GET OUT OF THE FAMILIAR TERRAIN
“Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house unto the land I will shew thee”: Genesis 12:1 KJV
Country, kindred and father’s house are all familiar terrains. They are things that Abram was used to. When the Grace of God located him, he was commanded to come out of these familiar terrains. God wants you to get out of familiarity. You can’t move forward when you are always on familiar ways of doing things. ‘This is the way I know how to do it!’ In other words, you can close your eyes and still be able to do it. If that is where you are, you won’t be able to get to where you are going. God loves it when people stretch themselves into a new arena and new terrains. God loves it when you get out of the familiar.
Beloved, get out of that place where they have you figured out. Get out of what you used to know and what you are familiar with and try something new. Find out how best you can spice things up and get back the enthusiasm. Don’t fall into the routine mode: ‘That is how it is and so it will be!’ No!
One of the secrets of productivity and growth in anything is that you put yourself in a situation that will stretch your ability. You can’t know what a person can do until you stretch him.
God said to Gideon: “The Lord is with thee thou mighty man of valour” (Judges 6:12 KJV) And Gideon began to tell God how poor his family background was. A stronghold had been built into his mind that his family was poor. Not only was his family poor, even within the family background, he was the poorest. That is the foundation he had. A foundation of poverty where every member of the family was poor. And as for him, even the poor called him poor. These are some of the strongholds you must pull out of your head. But God came and stretched him. In spite of all he said to God, “…the Lord looked upon him, and said, Go in this thy might, and thou shalt save Israel”(Judges 6:14 KJV).
Further Reading: Genesis 12:1-4, Judges 6: 11-16
Daily Bible Reading: Morning- Exodus 14-15 / Evening- Matthew 17
