GOG - 20 - 294: Your New Level (Part 1)
www.thecarpenterschurch.org
Your New Level Part 1
Pastor Nkechi Ene (Mrs.)
God has a new level in store for you, and you will enter into it and experience it right here on earth. This new level will cause an all-round expansion for you. There is no limit to the new level that God has in store for you. In this article, you will learn how to step into your new level, and prepare for expansion and increase in your new level. 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. 4 “Do not fear, for you will not be ashamed; Neither be disgraced, for you will not be put to shame; For you will forget the shame of your youth, and will not remember the reproach of your widowhood anymore. 5 For your Maker is your husband, The LORD of hosts is His name; And your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel; He is called the God of the whole earth. Isaiah 54:2-5
This new level will take you out of your comfort zone. Your comfort zone is not necessarily comfortable; it is just what you have been used to, but God has a new level in store for you that is much more comfortable than what you have been used to. The thing about a comfort zone is, you are so used to that habitation that you don't want anything
to shake you off. People are generally afraid of change and the unknown; so, when there's something new that they've not been used to, they would rather stay with what they have been used to even when what they've been used to is not comfortable. Somebody may be driving a halfbroken-down car, and the Lord says, “Seed that car, sell that car and give it out”, but you'll see the person holding unto that car that takes him or her to the mechanic every week. The person says to himself, “At least, I don't have to get on a motorcycle. At least, I don't have to use public transport. At least, it's me and my car”. God's intention for giving such instructions is so that He can take the person to a new level, but the person chooses to remain in his or her comfort zone. That comfort zone isn't even comfortable because if you get that same person a brand-new car, the person will recognize the difference between what is comfortable and what is not. Some people are in the comfort zone in their marriages. The lady says, “At least, my husband only slaps me on the cheek, that sister's husband descends on her like he's pounding something; at least, I know what to do if I see my husband getting angry”. This is a typical comfort zone scenario. When we talk about the need to step out of your comfort zone and the need to believe God's Word, you will never know what lies on the other end of that
step. Isaiah 54:2-3, says, “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 for you shall expand to the right and to the left and your descendants will inherit the nations...” Verse 2 is in the present tense; verse 3 is in the future tense. Enlarge now, do it now, stretch out now. Why should you do that? For you shall expand, and you shall increase.
Take A Step Of Faith To enter into your new level, you must take a step of faith. Whatever your new level is, maybe nancial, maybe in your marriage, or in your relationship with God, whatever it is, enlarge and stretch out now. It's not about what you see now. When God tells you to expand, there may be no expansion physically. People might ask: “What are you stretching out for?” Your response should be: “The Word of the Lord says I shall expand”. And they go on to say, “So, why don't you just wait, and when you are overowing, you expand”. No, you will not enter your new level if you walk by sight. You will only enter your new level by taking steps of faith in preparation for what you know that God has already done in the spirit realm, and you shall see it in the physical realm. Couldn't the prophet have said, God will enlarge your tent or God will stretch out your curtains? He did not say that. He said, “You, enlarge your tent”. There's a testimony I heard of someone who was trusting God for a particular
The Carpenter’s Church, Greenville, Port Harcourt. All rights reserved. No portion of this document may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means - electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording or any other form, without the prior permission of the above.
GOG - 20 - 294: Your New Level (Part 1)
job and a specic pay. I am not giving this as a doctrine neither am I saying that it will work for everybody. For this particular person, this was a rhema word, and you might have the same rhema word or you might have another rhema word. The person trusting God for a particular job and a specic pay began to tithe on the expected salary, which at that time was about fty percent of his salary. That's a step of faith; that is enlarging your tent; that is making room, and you're telling God, “Take this, because I believe that that job is mine”. In this particular testimony, the job came through. You may try it, but it may not be your rhema word because you may do it in fear, or maybe God may have wanted you to do something else. You may practice it for one or two months and give up, then go back complaining and cursing your seed with your mouth. That may not work for you, but that's an example of how to enlarge your tent. You must take a step of faith.
