Sarah Jakes Roberts - Stretched to Capacity (01/16/2026)
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In this sermon, the preacher urges believers to embrace the uncomfortable stretching that God brings into our lives, using Joshua 8 as the key text where God commands Joshua to return to the place of past defeat at Ai and stretch out his spear as a sign of faith. The core message is that God stretches our minds, faith, and capacity through trials and defeats not to break us, but to prepare us for greater victories, influence, and blessings. Ultimately, when we stay stretched in obedience, God ambushes our enemies, sets the old limitations on fire, and delivers the promised takeover.
The Power of Deep Breathing and Stretching
Can you just breathe with me for a second? Like one of those deep breaths that the doctors make you do—like in through your nose and out through your mouth? Again, do you know that when we do that, it expands our lungs? Evidently, by the time you reach the age of 35, your lungs begin to weaken in such a way that you don’t fully expand them the way that you could. As a matter of fact, for most of us, we never really expand our lungs fully.
So, every now and then, when we go to meet doctors or we’re going through a stressful situation, the first thing they tell us to do is breathe. There’s something about that expansion that brings a sense of peace, calm, and tranquility to you. There’s something about expanding your lungs, about stretching your lungs to capacity, that reminds you just how strong you are, that reminds you of your ability, in a moment, to bring your mind, body, and soul into alignment if you would just stretch yourself.
It’s so funny because we don’t really stretch ourselves spiritually. God usually just throws us into things that stretch us. You know, if He would give us a warning like, «We’re about to be stretched. I want you to breathe in and exhale because what’s coming is going to stretch you. It’s going to pull at everything you know and things that you don’t know. It’s going to stretch you to capacity.»
Stretch to Capacity: The Message from Joshua 8
That’s my subject for tonight: stretch to capacity. I want to talk about what happens when God stretches us: the discomfort, the uncomfortableness we feel when we’ve been stretched beyond what we thought was possible. I’m going to be speaking from Joshua 8. I want to start with verse one, and just to set the scene for you, Joshua has just come off the victory at Jericho. But there was also a defeat because he was perhaps so confident in what happened at Jericho that he went into Ai, thinking that because he had gone in there, he would have that same momentum. But for some reason, he lost.
Have you ever signed up for something, and because you were coming off of a winning streak, it should have worked out well, but you ended up losing? You know, it worked out all the other times, but for some reason this time it didn’t work out the way you thought it would. Am I losing my touch? Was that just a one-off thing? Like, what’s happening with me? Have you ever had to question if you were on the right path?
Interestingly enough, Joshua has come off of this defeat; he’s a little bit confused, and his people, the Israelites, are a little bit confused because they’re wondering if God is still with them. He was with them in Jericho when they had victory, but now they had a defeat, and they’re wondering, «What happened? Was God with us? We were together one moment; then we were not. It’s like things weren’t lining up the way they were supposed to.»
But the Lord has decided that He’s going to send Joshua back to the same place where he was once defeated. But before He sends him, He has to stretch him. He has to stretch him beyond his past fears. He has to stretch him beyond his mistakes. And how do I know that God had to stretch him? Because the text says, «Now the Lord said to Joshua, ‘Do not be afraid nor be dismayed.’» He said, «Before I tell you what I’m going to have you do, it’s important that you forget what happened before, because if you bring your past experience into what I’m doing presently, you’re going to mess it up. You got fears and doubts mixed up in it. And so before I even let you go, I’m going to tell you, don’t be afraid nor be dismayed. He said, ‘Take all the people of war with you and arise. Go up to Ai. See, I have given into your hand the king of Ai, his people, his city, and his land.’»
Stretching the Mind First
So He says, «Listen, I want you to go back to the place where you were defeated, and I want you to go without being afraid.» Before God stretches us physically, He first stretches our minds. That’s why He told him, «Don’t be afraid and don’t be dismayed.» He’s got to stretch your mind to believe that the impossible is possible first, before you can actually tangibly see it in your life. Your mind has to be stretched. See, the problem is that we pray for the outward expression of a blessing, but we don’t always pray that our mind will be stretched to handle that blessing. And so we get confused because we don’t recognize why our mind has been stretched in this season.
