XPAND DEVELOPMENT

Day: Day Three
Date: January 08, 2025

We MUST grow spiritually this year and XPAND our understanding that we, the people of God, are meant to lead.

We are not to conform to the world. We are to bring a new standard that will help other people to come out of being less than who God made them to be.

So we, the people of God, need to lead properly and for that we need to be developed.

Develop means:

• To make active or promote growth of
• To make available
• To produce by deliberate effort over time

First then, we must participate with the will of God and with the power of the Holy Ghost.

He will teach us, train us, convict us, lead us to repentance and bring us back to holiness.

We also need to position ourselves in humility before the Lord, making ourselves available to Him by searching His heart out. We are the ones longing to know Him more, longing to conform to Him more, and longing to share Him with others whose needs motivate our hearts.

With His help, we become determined enough to do whatever it takes to bring glory to Him this year.

The more we seek to become one with Him on purpose, the more we will find our purpose and be able to walk it out with maturity and strength. Just as Moses was chosen, anointed, appointed and instructed to lead the people out of bondage, so God has a greater purpose for us.

But it took time for Moses to develop into a man capable of leading sheep before he led a nation.

Moses had to agree to be active with God and with His way of doing things, not be led by the natural.

Moses had to stay available and continue to be usable.

And Moses had to continue to meet with God and hear His voice and obey.

That is how God continues to develop all of us.

Yes, it takes time.

Yes, we need to be active with whatever God has put in our hand.

Yes, we need to make ourselves available.

And yes, we need to meet with God and hear His voice and obey.

The more we meet with Him, the more we will go through a process of growth that will bring the difference that is needed. God made us to lead, to walk in victory and to bring others into victory as well.

There are so many in bondage today and God is counting on us, His people, to lead them out of bondage and into the promises of God.

WE aren’t Moses, but we are as important as Moses! Imagine that!

To do that, we must XPAND our time with God, one on one. God spoke face to face with Moses and that is what He wants to do with us, also.

I hope as you are reading this that you are not just reading this.

I pray these are not just words on a page, but a Spirit-led catalyst to cause you to enjoy your relationship with the Lord more and more.

I pray that you develop and XPAND in every area, and that you will be surprised at how much He has become more a part of your everyday life. I pray that it spills out to be the difference the world needs.

It is obvious that the world is in quite a mess— wars, rumors of wars, disasters, loss, grief, disappointment…

That is exactly why we need to lead with God’s love, wisdom and peace.

We, the Church, are often more a part of the mess than the answer, but I know God is going to change that as we are in this year of XPANDING.

He is calling us to the altar to meet Him as we humble ourselves before Him.

That is the way we XPAND in development.

He is the original designer of each person, and He continues to XPAND our understanding of His DNA inside of us.

A word of caution: we can enjoy God bringing great victories, and then fall backwards if we don’t stay fixed on Him.

Look at what the Israelites did.

Psalms 106:11-13 AMP

11 And the waters covered their adversaries; not one of them was left.
12 Then [Israel] believed His words [trusting in, relying on them]; they sang His praise.
13 But they hastily forgot His works; they did not [earnestly] wait for His plans [to develop] regarding them.

They wandered around for 40 years because they did not allow God to develop them into who He intended them to be.

What a tragedy! Only the Joshua generation got to enter in to the Promised Land.

God has a Promised Land waiting for us each day. We have full access to Him, like Moses did.

Being in His presence leaves deposits within us, which gives us more understanding of our capacity and what we can do. We can do anything, as long as we are holding His hand throughout our day.

Then we must also XPAND in our influence. We must XPAND in our intentions to represent God properly every day, in every way.

I can remember when I thought I had developed and I was so happy that I was different and I could see wisdom and godly reactions coming from me.

But now, I realize that development is to always continue because God is counting on us to change with the times we are living in.

He said to me, “I don’t want you to follow Me, I want you to join Me.”

Ephesians 4:10 AMP

He Who descended is the [very] same as He Who also has ascended high above all the heavens, that He [His presence] might fill all things (the whole universe, from the lowest to the highest).

Ephesians 4:12-16 AMP

12 His intention was the perfecting and the full equipping of the saints (His consecrated people), [that they should do] the work of ministering toward building up Christ’s body (the Church),
13 [That it might develop] until we all attain oneness in the faith and in the comprehension of the [full and accurate] knowledge of the Son of God, that [we might arrive] at really mature manhood (the completeness of personality which is nothing less than the standard height of Christ’s own perfection), the measure of the stature of the fullness of the Christ and the completeness found in Him.
14 So then, we may no longer be children, tossed [like ships] to and fro between chance gusts of teaching and wavering with every changing wind of doctrine, [the prey of] the cunning and cleverness of unscrupulous men, [gamblers engaged] in every shifting form of trickery in inventing errors to mislead.
15 Rather, let our lives lovingly express truth [in all things, speaking truly, dealing truly, living truly]. Enfolded in love, let us grow up in every way and in all things into Him Who is the Head, [even] Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One).
16 For because of Him the whole body (the Church, in all its various parts), closely joined and firmly knit together by the joints and ligaments with which it is supplied, when each part [with power adapted to its need] is working properly [in all its functions], grows to full maturity, building itself up in love.

This is His heart’s desire. It must be our heart’s desire to answer that cry.

Then, we will find joy that is unspeakable because we will be overtaken by what He has newly revealed to us. He wants to reveal Himself to me and you, just because we want Him as He wants us in tandem relationship.

What an honor!

Moses led a nation.

God desires His Church to do the same.

Don’t be afraid of the development. Understand it is the way we XPAND to be more effective. It is also the way we XPAND our testimony. Our lives will be different enough for others to notice.

There is a good jealousy. It is a holy jealousy that causes others to want to develop, too.

Let’s surrender to the process.

PRAYER

Lord,

We so often think nothing is happening in our lives that is worthwhile. In reality, You are developing something inside of us that will cause Your Kingdom to XPAND.

We don’t have to know how all the time. We just want to know YOU all the time. I pray this is the year that each one who is reading and fasting will feel compelled to change into Your image more this year than ever before.

Help us. Draw us. XPAND us.

We love You and worship You. Come, Lord Jesus. Lead us and develop us as Your leaders that bring glory to You in every way.

Amen.

WORSHIP VIDEOS

Elevation Worship  – Here Again

Bethel Music – Tend