How to Expand Your Capacity for What God Has Next

You need to know that regardless of what you think your limits are in life, that you have the capacity to receive. And if you don't think you have it, then you have the ability to expand your capacity to receive. I'm talking about all things abundance and overflow this year, and we cannot experience overflow and abundance if we have a limited mindset. And we have a limited mindset if we don't think we can expand our ability to experience abundance and overflow. I serve a God who is an abundant God, and he doesn't just give abundance, he actually builds containers. And those containers— the container of my life, my physicality, my soul, my energy, my emotion— that container has to expand. This is the journey of my life to be able to hold the abundance that he wants to give to me. Overflow is not just about what God is withholding to maybe put in me if I can receive it or not. It's about him holding overflow and expanding me so that I can hold more and more of what he wants to give me. Sometimes it looks like God is withholding things from me, and all he's doing is holding it until I'm ready, because if he gave it all to me, it would not be able to be received. So my job is to expand my capacity. It's about being prepared to carry what he wants to give me. And capacity in my life is not a passive thing. It is formed and I have to actively participate. And this is where most of us get hung up. We want God's abundance and we want overflow, but we won't participate in the capacity expansion. So in order for you to know that you know that you know that you know that you are living an abundant life, you've got to participate in the expansion process. So in the past few weeks, I've been talking to the Inner Circle girls about laying the rails to run on, rhythms and routines and boundaries and vision and naming what's good and not quitting the small things. So today we're going to turn a corner because the rails are only useful if something is moving on them. Rails are supposed to have a train, and if the train is not moving, then what are the rails for? So let's talk about movement and expansion. Now, many of us believe that God has more for us, but our lives are full, so we, we're like, we don't, we don't even have room to put it anywhere. Our schedules are full, our minds are full, our emotions are full, our hands are full, our finances are full. All these things are full. But what if God is a God that is waiting and ready to supply not only our needs but even some of the things that we desire, but we don't have the capacity to receive it? So today I want to give you a framework, K-N-O-W, know. Not just information, but formation. How you can know how to expand your capacity and receive what God already has and what he already desires to release to you. Okay, so let's start with the K. The K is knowledge. You've got to expand what you can imagine. Capacity is going to expand in your life when vision expands, and you cannot receive what you cannot imagine, recognize, or name. Hosea 4:6 says, my people are destroyed for the lack of knowledge. This isn't just about biblical literacy, although biblical literacy is important. Read your Bible, okay? Read your Bible. It's also exposure because knowledge is gonna grow through God's world. Romans 12:2 talks about the renewing of your mind through scripture. But as you experience the world, you live in a world, you have a body, you are having an experience, sometimes psychosomatic as it may be in your, the way that you move through this world, your body. Jesus didn't just come and float around like an angel or like a ghost. He took on a body. He's in the world and he experienced the world. The reason why he's not just a high priest, as Hebrews says, who is untouched by our struggles, is because he inhabited the world in a body. So he doesn't just have the knowledge of all the things that he knows and all the things that he can do. He has the knowledge of what it is to be hungry and what it is to be lonely. He has the knowledge of what it is to be forsaken and rejected. He has the knowledge of what it is to be in pain. He has that knowledge. And, and our knowledge in this world expands, and then we are able through that expansion, putting the layer of God's word on top of it, to be exposed to what's possible. Some of y'all need to get out the house. You need to stop doing the same things over and over again. You need to look at what's happening in your city and go to a city council meeting. You need to go to the orchestra. You need to go and minister to the homeless. You need to go to another church and experience a service. You need to, to have people in your neighborhood over for lunch. You need to travel. You need to experience other things in your world and learn. One of the main reasons why I love the opportunity for coaching for myself, because I'm always exposing myself to my personal advisory board, to to other coaching experiences. I'm always exposing myself to other events. Uh, me and my friend Nona Jones, we had a Zoom call on Friday because we were like, we just need to know what you doing. Um, there's a group of women who, uh, I think we're kind of like a little casual mastermind, and we've met up in Florida. We're trying to do that again in, uh, maybe in the next 4 to 6 weeks or so, because just being in the