When we ask for our finances to be stretched, like creative financial planning, when you start saying, «Well, if I pay this one by check, it won’t clear for two to three days, and then the direct deposit will be in by then, and then I can pay the other thing.» I’m the only one who’s been broke? That’s cool. All right, so nothing makes you more creative than when you’re stretched. Yeah! All of a sudden, you don’t really need Starbucks, you know? Like sushi is optional. And, man, do you ever realize how many groceries you have at your house when you’re stretched? Like, cereal is a legitimate meal! You can’t use the little fancy bowl. You are going to need to get a Tupperware bowl. But when you’re stretched, you get creative. Joshua’s mind was being stretched.
He said, «I’m going to give you something into your hand. I’m going to put something in your hand that you’re going to be able to use. I’m going to give you the king of Ai; I’m going to give you a crown, and I’m going to give you people who you can influence, or people who you can cut off, or people who you can build up. Can I trust you with this level of influence? Not until I stretch your mind.» He says, «I’m going to stretch you, and then I’m going to give you a city. I’m going to give you structures—structures that only you know how to maneuver in, structures that only make sense to you. Structures that can be conformed and transformed by what you see fit. I’m going to give you a crown, I’m going to give you people to influence, I’m going to give you a city, or structures, and I’m going to give you land. I’m going to give you a blank canvas.»
In addition to that, all of a sudden, what should be pretty simple, the fact that God said, «I’m going to give you something, ” becomes much more vast when you learn how to see it properly. I’m not just going to give you a Grammy; I’m not just going to give you the job; I’m not just going to give you the award. I’m going to give you the mindset that prepares you for that level of exposure. I’m not just going to give you the building; I’m not just going to give you the man; I’m not just going to give you the family; I’m going to give you the mindset that prepares you for that level of blessing. I’m not just going to give it to you until you’ve been stretched to capacity.
Tasting Victory Again and Taking the Spoil
And verse two continues, „And you shall do to Ai and its kings as you did to Jericho and its king.“ So that victory that you tasted in the past wasn’t to taunt you or haunt you; you’re going to taste it again. It’s coming back for you! „Only its spoil and its cattle you shall take as your booty.“ Booty is in the Bible! Did y’all know that? CH, not that kind of booty! God’s not going to give you booty; stop praying right now! I rebuke the spirit of praying for booty in the name of Jesus. I bind the Nicki Minaj spirit off of you right now in the name of Jesus. You’re going to be okay.
Sometimes it’s just me up here. „Only its spoil and its cattle you shall take as booty for yourselves. Lay an ambush for the city behind it.“ What does that mean? There are times when God does things for you, like in Jericho when the walls came tumbling down, that we knew without a doubt that God had done that. There was no question about it; only God could have done that. But then there are times when God says, „I’m going to do something with you, and when I do something with you, from the outside appearance it may look like it was only you out there because I’m going to let you take the spoil, but only you and I are going to know that I was the one that was really fueling the mission. I was the one who really had given you this strategy.“
And so you’ve got to recognize when you’ve asked God to do something for you versus when you’ve asked Him to do something with you. Sometimes we pray that He’ll do something for us, and He says, „I can’t do this one for you; I’ve got to do it with you.“ I’ve got to do it with you so that you can receive certainly the spoil, you can receive the treasures and the acknowledgement, so that I can see how many times I can do something with you. Can you take the accolades of success but know that it was me who fueled it?
You see, we come to this level on our journey when it’s less about what God did and more about whether or not we’re willing to give Him the credit. He says, „I’m going to do this with you, and it’s going to look like you came up with the master plan, but it’s really because I want to see whether or not I can trust you with this level of influence.“
The Ambush Strategy
So He gives him this strategy. It’s just the Lord and Joshua having this conversation, and it says, „Lay an ambush for the city behind it.“ I’m going to skip down a little bit to verse, I think I gave them 16, but I don’t want to lie. We’ll see what the 17—he’s doing okay. So it says, „There was not a man left in Ai.“ So Joshua decides, „Okay, I’m going to do as you told me to do. I’m going to lay an ambush.“ That means I’m going to put people behind the city, and then I’m going to be in front of the city with a few thousand men. We’re going to take off. We’re going to come toward them. When they see us coming toward them, the plan is that they will come out from their city. And when they come out from their city to chase us, we’re going to take off running into the wilderness, and those people who were behind the city are going to then come and overtake the city and set it on fire. That’s how we’re going to capture the land.
So just as they had planned, there was not a man left in Ai or Bethel who did not go out after Israel. Can you imagine how confident they must have been when they saw that the same people they defeated last time had the nerve to show up at their doorstep again? They just didn’t get the notice that it wasn’t the same person they defeated last time because this time we had a strategy from God, a plan from God that had empowered us in such a way that it looked like it was just me in that meeting. It looked like it was just me on the stage. It looked like it was just me in the boardroom. It looked like it was just me when I lost that one time. But actually, God was with me!
