5 Completely Effective Ways To Increase Your Capacity

Adrenaline pounded through every inch of my body and my mind was screaming at me ‘What are you doing?’ as I sat on the edge with my legs dangling over 12,000 feet of nothingness. Then I heard the person who was securely strapped to my back say, ‘Ready’, and tumble forward we did, out of the plane’s open door into an expanse of spaciousness. The force of the wind was incredibly intense as it beat against my body as I was free falling toward the earth. Then came a sharp and painful jolt as the parachute opened above and the harness gripped into my thighs as I came to a near sudden halt.

The gentle glide commenced as we meandered, floating around on the wind currents, awe-struck by breathtaking views of the heavens and the expanse of land stretching below. All too soon, with legs stretched out in front, we made a safe and uneventful landing.

Expanding our personal capacity is one of the continuous challenges we face in ministry. Our fulfilling all that God has planned and purposed for our life and the continued growth of God’s influence through our life is dependent upon our capacity being recurrently enlarged and stretched.

Isaiah 54:2,3 says

Enlarge the place of your tent, and let them stretch out the curtains of your dwellings

The word picture Isaiah gives us in which these capacity expanding verses have been placed is that of a tent – ‘Enlarge the place of your tent’. Tent life is for people who are continually on the move.

You and I are women who are on the move expanding our capacity. We are women who are not stagnant or boring. We are women who reinvent ourselves which enables us to be relevant in a changing world. Also, you have possibly heard it said, ‘God loves you too much to leave you the way you are’.

Let’s look at the word enlarge.

Enlarge – meaning to make bigger your capacity to hold more.

The New Living Bible says – Enlarge your house; build an addition; spread out your home.

Have you ever done a home renovation? If you have you will agree with me they can be messy, inconvenient, challenging and character building. Enlarging capacity in your internal world and increasing your ability for expansion can be a little similar in nature.

An area which is guaranteed to enlarge your capacity is working through the problems, difficulties and challenges you face in life and discovering solutions for them.

Another would be attempting a project which is beyond your current capacity level. If it isn’t impossible, then you don’t need God.

For myself personally, one capacity expanding experience in the area of faith, was our commitment to an annual financial increase in giving to our church programme's Beyond, local and global missions.

Let’s look at the word stretch.

Stretch has a different twist to it than expand. Expand is something which God asks you to do for yourself but then He says, ‘Let them stretch..’ or allow them to stretch you.

Who is the ‘them’ in your world you allow to stretch you? Who is the person, or people, you have given permission to speak into your life? Your family and friends will stretch you and people, people, people will stretch you.

I, myself, have been stretched in grace on more than one occasion by people who, for whatever reason, haven’t turned up on their rostered Sunday and haven’t had the courtesy to let me know and expect me to find an on-the-spot replacement for them.

A stretch is usually accompanied by a varying degree of pain. Those of you who have given birth will remember well the stretch that took place during your pregnancy. The considerable stretch took place prior to the bringing forth and release of the new.

Here are five completely effective ways to increase your capacity via enlarge and stretch :

Regularly do something in a different way to what you would normally do.

I hear you say, ‘But I’ve always done it this way’. There are times when our increase in capacity is contained or restricted because we are not willing to step out of our normal and comfortable zone into one that is a little scary.

Spend time with people who have a larger capacity than yourself in an area in which you desire to grow your capacity in.

Continuously be upskilling in your education, your career, hobby, areas of interest and passion, and especially in the area of people skills.

Think bigger. I believe I am able to say with some confidence that whatever you are currently thinking about an area of your life, or the possibilities your God desires to achieve in and through you, you are thinking too small.

Never stop doing something for the first time.

I enjoy asking people, ‘When was the last time you did something for the first time?’ It may be something big like my tandem sky jump or something smaller like drive home from work a different way.

Let me encourage you to set aside some time over a coffee, in your favourite café, to contemplate these five completely effective ways to increase your capacity. Activating just one or two or more of them will enable you to continuously be enlarging and stretching your capacity to further fulfil all that God has planned and purposed for your life.