PREPARING FOR INCREASE [PART 1]: DR. MENSA OTABIL – SUNDAY SERVICE, 6TH FEBRUARY, 2022
SPECIAL SUNDAY SERVICE BY DR. MENSA OTABIL (GENERAL OVERSEER INTERNATIONAL CENTRAL GOSPEL CHURCH (ICGC) CHRIST TEMPLE, ACCRA GHANA)
TOPIC: PREPARING FOR INCREASE – PART 1
DATE: 6TH FEBRUARY, 2022
TEXT: ISAIAH 54:1-3
Let’s rise up together as we take our DECLARATION OF INCREASE in this Year of Increase:
Are you ready? Say with me:
I confess today that Jesus Christ is my LORD and Saviour. In Him I have life, His Abundant Life.
The Lord is my Light and Strength. As He is, so has He made me. By His Spirit I Increase in Word and in Wisdom. In Faith and in Favour.
The Lord has said: “In Blessing, I will bless you. In multiplying I will Multiply your Seed.”
So, I can boldly say: My God shall Increase me more and more. What I Place in God’s Hands grows into Overflow.
Though I begin small, my end shall Greatly Increase.
In this Year of Increase, I grow in Grace and in Strength. To be all that God wants me to be.
In Jesus’ Name – AMEN!
Today we are talking about PREPARING FOR INCREASE – Part 1.
If God wants us to Increase, we must Prepare for it – We must get ready for it.
And how do we Prepare ourselves for God’s Increase in our lives?
And my Message today is based on a Message I Preached in this Church over fifteen (15) Years ago – I was going through my Notes and I came across it.
And the Message was relevant then; it’s still relevant now. I have tuck it a little bit so that it can Minister to us Specifically.
So How do we Prepare for Increase in our lives? Especially when we have had a lot of setbacks in our lives. And that is when we are talking about Negativity, and things are not going well with our lives.
How do we Prepare our Mind, Prepare our Spirit for Increase in our lives.
And it was in such a situation that our Bible Text for today occured in Isaiah 54:1-3 – Isaiah Chapter 54 is a Messianic Prophecy.
And when we say that a Passage is a Messianic Prophecy, it means that it Points to the Coming of the Messiah – Jesus Christ. And Thank God He has come!
… And so this Message is relevant to us.
If you know your Bible well, you will know that Isaiah Chapter 53 – Just right next door to Isaiah 54, is that big Messianic Prophecy. I’m talking about the Sovereign Messiah.
So Isaiah 54:1-3 (NKJV):
1 “Sing, O barren, You who have not borne! Break forth into Singing, and cry aloud, You who have not labored with Child! For more are the children of the desolate than the children of the married woman,” says the Lord.
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.
I want you to Pay attention to the Promise that God gave them in Verse 3 because this Promise is a Promise of Increase.
Based on that. He tells them what to do to have those Promise of Increase fulfilled.
The Promise in Verse 3 says – “For you shall expand to the right and to the left, And your descendants will inherit the Nations, And make the desolate Cities inhabited.”
God is saying to Israel – I’m about to Increase you and you are going to expand to the left and to the right; and your descendants shall inherit the Nations.
But before then, He tells them to Prepare for what He is about to do.
He is calling Israel “A DESOLATE NATION.” Because this Prophecy is coming at a time of desolation!
The Land has been ravaged, People have been carried to Captivity, the Temple has been brought down, the Walls are down, everything is in a mess. The Nation has been utterly disrupted.
And it is in this time when the Population has gone down, there are not many People that God speaks to in Israel. And He compares them to a desolate woman, to a Widow who is barren and forsaken – And He draws that Analogy to speak to them.
How do you encourage Somebody who feels desolate? How do you come to Somebody whose Life has a Bad News throughout?
Like what People would say in Ghana: “My Life is Bad Luck.” Everything about them is Negative, everything is Bad – From one Bad News to Bad News!
How do they Change that? And how does God speak to a People who are so downcast? God speaks to them and He tells them – “Enlarge the Place of your Tent.”
… Everybody say – Enlarge!
Somebody say: Enlarge the Place of your Tent!
WHAT DOES THE WORD ENLARGE MEAN?
Three (3) Thoughts that I want to bring to your Notice.
Interestingly, the Hebrew word, out of which comes the same word that is translated as ‘Enlarge’ is the same word out of which came the word “Rehoboth.”
