Isaiah 54:3-4 – « 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. Fear not, for you will not be ashamed; be not confounded, for you will not be disgraced; for you will forget the shame of your youth, and the reproach of your widowhood you will remember no more. »
We are on the threshold of a new season, both personally and collectively. God gives us this Word, as He did in Jerusalem: « Enlarge the space of your tent, without holding back. Extend and strengthen everything that establishes your dwelling securely in Me. »
This Word resonates in our minds and hearts as our local church, the Bon Berger, is about to expand its space to welcome the « offspring (who) will possess the nations » (Isaiah 54: 3).
What joy and security to hear God speak to us and encourage us in this season, full of challenges, but so exciting! He’s asking us to look further with Him, to look higher, to see bigger! This means that it is imperative to prepare the entire « tent ». Ropes and stakes must adapt to its new size to be stable and solid, and its covering must enlarge and expand so that all of the new people He wants to bring in will have a comfortable and suitable place.
This challenge of faith concerns everyone in the « house ». Every Christian is called to enter into his calling, to settle in his place, and to develop his gifts to serve. This is often a commitment to a new responsibility.
Thus, the different cords represented by the ministries of the church will be « stretched » so that, from the smallest to the greatest, whether man or woman, seekers, young converts or veterans in the faith, we all grow up to become disciples of Christ, « until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ… » (Eph 4:13)
Each reinforced cord is attached to its stake, which is planted in the Life of Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit. And all cords depend on each other. If one of them is slack or cracked, the whole tent is weakened: the consistency and strength of the whole result from the good condition of each cord. Let’s grasp this Word of God for our church, and position ourselves individually and together, to live this new phase of growth that God has prepared for us! If you have been in this church for a long time and you are still not active in a service or an expression of your gifts and abilities, ask God to show you where you can serve. The church is moving forward, the tent is widening, but we need you for good and sustainable growth.
Jeûne de Daniel 
I love the notion of being « planted ». I Numbers 24 this morning I was reading about how it pleases the Lord to bless this people. Interestingly enough, He was observing their « tents »! And in verses 5 and 6 He actually had the prophet say on His behalf : « How lovely are your tents, O Jacob, your encampments, O Israel! Like palm groves that stretch afar, like gardens beside a river, like aloes that the Lord has planted,
like cedar trees beside the waters. » And the beginning of verse 7 indicates that their influence was to be extended : « Water shall flow from his buckets, and his seed shall be in many waters… » which is very much a prophetic confirmation of what the Lord is speaking to us. As we are firmly planted near the river of living water, our fruitfulness increases and never wanes, and we become a source of blessing in a much larger territory. Ps. 1:1-3 depicts this : « Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers. »
J’aimeJ’aime