Keion Henderson - How to Receive Expansion

Go with me to the Book of Isaiah, chapter 54, verses 1 through 4. Isaiah, chapter 54, verses 1 through 4. Is anybody glad to be in the house of the Lord? We’re going to focus on Isaiah 54, verses 2 through 4, but I will read verse 1 for good measure because I read it this morning, and I want to share it from the King James Version of the Bible. The Bible says, «Sing, O barren, thou that didst not bear; break forth into a song and cry loud, thou that didst not travail with child: for more are the children of the desolate than the children of the married wives, saith the Lord.» Expand, enlarge-whatever you want to call it- increase the place of thy tent, and let them stretch forth the curtains of thine habitation. Spare not; lengthen thy cords and strengthen thy stakes, for thou shalt break forth on the right hand and on the left hand. Do you understand that a breakthrough is going to happen on both sides? You 're not just going to have a breakthrough in one area of your life. God says when He blesses you, it’s going to happen all around you. For thou shalt break forth on the right hand and on the left hand, and I see that this breakthrough is generational. And thy seed shall inherit the Gentiles and make the desolate cities to be inhabited. Fear not; it’s going to happen so fast that it might scare you, but don’t be afraid and don’t be ashamed, for thou shalt not be put to shame, for thou shalt forget the shame of thy youth and shalt not remember the reproach of thy widowhood anymore. I just want to call this «How to Receive Expansion,» because this is getting ready to be a year of expansion, and I want you to know how to do it. Expansion is not something that you just let happen; it involves work. Okay, you see, like with an elevator, you just get in, push the button, and it takes you up. But in order to expand, like with a rubber band, it doesn’t expand without being stretched. So I want to show you how to receive expansion. Amen. You may be seated in the presence of the Lord. Somebody say, «I’m going to expand.» One of the things that we often see God do in Scripture is take the wombs of women and put something in them that the prognosis said would not be. For instance, remember Elizabeth? How many of you remember Elizabeth, the mother of John the Baptist? She was not supposed to have a baby; she was told that she wouldn’t have one, and it looked as though the diagnosis was true because she didn’t give birth until she was 80. The same thing happened with Sarah. When she got married, her name was Sarai. She was married to a man named Abram. God later changed their names from Abram to Abraham and Sarai to Sarah based on a set of circumstances because Abraham had become the father of many nations. But they still were not able to conceive. So Abraham circumvented the system, going around God, and got Hagar pregnant. Hagar had a baby; his name was Ishmael. But just because you have a son doesn’t mean it’s the promise. God said it won’t be Ishmael; it will be Isaac. Now, how do we know that Isaac was the promise and not Ishmael? Because out of Ishmael came death, while out of Isaac and Jacob, whose name was changed to Israel, came life. Jacob had twelve sons: Reuben, Naphtali, Asher, Gad, Joseph, and he had the twelve tribes of Israel, which are represented in the tabernacle. The Bible says that when you enter the tabernacle, there is a table of showbread with twelve loaves of bread on it, each representing one of the twelve tribes. You see the shadow-the gospel. You 've got to understand that the Old Testament completed is actually the New Testament revealed. God is telling us the same story in different formats. So we see all of these women who are barren. Rebecca was barren; she was married to Isaac. And the Bible says that Isaac prayed over her womb, and when he prayed over her womb, she gave birth to twins, Jacob and Esau. You see, there are some things in your life that only prayer can open up. Now, some things in your life, you can shout all you want; you can cry all you want, but there’s a difference between crying and crying out. Some of us need to cry out to God. That 's why Jesus said, «My house shall be called of all nations the house of prayer.» You know, prayer is one of those things that people think is simple, but it is so effective. If you would just develop a good prayer life, you would see how many things begin to turn around in your life. You don’t have to be educated to pray; you just have to be sincere. You don’t have to know all of the hymns to pray. I know sometimes we hear people pray out loud, and they are eloquent in speech. They say " God» instead of «God,» and all that kind of stuff. I know you look at people praying and think to yourself, «I can’t do that.» And I was listening to Tati up here as she was proclaiming. I told Pastor Tony, «There 's no need to go through that; she’s already praying.»