When Isaac said: “God has made Room for me.” – That is the same root word for Enlarge.
… So what does Enlarge mean?
- First, it means to Open Up.
The idea there is of something that is closed and must be Opened Up!
Because when you are closed, you cannot receive. And many times when you are under stress attack, you feel like closing up! But God says, don’t close up – Open Up!
- The word Enlarge also mean to Make Room.
Don’t restrict yourself, make Room – Open the accommodation because God is about to do something great for you.
And you cannot receive it when you are closed in and restricted.
- And thirdly, the word Enlarge mean to Widen.
Don’t be narrow, don’t be small, don’t be inward looking, don’t be Small Minded – Don’t just think Small rather think Big!
And so He says to them, although you are desolate and your experience has been bad – Enlarge!
WHAT MUST WE ENLARGE?
The Passage says “Enlarge the Place of your Tent.”
I want you to remember that although the Passage is using terms related to building; the Passage is not about building – God is just using Tent as analogy for Life, for a Nation, for a People.
And He says – ENLARGE THE PLACE OF YOUR TENT.
… Somebody say:: ENLARGE THE PLACE OF YOUR TENT.
Pay attention! -He did not say: “Enlarge your Tent”. That would have been the easiest statement – Enlarge your Tent!
You are desolate, you need Help. God’s wants to Increase you – The actual thing is to say Enlarge your Tent. Open up your Room, open up your Space!
But that’s not what He said – He said: Enlarge The Place of your Tent (Not the Tent itself, but where the Tent is sitting).
… So let’s look at the Phrase – “THE PLACE” a little closely.
“The Place” is the Ground on which you build.
… In Ghana we call it, a Plot of Land.
God says – I am about to Increase you. You are narrow, you are small. I’m about to Increase you, Prepare for the Increase.
How? – Enlarge the Place of your Tent. Get a bigger Plot of Land because you cannot build a bigger Tent on the same Small Land.
So the first Change Factor is not the Building you have constructed; but the Space you have allowed yourself to operate in – “Enlarge The Place of your Tent!”
Remember, although He is talking about Building, the Message is not about Building; it is about the lives of the People.
When God says “Enlarge The Place of your Tent” – What does He mean?
What does it mean that the Place of your Tent must be enlarged?
Well, if you have a Building, the Building is sitting on Land equal to the Size of the Building. If I want to expand a Building, but the Land remains the same, I cannot expand the Building.
For me to expand a Building, I have to have a bigger Space of Land to expand the Building.
And I hope you understand that!
When God says, enlarge the Place of your Tent, He is not talking about Building. He is talking about the Foundation you have laid for yourself on which you have built your Life.
And there are Two (2) Things that come to Mind when we talk about the Place of your Tent:
- The first is your Philosophy of Life – The Basis or Assumption on which you build your Life.
Everything is built on a certain Understanding, in a certain Philosophy, a certain Mindset.
And when the Mindset is narrow, the Life would also be narrow. If the Mindset is restricted, the life would be restricted.
When we talk about enlarging The Place of your Tent, we are talking about the Philosophy of Life; the Theory on which you build. Usually, it is the collective Wisdom of the People: a Race, a Nation, a Family.
… Let me give you a few Examples:
For Example, the belief that Witches can disrupt our lives – which most of you hold; can be a Philosophy of Life. And can be the Place on which you have built your Life.
If you believe that Witches can disrupt your Life; the Life you construct would be based on the fear of Witches.
Therefore, everything you do would be backed by a fear that some mallivolent Spirit would come and scatter everything you have done. So, everytime you are making Progress, you keep looking backwards, expecting that some Spirit would come and disrupt your Life.
If that is how you have built your Life, then that is the Place you built your Tent.
And God says – Enlarge it! Because that Philosophy of Life totally undermines Christianity.
You know why it undermines Christianity?
Because the Bible says: Jesus, in His Death and Resurrection, totally disarmed and destroyed Principalities, Powers, Dominions and every evil Spirit.
If after Christ has done all that for you, you still feel a Witch can disrupt your Life; your Tent is on a a Narrow Land and God cannot do great things with you because at the back of your Mind there is fear.
And God is saying: “I want to Increase you.” But the Place, the Land, the Plot you built your Tent on; this Philosophy is restricting what I am about to do for you.
The idea that believes that God has some favorites He listen to is a wrong Foundation to build your Life (if you are a Christian).
