Isaiah 54: 1- 3 

1. “Shout for joy, O barren one, you who have borne no child;
Break forth into joyful shouting and cry aloud, you who have not travailed;
For the sons of the desolate one will be more numerous
Than the sons of the married woman,” says the Lord.
2 “Enlarge the place of your tent;
Stretch out the curtains of your dwellings, spare not;
Lengthen your cords
And strengthen your pegs.
3 “For you will spread abroad to the right and to the left.
And your descendants will possess nations
And will resettle the desolate cities.

1.   “Shout for joy, O barren one

Be worshipful! Be more thankful, prayerful…. seek the Lord more, give thanks to His promises…enjoy walking in His will.
We have many innumerable reasons to sing and celebrate the goodness of God.

God will make you fruitful supernaturally (barren one…. more than the married woman). What makes a woman fruitful – intimacy. Fruitfulness without intimacy is impossible. Its not hard to recognize one who spends extended times in the presence of the Lord. An imperturble calm guards their heartand their faces are radiant with the glow of the morning dew of heaven, even in a barren season or a place of wilderness. Beloved seek and find the Lord in everything – Be worshipful…. sing O barren!

Beloved, you don’t need discernment or wisdom to find faults and be discouraged. If you recall, we found faults in people, situations or the church even before we came to Christ. But if you want to be more Christlike, you must be an intercessory worshipper. An intercessor is the one who stand in the “gap”. An intercessor is one enjoys intimacy in the “gap” (Ezekiel 22: 30). What is this “gap”? It’s the distance between the way things are and the way things could be if God intervened. You and me stand in that unformed reality to sing God’s mercy, His forgiveness, His promises inviting His presence into what is barren now. The steadfast worship and prayer of a wounded worship intercessor holds great sway on the heart of God. Ask Hannah the mother of the prophet Samuel. He will come and make you fruitful – sing O barren!

We come to Christ and truly a new day begins. Yet the Lord’s beings at evening and not morning (Genesis 1: 5 – 8). It is here as evening turns to night that God teaches us to walk by faith. It is in this place - where we can hear but cannot see - that we learn to trust the living Word of God. The seed of this Word planted in us will make transform our barrenness to fruitfulness. Dawn will come. Fruitfulness will come. And when it comes you will that it was in the place of barrenness, in the night that the Lord made you a true person faith, more like Jesus. His Word that He whisoered to you in the dark barreness, that you helpd fast to not only saved you, not sustained you nut strengthened you and transformed you. And what changed you will be used God to change others around you….. sing o barren!

2.   “Enlarge the place of your tent

To be enlarged is to be “more like Jesus”. All horizontal expansion (fruitfulness, productivity, good success…) comes from vertical growth – our stature in Christ.

In 1 Samuel we read, how the young to-be prophet Samuel as a young boy “grew in the Lord”as he continually ministered to the Lord. As “young Samuel grew in the Lord” the Lord eventually expanded His authority and influence over all Israel.

So, before God releases a new mantle over your life; He will often dismantle your old level of service. The dis-mantling is a good thing, for God is about to release you into a greater conformity into Christ. If you are being drawn more to prayer than self-promotion, more to humility than hype…you are being prepared by the Holy Spirit for the glory of God. The wineskins of your personal, family, ministry and will bestretched, renewed for godly growth and expansion.

Sadly, many Christians have no higher aspiration, no greater goal than to become “normal” as they measure themselves with other people. Recall, in 1 Cor 3: 3 the Apostle Paul rebuked the Church at Corinth for they walked as “mere men”.  God has more for us than just becoming “better people”. He wants to flood our lives with the same power that raised Jesus our Lord from the dead.  More of the Holy Spirit. God does not merely want us “normal”. He wants us to be Christ-like.

Even as the Lord renews and stretches you…. there will be a need to get those cords of spiritual disciplines attached to the pegs firmly or our tent will be blown away. Some things have to change either removed or renewed. But some things have to be held on firmly and even more firmly.

Prayer, worship, the study of God’s Word, committed to the local church, daily repentance and growing in holiness, giving, serving….

If any of us have weakened or stopped in any of these…. I encourage you to recommit and restart…If you stop serving, you will stop growing beloved (e.g. Samuel)
Serving enlarges us, praying enlarges us, giving generously enlarges us, sharing the gospel enlarges us…. Do the things that will deepen and expand you. Don’t settle for where you are. Enlarge your tent….