That’s why you can’t let people judge you based on your past defeat. Or better yet, you can let people judge you after your past defeat because you can ambush them when you come up. You see, ‘cause you were counting on me to always be the same loser that I’d always been. You just didn’t know that I was willing to learn from the last time. That I was willing to get into my prayer closet, that I was willing to go another level deeper, that I was willing to lose so that I could gain again. See, you had it messed up because you thought I was the same person that left you, but in actuality God has added so much to me that I may look the same on the outside, but on the inside my mind has been stretched. Never underestimate a stretched mind. Never underestimate a stretched mind.
Thanking God for the Stretch
You see that trouble that I was in stretched me; it caused me to get creative. It caused me to start recognizing who I really was. That stretch showed me that I was more flexible than I thought. That stretch taught me that I could survive much more than I thought I could. That stretch that I thought was cursing me was actually blessing me. Can we just have a moment to thank God for the stretch? Can we have a moment to thank Him for the times when we thought we were going to break, but then we realized that we were stronger than we thought we were, that we were more resilient than we thought we were? Can we have a moment to thank Him for stretching me? Thank you for the people who left me. Thank you for the people who said I was never going to make it, ’cause they taught me I could survive on my own. Thank you for the times I got fired. Oh God, thank you for the people who walked away.
How could we thank Him for trouble? Because the trouble was a stretch, and when we stretched, we figured out who we were. Thank you God, that when everyone else gave up on me, you were willing to stretch me. He stretched me. How did you survive that season? It was because He stretched me. He stretched me. He stretched me. When everyone else was giving up on me and I thought they were turning their back on me, it was really Him stretching me. ‘Cause I thought I needed you to survive. I thought I needed you to go forward. But really God was stretching me so that He could show me I could do it all on my own if I had to. He stretched my finances, so when He blessed me with the millions, I knew how to balance it because He stretched me. Because He stretched me.
He took two fish and five loaves; I learned that I could feed 5,000. He stretched me. Yeah, that’s what He’s been doing all along. He’s been stretching you, and you can’t be so dependent on staying the same that you miss the flexibility that comes with stretching. ‘Cause now you’re more versatile than you used to be.
You had that boss or that parent who didn’t quite understand you, but they were really stretching you. Because now you can communicate with anybody. You can walk into any room and understand how to deal with it because you’ve been stretched. He had to stretch your language. He had to stretch your perspective on life. He had to expose you, and that exposure came through stretching.
Stretch Out the Spear
So, everyone leaves the city going after Israel. So they left the city open and pursued Israel, and verse 18 says, „Then the Lord said to Joshua, ‘Stretch out the spear that is in your hand toward Ai.’“ Now this was a bit confusing for me because it goes on to say, „For I will give it into your hand.“ But He had already said that when the chapter began. He said, „I’m going to give you this city into your hand.“
So I don’t understand why in the middle of the ambush… Has God’s timing ever been a little—I don’t want to say sketchy, ‘cause He knows all about time. But we’re in the middle of the ambush, okay? We have the people of Ai chasing after us, okay? Let’s be Joshua here for a second. Everything is going as planned; this is exactly what we planned. And right in the middle of this, chasing them into the wilderness, God says, „Stretch out the spear. Stop! Stand still and stretch out the spear that is in your hand toward Ai.“ Not stretch it out to the people who are chasing you; stretch it past what’s chasing you and back to what I said I would give you. Stretch it past what’s haunting you. Stretch it past your insecurities. Stretch it past your naysayers.
Stretch out this weapon—this weapon that you should be using to attack people—forget it! I’m going to use it as a tool to give you what’s in my hand. I’m going to take what’s in your hand and give you what’s in my hand as long as you know how to point it in the right direction. He said to stretch out the spear that is in your hand toward Ai, „For I will give it into your hand.“ And Joshua stretched out the spear that was in his hand toward the city.
Every now and then, you’ve got to be willing to be still in the middle of an ambush. I thought that this text was about Joshua ambushing a city when, in fact, now I believe that it was actually about God ambushing Joshua. Because for some reason, in the middle of the plan that He had given him in the very first chapter, He switches things up and tells him to be still when all calamity is breaking out around him and stretch out what I’ve given you. Stretch out your hand.
