54:2 – « Enlarge the place of your tent, and let them stretch forth the curtains of your habitation; don’t hold back: lengthen your cords, and strengthen your stakes. »
God gives to Jerusalem, bruised and humiliated, a powerful Word, full of hope, the total opposite of its present situation: « You who have no child, wake up, get up, leave your passivity. Make new plans, because your posterity is going to invade nations! » (a paraphrase of verse 3)
In the midst of these words full of hope, God slips these three words: « Don’t hold back » or: « do not slow down, do not restrain, do not refuse ».
We must admit that we are often this Jerusalem. When God calls us to experience something new, He challenges us; He wants to broaden our vision and take us beyond our limits, but our reaction is often to slow down.
Fear, doubt, and unbelief strike very quickly at the door of our thoughts: « Is this God speaking to me? Will I be able to do it? Will He be with me? Won’t I make a mistake? » Many other such lies arise to question the Word of God.
Because He knows what kind of nature we have, He tells us: « Do not hinder, do not oppose, do not bridle my work. »
God has provided in His Word all that we need to advance on His path with confidence. He is faithful (Ps 37:5), He guides us (Ps 32:8), protects us (Ps 5:12), gives us His strength and power (Ps 68:35) His peace (Jn 14:27). Even His Spirit dwells in us, and so is always there.
I would like to ask you to take the time now to ask God to put His light on these false thoughts that slow down your progress and to make a note of them. Then put them before the Lord and ask Him to reveal to you what His thoughts are. Once you receive God’s thoughts, write them down next to the lies. You will see the power of lies broken!
It is God’s will to see us grow, and to face and overcome new challenges, so that we may witness to His love, power, and glory.
He is the one who can do « by the power that works in us, infinitely beyond all that we ask or think ». (Eph 3:20). May this Word become our reality when God prompts us to go beyond our limits.
Jeûne de Daniel 
This morning I reread passages in the Bible where God came, in one form or another, to meet face to face with individuals to whom he wanted to entrust a new mission. These people had to confront their insecurities, too! But it is precisely their ENCOUNTER with the Lord that overturned the fortresses in their mentality. It is one thing to read a Bible verse … it is yet another thing to hear a RHEMA word, directly from the mouth of God. Think of Gideon, for example: « And the angel of the Lord appeared to him and said to him, “The Lord is with you, O MIGHTY man of valor.” And Gideon said to him, “Please, my Lord, if the Lord is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all his wonderful deeds that our fathers recounted to us, saying, ‘Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt?’ But now the Lord has forsaken us and given us into the hand of Midian.” And the Lord turned to him and said, “Go in this might of yours and save Israel from the hand of Midian; do not I send you?” And he said to him, “Please, Lord, how can I save Israel? Behold, my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house.” And the Lord said to him, “But I will be with you, and YOU SHALL STRIKE the Midianites as one man. »(Judges 6: 12-16) Think also of Joshua, for the LORD said to him : « Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon I have given to you, just as I promised to Moses. From the wilderness and this Lebanon as far as the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites to the Great Sea toward the going down of the sun shall be your territory. No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life. Just as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not leave you or forsake you. Be strong and courageous, for you shall cause this people to inherit the land that I swore to their fathers to give them. Only be strong and very courageous, being careful to do according to all the law that Moses my servant commanded you. Do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may have good success wherever you go. This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” (Jos 1: 3-9) Every time we have an encounter with God, He imparts to us His truth and His promises that banish the lies embedded in our souls… which is no doubt why « Man will not live by bread alone, but by EVERY WORD THAT COMES OUT OF THE MOUTH of God » (Matt. 4: 4) Let us seek His face, and listen to what comes out of His mouth ! When His living word penetrates our hearts, it will separate our soulish, carnal thoughts from His heavenly thoughts. (see Heb. 4:12)
J’aimeJ’aime