www.thecarpenterschurch.org
and looked because he could have said, “God, how much can I possibly see?” Abraham lifted his eyes and looked. God said to Abraham, “Look from the place where you are”. “Oh, when I get to this place, then I will be able to do this; when I begin to earn this, then my seed will be worth something. When I start earning fty thousand naira, then I can really give a substantial seed. I'm only earning ten thousand naira. By the time I remove my tithe, my budget pledge, tell me what one thousand naira or two thousand naira every month as a budget pledge do?” Look from the place where you are. God didn't tell Abram to walk all over the whole land and when he has touched everywhere, then look. No, that defeats the whole purpose of faith. From where you are now, child of God, look and you will see and what you see is what you will get. Do not despise where you are now.
14 And the LORD said to Abram, after Lot had separated from him: “Lift your eyes now and look from the place where you are—northward, southward, eastward, and westward; 15 for all the land which you see I give to you and your descendants forever. Genesis 13:14-15
I've always read the Scripture above and looked at it as, “Abraham physically looked, and God gave him all the land he could see”, but I don't think there's any high point in any country that you can stand on and see the whole country. I don't necessarily believe that God meant it physically. I believe he stood and looked because God said to him, “Look northward, southward, eastward, and westward”. But, I don't believe that when God said, “All that you can see, I have given to you”, He was referring to his physical eyes. I believe that God was saying to him: “What you can see with the eyes of your heart, what you can see with the eyes of your spirit, that's what I have given to you”. What you can see with the eyes of faith is what you will get. Abraham standing there was simply a step of faith, a symbol of his faith, a symbol that he believed God, and he actually stood
God says, “Where you are standing now is a vantage point for you to see what I have in store for you. So, open the eyes of your faith and look, and when you see, take a step of faith towards what you see. Even if where you're standing now looks crummy and messy, and there's nothing good that you think can come out of it, lift up your eyes beyond what you can see physically and see with the eyes of faith”. Look from the place where you are because your present level is not a limitation to your new level. Some people have jobs, and they want better jobs and better positions. Right where they are, all they do is complain about their present position. They do not see with the eyes of faith. Put in your whole being into where you are now; that is a seed for your future. See the good in where you are. There is something good where you are. God is
taking you to new heights; He's taking you to greater heights, and you will nd out that in your ministry, business, career, or whatever it is, God is taking you to a new level.
Be Sure Of Your Support System Isaiah 54:2 says, “… Lengthen your cords, and strengthen your stakes”. What are cords and stakes? Cords and stakes are for support. They support a tent. To stay at your new level, you must be sure of your support system. The Word of the Lord says, “Enlarge the place of your tent, … stretch out ...” Then it says, “Lengthen your cords, and strengthen your stakes, …” You must be sure of your support system. In The Carpenter's Church, we have three tents. The support system for the smallest tent, which is the teen tent and the support system for the medium tent (the children's tent), and the support system for the big adult tent is the same. The cords and stakes used for the baby tent are the same used for the middle tent and the adult tent. The principles that worked for you when you were in the little tent are the same principles that will work for you when you're in the medium tent, and the principles that worked for you when you were in the medium tent are the same principles that will work for you when you are in the big tent. God found it necessary to say, “Strengthen your stakes and lengthen your cords” because with each expansion, there is more pressure. So, you've got to be sure that your support system will take the expansion. I am not teaching you that if you are small and have faith, it's okay, but when you get bigger, you need something other than faith or something other than the principles that worked for you. No! Don't get carried away expanding your tent, enlarging your tent, and looking for the expansion and fail to check that your stakes and cords can hold the expansion. In the next article, we will nd out more truths about enjoying your new level and the ve-fold support system that will help you handle expansion in your new level.
The Carpenter’s Church, Greenville, Port Harcourt. All rights reserved. No portion of this document may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means - electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording or any other form, without the prior permission of the above.