Pitching Our Tents

UV 759/10,000 Pitching Our Tents “Enlarge the place of your tent, stretch your tent curtains wide, do not hold back; lengthen your cords, strengthen your stakes.” Isaiah 54 v 2 Jim Rohn said, “ Change is inevitable but growth is intentional.” For a believer, growth is inevitable. It is intended by the Lord that we grow in all directions, intellectually, socially, professionally, emotionally, spiritually, financially and in every sense. In all these areas, He encourages us to “enlarge” our vision and stretch our faculties and resources. “The place of our tent” are the strategic locations where we choose to act, live and work and relate. He asks us not to withhold our efforts but to spare no effort to grow. We need to see the big picture in which the Lord stands with us in all our efforts and He is not limited by any of the limitations of time and space that constrain us. Our faith in Him accompanied by faithful and diligent efforts will cause all our boundaries to expand in such a way to bring joy to our hearts and glory to God. He will stretch us but not break our cords. Scripture says that it is not easy to break a cord made up of three strings. Our lives are made up of a three stringed cord- spirit, mind and body. This uni-verse exhorts us to lengthen the cord of life. The spirit is the realm of infinite power as we connect that string with the Lord of the infinite and eternal, the abundant and unlimited. The mind has more limitations but it is able to traverse in imagination the length and breadth of the universe as it were. We can work over time to strengthen our thoughts, emotions and will power. Our mind in itself is a three-stringed cord: thoughts, emotions and will. Our thoughts are of three types: thoughts about the past, thoughts about the present and thoughts about the future. Our emotions are also three-stringed: calmness, compassion and joy. Our will consists of three strings: our desires, decisions and actions of the past, the present and the future. Our bodies have the most limitations. We can leverage on the strengths of the spirit and mind to overcome the limitations of the body. Our bodies have three strings that are intertwined: health, fitness and flexibility. Our bodies are like tents or temporary housing for our spirits and souls. However, we need to make our tents safe and secure as long as our lives on earth last. The longer and stronger we make the strings of our spirit, minds and bodies the greater is the shadow we cast or the influence or impact we have in this world. This is the investment we make now with our spirit, minds and bodies for which we are rewarded later for we are stakeholders in the Kingdom of God. We are only inhabiting tents now but it will be exchanged for an eternal home in glory land. We can be at it to beat it. We can beat failure, sorrow, pain, stress, strained relationships, bitterness, depression and so on. We can lengthen the cords not just to combat our infirmities or weaknesses but of a large number of people who come inside our circle of influence. The whole uni-verse throws up the image of a nomad who has to pitch his tent in a place of his choice. We can securely pitch our tents near the oasis of the grace of God. We need to strengthen our stakes that hold our lives together. Stakes are strong metal pieces that are driven into the ground to give stability and to hold the tent in place. It is a metaphor for our faith in the Word of God. We need to strengthen our faith in the Word of God and drive the stakes of our lives deep into it. All the cords of our lives-of spirit, mind and body- should be connected or tied securely at one end with it. Every day we should inspect the tents of our lives and check if all the cords are tied securely to the pegs or stakes that hold us close to the Lord. But we must make sure we do not tie ourselves with the cords or stake ourselves to the ground. We must be always ready to move to our home above. Prateep V Philip