And looking round about upon them all, he said unto the man, stretch forth thy hand. And he did so: and his hand was restored whole as the other.” Luke 6:10

Sometimes in life we need to do what we sometimes have never done in order to experience what we have never experienced before; in doing this we will be stretched. The dictionary defines the word stretch as making something wider or longer by pulling it. It also means to enlarge or distend especially by force; to stretch means to enlarge by force!  This force can either be physical or spiritual.  In order to experience enlargement one must stretch; one cannot be done without the other. When we stretch, it may hurt but it does not break us; rather it blesses us.

Out of His great love for us, God allows us to be stretched whether it is physical or spiritual and even if it is painful. He allows it so that we can be released from our “withered’ circumstances in order to experience blessings and new levels of enlargement! For example, God commanded the barren women of Isaiah 54:2-3 to “Enlarge the place of thy tent, and let them stretch forth the curtains of thine habitations: spare not, lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes; for thou shalt break forth on the right hand and on the left and thy seed shall inherit the Gentiles, and make the desolate cities to be inhabited.” Another example of physical stretching is found in Mark 3:1-6 in which the man with the withered right hand was commanded by Jesus to stretch out his weakened hand, by exerting force to stretch out his hand, the man was healed! Of particular note is that it was the man’s right hand that was withered; the same hand that represents blessing and power according to Genesis 48:14 and Psalms 118:15-16. Thus in a spiritual sense, until the man received a physical healing to his right hand, he was “withered” spiritually in both blessing and strength. We must be wise to the fact that the Devil always tries to attack our blessings, but like the man with the weakened hand, when we stretch our hands, we will also be healed and see our blessings restored in the mighty name of Jesus.

Whether of God or of us, stretching can happen in the following areas:

1. Our faith. The woman with the issue of blood refused to die because of her affliction; rather she stretched her faith despite her many years of disappointments, physical weakness: she pressed against the crowd and ‘went after’ Jesus saying, “if I may touch his clothes, I shall be made whole.” And indeed she became whole! Beloved we should not cry over challenges that come to us, albeit physical and/or spiritual, instead times of challenges are times when we need to stretch out in faith towards Jesus who will heal and restore us to do things we have never done before! Take for example when Peter stretched his faith, he was able to do what he had never done before, walk on water! Peter had to stretch his faith by leaving his comfort zone and to step out into dark waters while the other disciples remained in the boat watching. Peter’s faith was stretched and similarly God wants to stretch our faith too by asking us to step out of our comfort zone.

2. Our desire for spiritual gifts.

Spiritual gifts are real and are given to by the Holy Spirit. We must stretch to covet them for our lives by being hungry and thirsty for them. God desires for us stretch our pursuit of spiritual things by speaking in tongues, healing the sick, casting out demons, prophesying, and by walking in signs and wonders. Like Paul, we must “forget the past and reach forth for those things which are before and PRESS towards the mark of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus”, Philippians 3:13-14. Beloved we must stretch ourselves spiritually in order to walk in the miraculous like Paul.

3. Our imagination

We must stretch our imagination and ways of thinking; let us stop any small or “stinking thinking” and allow God to stretch our imaginations like He did for Abraham when He said to him, “for all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed,” Genesis 13:14-15 and in 1 Corinthians 2:9 , “But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him.” Beloved, stretch your “withered” imaginations and ways of thinking to greater levels that your “dry bones will rise again!”

4. Our prayers

We must stretch in the place of prayer by not taking no for an answer. We must pray until something happen. During the famine situation in Israel Elijah prayed until the rain came down he stretched himself seven times until the rain came down (1Kg. 18:41-46). This month our rain must come down as we persist and stretch in prayers over that withered famine situation.

5. Our praise

We must stretch our praise until God comes down! The devil wants to steal our joy and shut down our praise because he knows when praise goes up God comes down. Paul and Silas stretch their praise until their prison doors were opened (Act. 16:25-34). Are you in a “withered” prison situation? It is time to stretch your praise!

6. Our word level

The word of God is our spiritual food; our spiritual lives are exercised and stretched when we know the word. The more of the word we have in us the more of God we have; there is no “withered” situation that can stand the word of God. When Jesus spoke to the man with the withered right hand the word of Jesus prevailed and healed the hand. The bible says in Acts 19:20,”So mightily grew the word of God and prevailed.” As we dig in deeper to feed on the word of God, it will prevail over our “withered” circumstances in the mighty name of Jesus!

7. Our accomplishments and purpose 

We must know that there is always a better place than where we are. Where we are in is not our destination, it is a bus stop. For us to get to the next level, we cannot become satisfied with the status quo. The bible tells us in Ephesians 3:20, “Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us.” We must stretch and challenge ourselves to pursue greater accomplishments for God and for ourselves. As the “sons of the Prophets” stretched themselves to do greater things, they reached a place where they could do even more for themselves and God ( 2 Kings 6:1-7). 

Beloved, this month of August, as we celebrate the 11^th anniversary of the ministry of Chosen Generation Parish, I hear God clearly telling us to stretch forth so that we can be blessed and move to the next phase of our ministry and lives. Let us boldly ask and be ready to receive, the grace needed to stretch in Jesus’s mighty name.  I welcome you to the August, the month of “Stretch to be blessed!” Pastor Tope Dosumu