The Barren Are About to Give Birth

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arise, barren, birth, church, Elizabeth, Hannah, Manoah's wife, Ministry, Rebekah, Sarah

Luke 5:4-6 “When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch.” Simon answered, “Master, we’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets.” When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break.”

Have you ever had one of those mornings where you are irritable, but not sure why? Yeah, that was how I was this morning. No reason for it, just agitated. I brought this to the Lord and was literally crying before the Lord, asking Him what was wrong with me. His answer caught me off guard, but it brought life to me and on my feet I went down to my Bible to study out what He said. The Lord instructed me to look up all the barren women in the Bible, I found there were 7 stated barren women in the bible. Sarah, Rebekah, Rachel, Manoah’s wife, Hannah, Michal, and Elizabeth. 6 out of the 7 of these women were barren because the Lord had shut their womb, but one was barren because she cursed herself (Michal, David’s wife) and she never bore children. As I looked into the lives of these 6 women, the Lord began to speak to me about what happens when the barren one gives birth.

1. Sarah gave birth to Isaac and she was called the mother of nations, of whom kings would come from her. Isaac is in the lineage of Jesus and is one the three stated as the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
2. Rebekah gave birth to Jacob, who was later named Israel, who is of the lineage of Jesus and is one of the three stated as the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
3. Rachel gave birth to Joseph, who was the one that saved his family, the nation of Israel, and the world from a famine, because of his administrative skills.
4. Manoah’s wife gave birth to Samson, who became the one who would deliver the Israelites from the Philistines.
5. Hannah gave birth to Samuel, who was a prophet of whom none of his words fell to the ground, he anointed Saul and David as kings of Israel.
6. Elizabeth gave birth to John the baptizer, who was the forerunner for Jesus the Christ.

People that have never been barren do not know the pain of barrenness, but those of us who have been barren know the pain, the provoking, and the pressure that comes with being barren. But one thing is for sure, ministry barrenness, no matter what you do, you cannot make yourself bear fruit, if God does not open your womb, your condition will not change. This is not a reason to blame God, or yourself, rather it is the mystery that we must wrestle out in prayer, until we hear from God on the issue.

Today I heard God speak and He said, “The barren are about to give birth!” The wait is over, the kingdom of God is at hand, the manifestation of the waiting is about to be revealed. For others they can go and do whatever they feel God telling them to do, but for us, we have been held back by God Himself for such a time as this. What we are about to give birth to is going to change the world forever. It is going to bring glory to God in an unprecedented way, because we could not have done this on our own, our barrenness proves that. Those that provoked you will praise Him, those who pressured you will see the reward of patience, those who were with you in the pain, will rejoice with you.

“Sing, O barren woman, you who never bore a child; burst into song, shout for joy, you who were never in labor; because more are the children of the desolate woman than of her who has a husband,” says the LORD. “Enlarge the place of your tent, stretch your tent curtains wide, do not hold back; lengthen your cords, strengthen your stakes. For you will spread out to the right and to the left; your descendants will dispossess nations and settle in their desolate cities. “Do not be afraid; you will not suffer shame. Do not fear disgrace; you will not be humiliated. You will forget the shame of your youth and remember no more the reproach of your widowhood. For your Maker is your husband– the LORD Almighty is his name– the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer; he is called the God of all the earth.” Isaiah 54:1-5

Abraham’s Understanding of Faith

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Abraham, Believe, Christianity, faith, Growth, maturity, Sarah, Supernatural

 Romans 4:20-21 says, “He didn’t doubt God’s promise out of a lack of faith. Instead, giving honor to God [for the promise], he became strong because of faith 21 and was absolutely confident that God would do what he promised.”

Abraham is fondly known to many religions around the world as the Father of Faith. Preachers around the world have shared on the subject of faith, for it is the foundation stone on which the church is built. Many have presented impeccable theological understandings about faith; while others have used some of the most creative means to describe faith. So, with so many great teachings on the subject, it is somewhat intimidating to put out in print, yet another explanation of such a tried, tested and time rich topic. Yet, the depths of this subject are as deep and wide as God, Himself, so there may be no end to the talking points related to this subject, therefore, the decision to bring one more swing at the subject prevailed.

Two primary points jumped out of this text in Romans 4, which is what compelled me to write my perspective on Abraham’s understanding of faith. This is not an exhaustive list, it is just an addition to the wealth of information of the subject. Faith has 2 primary components to it, one faith believes and two faith produces.

1. Faith believes in the face of the facts.

   The fact is Abraham was 99 years old when the angel of the Lord told him, he was going to have a son. Now I know some people think 99 years old was not actually 99 years old back then since they lived so long, but the days of man’s life was cut to 70 after the flood and Abraham was born after the flood, so 99 years old then is the same as 99 years old now. 99 years old, my grandma is 99 years old, she can barely make it, with her walker from the couch to the kitchen table to eat lunch, the dude was 99 years old. This is the fact. Romans 4:19 says, He did not weaken in faith when he considered the impotence of this own body, which was as good as dead because he was about a hundred years old, or the barrenness of Sarah’s womb.” Not only was Abraham impotent, 99 years old, nearly dead, Sarah was 87 years old and had been barren all her life. The facts were almost comical, no wonder Sarah laughed!

When we look at the facts of our situation, whatever it may be, in light of the facts of Abraham and Sarah’s situation, it really puts in perspective, that if they could believe God for the miracle of a child who came from Sarah’s 87 year old body, how much more can we believe God for that job, that spouse, that baby, that breakthrough. It is an insult to talk to God about our problems without faith, when Abraham and Sarah had plenty of factual reasons to debate with God about this promise He was giving to them.

2. Faith produces.

    Faith produces everything we need in order to get the promise God has spoken to us. Faith produces strength, Abraham and Sarah needed supernatural strength to come together as husband and wife, so they could produce what they believed God was promising them. This was no an intellectual ascent they were making, this took some physical activity. They experienced the strength that faith produces.

     Faith produces empowerment for success. God released a supernatural empowerment that opened Sarah’s womb, he released the empowerment that both Abraham and Sarah needed in order to produce a child. God is in the empowerment business. We quit so easily we do not recognize or tap into God’s empowerment, because when our strength runs out we quit, but there is a whole other level of strength that comes if we don’t quit to early. God loves to empower us for success, but it takes faith to keep going, when you want to quit, in order to step into the empowerment that comes through faith.

Faith believes in the face of the facts, faith produces strength, faith produces empowerment and as we praise and glorify God, the result will be full satisfaction and assurance of God’s ability to do what He said He would do. Abraham and Sarah have experienced a faith that produces, because they believed. Abraham understands faith and he wants us to understand it as well, but it takes us doing something that we do not think we can do, until you step out, you will not see the power of God at work in your faith.