room of other women who are living their lives allows me to expand what I know. I'm quickly going to take a webinar. I'm I'm quickly gonna watch a YouTube channel. I'm quickly gonna want to sit with other people and learn and grow. I quickly want to expand my relationships even though I'm an introvert and would rather be at home reading a book. I love providing coaching for other people because what happens is I can share what I know, but it is magnified, it is expanded when women who are in that coaching room, when they hear each other. Sometimes you just need to change the room you're in. You need to learn from people who are behind you, in front of you, and who are running beside you. Coaching, mentoring, discipleship is one way to do that. But here's another way that anybody can do that. If you're like, Chrystal Hurst, I don't know anybody, because then we start singing that sob story, and I can't afford— and I can't afford coaching, and you know, and I just, you know, I just— nobody in my sphere ever does anything like that. You better read. You better read, girl. You better go to the library, and you don't have to spend money. You don't have to carry the book. Go online and download, listen to books on audio. I was going to say on tape. That was going to date me. Um, you know, you study, you watch YouTube videos, all the free content that's out there. You pursue knowledge. Why? Because you expand your capacity to receive. Because when you know better, you can do better. My cousin Winter grew up in Baltimore. We saw her every year growing, and then, you know, she growing up and she moved to Dallas. And, you know, I just was so, you know, because when she describes— we came and we visited, right? We were cousins, we came in town, we had a good time. But when she describes the life that she lived, you know, the drug dealer on the corner, and we saw that, but I, in my mind, like, it wasn't where she lived. She was like, yeah, after school I came home, he was right there on the corner. And, um, you know, just, just her experiences growing up. And I'm like, so why do you think you did not have the experience so many people that you went to high school had? She was really smart. She got into a school called Roland Park. In Maryland. She was bused in. It was a, a girls' school. And she said, exposure. I would go to a get-together for our class into somebody's home, and I was exposed. She said, my mom and my brother were living with my, with my grandmother and my aunt. We were all in one row house, tight as all get-out. I was exposed. I went on international travel trips. I was exposed. To the world. Some of y'all have to increase your knowledge by increasing your exposure. How do you do that? Change your rooms. You change your rooms. Some of y'all need exposure in the word. You've been reading through the Psalms for the last 5 years of your life. Go to BSF, take a precept study, go take a seminary class. Change your exposure, because when you know better, you can do better. You cannot live beyond what you've been exposed to. Now, sometimes God does the exposure for us He, you know, he introduces us to somebody or, you know, through a divine connection that happens. But you're supposed to be an active participant. If you have a child who's read about the ocean, who's watched videos about the ocean, it's a completely different experience when you take them to the edge of the coast and they get in the ocean. The ocean can exist the whole time, they can know about it, but it doesn't shape their imagination until exposure changes them. So where is your world too small, and what rooms have you outgrown? What voices are currently shaping your expectations, and what voices do you need to add so you can know better and do better? Expand your mind, expand your territory, expand your relationships, expand your knowledge. That was the K. Here's the N in our word K-N-O-W, know. The letter N stands for— guess it, two letters— no. N-O, nada, nunca, okay, nadie. You want to embrace limits and set boundaries. This is where your emotionally healthy self shows up well. I was reading, um, yesterday and today. This book was lost for a long time, and then I found it at the bottom of the car, and then something that's built on it. The perfectionist in me wanted to buy a new one, but I had already marked it up so much, so whatever. So this morning I was reading and he was talking about limits. So let me read this to you. He says, I have wondered if the greatest loss we must grieve is our limits. It drives us to humility before God and others like little else. Great as Job was, he was not God. He too had to embrace his limits. So consider the following list of limits: your physical body. Your body is dying and will return to dust one day. You must sleep, eat, and drink in order to live, and all the plastic surgeons in the world ultimately cannot stop your aging process. We will finish our lives with unfinished goals and dreams. Your family of origin, your ethnicity, country of birth, culture all gave you a gift and limits. So whether you had two parents, one parent, you were adopted, all of us enter adulthood with limits given to us by our families. Your marital status— both marriage and singleness are limits given by God. If you have children, the number and the kind of children is a limit. Your intellectual capacity— none of us is