Enlarge the Place of Your Tent

“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.” (Isaiah 54:2-3 ESV)

What Does This Mean?

"All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work." (2 Timothy 3:16-17 ESV) And I believe there is a lesson today that can be learned from this passage of Scripture to be applied to our lives more on a spiritual level rather than on a physical level, so I am praying for understanding from the Lord.

So, in my search for understanding of how this passage can be applied to our lives today I read several commentaries and I learned that this is about the spreading of the gospel of Jesus Christ, particularly for the Jews, to the Gentiles. So this sounds as if this is a prophecy about the Messianic age, which a lot of the book of Isaiah is about, in reality. So this sounds like the birthing of the church, the body of Christ, in the Messianic age.

So, how can we apply this passage of Scripture to our individual lives today? Well, certainly this is speaking of us sharing the gospel of our salvation from sin with the people of the world, with the ungodly of this world, whether or not they profess faith in Jesus Christ. For many professers of faith in Christ are still living ungodly and unholy lives, still living to please the flesh and they are not living to please God with their lives.

So, how can we enlarge our tents in order to spread the gospel of Christ to the people of this world? The answer to this may be as individual as we are, for God may not lead us all in the exact same direction, but he is going to lead us all to enlarge our tents and to share the gospel of our salvation with the people of this world, for the New Testament teaches us that we are called to share the gospel, but the full gospel, not a half-truth gospel.

Now, I am going to give a personal example of what this might look like, although God will not work in all the same ways in all of our lives, so this is just an illustration of what this might look like and did/does look like for me, and perhaps from this illustration it might help explain the meaning of this. 

A Personal Example

So, most of my life was spent in the confines of the institutional church teaching ladies’ Bible studies and/or ladies’ Sunday school classes or singing in a church choir or an ensemble or doing special music or helping out in the church office doing secretarial and administrative kinds of work. But I also taught ladies’ Bible studies in people’s homes and in neighborhoods. And I worked alongside my husband in youth/college ministry which we did out of our home for our community, and we did that together for 7.5 years.

But then the Lord called me to “enlarge the place of my tent” even more, and he called me in 2004 to write out on my computer what he teaches me from his word each day and then to place those writings on the internet. So I have been doing that for 20 years. And these writings go out to people across the globe into many different countries, so that is definitely “enlarging my tent” beyond the institutional church and my home.

After 7 years he then called me to write simple and biblical songs of faith in Jesus Christ for the encouragement of the body of Christ, and I did that for nine years before my voice gave out. But two years prior to that ending he had me begin writing poetry (without music), and I’ve been doing that for 6 years now. And then he had me write two short books of personal testimony self-published on the internet, available at my blog “runwithit.blog.”

Then, beginning in 2020 he had me begin to do Video Talks, which I did on and off for a couple of years, but they began to increase in frequency in 2022. And then he had me begin creating Christian memes with short messages. So, in each one of these different endeavors he was having me “enlarge the place of my tent” even more, and stretch myself even more, for much of this I had never done before and would never have imagined myself doing. And all this can only be done in the power of God under his guidance.

Now I am not claiming absolute perfection in any or all of this. I share what I understand the Lord is teaching me, out of obedience to my Lord, and I open myself wide for you to challenge any of this if you believe I am in error. For we are to test everything and everyone to make certain that what we are hearing is of God and that it is not of the flesh of man, especially if what is being shared is instructional for our personal benefit.

And I do not close the door to the Lord stretching me even more, if he so desires, and if he wants me to “enlarge the place of my tent” even more, if it would be his will, and if it would please him. So even now I am praying that if the Lord has something new for me to do that he will let me know, and that he will direct my path, and that he will show me the way in which he wants to lead me in this to “enlarge the place of my tent.”

So, I hope that what I have shared with you encourages you to “enlarge the place of your tent,” too, and that you will share the message of the gospel of our salvation from sin with the people of the world in writing or talking or singing or via whatever means the Lord gives you and equips you and leads you. But please make sure that what you are sharing is the truth of the gospel and not the half-truth gospel being passed off as the gospel today.

For Jesus Christ said, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself? For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words, of him will the Son of Man be ashamed when he comes in his glory and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels” (Luke 9:23-26 ESV). 

Enlarge the Place of Your Tent

Video Talk

July 20, 2023

https://youtu.be/JKPm3MvOI8U 

Caution: This link may contain ads

Should I Not Preach Jesus 

An Original Work / July 4, 2013

Based off 1 Corinthians 9:16-10:13

Woe to me should I not preach Jesus.

I’m compelled to preach the full gospel.

I make myself a slave to ev’ryone

To win their hearts to Christ.

All this I do for my Lord Jesus,

And for the sake of His Name;

Do it for the sake of His gospel,

So that I, its blessings gain.

Scripture notates the sins of others;

Written down for us as examples

To keep us from setting our hearts 

On evil as did those of old.

Do not worship other gods of man;

Do not give your hearts to them;

Not partake in immorality.

Do not test your Lord and King.

So, be careful if you think you are

Standing firm in your faith in Jesus.

God has given his word to warn us, 

So through faith we will not fall.

No temptation has o’ertaken you

Except what is commonplace.

God is faithful to not let you be

Tempted past what you can bear.

He gives the way of escape. 

https://vimeo.com/116057811