Has your faith ever been ambushed, where you had faith for one thing, and then God switches the plan in the middle of you acting it out and says, „No, actually, I’m still going to give it to you, but I’m going to give it to you a different way than how you thought I was going to give it to you“? I’m not going to give it to you because of the ambush; I’m going to give it to you because of the stretch. That means someone’s going to have to be willing to be uncomfortable.
In 2017, that means somebody’s going to have to be willing to be pursued but not caught. Yeah, because the people of Ai were pursuing Joshua, and he had to be willing to stand still long enough to look like he was being caught, to look like things were going to pass him up, to look like his timing was off. He had to be willing to stand still long enough to stretch out the spear toward the city.
For those of you who are in a stretch, God wants you to know that you’re focusing too much on what’s chasing you and not enough on what He said He would give you. You’re spending too much time worried about your time clock and your timetable, worried about who seems like they’re passing you up, worried about other systems and other structures that don’t have anything to do with you. You’re too busy caught up with other people’s success to recognize that I’ve given you something already. But it’s in your standing still and stretching.
And don’t be confused because someone else looks like they’re winning because you don’t know what their stretch looked like on the inside. All you saw was what was going on on the outside but you don’t know how God had to stretch them before He blessed them. And so often we can get so caught up thinking, „Man, it looked like they had it so easy“ that we don’t recognize the tears they cried. You don’t know what someone else’s stretch looks like.
The Ambush Takes Place
And so Joshua stretches out the spear that was in his hand toward the city. And verse 19 says, „So those in ambush arose quickly out of their place.“ Now this is crazy because Joshua didn’t tell them that there’s going to be this moment when I stretch out my spear, and when I stretch out my spear, that’s when you all are going to ambush the city. But he didn’t realize that because God had two different plans going on that when he stretched, it symbolized to them that it was time for the takeover.
Those of you who have been stretched don’t realize that on the other side of the city, someone just got notified. Somebody just received notice that the takeover is happening! So while you’re being stretched in this season, know that God is ambushing people on your behalf right now. That they’re talking about you in rooms where they shouldn’t even know you, that doors are being opened right now, that businesses are being formulated, that needs are being birthed that only your stretch can answer.
That there are things happening right now that are directly connected to what’s stretching you. So you can resent the stretch if you want to, but as for me in my house, I’m going to ask Him to continue stretching me. Because the more you stretch me, the more I can reach. The more you stretch me, the more I can hold. The more you stretch me, the more capacity I have to lay hold of what you’ve given me. God just served notice on what He’s given you that the time is coming for the takeover.
Somebody touch your neighbor and say, „It’s takeover season.“ Somebody touch your neighbor and say, „I just got stretched into my breakthrough.“ I just got stretched into the next dimension. Some kind of way when Joshua stretched, it served notice on everyone else that the ambush was happening. So those in ambush arose quickly out of their place; they ran as soon as he had stretched out his hand.
As soon as he stretched, opportunities started coming. As soon as he stretched, doors began to open. As soon as he stretched, roles started being created. As soon as he stretched, the windows of heaven—wait, that’s not what it says. As soon as he stretched, the windows of heaven started opening, and it started pouring out a blessing that he didn’t even have room to receive. No, that wasn’t Joshua; that was you!
As soon as you stretched, I saw the windows of heaven opening. I saw the Spirit sitting over you, hovering over you, all over your car, all over your family, all over your finances. The moment you stretched, the ambush took place. So those in ambush arose quickly out of their place; they ran as soon as he had stretched out his hand, and they entered the city and took it and hurried to set the city on fire.
Setting the City on Fire
Does anyone have a fire anointing down on the inside of them? The kind of anointing that sets the old way on fire so that it can make way for the new thing that God wants to do for you? I’m wondering if anyone hasn’t set the city on fire mentality that says it’s not enough for me to just be ordinary or normal. I want to do something that sets things on fire.
I want to set other people on fire, with what God has placed down on the inside of me. I want to set statistics on fire. I want to set rumors on fire. I want to set so many things on fire that people start asking me, „Who is the God you serve?“ I want to set somebody on fire in this place tonight! I brought my matches for you, baby, because I believe that God has been pouring gasoline on you in the middle of your stretch. And He just said, „Burn baby, burn!“
That it’s time for the city to be set on fire. That you can’t afford to be who you used to be and who He’s called you to be any longer. That He set that old version of you on fire! All that’s left is who He’s called you to be. Set this city on fire! Set the government on fire! Set the industry on fire! Set your marriage on fire! Set your future children on fire! Burn baby, burn!