brilliant automatically in literature, mathematics, engineering, carpentry, physics, and music at the same time. You can be intellectually great about something but not everything. Your talents and gifts. Jesus has all the gifts. You may have 10, I may have 3, but only Jesus had them all. Your material wealth. Even if you are a millionaire, you are limited in your resources. Our level of prosperity limits us. Your raw material. Okay, um, this is remembering the gift of you. This is discovering the gift of you. God has given you a certain personality, a temperament, a unique self. He says, I am a feeler and an extrovert. And that is both a gift and a limit. It is great for writing and speaking and creating, but it limits me in leading a large staff. You got to know you and know where you end your time. You only have one life to live. You can't do it all. He said, I would love to live in Asia, Europe, Africa, and a rural area in the United States. I would love to try a few different possessions. I can't. My time is running out. Your work and relationship realities. Work is hard. Genesis 3:18, the thorns and the thistles. We never totally finish, and there's always sometimes a grief in never being completely fulfilled. Relationships will not be perfect until heaven. Who wouldn't like a perfect, loving church where everyone has the time and the energy and the maturity to love everyone else perfectly? We must grieve that limit also, or we will demand from people something they cannot give. And lastly, your spiritual understanding, because Deuteronomy 29:29 says, the secret things belong to the Lord our God. God has revealed himself to us in his son, in scripture, creation, and other ways, but so much of who he is ultimately is incomprehensible. If that doesn't remind you that you have limits, I don't know what will. Your capacity is not going to expand by ignoring your limits, which means that burning the midnight oil and not going to bed and not giving enough sleep and not managing your calendar, that's not helpful. You have limits. So you have to expand by honoring the right limits so that you put the right things in the right containers. Psalm 90:12 says, "Teach us to number our days that we may gain a heart of wisdom." You are finite, limited body, time, emotional bandwidth, relational capacity. And that's not a design and flaw. Those limits are designed to help you focus. Limits don't reduce abundance. They just define where it will flow. Priscilla has always talked about The anointing of no. The anointing of no. She's a good knower. I'm not a good knower. I'm a good yeser because I do have a big capacity. And sometimes because I have a big capacity, I think I don't have limits on my capacity. So I will quickly think, well, I can do it. And most of the time it's true. And then I realize that I can't do it well. And so you've got to realize that the limits that God have given you were designed to help you focus. There will have to be things that you say no to in order to expand your capacity. When was the last time that you made a decision based on what you truly needed and not what someone else expected from you? For many women, the problem isn't a lack of compassion, generosity, or a willingness to help other The problem is that we've become so accustomed to meeting the needs of everyone else around us that we've lost sight of our own limits. If you are constantly feeling stretched, stretched thin, emotionally drained, or overwhelmed by responsibilities that were never yours to carry in the first place, it may be time to establish healthier boundaries. That's why I created Boundaries: Living Within Your Limits. It's a 21-day journey where you will focus on 3 key areas of your life. Your time and energy, your emotions, and your physical boundaries. Together, we'll identify what's draining you, learn how to communicate your limits with confidence, and create practical rhythms that help you protect what matters most. Because boundaries aren't about shutting people out, they're about creating space for the life that God has actually called you to live. So go to thesistercircle.com/boundaries to get the course and enjoy a wonderful 21-day journey. If you flow in all different directions, it's going to be like when your water heater leaks. If you don't have a pan underneath it, the water is going to go everywhere. I currently have a pan underneath my water heater, and I'm grateful because the water that came out of that water heater was contained when the water heater sprung a leak to the pan. I'm grateful for the limitation. Because the limitation means I don't have a mess to clean up. If you don't live with limits, if you don't say no because you have limited time, limited energy, limited bandwidth, limited emotional capacity, limited capital— you, you can't be friends with everybody all the time. You, you can't eat everything whenever you want to. You can't do the 2-hour workout if you only have 30 minutes to take a walk. You can't read all the books. I would love to sit around and just read books all day. I'm in the middle of 59 11 books right now, but I have limited capacity. Those limitations were given to you as a blessing so you could flow and collect the goodness of you within the boundaries that God has given you. So what do you need to say no to in order to maximize your capacity to receive? You've