You know sometimes People talk time, they say: “Pastor, that’s why we come to you People because you People are close to the Man Upstairs.”
I don’t mind if Unbelievers say that! But I mind, if a child of God, a Believer thinks his Pastor is closer to God than he is – That Land cannot construct a Big Tent.
Because if you are going to build for God, you have to understand one fact that: “… God is no Respecter of Persons: But in every Nation he that feareth Him, and worketh Righteousness, is accepted with him” – Acts 10:34-35
If you live for Him and you are a Child of God, you are as close to God as any Man of God or Woman of God on this Earth.
… Are you following me?
So if you think some Man of God has God’s Address and you don’t have it, and you are a Believer; your Land is narrow, and your Tent would not be big.
Any Philosophy that tells you – Unless you have a Helper, you would not achieve much in Life. You know, one of the things I have noticed in different Parts of the world is that, People like to be Pitied. Pity is an industry.
You just watch Facebook, go to Social Media. Social Media which is supposed to talk nice things is about Funerals – “My Mother died, Uncle died, come and mourn with me.”
Who should mourn with you? – Deal with your Life!
You know, we like to be Pitied – ‘Oh, sorry, my condolence.’
We feel so Good because People are Pitying us. But anyone with “Self-Pity” cannot build a big Tent for the things that God want to do in their lives!
“Self-Pity” is a killer of Life! Because the Truth of life is: God has given us one Helper. And He is called the Holy Spirit. And when He is with you, everybody else can be against you. But when He is with you, you have the Helper with you and you will do well.
For you to Enlarge, you have to consider: What is the Philosophy on which I run my Life?
- Am I running away from Witches?
- Do I think I’m not God’s Special?
- Do I think, if that Person there doesn’t help me I have no help at all?
If that is your Philosophy, Increase will avoid you – “Enlarge The Place of your Tent”.
- And then, the Place of your Tent also talk about our Point Of Reference.
… Where you locate yourself in Life!
The examples you follow; the experience that has shaped you; the expectations that you have – Your Point of Reference!
People have all kinds of Points of Reference – Some Point of Reference, especially in our Part of the world is a Proverb.
People go through some trouble and then they would use a Local Proverb to just explain what they are going through.
What is your Point of Reference? What is the Land you are building on? – Is it the failure of your family? The failure of Somebody? The disaster that befell Somebody? Is it the Promise of God?
What do you refer to when you are facing Life? Do you refer to Last Year – “Oh Life was bad Last Year, so this Year we don’t even know how it’s going to be.”
… That’s your Point of Reference!
But if you want God to Enlarge you, your Point of Reference must be bigger than the experiences of other People and your own experiences from the Past.
You must have a different Point of Reference. And I suggest to you Strongly – Your Point of Reference must be the Word of God:
“On Christ the Solid Rock I Stand! All other Ground is sinking Sand”.
So God says to Israel – “I am about to Increase you.”
And He says something very interesting about what He is going to do – He says: “Your Descendants shall inherit the Nations”.
Do you know what that means?
They have been carried as Slaves into the Nations. And He says, for what I am about to do, even your Nation can’t contain it. Because I will expand you so much that you will take Charge of the Nations that have taken you as Slaves.
And if there is anything anybody can say about the Jews, wherever they are; they are not at the bottom. No matter the circumstance that took them there!
Whatever Nation they have been to, they end up somewhere at the Top: Hated, Persecuted, fought against but at the Top!
God says, I am about to do it for you, so Change your Philosophy because what I am about to do for you would not even be contained by Jerusalem – The Nations would be your Inheritance.
I am about to declare something to you by the Word of God:
What God is about to do with you, Ghana/Nigeria cannot contain it; Africa cannot contain it – The Place of your Tent!
What God wants to do for you: Your family cannot handle it, your friends cannot handle it, your Nation cannot handle it, your Race cannot handle it.
Don’t just say I am a Black Man, don’t just say I am a Black Woman, don’t just say I am a Woman, don’t just say I come from a Poor family. Because God says, until you expand your Thinking, what I am about to do for you, you cannot contain it.
I believe with all my heart that the Limitations that we face is all Self Imposed”.
And God is saying: ENLARGE THE PLACE OF YOUR TENT.
You have built on Fear, you have built on Pity, you have built on Scarcity,.you have built on Limitations – You have built on all of these but God says, Change the Building Plan.
