Elevate To The Next Level - "Living In The Stretch”

Elevate to the Next Level

“Living in the Stretch”

Watch on our YouTube channel: https://youtu.be/Ukq8F_BGMMc

Over these past several weeks we’ve been looking at different conceptual ideas in our series on elevating our discipleship to the next level. Concepts like living in the in-between and living in the meanwhile. And along with today’s message of living in the stretch, will expand on these as we look at living above the bar, living purposefully, intentionally, opportunistically, and more. This kind of gives everyone a taste of where we’re going.

But as we approach this series today, I’d like to look at how we live life in the stretch, because life happens like we looked at the past several weeks in the In-between and in the Meanwhiles of life, and what we’ll see today, and that is in the Stretch.

All of us have changed over the years, yet that which makes us unique still remains. We have all morphed in one way or another, like the hair on my head turning grey or leaving for places unknown, or while I’ve gotten older, I’ve only gotten better looking! Go figure!

Yet even though we’ve changed physically, we’re still the same inside, which is why I still like to think of myself as that strapping young lad only in an older format, which someone said to me lately, and that is, “vintage.”  

It’s our spiritual lives, however, that God wants to change, transform, and stretch as the Bible says, “from glory to glory.” (2 Corinthians 3:17)

To stretch is to expand or extend something to a greater size or length. When it comes to life, being stretched means that we’re growing. God stretches us so we can grow more and more into the image of His Son, Jesus Christ.

Paul tells us we are to no longer to be tossed back and forth from one doctrine to another like little children, but rather we are to grow up in our faith (Ephesians 4:14-15).

Therefore, God is out to stretch us!

In 2016 the Lord gave me a prophetic word of how He was preparing me. He said He was going to stretch me, but in the right way so He could strengthen and bless me, so I don’t get sidelined or delayed.

The prophecy was given where like the Apostle Paul I could say, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.” (2 Timothy 4:7 NKJV)

Now, while this sounds like a total blessing, which it is, it is also something that I was not looking forward too, because stretching involves resistance and pain.

The Stretch

We’ve all heard about “The stretch.” We stretch when we get up in the morning, or when we’ve been sitting a long time. In baseball we have the 7th inning stretch. There’s also the home stretch where a runner heads for the finish line.

Stretching is also something God wants to do in our lives as He stretches our faith.

No one, however, likes to be stretched. Therefore, we go through all these gyrations, these mental tugs of war, because we don’t like to make decisions that stretch us, especially when it comes to our faith.

But to have our faith firmly in God, we need to be stretched, that is we need to learn how to be flexible and bendable in the hands of God.

One guy who understands what it means to bend and be stretched is Gumby. Sometimes he’s so bendable he’s been known to bend over backwards. No one, therefore, wants to be Gumby. There’s also another guy known for his stretching ability, and that is Mr. Fantastic from the Fantastic Four. He can stretch his body to incredible lengths.

But these are cartoon figures, because in real life no one likes to be stretched. But if we want to grow in our faith, we must be willing to have our faith stretched.

Let me give an example. If we want our patience to grow, God will have our patience tested. If we want to grow in leadership, God will put our leadership to the test. And since God wants to grow our love for Him and others, He will put some really unlovable people in our path.

Here’s the point, if God is stretching us, it’s best to cooperate with Him in the stretch. A new paraphrase to an old axiom state, “Blessed are the flexible, for they shall not be broken or bent out of shape.”

For those who have played sports know the value of stretching. If we don’t stretch prior to the game, then a serious injury is not far away.

God is stretching us because He knows what lay ahead, and the challenges that are coming and that we will be facing.