got to decide what stays, what goes, what shifts. Boundaries are not rejection of the good stuff, they're protection for the good stuff. It's capacity protection. So you've got to know, expand your horizons. You've got to say no, N-O, operate with boundaries. And then K-N-O in the K-N-O-W, open. You've got to live with open hands. What does this mean? You've got to release control. Lord Jesus, help us. You got to release control, and you have to expect that there are just certain things in your life that will remain a mystery. This is where wonder belongs, and you already have this intuitively. It's something that we were designed, you know, we are the heaven declares the glory of God. And we have scientists who have studied because they are wondering about what is the rhythm of the sun. And then they realize we can set a clock by it. And then somebody realized, oh, we can do a calendar by it. And we're naming the stars and looking at galaxies because we know that there is more than we can ever know, but we are seeking to know. We accept the fact that there will always be something we don't know. We live with wonder. And God often increases our capacity By showing us we don't have it all. Eyes have not seen, ears have not heard, 1 Corinthians 2:9, what God has prepared for those who love him. There's some stuff you don't know. There's some stuff you will never know until the time he decides to reveal it to you. So instead of holding all the stress, instead of holding all the frustration, instead of trying to figure everything out and trying to make sure that you have dotted every i and crossed every t and you're stressing yourself out in the process, Maybe God wants to expand your capacity by you saying, I'm going to show up. And for the things I cannot know, I live under an open heaven with an abundant God who wants me to live abundantly. And there are some things I have no idea how you're going to do it. And I release the desire to control the outcome or the path. What I am going to do is delight myself in the Lord because he will give me the desires of my heart. And here's the thing, he doesn't always give us the desires of our heart the way we think or the way we have prescribed that He will. How he does that is rarely predictable. You know, you know God when you know that you will never know God fully. That, that's what heaven is all about, getting to know God forever and ever and ever and ever, because he is inexhaustible, incomprehensible, and it is unattainable to know everything that there is about him ever. So you sure aren't gonna know that on earth. Some of y'all, some of us, me too, realizing that control is a misnomer. You don't control it. You think you do, and then as soon as you realize that you planned it out to the T and then it didn't go as planned, and then your body is ricocheting all on the inside like somebody is playing ping pong with your heart or your stomach, that's because you thought you could control it. 2 Kings 4. Y'all know I love talking about the widow. Empty jars. Go collect as many as you can, and I'm gonna take this little vial that you have and fill everything up. Who would have thunk? Closed hands say, I know how this should happen. Open hands say, I trust you more than my plan. Close hands, you'll think you're in control, and they can hold, and that'll feel good. But it's the open hands that receive. It is praying prayers and saying, "But your will be done. Thy kingdom come. What do you want to do? I trust you." So where are you gripping the outcome? Where is God inviting you to surrender control for how he wants to accomplish what he wants to do in your life? So you've got to trust and say, "I've been trying my best to do this. Let me sit, be still, and know that you are God." because it's open hands. Relax, relate, release, as Woodley from A Different World used to say. It's living that way. When you feel yourself tightening up, you need to say K-N, open hands. I'm gonna pray about it, I'm gonna go about my business, I'm gonna wait patiently for the Lord who is my deliverer. And then the W, wisdom. You want to apply what you know when you know it. Now, this is the place that I want to get really didactic with you. Knowledge tells you what is true, but wisdom tells you what to do next. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, Proverbs 9:10 says. James 1:5 says, if any of you lack wisdom, he will give gratuitously, generously to all without finding reproach. He's not gonna make you feel bad if you've got to ask. God's word inside you will deliver wisdom to you. The Spirit's prompting will lead you. He will give you discernment, not about the right answer, but the right time, the right place, and the right way to release the right answer into the world. I sat across from my son, we went to dinner, and I— there were some hard conversations that we need to have, and it was just he and I. And the Lord— I was like, Lord, you're gonna have to lead me through this conversation. It was like I was dancing with the Spirit. That's the best way I can explain to you. I knew what I needed to do, but how I needed to do it— I was dancing with the Spirit. And the Lord— I just was like, Lord, lead me through the spirit. I had something I wanted to say, and I literally felt the Lord go, not now, quiet. So we ate, we ordered, we talked a little small talk, and then the thing