The Spirit has placed something down on the inside of me that’s going to consume me like a fire, and when God gets finished with me, there will be no question. Set the city on fire! Dance studios smoking, music studios smoking, books and computers smoking. Be excellent! Yeah, yeah! There’s fire coming up on the inside of you. You don’t know what that is; that’s that fire burning down on the inside of you!
Somebody thought they’d lost their flame, but they just got reconnected with that fire down on the inside of them. They thought they had lost hope. They thought that they had put their trust in the people who let them down and that they’d walked away with their fire. But God said that fire is down on the inside of you still! That the ambush was just so that I could show you the strength of power down on the inside of you! Set the city on fire!
The Smoke Ascends to Heaven
Verse 20 continues, and it says, „And when the men of Ai looked behind them, they saw, and behold, the smoke of the city ascended to heaven.“ There was a direct connection with the smoke from the city and heaven. There was no question any longer, so they had no power to flee this way or that way. And the people who had fled to the wilderness turned back on the pursuers. The fire served notice on all the things that were chasing them that the chase was over.
Those voices that had been telling you that it’s over, those voices that had been telling you that you’re never going to make it, that you almost had it but you messed up—those voices got consumed in the fire. When I was studying, I wrote something down, and I want you to carry it with you because I think you’re going to need this. And it was about the fire. It says, „God will take care of your haters, naysayers, and fears with the fire that your purpose creates.“
There is a flame connected to your purpose that’s going to set everything ablaze the moment you step into it. So instead of trying to track down everything negative that’s been said about you or trying to figure out how you’re going to make it happen, God said, „If you would get into alignment with your purpose, I’ll create a fire that burns everything else away. If you would stay focused on me, then everything else will turn to ashes.“
Verse 21 continues, and it says, „Now when Joshua and all Israel saw that the ambush had taken the city, and that the smoke of the city ascended, they turned back and struck down the men of Ai.“ When Joshua realized that the stretch wasn’t silly, that it wasn’t God being mean, that it wasn’t God being angry with him, it gave him enough confidence to recognize that you really do have my back. You really do understand where I am. And he turned around and struck down the men of Ai.
Never Draw Back the Hand
I just want to skip to verse 26. I had five points; I don’t even think I’m going to get to them tonight. And you can start playing because I think we’re about to go to the altar call. „For Joshua did not draw back his hand with which he stretched out the spear until he had utterly destroyed all the inhabitants of Ai.“ He didn’t stop stretching. Yeah, he didn’t think that because he could turn around and ambush the city, that he no longer had to stretch. He kept his hand outstretched the entire time.
He never drew his hand back in. He never got afraid of the fire. He never got afraid that someone would attack him. He never used the spear to attack them. He kept it stretched out! He never turned his tool into a weapon. He trusted that his greatest weapon was his ability to hear from God and to be obedient to what He said so that he could have enough trust in Him to stay stretched and vulnerable and afraid and scared.
Because he recognized that God had said, „I’m going to deliver something to you, but the only way I can deliver it is if you’re willing to stretch. The only way I can give you the promises I have for your life is if you’re willing to stretch. If you’re willing to break through the boundaries of who you thought you had to be and who you thought you had to be connected with.“ He said, „I’ll give it to you, but I got to stretch you first, ‘cause you’re thinking too small for my blessing. You’re thinking too small for what I want to do with you. I got to stretch you.“
Before He gave him Ai, before He stretched him on the outside, He had to stretch him on the inside. The first stretch was defeat because you cannot value success until you have lost. You cannot value winning until you have lost. You cannot handle other people until you recognize what it’s like to be down on your luck. You cannot be the force who God has called you to be until you recognize what it’s like to start at the bottom.
