Celebrate the small wins in your life now

This article is based on this extract from the book of Isaiah: "Thus says the Lord, Sing O barren land, you who has not borne! Break forth into singing and cry aloud, you who have not laboured with child! For more are the children of the desolate than the children of the married woman. Enlarge the place of your tent and let them stretch out the curtains of your dwellings; do not spare; lengthen your cords and strengthen your stakes.

For you shall expand to the right and to the left and your descendants will inherit the nations, and your desolate cities will be inhabited. Do not fear, for you will not be ashamed, nor be disgraced, for you will not be put to shame; for you will forget the shame of your youth. And I will remember the reproach of your widowhood no more.

For your maker is your husband, the Lord of hosts is his name; and your redeemer is the holy one of Israel. He is called the God of the whole earth. For the Lord has called you like a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit, like a youthful wife when you were refused." (Isaiah 54:1-6). Israel was at a low point in history; having gone through a succession of wicked rulers who had led them astray from God. You must be wary of people who seek to lead you astray from the Lord. The pressure to be led astray is always great.

The Kingdom had been divided into the North and South and the land lay waste and desolate. The city walls were torn down and the temple of worship was ransacked and destroyed. Most of them had been taken captive in Babylon and it was with sadness and grief that they looked around and realized that everything was gone - the people, temple, city and nation.

When you have been down and low for a long time, it is hard to believe that you can come up again. When psychologically you become bitter, it is difficult to recover. Isaiah was sent by God to recover and restore them from this state of despair. God has sent me to recover someone from their hurt, wounds and scars of life because one cannot go far with this kind of mentality.

God overcame their sense of perception by declaring, "Awake, awake! Put on your strength, O Zion; put on your beautiful garments, O Jerusalem the holy city! For the uncircumcised and the unclean shall no longer come to you. Shake yourself from the dust and arise; sit down, O Jerusalem! Lose yourself from the bonds of your neck, O captive daughter of Zion!" (Isaiah 52:1-2) The prophet cries out asking who will believe their report. Their greatest challenge was that God wanted to revive his people and bring them to a place of power.

The people had been in a state of barrenness - a condition of unfruitfulness. The inability to produce or bear fruit regardless of how much desire or effort is put into it.

You could be in a similar situation of experiencing serious difficulties in achieving anything. You are lonely, not bearing good results and unhappy.

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God says to start rejoicing and sing for joy! They sang for what they had not yet seen but was to happen because; faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. There are great things that are about to happen in your life; even if you do not see them right now, they are more real than what you see. Whatever you see now is temporary but what you do not see is permanent.

Despite what the reality portrays, burst into a song. The barren woman has no child, her arms are empty and her breasts are not nursing an infant. Yet, the Holy Spirit through Prophet Isaiah says she should break fourth with a song as though she has children.

Why should she sing? Because the father has declared that the blessings of his children are coming; more will be the children of the desolate woman than those of one who has already borne; and the days of desolation are over. This reminds us of the promise God made to Abraham to bless him and make his descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky. Yet, his wife Sarah was barren and in old age.

Enlarge the place of your tent and stretch the curtains wide - do not hold back. There will be an expansion not only in numbers but also space. And God requires you to enlarge so that what he does in your life will 'fit in'. You are breaking out. No more barrenness, lack, poverty, despair or depression in Jesus' name! Get ready for what God is about to do and the testimony you will give of these things that you did not expect.

"When you did awesome things for which we did not look, you came down and the mountains shook at your presence. For since the beginning of the world men have not perceived by the ear, nor has the eye seen any God besides you; who acts for the one who waits for him. You meet him who rejoices and does righteousness, who remembers you in your ways. You are indeed angry, for we have sinned- in these ways we continue; we need to be saved." (Isaiah 64:3-5).