I was going to ask my son about, he volunteered. When I tell you that the Lord led me dancing, I knew what needed to happen in the conversation, but the Lord led me through it. He told me when to be quiet. He told me when to speak. He told me how to say it. And sometimes the wisdom is the reason why we wreck things, because we don't wait on wisdom. We don't wait on the Spirit to guide us. We're not ingesting the word of God to even know that it's a quiet answer that turns away wrath. We don't know that when we are in a position where we need to say something to our husbands, that we actually are a dripping faucet. We don't even know what that concept is because we haven't read that in the word. The Holy Spirit cannot remind you of what you've never received. So that's why I'm so excited about those of y'all who are reading through the Bible with us this year. Keep reading. If you miss a week or two, pick up where we are. Keep reading. Wisdom looks like knowing what to say yes to and when, and knowing what to wait. Wisdom is knowing when to push and when to pause. Wisdom is knowing when silence is obedience and when speaking up is obedience. Wisdom is knowing when resting is having faith and when action is having faith. Wisdom is obedience in real time. I know what to do, I know when to do it. I know what to do, I know how to do it. I know what to do, I know how to execute it. And maybe it's unconventional because God, through the power of the Holy Spirit, is delivering to me instructions step by step. Your capacity is not going to expand accidentally. It's going to expand as you intentionally expand your knowledge, as you intentionally say, no, this is not for right now. I would love it to be, but it's not. As you intentionally live with open hands— Lord, I surrender this to you. I lay this at your throne. What do you want? How do you want to do it? I will wait for you. And your capacity will expand as you operate in wisdom, knowing what to do and when to do it. You've got to know so that you can grow. So important, because God is not asking you to strive, my friend, for overflow. You don't have to run to catch it. He's inviting you to become a vessel that's ready to carry it. So when you have limitations in your life with marriage, and when you have limitations or limiting beliefs around money, or when you have limiting beliefs around your time and what you can accomplish Somebody in the time that you've had, with a life similar to the life that you've lived, has done something you haven't done. They have gotten their doctorate degree, they have written a book, they have lost the weight, they have prayed for their marriage, they have parented a, a young adult, they have cleaned out and decluttered their house, they have gotten out of debt. Somebody that has your situation has, has done it. So the question is, why not you? And maybe your limiting beliefs are what's giving— getting in the way. So how do you change that? You need to get outta debt. You figure out how you take that Dave Ramsey class. You follow people online who've done it. You figure that out by enlarging your room. You say no to what you're spending. You say no to eating out. You live under an open heaven and you say, Lord, create in my mind. I'm not even a visionary. I'm not an entrepreneur, but create in my mind ways that I can increase my revenue, ways that I can save money. Introduce me to people who are going to help me to have good money conversations because money is a mindset. So help me to be in situations, help me to see what opportunities there are. I don't even know where they are. And wisdom, help me to know how to pay for the doggone water heater. Do I continue to expand by paying for this doggone home warranty that drives me crazy every time I need to get it done? Or do I hold our money and pay for the things that break? That's wisdom. There's no right or wrong. That's wisdom. You want him to expand your capacity, not just your desire to receive, but your container to hold it. The prayer that you can pray is, shape me, Lord, stretch me, Lord, so I can steward what you want me to release into the world. And I am believing that there are women who are in this room who are supposed to be benefactors. You're supposed to write checks for other people. I believe that there's women in this room whose homes are supposed to be a welcoming, safe place for other people who need a place to live. I believe that there are women in this room who are supposed to help other people heal their bodies because of the weight lost or because of the health that is brought because of the work that God wants to do in your life for your healing. I believe that there are women who are in this room who are supposed to finish their book because somebody needs to read your story so that they know that they're supposed to make it through. I believe that there are women in this room who can learn how to honor and respect your husband and be the sanctifying presence in your home, and you have to show up for that. And I know you're tired, but he's expanding you. I believe that there are women in in this room who are supposed to speak and write and build, or who are supposed to, to do more than what you think you have the capacity to do. You're supposed to get that promotion so that you can be God's representative in that workplace. I believe that. But he can't