— by Paul Louis Cole

Out fishing. Warm morning sun. A good catch. Then, a stray thought. How did my fishing buddy Ed change from a paycheck-earning worker into a highly successful business owner? I broke the rules of fishing—silence—and asked him. He said, “I got larger in my spirit,” then cast again. In the stillness, Ed focused on fish. But all I could think about were those four words: larger in my spirit.

As I was studying a few days later, I saw how Solomon as a young king went up against some huge obstacles, plus had the huge shoes of his father to fill—the greatest king of all time, King David. Solomon’s solution was to pray. He asked for wisdom. Smart move. God responded by giving Solomon wisdom and understanding. Solomon became the wisest man on earth to this day. But God didn’t stop there….

God gave Solomon something more, something Solomon didn’t ask for, something he didn’t even know to ask for. God knew that Solomon would need one other element for success.

God gave Solomon wisdom and understanding exceeding much, and largeness of heart, even as the sand that is on the sea shore. 1 Kings 4:29 KJV

God gave Solomon largeness of heart. Largeness. Capacity. Ed had come to understand that by being complacent in his daily job, he was not large enough in his spirit to fight the battles of being a business owner. He needed largeness of heart. He needed capacity.

God gives us capacity because we are not large enough today to fight tomorrow’s battles. God essentially told Solomon, “I’ll give you wisdom, but you’re not large enough to contain the wisdom that I know you need. So, I’m going to increase the capacity of your heart and soul.”

Capacity. Largeness of heart. It always comes by being stretched. Our heart directs our life. If your life is to be larger, your heart must be larger.

What is your capacity for wisdom, pain, stress, turmoil, compassion, generosity, love? Your capacity must all get larger. How? There are two ways you can stretch to build capacity: intimacy and adversity.

When you’re up against adversity, don’t push against being stretched, grumble against God, blame your wife or kids or boss, or develop bad attitudes that turn into bad habits. God stretches you to develop more capacity in you. To develop intimacy with God, accept the stretch, learn from it, go to prayer with it.

Become the man with the larger spirit, the bigger man. When you work, dream, and plan, you’ll find it is possible to be successful because you’re becoming a stronger, larger. Be the more resilient man, the larger man. That’s who God made you to be.

Related articles

——

[ Photo by Alora Griffiths on Unsplash ]