Rom 8:18-23,
18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.
19 For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God.
20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope;
21 because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.
22 For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now.
23 Not only that, but we also who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body.
A woman in labor has gone beyond the definition of hunger and far surpassed the meaning of passion. Now she is openly, unapologetically desperate to deliver her gift to the world. So it is with the people of God at the apex of the progression of divine frustration
The time of mystery is over and the news is out: The church is pregnant something big is coming soon. Parts of the body have lodged protests over the inconvenience and "impropriety" of the whole thing, but it is too late. God is about to birth something in the earth through His bride that will affect the nations. We shouldn't be surprised to see our lives disrupted.
People in every era and culture understand what happens to a woman who is nearly full term in her pregnancy. Her center of gravity has drastically changed, her balance has shifted, and she is forced to walk differently. This perfectly describes the church today. It feels off balance and awkward right now. Why? The church is pregnant with the purposes of God and the time of birth is near. … If the determinate length of our waiting really does predetermine the size and passion of His answer, then perhaps it would help to apply this concept to our "divine pregnancy." I heard somewhere that the pregnancy of an elephant lasts two years! Perhaps that means that the "larger births" are always preceded by the longest gestation periods .
Do you feel spiritually off balance and stretched at times? Is there an expectancy in your spirit that keeps growing stronger with every hint of His nearness, and every rumor of His visitation?
Don't be surprised if His sudden visitation throws you off even more. God usually "births" things in individual hearts before He touches entire regions as a whole. That is because He always uses people who yield to Him to carry change and revival to the world.
Consider the example of God's dealings with women in the Bible. When He touched Sarah's barren and aged womb, she became pregnant and gave birth to Issac. When He touched Rebekah, she became pregnant with twins and bore Jacob and Esau.
The angel of the Lord touched Manoah's wife and she became pregnant and bore Samson who would judge Israel. When God answered the desperate prayer of a barren woman named Hannah, she became pregnant and gave birth to Samuel. He touched a priest named Zacharias and his barren wife Elisabeth became pregnant with John the Baptist. Finally, when the Holy Spirit touched Mary, she became pregnant with Jesus.
Do you really want God to touch you? Are you prepared for the changes, the stretching, the frustration, the public scrutiny, and the hard work of labor that comes with pregnancy?
When the "fullness of time" comes, when something is about to be born into the world, all of the pressure and expectancy of the pregnancy comes to bear on one goal-the safe delivery of the new into the old. Until that moment, we may feel that time has nearly stopped along the way.
Do you feel like you've been pregnant with the promises of God for a long time? You have done everything you know to do to bring it to pass, and now it has brought you to your knees and you are desperate. You have finally arrived in the ultimate posture of worship-desperate despondency!
Do you feel discouraged because the time you've spent waiting on Him has outstripped your memory of the moments you spent in His presence?
Once a holy thing is birthed in your life or church, it may take you the rest of your life or many generations of the church family to catch up to the inner work God completed in you in just moments. Consider Saul who was renamed Paul:
He met the resurrected Carpenter from Galilee, and it took three years of isolation in the desert for Paul's theology to catch up with his thirty-second experience with the Messiah in blinding glory. He poured out this revelation knowledge in the form of New Testament letters or epistles he wrote to the young churches in the first century. We are still feasting on the revelation knowledge Paul received in that thirty-second moment of time
Have you ever experienced an encounter with the resurrected Carpenter that left your life spinning and made your old life and ministry obsolete? How did He impart His heart to you? Did He work through your intellect or speak directly to your heart, leaving the intellect to catch up later?
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