get you to show up for work on time. He's like, if you would just show up for work on time, I got some things that I need to do with you. I have wonderful things that I want to do in your marriage, but you can't keep your mouth closed. You are not building up your house with your mouth. You are tearing it down. I, I can't get you to stop watching social media and watching TV so that you're present with your children. I can't get you to finish the book or finish the degree. I can't get you to stop putting things on the credit card because there is some financial freedom that I wanna give you at another time in your life. No, get the knowledge so that you can grow. Acknowledge your boundaries. Live with open hands. My way is a way that is not the way you would choose. You need to have my light to your path. You need to have me order your steps. Be open to how I want to lead you and guide you and direct you. Proverbs 3: Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Don't lean on what you think. In all of your ways acknowledge him so he can direct you, because his way is through the narrow gate. It's not the way everybody else would choose. It's, it's an awkward, unexpected journey. And then read my word, girl, so that you know what I think and so that you can operate in wisdom. Y'all want more. I want more. We want expanded capacity so that we can have expanded overflow and abundance, and we won't stretch. So how do you stretch? Knowledge. Say no. Open your hands. Live with wisdom. Sometimes, y'all, it's not just me teaching you, it's me preaching to you, because I want you to live under the open heaven. So I have 4 questions for you. You can write these down. I would love for you to answer at least one in the chat. Or in the comments below. But here are 4 questions that you should write down and journal through. One area where your knowledge needs to expand— you know that you need to know more so you can do better. Number 2, one boundary you need to reinforce— this should be a no in your life. Number 3, one place where you are loosening your grip— I've been trying to control this thing, it's stressing me all the way out. This child is going to do what they gonna do. This husband is gonna do what they gonna do. This church is gonna do what they gonna do. My family's gonna do what they gonna do. Just Lord help me, let it go. One decision— this is number 4— one decision you need wisdom for this week that you need wisdom for. So one area your knowledge needs to expand, one boundary you need to reinforce, one place you are loosening your grip, and one decision. That's 4 things. One decision you need wisdom for this week. Do the work, y'all. Do the work. Just like Satan is looking all over the place for somebody who he can devour— he's like a roaring lion seeking who he can devour— God is looking too. God is looking too. And in Job, who had a crazy, crazy, crazy, crazy life experience Job 1:8. One day the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came with them. The Lord said, where have you come from? And Satan said, from roaming the earth, because that's what I do, and walking around on it. And don't get it twisted, Satan is walking around right now trying to stir stuff up. Then the Lord said to Satan, I am proud of Job. Have you seen— in all your walking around Have you seen Job? No one else on earth is like him, a man of perfect integrity who fears God and turns away from evil. God is looking for people he can be proud of, the same way that God is— that Satan is looking for people who he can destroy. And even through the journey of the terrible journey that Job had to endure That happened because God was looking to provide Job with an expanding opportunity, and it was terrible. It was terrible. Most of the terrible things that God allows in our life, if we will let them, will expand our capacity to receive. 2 Peter 3:18 says, grow in the grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. It's your job to grow. So that's our sermon for today. I love you with my life. Lord, help us to grow as we expand our knowledge, say no more, live under an open heaven, open our hands to receive, and walk in the wisdom that you provide, fearing you first. Help us to be containers that are willing to be stretched even when it's painful. So that we can receive more of what you offer and operate in overflow. Because we don't want what you give us to be wasted. We want to be conduits of what you provide for other people. Thank you for being a God who stretches us. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. If you've ever found yourself thinking, I know I want to grow. I just don't know how, how to stay consistent. I want you to know you're not alone. Most of us don't struggle because we lack desire. We struggle because growth is hard to sustain in isolation. So that's why I created the Inner Circle. It's a community of women who are committed to growing in faith, stewarding their lives, and becoming who God has called them to be together. Inside the Inner Circle, you'll find practical teaching, encouragement, challenges, resources, and a community of women who are moving forward one faithful step at a time. If you're ready for support, accountability, and a place to belong while you grow, I'd love to invite you to join us. Go to thesistercircle.com/innercircle to learn more about the Inner Circle.