Small Is the New Big

Excerpt take from Mantled for Greatness by Joshua Giles

“The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord, and He delights in his way.” –Psalm 37:23

I dropped my luggage at check-in and ran as fast as I could. I was racing through the quaint, but at the time newly expanded, Raleigh-Durham airport. It felt as if I were running a marathon to catch my flight. With just two suitcases and very little money in my bank account, I was leaving everything that I knew and had become familiar with to chase after a vision that I believe God had placed in my heart. I only really knew a handful of people in the new city I was moving to, and I was going to need faith to traverse this new terrain ahead of me. I had this sense that I was carrying something that was going to make a big impact on the people I was called to minister to.

When I arrived in Minnesota, I quickly made it to the little apartment I had rented. It was completely empty. As I talked on the phone or prayed aloud, I could hear my voice bouncing off the walls, reaching a crescendo that mimicked being in an auditorium. But it was just an empty apartment. I thought, God, how am I going to manage pastoring a new church plant, paying for new facilities, and covering my own personal expenses? I realized that I had stepped into uncharted waters that could only be mastered by faith.

What I’ve come to learn is that when you have a vision and faith in God, He will always take you beyond your abilities, beyond your understanding, and far beyond the money you have. It’s only when you come to the end of yourself that you can fully walk in the manifestation of God’s vision for your life. You must become comfortable with being uncomfortable. Any divine assignment, major project, or mission that God gives always come with pressure, difficulty, and uncomfortableness. When you feel those things, it’s often an indicator that you’re on the right track. In my experience, God uses trials, tests, and pressure to reveal what’s really in a person. Sometimes the storm you’re in is really a simulation to unlock your greatest potential.

In the book of Ezekiel, the Spirit of God takes Ezekiel into a series of visions or supernatural encounters. In chapter 47, He brings Ezekiel into the inner court or the door of the Temple. Mysteriously, a small trickle of water begins to seep under the threshold of the door from the south side. In this vision, there was an angel or man with Ezekiel, measuring the length and breadth of the Temple:

Going on eastward with a measuring line in his hand, the man measured a thousand cubits, and then led me through the water, and it was ankle-deep. Again he measured a thousand, and led me through the water, and it was knee-deep. Again he measured a thousand, and led me through the water, and it was waist-deep.

– Ezekiel 47:3–4 ESV

What started off small soon became a mighty river. In Scripture, this water represents life, renewal, and that which is needed to fuel and sustain life. Water here is also symbolic of the Holy Spirit. The significant part of this passage is that the water started off small. Many people underestimate the small things in their lives, because to some people, small means insignificant. But that’s not the case. Whenever God creates something, He always starts it in seed form. He never gives us the finished product first. It’s easy to overlook the small seed because it doesn’t physically show that it will become a great tree, producing much fruit. Yet God is moving in the small things. In this season, the things that seem insignificant and that don’t seem big will have big impact. That’s the new strategy from heaven. God is placing impactful things into small packages

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From Mantled for Greatness by Joshua Giles, provided by Chosen Books, a division of Baker Publishing Group. Copyright 2023. Used by permission.

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