Enlarge the Place of your Tent; because I am about to construct a bigger Tent. And I need a bigger Mind, a bigger Spirit, a bigger Thought, a bigger Faith to receive it.
This Morning, God wants to do something Great with you – Amen.
Then He talks about THE TENT.
… Unless the Place is Changed, the Tent will not Change.
- The Tent represents what you are building your Life to be.
- The Tent represents the Structure you are putting up. How you have formed your Life.
Israel at this time is building based on Captivity – They are Slaves!
And when you are a Slave, to you are going to build like a Slaves.
If somebody is Poor, desolate, living in hard times; if you even give him hundred Hectares of Land, he would choose one Plot of Land instead.
Do you know that most Ghanians cannot think beyond one Plot of Land? They can go to a Virgin Land, Nobody is living there. They will just get one Plot and build on it.
Later everybody will come and build all around him, while he takes just one Plot because the Mind is Small.
Sometimes you travel outside the City and you hear Someone say: “I was the first Person to buy Land at in this area.”
How much did you buy? -One (1) Plot!
Because you see, it’s not in the Land, it’s in the head – The Real Estate is in the head.
So you give him Abundance, he will take Scarcity. You give him a big Promise, he’ll reduce it to Small.
*For some of you when we are talking about Increase, you will be thinking – “I will eat more chin chin, I will eat more fish.” (Laughing).
I’m telling you, you will be surprised how People interpret things because you will always bring everything to your Level.
… You construct based on your Place of Philosophy.
In this Year of Increase, Change the Land Structure – If you have thought of one, think of a Thousand.
“If you have thought of a thousand, think of a Billion. If you have thought of a Billion, think of a Quintillion.”
I will never forget the first time I heard that Phrase used in a sober Statement.
It was in Zimbabwe Years ago, when their currency was doing Gymnastics. And I read their Budget and it was in “Quintillion.”
What is Quintillion?.
I have never heard any Government talk about Quintillion with sober face.
And I said, maybe the guy is Prophesying that a time is going to come, we not only going to talk about Billions, Trillions, quatrillions; but we are going to talk about Quintillions.
May God give you a Quintillion Mindset – Amen.
So that in the midst of the ocean, you will not take a cup of Water; In the midst of Abundance, you are building small Tent.
God says, Enlarge the Place of your Tent. And He is telling them, don’t even enlarge in the Boundaries of Israel; include all the Nations that People have gone as Slaves. Because that is the Real Estate I’m giving to you! Your thinking and your Plane will be according to that Mindset.
How many of you are ready to Enlarge the Place of your Tent? – The DMC FAMILY!
Stand on your feet as we Pray!
Say: LORD, Enlarge my Thinking. LORD, Enlarge my Faith. LORD, Enlarge my Expectation.
Put your hand upon your own head and say LORD, Help me.
Pray, say: LORD, shift my Thinking, shift my Mind, shift my Understanding.
Take me from Narrowness, take me from Limitation. I will not Submit to this Limitation. I’m breaking out from this Limitation.
I’m Thinking Big, I’m Thinking Massive. I’m expecting Great Things from you Oh LORD.
Go ahead and Pray!
Enlarge the Place of your Tent! God is going to do Big Things, Massive Things. Your Experience has been bad but your Future is Greater than your Experience.
Your Past has been disappointing, but your Future is Greater than your Past.
Don’t let your Past be your Point of Reference. Let God be your Point of Reference. Let the Promise of God be your Point of Reference. Let the Expectation of the Lord be your Point of Reference.
CLOSING PRAYER
Father we break the barrier of Limitations on our Minds. And we Declare Your Blessings upon each one of us; upon our Nation Ghana (Nigeria), upon our Continent Africa – A People without Limitations, in the Name of Jesus!
Break Barriers with us Lord. Do Powerful Things with us Lord. Do Massive Things with us Lord. Stretch us to the Uttermost Lord.
We are ready Lord to step out, to do Big Things for You, to do Massive Things for you.
And lord we begin, by breaking every Witchcraft Barrier in our Mind. Every fear of Demons, Principalities and Powers, we break out of that, in the Name of Jesus.
We live without Fear, we live with full Faith in the God Whose we are and Whom we serve.
In Jesus’ Mighty Name we Pray!
… And everybody screen Amen – AMEN!!!!
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