He had to let them taste defeat. Maybe your defeat was to make you so desperate for God that you said, „I’m not going to go into another city unless you send me. I’m not going to sign up for another battle until you send me. I know what defeat is like when I try to do things on my own, when I try to force things to happen. I tasted that already. I didn’t like the way it tasted. I want to have a blessing so sweet that there is no question that it only came from you.“
So first, He allowed him to experience defeat, and then He stretched his mind because He didn’t want defeat to become his new paradigm. „I don’t want you to get used to losing; I don’t want you to start thinking that this world is against you; I don’t want you to start feeling like it’s just you out here. I don’t want that to happen. So I’m going to stretch your mind, and when I stretch your mind, the first thing I’m going to tell you is don’t be afraid and don’t be dismayed. Don’t give up! It’s too early for you to give up. That defeat was to stretch you!“
So now that I’ve stretched your mind, I’m ready to stretch your finances. I’m ready to stretch your influence. I’m ready to stretch your territory. I’m ready to stretch your creativity. I’m ready to stretch you, so you can be more flexible and versatile. I’m ready to stretch you to the point that you don’t even look like what you’ve been through. Because when I get finished stretching you, people are going to wonder, „How could it be that someone who has so much joy once struggled with depression? How could it be that someone who has so much peace now once was inwardly battling so many demons?“
When I get finished stretching you on the outside, you’re not going to look like what you went through. And everybody who had you messed up, everybody who counted you out, I’m going to put them in your hand. I’m going to put them in your hand not so that you can crush them, but so that you can teach them how to treat someone who looks like you next time. So that you can show them that God can take nothing and turn it into something so that your life can be a living testimony that broken people still survive. And not only do we survive, baby, but we set cities on fire. We send up smoke signals when we walk into our purpose.
Your life is a testimony to the goodness of God. Stand with me as I prepare to close. If you don’t have to leave, please don’t leave, ‘cause somebody’s about to be set on fire. Don’t leave because somebody’s about to get their flame back. Somebody’s about to start stretching; they’re going to start looking for the stretch. They’re going to start saying, „God, how can you stretch me? Stretch my mind, stretch my patterns! Stretch me in such a way that I don’t even know who I am anymore.“
So, I have to ask you, who am I now? Who am I now that I’ve been broken? Who am I now that I’ve succeeded? Who am I now? Stretch me, oh God! Stretch me! Who am I in Los Angeles? Who am I now that I’m married? Who am I now that I’m in ministry? Stretch me until I recognize who I am!
Altar Call: Desperate to Be Stretched
I want to have an altar call for people desperate to be stretched. Because not everyone is desperate for stretching, but those who are desperate for stretching, God said, „I’ll rest on you until you’re not just stretched but everything connected to you is stretched! That your friendships begin to have meaning, that your relationships begin to have meaning.“
And I know some of you may be thinking, „The altar is going to be so flooded! Why would I leave my seat?“ Because there’s something about stretching from where you are and into who God has called you to be. I don’t care if you have to get in the aisles; this is stretching season! And we’re going to have a physical demonstration of that stretch by coming to the altar and stretching our hands to the One who holds the authentic version of who we are—the one who sends us into battle and tells us to stretch forth our spears, not so that we can attack others, but so that we can serve notice on what exists on the other side of our trouble.
That the ambush is on! That fear couldn’t hold us! That depression couldn’t hold us! That anxiety couldn’t have us! That generational curses couldn’t hold us! I said that we just serve notice that we’re setting things on fire in this season! That we’ve served notice on the industry! We serve notice on Hollywood! We have served notice because we’re stretching our spears out at this altar.
God told me to tell you that doors are being flung open somewhere in this city, that doors are being flung open somewhere in this world. If you’re watching on the live stream, this stretch exists for you somewhere because you are stretching. Space is being made for you because you are stretching! Holes that you couldn’t fill in your normal state are being created for you because now that you have been stretched, you’re big enough to walk through those doors! Now that you’ve been stretched, you can fit through what God is doing.
This stretch, you’ve got to love this stretch! You’ve got to love the stretch! And we breathe in, we breathe in faith, we breathe in promise, we breathe in destiny. Expand our lungs, oh God! Expand our lungs! Make us survivors! We breathe that in, and when we exhale, every negative word ever spoken over our destiny, every plan and plot of the enemy, every trick and snare, every insecurity—we exhale because it can’t live where God is calling us!
And we will stretch over and over and over and over until God is finished with us because we just happen to believe that there’s more to life than who we currently are. And once we’re stretched and we get used to that, we’re going to stretch again! Because if you are connected to this church, it’s because you believe in this stretch! Can you send up a praise? Can you send up a praise so that your faith can be stretched, so that His Spirit can inhabit your praise?
The Word says He inhabits the praises of His people. When He inhabits us, we must stretch! When He inhabits us, we must stretch! So we breathe in the Spirit of the Living God. Fall fresh on your people. Stretch us, oh God! Make room for what you want to do in our lives. Make room for what you want to do in our lives. Stretch us, oh God! Stretch us! More of you, more of you, oh God! Less of us, less of us. There is no room for us. Stretch!